With the snow melting in most of the country, driving enthusiasts are looking forward to a spring and summer of high performance driving fun. For those on a budget, there's a great selection of Ultra High Performance All-Season tires, including the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season. The tire is currently ranked sixth in our Tire Survey Results.
Our extensive Real World Road Ride and test track have always separated the contenders from the pretenders. A couple years ago we tested the Pirelli against the Dunlop SP Sport Signature, Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 and Yokohama AVID ENVigor with the P Zero Nero All Season delivering the quickest and most direct-feeling steering of the group. The Yokohama AVID ENVigor and Dunlop SP Sport Signature followed, with Sumitomo's HTR A/S P01 right behind. All three options exhibited an excellent direct steering feel. Overall noise levels for all four tires were similar, with all producing some amount of tread pattern hum. The AVID ENVigor generated a small ringing tone when it encountered sharp impacts on the highway, and the HTR A/S P01 produced a little more tread noise than the rest.
On the track in dry conditions, the Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season had the quickest overall lap time with its very quick steering response and good overall grip. Dunlop's SP Sport Signature followed with plenty of cornering traction and similar predictable handling. The Yokohama and Sumitomo repeated their standings as before. In the wet, the SP Sport Signature was fastest, thanks to its responsive steering and good ultimate grip, especially under braking.
If you're in the market for new Ultra High Performance All-Season tires, read "Finding the 'Ultra' in Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires" before making your selection.
2013 is a great year for enthusiasts of high performance cars looking for street tires that are trackable. This year we are excited to offer three new Extreme Performance Summer tires. These tires primary focus is going to be on extreme dry grip for spirited or competitive driving such as autocrossing. We can't wait to get a chance to test them at our facility this spring!
While we haven't had a chance to test the BFGoodrich g-Force Rival on our track, we did have the chance to drive on it at NOLA Motorsports Park near New Orleans and the feedback was very positive. The tire was very easy to drive on, had excellent responsiveness and is designed to wear very well over the course of a competitive event. It has the 200 UTQG treadwear rating that is required by many sanctioning bodies.
The next new tire for 2013 is the Dunlop Direzza ZII. This tire is replacing the Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec. Compared to its predecessor, it's designed to have better responsiveness, as well as an improvement in wet and dry grip. Also offered with the 200 UTQG treadwear rating, the Direzza ZII is available in a variety of hard-to-find smaller sizes. Last fall, we tested a production-spec set of Direzza ZII tires against the Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec and found that Dunlop hit the mark with this new offering as it was faster and more predictable in the dry and wet. For a complete recap of our test, read "Dunlop Direzza ZII Introductory Track Drive."
Bridgestone's Potenza RE-11A is replacing the previous model, the Potenza RE-11 in 10 sizes. This newer tire has an updated rubber compound designed to improve wet and dry traction. While sharing the same tread design, the Potenza RE-11A adds an exclusive tread compound that combines silica with a new long-link carbon black that increases road contact and abrasion resistance while promoting tread rubber flexibility across a range of cool to hot temperatures. The internal construction includes a custom asymmetric shape that helps distribute footprint pressure more evenly.
Are you a serious driving enthusiast looking for dry road response, traction, handling and high speed capabilities? If so, take a look at our Extreme Performance Summer tires and find the one that's right for your vehicle.
As spring turns the corner, you may find yourself looking to upgrade your vehicle's suspension. The snow is clearing and soon non-winter Tire & Wheel Packages will find their way back on performance vehicles across the country. If you have already upgraded your vehicle with a Tire & Wheel Package, or are simply looking to upgrade the handling characteristics of your car, we have the parts from KONI to help.
KONI's vast experience has earned them a worldwide reputation for being able to optimize their products for any specific application. And by focusing on high quality shock absorbers, the manufacturer's no-compromise philosophy results in superb product performance and enhanced car control.
In fact, KONI's suspension experts recognize that all vehicles have unique dampening needs, and rather than build one type of shock absorber, they utilize three technologies (twin tube hydraulic, mono-tube high pressure gas and twin-tube low pressure gas) from which they choose the best solutions. KONI shock absorbers are designed for a specific car and even its specific driving conditions. They aren't a copy of the original, but a tailor made design to get the best handling and ride characteristics from your vehicle.
Now is the perfect time to upgrade your vehicle's suspension as select KONI products are now 20% off until June 30, 2013. View special offer details here.
The snow is beginning to melt and the sun is starting to shine a bit longer each day. To most of the country, this marks the beginning of spring, however if you're a car enthusiast, it's the beginning of autocross and track season. Now is the time to remove the car cover and start planning for the race season ahead. With each race season comes a host of new track products and this year is no exception. We have three of the biggest names in the autocross and track tire market introducing new tires for the upcoming season. New this season are the BFGoodrich g-Force Rival, Dunlop Direzza ZII and Bridgestone Potenza RE-11A.
All of these tires are new to the Extreme Performance Summer category, which means they're intended to be streetable track tires. If you require a tire that has near R-compound performance, but need it to be durable enough to be driven to and from the track, the Extreme Performance Summer category is for you. For additional tire category information, view "Looking for the Best Autocross Tires?"
g-Force Rival tires feature a silica-infused compound molded into asymmetric tread designs that are performance-tuned to match tire width (265mm and narrower sizes feature a 3-rib design, while 275mm and wider sizes use a 4-rib pattern). Large, solid outboard tread blocks and BFGoodrich’s Extreme Tread Edge (ETE) shoulder design wrap the tread compound farther down the sidewalls for predictable feedback and maximum cornering grip from start to finish. Also, the g-Force Rival has just been approved for SCCA use!
Direzza ZII tires have a high-grip tread compound that's molded into a directional design with a continuous center rib flanked by massive shoulders that form a highly rigid tread delivering high levels of dry grip and handling. Two wide circumferential center grooves channel water through the center of the tread design while angled independent grooves help direct water to the sides of the footprint for improved wet traction.
Sharing the tread design of the popular Potenza RE-11, the Potenza RE-11A adds an exclusive tread compound that blends silica with a new long-link carbon black to increase road contact and abrasion resistance. An asymmetric tread design features Bridgestone's 3D Seamless Stealth technology that combines massive independent outboard shoulder blocks interlocked with notches in the circumferential intermediate rib to deliver lateral tread stiffness that's needed to enhance steering response and cornering traction.
To view our full range of track and autocross tires, shop by size and choose an option that best suits your specific vehicle needs.
The anti-roll bar, also called an anti-sway bar, connects the left and right suspensions together and anchors to the vehicle frame. Typically used at the front and rear of the vehicle, the anti-roll bar is commonly used to adjust the handling balance of the vehicle and limit the amount of sway or body roll during cornering.
In essence, an anti-roll bar works as a torsion spring, so as you approach a high speed corner, the vehicle will begin to lean downward toward the outside corner pushing upward on the outside end of the anti-roll bar. The upward movement of the outside end of the anti-roll bar is transferred to the inside end of the anti-roll bar, which responds by also applying the same upward movement to the inside cornering of the suspension. This compresses the inside corner of the suspension while also providing torsion to the anti-roll bar so the outside edge can better resist the upward movement. All this results in a vehicle that'll remain level even while making high-speed corners and keep traction more equal for the inside and outside tires.
Whether you're looking to increase performance on your daily driver or looking to have the ultimate autocross/road race machine, we offer a wide array of anti-roll bar products.
Performance Street Anti-Roll Bars:
Eibach Anti-Roll Kit:
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Further reduces body roll
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Cold-formed from high strength aircraft grade steel
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Designed to fit without vehicle modification
H&R Anti-Roll Bar:
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Perfectly complements H&R springs, coil-overs, performance shocks and cup kits
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Crafted from spring steel that is stronger, more resilient than other materials
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Bent on proprietary machines designed by H&R to produce complex curves and a perfect fit
Hotchkis Sport Anti-Roll Bars:
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Improves handling while reducing body roll
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Designed for the everyday commuter and occasional road course or track use
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Includes tubular front and rear anti-roll bars
Autocross/Track Anti-Roll Bars:
Hotchkis Sport Suspension AutoX Anti-Roll Bar:
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Improves handling and reduces body roll
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Track-tested, lightweight, hollow
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Includes greasable bushings and brackets
Hotchkis Competition Anti-Roll Bars:
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Designed for the highly competitive road course and autocross course
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Maximizes tire performance and achieves slight oversteer
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Tubular front and rear bars with greasable polyurethane bushings, brackets and 90-degree zerk fittings (where applicable)
Shop by vehicle to view all anti-roll bars offered for your daily driver, autocross or road race vehicle. Also, take a look at replacement shocks and struts to complement your new anti-roll bars by reading, "Which Bilstein Replacement Shock or Strut is Best for Your Vehicle?"
1999 Chevrolet Lumina
2007 Chevrolet TrailBlazer 4WD
