651 Review - Brian Smith
This review has been a long time coming. The past two seasons have been so long and ongoing it almost doesn’t feel like the time has really passed. Today I get to talk about tires and my experience with the 651s. I’ll write on the PHI and PHI R later on as I think the 651s are the hot topics as of late.
I got started testing the 651s back in 2018 after getting in contact with one of their reps after I ended up shredding multiple sets of the pre-2020 Federal RS-Rs and just feeling like things could be just so much better. After spending some time with the Hankook Ventus V12s and competing on Pirelli Trofeo Rs I knew there was more to tires and how important they were on track and street.
My initial setup was a square 235/45/18s 200tw 651 on a 18x8.5 V705 wheel. Did a few events and I liked what I was seeing with braking and accelerating characteristics, but cornering wasn’t working right and I was understeering heavily. Back then I was running less than 350whp and on MSS sport springs, mild aero, and an RSB. The next time I tried a 255 on all 4 and that's where things really started to improve. The 651s aren’t “over wide” like many other manufacturers. An Rs-r 235 was really a 245 and don’t even talk to me about Pirelli sizing. Great tires but so wide.
At the time of writing this, the cars improved so much, as a driver I’ve improved, and had some great success along the way!
Current Setups are
200TW
18x9 265/35/18 Front
18x8.5 235/40/18 Rear
18x8.5 Square
265/35/18-100TW (or 200 if need be)
I’m gonna focus on the 200tw variant for this review. 200tw is a hot class and widely contested and imo it's a hot mess as far as consistency from brand to brand.
For reference, I use these tires for just about everything. DD, HPDE, and competition.
Few things I appreciate about this tire and why I tend to like it.
It’s super durable, you can lean on this tire for multiple laps and multiple sessions, and multiple weekends. Provided you have your PSI/Temps under control, it’s a tire that will last you a season quite well provided on your driving style. One of the issues I have with a few other tires out on the market is that after a track day they are basically done. Either they cycled out or they have just worn to nothing (Looking at you A052).
We are going to bring cost into this early on because it’s a HUGE talking point. Tires are expensive, there is no other way to look at them. No matter how good a tire is it will eventually need to be replaced. Those costs add up in a hurry if you really start pushing your car on track chasing lap times.
At the time of writing the 651 Sport is 149 Ea for a 255/35/18. One of the hottest tires out is 315 ea and a newer variant from a well-known brand is 246 ea.
With a range from 1260 a set to 596 you are spending some SERIOUS coin. As someone who uses trofeos for a spec series at 340+ a tire it’s not fun when replacing one tire costs more than a single track day. I personally don’t see a reason for 200tw rubber to be at the same pricing as proper motorsport spec racing tires. It’s a barrier to entry for many and not something I feel is needed.
Are their performance gains to be had across the brands? Sure, each manufacturer has to balance that cost/performance scale. I feel the 651s hit it perfectly for people like me that are chasing lap times one weekend, playing cat-mouse the next, driving up the mountains two weeks later, and still having performance when driving to get ice cream on Sunday.
The 651s have a wonderful dry grip that is super progressive and lets you feel the road with a natural edge bite that is manageable at high speeds. The lateral load ability is fantastic when compared with a proper-width wheel.
Exceedingly good at holding tire pressure. Generally no more than 3-5 degrees above where I set them. The fantastic audio profile you can hear when the grip threshold is reached and tapers. They do hold really well despite me throwing a 2.8k vehicle around at high speeds.
Wonderfully stable under braking and predictable when you miss that breaking point and need to come to a stop. They don’t warble and are quick to get back into shape when aggressive moments happen.
These tires do well in wet weather but I wouldn’t put them top of the class. For driving on the street in the wet they are great for a 200tw tire. Even when worn quite well the wet performance is very stable. They channel the water quite well due to the pattern. If you have to compete on a wet day, they will do the job but take your time learning how it will perform on your own vehicle.
I feel the same way about these tires as I did when first testing them. Great tire, fantastic pricing, absolutely performs above its “price point” and is backed by a company that actually cares about their product and will help customers understand the tire and resolve issues should they arise.
I’ll continue to use them as my 200tw tire of choice as I feel at this point I can get the tire to basically do anything I want. If you saw my episode on Getaway Driver on Discovery Channel then you know this car can absolutely hook up and go when I want it to. This rubber underneath me is a big part of the reason I can do what I do with this vehicle. Being able to understand the terrain underneath you is so important and Accelera does the job in a suburb fashion.