Competition tires can be run on the street but the softer the rubber the more the risk.

We have autocross drivers that use Victoracers for daily street use and drive to one year's worth of events and do very well (FTD nearly always).
It's not high mileage but it's impressive to conserve tires that well.

Others drive home with a set of Hoosier A6 tires and hit a little highway bump causing a slash across the tread ($200+ replacement needed).

 

I agree in general. The A048s are a slightly different animal, compared to most of the other R compounds. I suspect that the Michelin Pilot Sport Cups fall into the same category. They are built to really to run on the street, vs the Hoosier/Avon/Khumo 710 which are designed to just barely meet the letter of the law so they are DOT legal, but specifically tell you not to drive them on the street.

Scott
90SM

 

some of the Subaru guys I know run the Pirelli Corsa on the street as well

 

toyo ra1s are good for the street too

 

I am no expert like minihune, but here is my personal opinion:

In my MINI's 59,500 mile lifetime I have ran the following tires:

1. Factory Goodyear Eagle RS-A runflats
2. BFGoodrich G-Force Sports
3. Falken Azeni RT-615
4. BFGoodrich KDW2
5. Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3
6. Faken Azeni RT-615- waiting to get mounted after my track day next weekend.

I go through so many tires because I used to live about 15 minutes away from the start of the Dragon Tail and have literally gone down it hundreds of times as well as all the other great local runs (Tellico Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, etc). And I autocross almost every other weekend during the summer...

So far the best dry handling tire I've ever used are the RT-615's hands down. The G-Force Sports were extremely nice also and felt almost as sticky as the RT-615's once they got warmed up. The thing I liked best about the G-Force sports were the super stiff sidewalls that lasted the longest of any tire I've used. BUT the RT-615's and G-Force Sports are also the 2 harshest driving non-runflat tires I've used and transfer lots of road noise inside the cabin.

The F1 GSD3's are probably the most user friendly performance tire you can buy. They drive quietly, have a smooth ride, they wear slowly, and their wet and dry traction is remarkably good. I would say these are the best overall package high performance summer tire you can buy; only if you autox competitively would I recommend the RT-615's.

I was the least impressed with the KDW2's. The dry traction was sub-par when the tires were new and they also howl like mud tires on the interstate when new. They have a super aggressive looking tread pattern, but looks can be deceiving. My front sidewalls were basically rounded off in 4,000 miles... Once they are over half worn down, they stick a lot better when they are warmed up, but they tend to squeal a LOT which gets annoying and causes unwanted attention on daily enthusiastic street driving.

And for sidewall thickness, I think it partially depends on the tire, but I have had better experience with the 40 compared to 45.

So I would narrow the decision down to the Goodyear Eage F1 GSD3's or the Falken RT-615's.

 

I like my GSD3s. I just have not had them on the car very long. The handling was a big difference over the run-flats and I guess it takes some getting use to. I'll have a better feel for them after I go to the track next month.

 

F1's are excellent but they begin to 'float' at the limit....a little hard to push on the street.

 

I have run my Michelin Pilot Sport Cups on the street extensively. We lost our only track so I have taken it out for months at a time on highways and urban areas. Nice tire, very pricey. Handles very well for daily use and has fairly good treadwear all considered. Not very good for wet weather (except at full tread) but not dangerous like R compound tires. Mine are extra small at 205/50-15 so I get lowered gearing and my speedo reads higher than actual so it feels like you are going "fast".

Due to possible wet weather it's not safe to run R compound slick tires on the street in rain. Anything that has more tread is much better. Be safe.

If you really want to feel great dry traction you need to go for a ride in an autocross class winning car with R compounds (Kumho V710s or Hoosiers).
It makes all other street tires seem tame by comparison. It's about a 2 second difference on a 40 second course/lap.