Toyo R888 Wear?

Author
Discussion

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Hello everyone, I'm looking at buying some partworn R888's as friends have been raving on an on about them and I thought I may as well give it a shot for £90 a pair (partworn prices)

My question is, the tyres I'm looking at have 2mm of tread left, how fast will they wear down to 1.6 under road driving conditions. I'll mostly be driving along B roads and a bit of motorway, no track use at all.

Or should I be sensible and just keep my money and buy a set of Eagle F1's when mine have worn out?

captainsl0w

69 posts

122 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Even at 2mm, they'll be awful in the wet/damp. Get something else more rounded, for example in your price bracket (going off your mention of the f1s), Bridgestone RE050s would be a good all rounder

Henry Fiddleton

1,581 posts

176 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Depends on your car, and the geo + driving style.

Wear on R888 (medium compound) was hardly anything - Mx5. Driven very had on track.

The rubber pick-up, and heat cycles play a massive part - so look into that.

Depending on size, you get new track tyres from £60. Nankang, Federal etc.

If you do get them, run them on some spare rims, and use for many more track days.

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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To be honest, I'm not looking to go on track any time soon. Just after a grippy "summer" tyre for a bit of hooning here and there, was recommended toyo r888's by a few people.

Wheel size is 15 inches and width is 195 so was looking at Nankang NS2-R's too but apparently Toyo's are a league ahead. I'm probably in the wrong subsection to ask for decent road tyre recommendations then!

BTW the car is a Fiat Panda 100hp so fairly light.

Fonzey

2,056 posts

126 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Henry Fiddleton said:
heat cycles play a massive part - so look into that.
My first set of R888's came used on a spare set of wheels. Previous owner had tracked with them, and although they still had a generous amount of tread left - they had quite poor grip presumably due to how many hot/cold cycles they had.

I put new R888's on the same wheels after 3 or 4 track days and was amazed by the difference.

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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If they look a bit scabby, they're presumably fked right?

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Why would you even consider putting r888s on a Fiat Panda, let alone barely legal ones? Chasing lap times around the local industrial estate / Mcdonalds car park?

P.S. I've got a couple of pairs of completely worn out tyres you can have for ninety quid rofl

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
BritishRacinGrin said:
Why would you even consider putting r888s on a Fiat Panda, let alone barely legal ones? Chasing lap times around the local industrial estate / Mcdonalds car park?

P.S. I've got a couple of pairs of completely worn out tyres you can have for ninety quid rofl
Aha, why not mate, thought I'd give em a try, it's obviously not a TVR or anything but it's a decent handling little hatch. If that can be improved by better tyres, then why wouldn't you?

Before you start taking the piss and saying that "lol it's only a fiat panda it's st ahaha, you're a fking moron" here's an excerpt of evos' review of the Panda 100hp:

Evo Magazine said said:
Next morning we get the chance to point the Panda down our favourite and most challenging Welsh roads. Far from feeling overwhelmed, it rises to the challenge with genuine conviction. Revelling in the give-and-take combinations of crests, dips, right-angle corners and fast, open turns, it shrugs off the changing surfaces and thrives in the challenging conditions. Its enthusiasm for hard driving is as infectious as it is enlightening, not to mention a complete re-education for anyone spoilt by bigger and more powerful machinery (i.e. anyone who works at evo!).

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Yadizzle1 said:
BritishRacinGrin said:
Why would you even consider putting r888s on a Fiat Panda, let alone barely legal ones? Chasing lap times around the local industrial estate / Mcdonalds car park?

P.S. I've got a couple of pairs of completely worn out tyres you can have for ninety quid rofl
Aha, why not mate, thought I'd give em a try, it's obviously not a TVR or anything but it's a decent handling little hatch. If that can be improved by better tyres, then why wouldn't you?

Before you start taking the piss and saying that "lol it's only a fiat panda it's st ahaha, you're a fking moron" here's an excerpt of evos' review of the Panda 100hp:
I do know what a Fiat Panda is.

In what way are absolutely fked tyres 'better'? Do you not see how putting trackday tyres with which have pretty poor water clearance even when new, 0.4mm usable tread left and have probably been boiled to death could possibly not be your brightest moment, especially if you're paying ninety quid a pair for the privilege.

Someone's having you on.

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
BritishRacinGrin said:
I do know what a Fiat Panda is.

In what way are absolutely fked tyres 'better'? Do you not see how putting trackday tyres with which have pretty poor water clearance even when new, 0.4mm usable tread left and have probably been boiled to death could possibly not be your brightest moment, especially if you're paying ninety quid a pair for the privilege.

Someone's having you on.
I was asking for advice on if or not I should go ahead with the tyres. Clearly the general concensus is no and so I won't. I appreciate that you and others in the thread have told me not to buy them, and I didn't come on here to ask for advice I was just going to ignore.

And about the whole Fiat Panda bit, I probably did over react a bit so sorry. It's my first car and I absolutely love it, but because it's not the most obvious fun car, I go into full defence mode when someone says bad things about it shootrotate .

Fwiw, I do take part in road rallies so thought better tyres (than my Eagle F1's) might be beneficial in those and to just have a bit of a laugh in general.

BritishRacinGrin

24,602 posts

159 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Yeah what I'm getting at is you're saying the r888s will be better but there's a reason that we have 'ultra high performance road' tyres like the Goodyears and 'track day' tyres like the r888s. On an absolutely dry road with some heat in the r888s might generate slightly better grip. In all other conditions they'll be absolutely inferior to a UHP road tyre. Low grip when cold, low grip on salt/leaves/dirt, low grip when wet, lethal in standing water, stiff, uncomfortable, noisy, probably the wrong size and barely legal.

I say again £90 a pair for any tyre with 0.4mm usable tread left is an absolute joke.

I am jealous, I'd have loved something like that as a first car. Just get some new UHP tyres on it!

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
quotequote all
BritishRacinGrin said:
Yeah what I'm getting at is you're saying the r888s will be better but there's a reason that we have 'ultra high performance road' tyres like the Goodyears and 'track day' tyres like the r888s. On an absolutely dry road with some heat in the r888s might generate slightly better grip. In all other conditions they'll be absolutely inferior to a UHP road tyre. Low grip when cold, low grip on salt/leaves/dirt, low grip when wet, lethal in standing water, stiff, uncomfortable, noisy, probably the wrong size and barely legal.

I say again £90 a pair for any tyre with 0.4mm usable tread left is an absolute joke.

I am jealous, I'd have loved something like that as a first car. Just get some new UHP tyres on it!
All very fair points and recieved! Will just stick with the F1's then, not found them to be lacking yet.

Dakkon

7,826 posts

252 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Yadizzle1 said:
BritishRacinGrin said:
Yeah what I'm getting at is you're saying the r888s will be better but there's a reason that we have 'ultra high performance road' tyres like the Goodyears and 'track day' tyres like the r888s. On an absolutely dry road with some heat in the r888s might generate slightly better grip. In all other conditions they'll be absolutely inferior to a UHP road tyre. Low grip when cold, low grip on salt/leaves/dirt, low grip when wet, lethal in standing water, stiff, uncomfortable, noisy, probably the wrong size and barely legal.

I say again £90 a pair for any tyre with 0.4mm usable tread left is an absolute joke.

I am jealous, I'd have loved something like that as a first car. Just get some new UHP tyres on it!
All very fair points and recieved! Will just stick with the F1's then, not found them to be lacking yet.
Just to turn this conversation back around, Eagle F1's are absolutely rubbish on track, overheat very quickly.

Gompo

4,396 posts

257 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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I've got a couple of just road legal R888s that I was intending to sell, for use on track days I imagined, but do people bother with them for track work or just buy new? I certainly wasn't expecting to get anywhere near £90 for them. They were just used on my road car so not actually tracked as such.

QBee

20,905 posts

143 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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I wouldn't use 888s for road use - and I DO have a TVR. They are a track tyre and only suitable for dry use. Get caught by a summer thunderstorm 100 miles from home (as I did, returning from a track day) and you will find out just how badly they handle. Also, at 2mm they will have gone through quite a lot of heat cycles and the grip will be well less than 50% of new tyres.

A good, less expensive summer tyre used by TVR owners, with track use as well, is the Federal 595 RSR. But buy them new.
Ditto the Falken 452 and the Nankang mentioned above. All usable on track as well as road.

Road driving TVR drivers rave about Toyo T1Rs, but the latest favourite is the Uniroyal Rainsport 3

aww999

2,068 posts

260 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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I use the AD08R in that size on my Mk1 MR2 - approx 120bhp and 1100kgs. They are fine on the road and wear well on track wth excellent grip in the dry and reasonable wet grip. I have had R888's before on my kitcar, the AD08R's come pretty close for ultimate grip but with better road manners. I think they were about £90 per tyre.

QBee

20,905 posts

143 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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Toyo's all conditions version of the R888 is called the R1R. If you must have Toyo track tyres, see if you can get a set of those. They are a better price than R888s too.
Agreed re the Yoko AD08R - good tyre.

Henry Fiddleton

1,581 posts

176 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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To the OP: another nail in the coffin is getting R888 on a stock car wont have the most desirable affects - they are very stiff side walled, so the ride comfort will drop massively, IF and this is a big "No don't do it IF" you get anywhere near the grip limits on the road, you stock suspension will be way past its limits.

Guessing this thread can be closed or at least moved on by now.

Good luck, and get out on track - there is a guy who tracks his 100hp Panda - looks great fun, and is much safer.

Gompo

4,396 posts

257 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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The stiff sidewalls do compliment some cars rather than hinder.

I had my R888s on the car all year round, including through snow and the like. They might not be very suitable on a TVR as mentioned earlier, or similar, but driven with respect I can't imagine it being too risky on a Panda.

Panda 100s are well known for their stiff ride anyway, not sure the R888s would make it any worse.

Yadizzle1

Original Poster:

684 posts

124 months

Thursday 16th April 2015
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I'll look into R1r's, I've been told that t1r's have a softish sidewall and I'm noticing some sidwall flex in the F1's.