Current thoughts on best tyres?

[Don1]

My boots on the Sagaris are starting to feel a little 'tired' (sorry), and I'm going for a final trackday to finish them off.

Does anyone have any strong views about the current crop of tyres out there? Currently I'm running T1-R's (with no complaints, so they would be the default setting), and they would be mainly used for fast road (hopefully the track car will be around next year), in varying weather conditions (so Federal/888/etc would not work).

Cheers!

[voltage_maxx]

How do you get on with the T1-R's? Been looking around at potential tyres for my 350i when I get it back on the road, and they're at the top of my list.
Especially handy as they are still available in a range of 15" fitments for the wedge wheels.

How are they as an all round tyre? I'd be doing mostly fast road work, with some track days (although may consider a set of 888's on a second set of rims for that).

[Mattt]

I run 255 section Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's on the back of mine, and very happy. Seems a lot grippier than the old 235s I had, and got caught out yesterday in the rain when doing a test drive - and they were great on wet roads too.

[Don1]

Bob, I have to say that they are very good. Clean driving, predictable in all weathers, and around 5k miles (all seriously hard driving inc 2 trackdays).

Matt, thank you, I always loved the F1's on my old Leon R... Worth a thought.

[Andy Pandie]

I had a complete set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's (255's all round) fitted to the Tuscan on Monday in place of the worn Toyo T1R's. Done about 300 miles since in both dry and wet conditions (very wet at one point), and although I haven't pushed hard yet (want to preserve some tread for winter ), they seem pretty comparable so far, completely happy with my choice

[BCA]

For balance, we've got Eagle F1's (non assymetrics?) and they are poorly performing. I cant work out whether this is because they are old or just crap. I suspect it is a bit of both - we've run old toyos and even older Bridgestones in the past and they have been excellent by comparison.

We need to give this alot of thought soon, as we're getting tired of them.

[Mattt]

My EF1A2 replaced EF1GSD3 and the difference was night and day - I guess partly design change, part size change and part new rubber.

[julianc]

I have T1Rs on the Tamora, very good tyres. However, someone told me at the Tatton Park show yesterday that Toyo are discontinuing the T1Rs and changing to a radially symmetrical (ie no 'handedness') tread pattern. Doesn't sound good to me.

[Buzz Billsberry]

Tyres are like music and food its down to personal choice. In a previous life I worked for Pirelli and have driven a verity of tyres on a selection of performance cars. The question you've got to ask yourself is: What’s going to be the main use of the car: pottering around on days out driving or fast road use, track days… you get the idea.

For me I've run the semi slicks Toyo 888's Yoko A48Rs kumho V700's and excellent performance road tyres on my V8 450 powered Westfield and on the Genesis race car( IIRC the semi road slicks are to be banned/sold for road use from 2012 yet to be confirmed) I prefer fast road use. These tyres were fantastic but the down side is tyre wear which was around 3-4K miles and once you got below 3mm there’s no grip in wet weather(Le-Mans).Mind you on porky TVR’s it will be better but on saying that my mates 300bhp 1000kg VXR 220 couldn’t do over 30mph in rain on the autobahn this year with approx 3mm of thread

I run T1R's on the Tam and they are a bit of an old mans' tyre and they're a pretty average tyre @ that with, quite old technology and pretty little feel(for me personally) They'll be replaced once the budget becomes available and I'll be going down the Toyo R1R which is a cross between a track tyre and performance road tyre and will give you 6-7K miles of tyre life ok not ballistic but a lot better than the 48's/888's etc plus tones better grip in the wet. I drove a mates Tam with the R1R's on quite a lot in Le-Mans in 2010 and the grip and coms thro' the wheel were excellent. If I don't go for those I'll go down the Pirelli route and put on P Zero red OEM.

Unfortunately with the Toyo R1R you can't get 225x35x18 so it will be have to be 225/40/18 which will help with compliance and you can run the front damper an little stronger.

These are just my personal views... but as I said ask your self the question What is the car going to be used for??

Buzz

[Don1]

Buzz, very useful post, thank you. The Sag will mainly be fast road, as the track day car should be sorted by then. Any thoughts on the Federal track tyres?

[LeeT350c]

I run Toyo R1R's on my T350 and to be honest they are fantastic!!

[Buzz Billsberry]

Don1 said:

Buzz, very useful post, thank you. The Sag will mainly be fast road, as the track day car should be sorted by then. Any thoughts on the Federal track tyres?

Hi Don1

I've not used the Federal RSR myself but I've heard good reports from the \\westfield club and also a couple of guys who I race with in the 750 club championship that run them on boxsters + you get 7mm tread and they're selling at very competitive prices much cheaper than the traditional 888's/48R's but they're not in the same ball park as those type of tyre. Like the Toyo R1R they'll be a medium to hard compound hence the deep tread so you 'SHOULD' get good mileage depending obviously how far you try push your right foot thro' the Sag bulkhead! Don't let the cheaper put you off either. Remember when the 888's came out they were dirt cheap until the track day monkeys got a grip of them and the word spread, and within 12months they'd doubled in price...just a thought It would be worth putting a search into goggle for the federal tyre and look on the motoring forums.Try a looking at performance cars that are similar performance/weight to the Sag.

Buzz

[julianc]

Buzz Billsberry said:

Unfortunately with the Toyo R1R you can't get 225x35x18 so it will be have to be 225/40/18 which will help with compliance and you can run the front damper an little stronger.

Any downsides to replacing 225/35/18s with 225/40/18s? Obviously with the speedo sensor on the rear wheels, the speedo won't be affected by the larger diameter tyres on the front.

Julian

[spercy]

LeeT350c said:

I run Toyo R1R's on my T350 and to be honest they are fantastic!!

Do you have 18" spiders? if so what sizes are you using

[Don1]

Hmmmm.... problems in the works. 255 30 19 tyres only come in Yoko trackday tyres, or if I want, T1-R (or the new sport) as road tyres. Something tells me I'll be going back to the default... Unless anyone has anything to say about the A048?

[RedSpike66]

Don, if ur running 19s, i would have thought standard size to be 265/30/19 for the rears and 235/35/19 for the fronts, which will more than likely be available than a strange 255/30/19 combo ?

[Don1]

That's what I thought as well, but that's what is on there.... perhaps a few chats with a good local would be in order.

[RedSpike66]

Ah, u is local to me yes/no ? Tunnel run and a beer perhaps ? My Sag goes in for service on Friday tho....

[LeeT350c]

spercy said:

Do you have 18" spiders? if so what sizes are you using

Yes on standard spiders I have 255/35/18 rear and 225/40/18 on the front.

Cheers. Lee.

[spercy]

LeeT350c said:

Yes on standard spiders I have 255/35/18 rear and 225/40/18 on the front.

Cheers. Lee.

Thanks for the quick response