Trackday tyres for road use

[Craikeybaby]

I am looking for tyres for my MR2 Roadster, however, it is of an age where the original standard fit tyres (Bridgestone RE040s) are no longer in production and newer equivalent tyres do not go that small.

I have narrowed my choices down to Yokohama AD08RS or Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125ss - so a "trackday tyre" and a "summer" tyre.

I do not foresee any trackdays in the next few years, and in the past have done them on "summer" tyres, but the Yokohamas seem to be the popular option for the MR2 Roadster. My concerns are for wet/cold conditions, although the MR2 is not my daily, it is driven year-round, as long as there is no salt on the road.

Is trackday tyre likely to be crap in the winter? Or should I go with a summer road tyre instead?

[tapkaJohnD]

My race series specifies Yokohama AO48 tyres, which have a lot less sipes in the tread than the ADO8RS.
I find them pretty good in the wet, although they undoubtedly lose adhesion earlier than an ordinary road tyre in heavy rain.
I would imagine that the latter might keep gripping in more water.

Looking for images of the two tyres led me to this page, where the 8RS was tested as a road tyre, and came out well, but that was in Australia, and not in wet conditions: https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car-advice/yokoha...

JOhn

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks for sharing - I hadn’t seen that article. The Yokohamas seem to be well regarded in MR2 circles, for mixed road/track use.

It is probably quite telling that the author of the article doesn’t use them on the road for day to day use and thinks they would be overkill for a “low powered car”, which has 25% more power than my MR2.

[thebraketester]

I liked the ad08. Ran them on my car all year round no problems.

[E-bmw]

Personally, if the car is driven "all year round" of those 2 I would go for the 125s, they are a decent mid-price tyre that will work in all but the coldest/snowiest of UK weather.

[CarCrazyDad]

Craikeybaby said:

I am looking for tyres for my MR2 Roadster, however, it is of an age where the original standard fit tyres (Bridgestone RE040s) are no longer in production and newer equivalent tyres do not go that small.

I have narrowed my choices down to Yokohama AD08RS or Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125ss - so a "trackday tyre" and a "summer" tyre.

I do not foresee any trackdays in the next few years, and in the past have done them on "summer" tyres, but the Yokohamas seem to be the popular option for the MR2 Roadster. My concerns are for wet/cold conditions, although the MR2 is not my daily, it is driven year-round, as long as there is no salt on the road.

Is trackday tyre likely to be crap in the winter? Or should I go with a summer road tyre instead?

Why on earth would you fit track day tyres if you are not going to do a track day ??????

Why not just fit a good quality normal summer tyre like a Michelin PS4?

Surely they would give you more grip on the road in their operating window and not be deadly in the wet..........

[Craikeybaby]

CarCrazyDad said:

Why on earth would you fit track day tyres if you are not going to do a track day ??????

Why not just fit a good quality normal summer tyre like a Michelin PS4?

Surely they would give you more grip on the road in their operating window and not be deadly in the wet..........

Sadly options are limited in the sizes needed - if PS4 were available it would be a no brainer.

[E-bmw]

Craikeybaby said:

Sadly options are limited in the sizes needed - if PS4 were available it would be a no brainer.

So what size options do you have?

[Tye Green]

CarCrazyDad said:

Why on earth would you fit track day tyres if you are not going to do a track day ??????

Why not just fit a good quality normal summer tyre like a Michelin PS4?

Surely they would give you more grip on the road in their operating window and not be deadly in the wet..........

track day tyres such as r888s are miles better than 'normal summer tyres' if it's dry and your goal is performance above all else - in the same way that knobbly tyres are compared to 'winter ' tyres in the snow.

[Craikeybaby]

E-bmw said:

So what size options do you have?

185/55/R15 front and 215/45/R16 rear, most performance tyres seem to start at 18” these days.

[CarCrazyDad]

Tye Green said:

track day tyres such as r888s are miles better than 'normal summer tyres' if it's dry and your goal is performance above all else - in the same way that knobbly tyres are compared to 'winter ' tyres in the snow.

Are they? Because my understanding is Winter tyres are designed with their compound etc to be functional when it is 4

In the same way that a track tyre is designed to be functional when it's compound is at 80 degrees

As such normal road tyres (ie premium summer UHP tyres) would be equal or better?

Just seems a bit silly to me, I haven't checked what's available in the sizes but if he is not doing track days then why bother putting trackday tyres on

[JP__FOX]

If you can't get Michelin PS4, what else can you get?

The new AD08RS aren't as good as the old AD08R and are now very similar to the Nankang NS2R. I found there's less than a half a second difference a lap between NS2R and the PS4 in the dry when they're both up to temp. The PS4 is much quicker until you get temperature in them so on the road, the PS4 will be quicker 90% of the time in the dry and 100% of the time in the wet.

Tye Green said:

track day tyres such as r888s are miles better than 'normal summer tyres' if it's dry and your goal is performance above all else - in the same way that knobbly tyres are compared to 'winter ' tyres in the snow.

Without heat in them, they're actually not as grippy as a decent road tyre!

[CarCrazyDad]

Had a quick google

I would probably go for the Uniroyal Rainsport

I also did some more Googling and it seems that many MR2 owners change to 195/50 tyres for more choice.... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[JP__FOX]

CarCrazyDad said:

Had a quick google

I would probably go for the Uniroyal Rainsport

I also did some more Googling and it seems that many MR2 owners change to 195/50 tyres for more choice.... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Having had rainsports on 2 cars, I can conclude that they're the most over rated tyre on the internet, please do not buy these

[E-bmw]

JP__FOX said:

CarCrazyDad said:

Had a quick google

I would probably go for the Uniroyal Rainsport

I also did some more Googling and it seems that many MR2 owners change to 195/50 tyres for more choice.... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Having had rainsports on 2 cars, I can conclude that they're the most over rated tyre on the internet, please do not buy these

Agreed, they are a mid-range tyre at best, and they are even typically beaten in wet tests by several others.

[thebraketester]

JP__FOX said:

CarCrazyDad said:

Had a quick google

I would probably go for the Uniroyal Rainsport

I also did some more Googling and it seems that many MR2 owners change to 195/50 tyres for more choice.... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Having had rainsports on 2 cars, I can conclude that they're the most over rated tyre on the internet, please do not buy these

It's because they fall into the "Just above average and cheap" catergory. I wouldn't buy them.....

[E-bmw]

Craikeybaby said:

185/55/R15 front and 215/45/R16 rear, most performance tyres seem to start at 18” these days.

A quick look on tyresguru would put me in these.

[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/QUqtu4JU[/url]

[Craikeybaby]

CarCrazyDad said:

Had a quick google

I would probably go for the Uniroyal Rainsport

I also did some more Googling and it seems that many MR2 owners change to 195/50 tyres for more choice.... https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks for taking the time to look, it is the 16" rears that seem to be most problematic.

The Uniroyals do get a lot of hype, but haven't seen the testing data to back that up. They also seem to have soft sidewalls (like Toyos), whereas the MR2 is meant to work better with a stiffer sidewall.

E-bmw said:

A quick look on tyresguru would put me in these.

[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/QUqtu4JU[/url]

Thanks. They were on the shortlist, but have opted for the Hankooks, as I have heard of a few positive reports of them don't the MR2 Roadster, whereas I have not heard anything good or bad about the Goodyears.

[Tye Green]

JP__FOX said:

If you can't get Michelin PS4, what else can you get?

The new AD08RS aren't as good as the old AD08R and are now very similar to the Nankang NS2R. I found there's less than a half a second difference a lap between NS2R and the PS4 in the dry when they're both up to temp. The PS4 is much quicker until you get temperature in them so on the road, the PS4 will be quicker 90% of the time in the dry and 100% of the time in the wet.

Tye Green said:

track day tyres such as r888s are miles better than 'normal summer tyres' if it's dry and your goal is performance above all else - in the same way that knobbly tyres are compared to 'winter ' tyres in the snow.

Without heat in them, they're actually not as grippy as a decent road tyre!

Ok - I'll qualify my point. My experience is limited to kit cars on warm sunny days. It's also a widely held view of others in similar circumstances.

[E-bmw]

Craikeybaby said:

CarCrazyDad said:

E-bmw said:

A quick look on tyresguru would put me in these.

[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/QUqtu4JU[/url]

Thanks. They were on the shortlist, but have opted for the Hankooks, as I have heard of a few positive reports of them don't the MR2 Roadster, whereas I have not heard anything good or bad about the Goodyears.

Plenty good here, I know they have been around a while & tyres always progress, but they are still good tyres.