Toyo R888's in road use?
Discussion
I'm about to acquire a car which is fitted all round with Toyo R888's all round.
I will be tracking the car 2-3 times per year, but was wondering if any of you would care to relay thier experiences of using this tyre on the road in a reasonably day to day manner.
I'm aware they will wear much more quickly than "normal" tyres, but I'm particularly interested in informed views of whether the trade off between poor cold/wet grip is offset worth the extra grip and "zip" on the warmer, drier days
Ta in advance - any thoughts welcome.
John
I will be tracking the car 2-3 times per year, but was wondering if any of you would care to relay thier experiences of using this tyre on the road in a reasonably day to day manner.
I'm aware they will wear much more quickly than "normal" tyres, but I'm particularly interested in informed views of whether the trade off between poor cold/wet grip is offset worth the extra grip and "zip" on the warmer, drier days
Ta in advance - any thoughts welcome.
John
Not used the Toyos myself but I run Yokohama A048Rs on my Caterham all year round - these are very similar to the R888. 90% of the time they are fine but bear the following in mind:
- they don't like standing water much and will aquaplane more easily than normal road tyres. They are however fine on wet roads with no standing water.
- in cold weather you won't ever get them warm enough to generate the grip they are capable of in the warm/dry but they are IMHO no worse than other road going tyres in these conditions
- in winter when the roads are slick with salt then be very careful - these type of tyres just hate that kind of surface and traction is very limited
- they will wear pretty quickly depending on what car they are fitted to. I have got about 3000 miles and a couple of trackdays out of them but in a heavier car than a Caterham I suspect they'll wear more quickly
Having said all that on a warm, dry day they are awesome and they make excellent track tyres.
- they don't like standing water much and will aquaplane more easily than normal road tyres. They are however fine on wet roads with no standing water.
- in cold weather you won't ever get them warm enough to generate the grip they are capable of in the warm/dry but they are IMHO no worse than other road going tyres in these conditions
- in winter when the roads are slick with salt then be very careful - these type of tyres just hate that kind of surface and traction is very limited
- they will wear pretty quickly depending on what car they are fitted to. I have got about 3000 miles and a couple of trackdays out of them but in a heavier car than a Caterham I suspect they'll wear more quickly
Having said all that on a warm, dry day they are awesome and they make excellent track tyres.
Just to add to that, with the stiff sidewalls of these 'r' tyres they follow every painted line and contour in the road, the ruts on the inside of the motorways can be pretty interesting too.
I run A048s on my Golf, but just bought a set of 888s for when they're worn out. I understand they don't last as long, but they are a lot cheaper, and as a bonus the 888s are available in the popular Golf/205 size of 195/50x15 now !
>> Edited by GVK on Saturday 28th January 04:51
I run A048s on my Golf, but just bought a set of 888s for when they're worn out. I understand they don't last as long, but they are a lot cheaper, and as a bonus the 888s are available in the popular Golf/205 size of 195/50x15 now !
>> Edited by GVK on Saturday 28th January 04:51
I have experience of both AO48 and R888 tyres, both are very much track/race biased. ( road legal slick compound tyres need to be up to temperature before they offer anyware near best grip)During the winter it would take insane levels of hooning on the public highway to achieve this, the rest of the time you are sliding and slithering all over the place, total waste of time and rubber.In my opinion winter=goodyear F1s or similer trackdays/summer hooning=AO48s 1st R888's cheaper but 2nd
Yup, I agree with those above. I have been using Dunlop D01Js on my track biased Fiat Coupe, and have the same findings.
Good grip dry or wet, as long as there is no standing water!!!
Terrible wear though (as I expected) only lasting about 2000 miles on the front, rears would probably last 3 times that. I would expect the Corrado would give similar results, being a relatively heavy front weight biased fwd car.
I tried it just to see what it's like, I will now be going back to a spare set of wheels for track tyres.
Good grip dry or wet, as long as there is no standing water!!!
Terrible wear though (as I expected) only lasting about 2000 miles on the front, rears would probably last 3 times that. I would expect the Corrado would give similar results, being a relatively heavy front weight biased fwd car.
I tried it just to see what it's like, I will now be going back to a spare set of wheels for track tyres.
final note
yes agreed, a second set of rims is the way to go because they wear out much quicker in road use, so wasteful otherwise.
there is another reason for a second set of rims, that is when the 888's are getting warn below the legal road limit you can still use them on track. I found that by running them backwards sometimes and then reversing them on the rims you can get quite a lot more fun out of them (say 2 or 3 more trackdays -- me a bit tight for cash!!)
yes agreed, a second set of rims is the way to go because they wear out much quicker in road use, so wasteful otherwise.
there is another reason for a second set of rims, that is when the 888's are getting warn below the legal road limit you can still use them on track. I found that by running them backwards sometimes and then reversing them on the rims you can get quite a lot more fun out of them (say 2 or 3 more trackdays -- me a bit tight for cash!!)
Fishy Dave said:
Yup, I agree with those above. I have been using Dunlop D01Js on my track biased Fiat Coupe, and have the same findings.
Good grip dry or wet, as long as there is no standing water!!!
Terrible wear though (as I expected) only lasting about 2000 miles on the front, rears would probably last 3 times that. I would expect the Corrado would give similar results, being a relatively heavy front weight biased fwd car.
I tried it just to see what it's like, I will now be going back to a spare set of wheels for track tyres.
Hmmm... curious where the Trampio R1Rs I'm running would fit in (I'm guessing somewhere inbetween F1s/T1Rs et al, and A048/R888). Three trackdays and almost 6,000 miles so far with at least 5 mm of thread left on a 1,200 kgs, 281 bhp FWD car; using them all year round with no issues except really poor traction on salty winter roads as noted with the R888s by another poster.
Personally, given the above and the limited mileage (not my daily driver), I wouldn't want to go through the hassle of having two sets of wheels/tyres for this car. I might have to upsize my wheels to 17" at some point in order to get enough clearance for APs/Brembos, in which case R888s in 205/40/17 would be my only option. Would they behave much differently to the R1Rs in day to day operation?
Collected the car this evening and drove it reasonably gently approx 65 miles across Wiltshire to my home in Bournemouth. I am planning to get a second set of wheels, but thought I'd feedback initial impressions on the Toyo R888s.
- Quite noisy. Not sure if I'd get used to the drone in everyday use.
- The stiff sidewalls make the car prone to tramlining on lumpy roads, particularly under braking.
- Grip (bearing in mind it was -3deg tonight on Salisbury plain) was decent enough. Obviously I didn't try and "exploit" the tyres, as there is no way they would be working anywhere near optimum due to the cold roads, but sujectively I would say that grip was certainly no worse than a regular Toyo TS-1 in the same conditions.
- You can definately feel the stiffness of the sidewalls at all times in regular driving. The suspension is clearly doing a lot more shock absorption than if (even low profile) road tyres were being used.
I've taken the advice above and will save the R888's for dry, warm summer days & track events. Right - now to find a set of sensible wheels! I think a trip to the one of the Bookatrack days at Combe in March April will be the first track outing.
Thanks for your feedback folks,
John
- Quite noisy. Not sure if I'd get used to the drone in everyday use.
- The stiff sidewalls make the car prone to tramlining on lumpy roads, particularly under braking.
- Grip (bearing in mind it was -3deg tonight on Salisbury plain) was decent enough. Obviously I didn't try and "exploit" the tyres, as there is no way they would be working anywhere near optimum due to the cold roads, but sujectively I would say that grip was certainly no worse than a regular Toyo TS-1 in the same conditions.
- You can definately feel the stiffness of the sidewalls at all times in regular driving. The suspension is clearly doing a lot more shock absorption than if (even low profile) road tyres were being used.
I've taken the advice above and will save the R888's for dry, warm summer days & track events. Right - now to find a set of sensible wheels! I think a trip to the one of the Bookatrack days at Combe in March April will be the first track outing.
Thanks for your feedback folks,
John
wot pressure did they leave them on?
they normally use 32psi!!!!!!!!!! if you don't specify!
should be on 20-22 std griff, which is 2-3 psi lighter to allow for stiffer sidewalls. Maybe you need to do the same?
on my 3rd or so set now. Fab :thumbsup:
>> Edited by Guillotine on Monday 13th February 00:03
they normally use 32psi!!!!!!!!!! if you don't specify!
should be on 20-22 std griff, which is 2-3 psi lighter to allow for stiffer sidewalls. Maybe you need to do the same?
on my 3rd or so set now. Fab :thumbsup:
>> Edited by Guillotine on Monday 13th February 00:03
corozin said:
- Quite noisy. Not sure if I'd get used to the drone in everyday use.
- The stiff sidewalls make the car prone to tramlining on lumpy roads, particularly under braking.
Agree about the noise - I'm hoping I'll get used to it!
Stiff sidewalls? Depends what you're used to. Stiffer than normal Toyos but softer than Bridgestone SO3s. They feel soft to me
The pressure was run at 30psi all round, fitted to a Corrado VR6. This was set by the previous owner as he said that was the best pressure from his experience for road use. Obviously on track you'd drop maybe 3psi-4psi from that before going out.
Since a Corrado normally runs 28-32psi at the front even on regular road tyres this isn't a hard rule to remember.
Did some more mileage over the weekend, and am adapting quickly to the tyres. You get used to the tramlining fairly quickly - it just took me by surprise on Friday night.
Since a Corrado normally runs 28-32psi at the front even on regular road tyres this isn't a hard rule to remember.
Did some more mileage over the weekend, and am adapting quickly to the tyres. You get used to the tramlining fairly quickly - it just took me by surprise on Friday night.
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