Circuit Semi Slicks

[Roy]

I have been googling away the past week trying to get a decent snap shot of the brands of semis slicks used these days. I have not considered the likes of the Federal 595RSR as a semi slick, though they are a very good tyre.

Their are loads out there and in the 17" diameter range you seem able to get them for $300-350 a tyre vs the $550 that Yokohama and Dunlop wants for their tyres. (I have used a 255/40/17 as the baseline tyre for comparison)

So I have not gone into huge details, just the brand and links. If people have used any of the more obscure models then be great if you could post feedback or results of any decent OS tyre tests you have come across.

Dunlop

DZ03G

Dunlop DZ03G Link

Comment - Seem to be recognised as almost being as quick as the AO50, but like all Dunlops good in the wet and quiet.

Bridgestone

RE55

http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/motorsport/RE55s.aspx

Comment - Still decent enough things though really need to roll out an update. No idea what is happening with the RE-11S

Yokohama

AO50

http://www.yokohama.com.au/motorsports/

Comment - Almost the track day standard tyre in Aus. Great grip but grossly expensive at ~$550

Nitto

NT01

http://www.nittotire.com/Tire/nt01#size

Comment - Seem insanely cheap at $350 a tyre

Michelin

Pilot Super Sport

Michelin Motorsport page

Comment - Said to have almost Pilot Sport Cup level of grip

Pilot Sport Cup

Micheline Pilot Cup site

Seem to be the rage for the best road tyre you can put on fast track/street cars

Federal

FZ-201 & FZ-202

http://www.federalmotorsporttires.com/index.php?page=fz-201

Comment - Up around the $500 a corner and not a great range of sizes available.

Kuhmo

V70A

http://fsport.com.au/kumho_v70a.html

Seem to be used a bit on control tyre circles

Toyo

Proxes R888

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-r888-high-performance-competition-tires

Seem to be better at shorter events like hill climbs where grip is there from near cold

Hankook

Ventus TD Z221

Hankook Motorsport page

Comment - Seem popular in the US. AO50 type money and look to be of equivelant performance to AO50 for sprints

Silverstone

FTZ Sport Type RR

Dealer link

Similar pricing to Nitto, ~$250.

[warps]

Roy,

while your comments on the 050 costs are valid, the feedback I'm hearing from the IPRA guys is that they heat cycle very well, and maintain grip almost down to the canvas. In those terms, if you look at $ per useful km their cost isn't that bad. Compared to the 048, these are cheaper, but they lose tremendous grip after only a handful of heat cycles. A lot of guys will get rid of tyres once they start going off, often with lots of meat still left on them. If you can get useful life out of a tyre, then its cost over a season might not be as high (specially if you want to be at the pointy end of the field)

Food for thought.

[boxheadmr]

Keen to hear more feedback as well. Tyres are so expensive are slicks any better or faster then semi slicks

[levinboy]

Michelin pilot super sports are road tyres

They are my daily tyres very good on the road, quiet and grip is awesome both in wet and dry

[Roy]

Pilot Sport are different to Super Pilot Sport and Pilot Sport Cup

[hrd-hr30]

boxheadmr, I tried a set of slicks for the same reason. cheaper and yes they turned out faster by 9 tenths at Lakeside. Kumho S700 slicks 58.9 vs Toyo R888 semis 59.8. There was almost certainly more time in the slicks because I ran that time with a stock viscous diff, single spinning everywhere. Took a few laps to really get them up to temp, but when they were, the cornering grip was awesome! But they didn't heat cycle well. Next day there with a shimmed diff, I was 2 tenths slower and suffered a blowout on the front. Next track day I had aother front blowout and the other front delaminated. So don't buy Kumho slicks is my tip! I always felt like I was cheating on slicks too.

Roy, you should be able to get the Federal FZ201 much cheaper than $500. They were about $100 cheaper when i bought them and have heard they're cheaper now - but that was the old 'mate of a mate' story... Mine have done 9 days of sprints and hillclimbs on 2 different cars, and still going strong - probably another 4 or 5 days in them and they're still getting me PBs. So heat cycling is not a problem and they're wearing well. I've got the mediums. They are VERY wide for their size - the 255/45x17's overall width is about 275 and tread width is almost 265. I bought 10" wheels for them because they were bulging so much on 9s.

Pic of 255 on 10" and 235 on 9":

R888 I used to hate them when I had them, because they felt gripless. But they got decent lap times if you were prepared to use a fair bit of slip angle. They are cheap, durable and heat cycle well - never lost any pace over their life span of a couple of years.

All evidence says Nitto = Toyo with a different pattern.

Edited March 18, 2012 by hrd-hr30

[boxheadmr]

Interesting about the ditto. what have you been finding?

[hrd-hr30]

Nitto is a brand division of Toyo Tire (USA) Corp. http://www.toyojapan.com/cgi-bin/column/data/release/1119852599.html

They have the same construction, and use the exact same picture in their marketing - the only difference is the tread pattern. They have the same 100UTQG rating, and they are made in Japan with the Toyos.

lol, ditto is a good name for them!

Edited March 18, 2012 by hrd-hr30

[boxheadmr]

interesting stuff, the R888's i used to use donkeys ago but found the A050's and even the RE55's to be a better tire.

I know it looks like the photo is the same but you would have to think that seeing as the R888's have been around for so long that the Nitto's would be an "updated" version?

[260DET]

A set of FZ201's in 17" cost me ~$1400 from Option One Garage, two 235/40, two 255/40. Haven't had a chance to use them yet because of the endless bloody rain.

[benm]

Off-topic slightly but last week i bought a brand new set of hoosier slicks in 13 inch for my little american legend car for $95ea. They are oval track tyres, but $95ea for fresh slick rubber as opposed to the $50ea ive been paying for 1.5yr old semi's, im stoked!

[Roy]

Roy, you should be able to get the Federal FZ201 much cheaper than $500. They were about $100 cheaper when i bought them and have heard they're cheaper now - but that was the old 'mate of a mate' story... Mine have done 9 days of sprints and hillclimbs on 2 different cars, and still going strong - probably another 4 or 5 days in them and they're still getting me PBs. So heat cycling is not a problem and they're wearing well. I've got the mediums.

I can get them for $1200 from OS, so looking at that . The wear is encouraging, can you gauge their outright pace against other tyres you run or similar modded cars? Are they quicker then RE55s? Equiv to AO50s? I read they are quicker then R888s

[hrd-hr30]

That's very good buying Richard! You probably know, but Nev and I are hitting Lakeside April 5

interesting stuff, the R888's i used to use donkeys ago but found the A050's and even the RE55's to be a better tire.

I know it looks like the photo is the same but you would have to think that seeing as the R888's have been around for so long that the Nitto's would be an "updated" version?

NT01 is nothing new either.

It looks like the photo is the same because it is the same If they cbf spending 30min to make a new pic of it's different construction, what makes you think they'd spend time developing a new construction and retooling to make a new tyre and then sell it cheaper than the R888?

But for the money they're going for, they're definitely worth a try. In fact, at the price I saw just now I might buy some this payday! I don't mind sliding around a bit to get the times if I have too.

[boxheadmr]

oh i thought the nitto was released in 2006 vs the R888 that was late 1990's early 2000's so compound changes would be something i thought might change.

Would not mind hearing back about how you go trying them - where was the "cheap" price from?

Edited March 19, 2012 by boxheadmr

[hrd-hr30]

I can get them for $1200 from OS, so looking at that . The wear is encouraging, can you gauge their outright pace against other tyres you run or similar modded cars? Are they quicker then RE55s? Equiv to AO50s? I read they are quicker then R888s

Hard to say. I had a set of RE55S and loved them, but that was 5 or 6 years ago on a very different car - GTR.

They are available in soft compound too. Can't remember how much faster Paul was on the softs compared to the mediums.

Can't speak for pace compared to A050 because so few people use them up here, but I very much doubt they are equivalent to them! From what I hear, its A050 and that Hankook semi, then the DZ03 which was the pace setter for a few years, then the rest... I'd say these are up there with the best of the rest.

I do have a mate with a 206rwkw Sil80, stripped out, with basic aero and alot of setup work on corner weighting etc... and he's a self-confessed data nerd so pretty much everything is optimised, but its still a real budget car. Anyway, he runs 2.5 sec faster than me at Lakeside on these FZ201s. So who knows...

[hrd-hr30]

oh i thought the nitto was released in 2006 vs the R888 that was late 1990's early 2000's so compound changes would be something i thought might change.

Would not mind hearing back about how you go trying them - where was the "cheap" price from?

maybe we're a bit behind, but I remember the RA1 was the benchmark hillclimb tyre up here in the early 2000's. The R888 took over from it around 2004 or something, and was universally hated by hillclimbers.

cheap price is on ebay - probably shooting myself in the foot, but its $249ea for 255/40x17 NT01 with 2011 manufacture date.

Edited March 19, 2012 by hrd-hr30

[Roy]

St George Tyres has them even cheaper then that @ $215 / tyre. Not sure if there is two compounds available but some refer to UTQG of 100, some 200

[zebra]

That is very cheap!!!

Might have to grab a set

[hrd-hr30]

NT01 100 UTQG

NT05 200

[zebra]

Harry - you mentioned hill climbs a few posts back.

What are they using now?

Class rules say can't have "not for highway use/for racing use only" on them. So need to be threaded and road legal

Cheers

A