Tyres you use(d) and how u would rate them

[evil_weevil]

Adam, thanks for the replies mate, appreciate it!

I just do interclub supersprints with another club Im with.

Dave - where did you get that deal from?

sounds good!

[BHDave]

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ja...ed-t224548.html

it may be worth seeing what else is available as everyone tends to agree that the 888's are a bit softer than the other brands. I don't know what other semis they can provide but for heavier cars the bridgestones and dunlops seem to be the popular choice

Edited October 19, 2008 by BHDave

[benl1981]

Kumho KU31 SPT are really good and cheap! Had them on for about a month now..

Hold almost 250rwkw without spinning in a straight line. 225/50 16s

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ku...Go-t227406.html

Edited October 19, 2008 by benl1981

[Wotdat]

Happy to offer any info I can guys, and push the Kumho barrow

Wont bag any other products though. Every tyre manufacturer makes some good and bad ones.

[NickR33]

don't know if anyone has reviewed them yet but I recently got a set of the Hankook Ventus K107 and am pretty impressed... I got 235's all round on R34 GTR rims and the grip is much greater than the Azenis RT615's I had previously even though they were 255's... the 615's were very worn and would not grip at all through 1st and 2nd... but now the hankooks grip so well the clutch is just giving up... great tire for the money, thumbs up from me:)

[ellie]

V70A's only have about 5mm when new. And thats only in the 2 centre grooves. The rest of the tread is even more shallow, about 3mm.

I was going to get a set for my own car, since they are street legal, but changed to the KU36's when they came into the country. A little more friendly for day to day use.

I think you might be thinking of the KU31's.

So how have you found the KU36's so far? because I have a full suspension set up and now need tyres to take advantage of what I've got. BUT, I mainly drive on the street and going to get into some motorkharnas etc. so I don't want it to be a pig. I have driven on V70's many times and they handled awesome on the street and wouldn't over heat on the track but found grip levels would fall away fairly quickly after a few laps. I found it to be a healthy balance for me. I can get the new KU36's cheap at around $200 a corner which is astonishing to me for what you get. They seem well siuted to a more street orientated driver with the 180 treadwear more so than a full on semi (<100).

In short, how are they?

[hrd-hr30]

I've had the Kumho KU36 (Ecsta XS) for a couple of months now on my Supra. I've done 2 Lakeside Sprints and quite a bit of road driving on them, inluding about 280km yesterday between highway, hinterland roads, and suburban driving. They're a very good tyre. I finished 2nd in class (Road 8 - basically for V8s, turbo 6s and turbo rotaries) both times I've used them at Lakeside to a much more modified RX7 on Toyo RA1 tyres. And always have a good dice on the track with a lightly modified STi on RE55S. They howl a little when cornering hard, like a road tyre does but have much better grip than a road tyre - I went 2.2 seconds faster on the Kumhos than my Federal 595SS. They're best in the first few laps, but the Supra is a full street trim heavyweight and our QLD weather is quite hot. They're predictable and progressive on the limit. After the first sprint event you could still see the writing embedded in the centre strip of the tread, so the wear is not bad either - and I give them an absolute pizzling on the track!

They're not too noisy on the road, but do tramline a little thanks to the stiff sidewalls. So far they've been very good int he wet too, but they're still virtually full tread. As a compromise tyre between street and track driving, I'd thoroughly recommend them. For the price you're looking at ($200 a corner) you can't go wrong.

[Bullet32]

I've had the Kumho KU36 (Ecsta XS) for a couple of months now on my Supra - I went 2.2 seconds faster on the Kumhos than my Federal 595SS.

Thats not really a fair comparison, the 595 is a UHP street tyre and would be more comparable to the Kumho KU-31.

If you were to compare the KU-36 to the Federal 595RS-R - that would be a good comparison as both are semi slick tyres with similar casing and tread construction.

KU-36

595RS-R

[ellie]

A VERY BIG thanks for your response Harry! Being from queensland and seeing you drive your gtr a few times I feel confident in your recommendations. You wouldn't remember me because I only met you once a couple of years ago at one of the million Mt.cotton hill climbs you would have attended. I had (pretty much) made up my mind and just needed a little push for the final purchase. I'm fairly used to the tracking associated with stiffer sidewall tyres and I've found a happy place with 7"+35's on the front which still provides good levels of grip but barely any tracking on the front of my 32. I'll order mine today I think

P.S. I respect you are an advocate of the federal brand and feel inclined to defend them but I'm 99.9% sure that Harry wasn't making a comparison of the tyres as if they were in the same catagory. More so giving a yard stick of the performance increase of a UHP tyre over a performance street tyre while remaining streetable. His comparison is actually more poignant than he realises because I've had a drive on the SS's and really liked them. As for RS-R v. KU36 = I haven't driven either but being specification comparably identical, I prefer the tread design and much cheaper price (for me) of the kuhmo.

[hrd-hr30]

no worries ellie. I do remember you turning up to the hillclimb. I don't think you'll be dissapointed with them as long as you're realistic about what you expect from them, and it sounds like you are. In between a performance road tyre and a semi slick, but probably closer to a semi slick than road tyre performance in my experience anyway.

They'd be a pretty good thing to be on in Clubman class of Superlap if that comes up here next year. Although the Toyo R1-R and Federal 595RS-R are both a little softer with treadwear ratings of 140. The KU36 is very well priced compared to them though.

Bullet32, I actually like the Federal 595SS as a road tyre and have sung their praises in this thread before. If you read what I said, the comparison was obviously not intended to be a direct comparison of similar tyres, but an example of the kind of performance increase the KU36 offers over a good road tyre:

...have much better grip than a road tyre - I went 2.2 seconds faster on the Kumhos than my Federal 595SS.

[Josh_TypeX]

Hey guys, I'm currently tossing up between the toyo proxes4, falken 452 and yokohama c-drives. Any advice/experiences would be awesome.

[jmac]

Hi everyone, the current issue of MOTOR magazine has done another tyre test, this time also with some semi-slicks! Woohoo!

This might help to settle a few arguments here or at least help people who are shopping for tyres.

Test car was the a Renaultsport Clio 197, size tested was 215/45 R17. Driver was Warren Luff.

Past discussion in tyre tests is that generally results can be extrapolated from smaller to large cars, FF to FR, etc. The magazine do acknowledge that fiddling with pressures etc might alter the results.

Road tyres were tested at 35 PSI, semis at 30 PSI, and the slick at 25 PSI (I'm assuming these were cold pressures). Single warm-up lap for road tyres, two for the semis, and 2 or 3 timed flying laps for the lap time.

Lap times are from Oran Park North Circuit (900m).

If you throw a "bang for your bucks" type calculation in, the Maxxis wins the the Road category (Federal 2nd), and the Dunlop still wins the Semi category (the Federal jumps to 2nd).

Obviously take their prices with a grain of salt...

Results:

ROAD TYRES

1st. BRIDGESTONE POTENZA ADRENALIN RE001

Price = $296

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.1

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.2

Dry braking (m) = 36.7

Wet braking (m) = 40.7

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.93

Lap time (sec) = 40.4

Apex speed (km/h) = 62.4

Total score = 120.1

2nd. MAXXIS VICTRA i-PRO

Price = $215

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.3

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.9

Dry braking (m) = 38.1

Wet braking (m) = 39.8

Dry lateral G = 1.01

Wet lateral G = 0.91

Lap time (sec) = 40.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 63.1

Total score = 115.5

3rd. GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 ASYMMETRIC

Price = $356

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.6

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.6

Dry braking (m) = 38.3

Wet braking (m) = 38.1

Dry lateral G = 0.98

Wet lateral G = 1.04

Lap time (sec) = 40.0

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.8

Total score = 112.4

4th. HANKOOK VENTUS V12 EVO

Price = $210

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.4

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.7

Dry braking (m) = 39.2

Wet braking (m) = 39.7

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.96

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 60.2

Total score = 98.8

5th. PIRELLI P ZERO NERO

Price = $344

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.3

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.1

Dry braking (m) = 39.2

Wet braking (m) = 39.5

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.93

Lap time (sec) = 40.3

Apex speed (km/h) = 63.2

Total score = 95.2

6th. CONTINENTAL SPORTCONTACT 3

Price = $375

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.5

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.6

Dry braking (m) = 38.7

Wet braking (m) = 39.7

Dry lateral G = 0.99

Wet lateral G = 0.96

Lap time (sec) = 40.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.2

Total score = 91.6

7th. DUNLOP SP SPORT MAXX

Price = $340

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.2

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.5

Dry braking (m) = 40.3

Wet braking (m) = 39.4

Dry lateral G = 0.98

Wet lateral G = 0.96

Lap time (sec) = 40.3

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.4

Total score = 84.8

8th. FEDERAL 595 EVO

Price = $180

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.4

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.2

Dry braking (m) = 39.6

Wet braking (m) = 41.8

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.93

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.9

Total score = 81.5

SEMI SLICKS

1st. DUNLOP DIREZZA 03G

Price = $445

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.0

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.2

Dry braking (m) = 34.2

Wet braking (m) = 39.6

Dry lateral G = 1.08

Wet lateral G = 1.02

Lap time (sec) = 39.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 66.8

Total score = 143.4

2nd. BRIDGESTONE POTENZA RE55S

Price = $479

Dry slalom (sec) = 12.8

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.1

Dry braking (m) = 34.4

Wet braking (m) = 39.7

Dry lateral G = 1.07

Wet lateral G = 0.98

Lap time (sec) = 39.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 65.3

Total score = 112.6

3rd. TOYO PROXES R888

Price = $399

Dry slalom (sec) = 12.8

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.8

Dry braking (m) = 34.7

Wet braking (m) = 39.6

Dry lateral G = 1.04

Wet lateral G = 0.96

Lap time (sec) = 39.4

Apex speed (km/h) = 65.1

Total score = 81.3

4th. FEDERAL 595 RSR

Price = $240

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.3

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.6

Dry braking (m) = 35.1

Wet braking (m) = 39.4

Dry lateral G = 1.04

Wet lateral G = 0.96

Lap time (sec) = 39.4

Apex speed (km/h) = 66.2

Total score = 62.7

RACE SLICK

DUNLOP FORUMLA R

Price = $490

Dry slalom (sec) = 12.6

Wet slalom (sec) = 13.9

Dry braking (m) = 31.9

Wet braking (m) = 55.7

Dry lateral G = 1.11

Wet lateral G = 0.85

Lap time (sec) = 38.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 67.0

Total score = n/a

[el capitan]

I run 235/40r18 yokohama v103 all round on my r32 gtr, car has over 400hp atw with a triple plate clutch, rebuilt box and nismo diffs and coilovers. seem to be doing a very good job for a street tyre. Yes they still do brake traction in 1st and 2nd and sometimes 3rd but its very controllable and predictable the thing corners like its on rails.

Has anyone else here use this tyre? any feed back from others?

[ellie]

4th. FEDERAL 595 RSR Price = $180. . . . . . . . . .Semi class

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.4

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.2

Dry braking (m) = 39.6

Wet braking (m) = 41.8

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.93

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.9

Total score = 81.5

8th. FEDERAL 595 EVO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Street class

Price = $180

Dry slalom (sec) = 13.4

Wet slalom (sec) = 14.2

Dry braking (m) = 39.6

Wet braking (m) = 41.8

Dry lateral G = 1.00

Wet lateral G = 0.93

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.9

Total score = 81.5

Are the "total scores" in relatiobn to each other in there catagory or overall. Because if it is overall than (In thier opinion) all the street tyres out rate all but 2 of the semi's. ??

Edit: Not being a smart arse! Just haven't bought the latest mag.

Edited November 12, 2008 by ellie

[jmac]

Are the "total scores" in relatiobn to each other in there catagory or overall. Because if it is overall than (In thier opinion) all the street tyres out rate all but 2 of the semi's. ??

Edit: Not being a smart arse! Just haven't bought the latest mag.

That's cool! Yeah the scores are relative, they are not absolute in any way, and also have nothing to do with the price of the tyre. Sorry should've mentioned that. That's why the slick doesn't have a score.

Cheers!

[ellie]

Cheers, It's good to see some back to back impressions from a well known driver so there can be no arguement on the validity of the persons ratings. Although I do remain cautious, because I'm sure it is like all media = biased.

I don't know if you'd remember but I met you also on the same day that I met Harry at a Mt. cotton hill climb back when I was a very green apprentice.

P.S. I bought my KU36's and will give an impression when I get them on my rims but they are being reco'd at present.

[BHDave]

Their semi prices are all over the shop.

The dunlops are significantly more expensive than the re55's or the toyos from what i've seen. I recently picked up a set of 888's for 235 each in 235/45-17

Interesting that their comparison goes against the view here that the toyos are softer than the re55's in the same MedHard grade so they should be providing better grip, particularly on a lightish car.

Would be interesting to know what type of semi each manufacturer supplied (soft, med or med/hard), as once again, we have a comparison without all the info....

And I would suggest that their cold pressure on the semis is a bit high (assuming it's cold).

[jmac]

Cheers, It's good to see some back to back impressions from a well known driver so there can be no arguement on the validity of the persons ratings. Although I do remain cautious, because I'm sure it is like all media = biased.

I don't know if you'd remember but I met you also on the same day that I met Harry at a Mt. cotton hill climb back when I was a very green apprentice.

P.S. I bought my KU36's and will give an impression when I get them on my rims but they are being reco'd at present.

Yep, I sure do remember. How's it going? I miss my R34......... Not much time to play around with cars at the moment but will be getting back into it as soon as time and budget allows!

Yeah I take what the media says with a large helping of salt but it's the only independent testing we have access to, other than anecdotal evidence from members - which in some cases is very accurate but also very difficult to make sense of in a 40+ page forum thread, with probably just as much of a risk of bias. *no offence!*

Their semi prices are all over the shop.

The dunlops are significantly more expensive than the re55's or the toyos from what i've seen. I recently picked up a set of 888's for 235 each in 235/45-17

Interesting that their comparison goes against the view here that the toyos are softer than the re55's in the same MedHard grade so they should be providing better grip, particularly on a lightish car.

Would be interesting to know what type of semi each manufacturer supplied (soft, med or med/hard), as once again, we have a comparison without all the info....

And I would suggest that their cold pressure on the semis is a bit high (assuming it's cold).

I agree! When I ran RE55S (admittedly a couple of years ago now) they were a LOT cheaper than that, for a much wider size, and ran them at more like 25-27 PSI cold (depending on corner) to get the best out of them (i.e. 30-32 PSI hot). And typical of the Australian car media, no info about compounds given in the article that I could see. Wouldn't want to come across as actually technically accurate and informative now, would they? That would leave less space to dribble on about the latest 500kW Commodore....

[khunjeng]

Just Looking at these Results I found it intresting that the 8th Placed EVO had medium ranked apex speed and the equal best lap time overall...

ROAD TYRES

1st. BRIDGESTONE POTENZA ADRENALIN RE001

Lap time (sec) = 40.4

Apex speed (km/h) = 62.4

Total score = 120.1

2nd. MAXXIS VICTRA i-PRO

Lap time (sec) = 40.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 63.1

Total score = 115.5

3rd. GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 ASYMMETRIC

Lap time (sec) = 40.0

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.8

Total score = 112.4

4th. HANKOOK VENTUS V12 EVO

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 60.2

Total score = 98.8

5th. PIRELLI P ZERO NERO

Lap time (sec) = 40.3

Apex speed (km/h) = 63.2

Total score = 95.2

6th. CONTINENTAL SPORTCONTACT 3

Lap time (sec) = 40.1

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.2

Total score = 91.6

7th. DUNLOP SP SPORT MAXX

Lap time (sec) = 40.3

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.4

Total score = 84.8

8th. FEDERAL 595 EVO

Lap time (sec) = 39.9

Apex speed (km/h) = 61.9

Total score = 81.5

I

[jmac]

Just Looking at these Results I found it intresting that the 8th Placed EVO had medium ranked apex speed and the equal best lap time overall...

From the article (re the lap times)

"The Federal's success was easy to justify, because although it didn't feel especially grippy, it seemed to offer a better balance between front and rear grip. The Hankook, on the other hand, continued to feel as though it had far more understeer that was really the case. Perhaps the way it reaches its grip threshold earlier and scrubs at the front sooner allowed Luffy to push it harder, rather than wait for either end of the car to break away with the grippier tyres."