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

[hardsteppa]

have used a few more tyres to mention

- Falken RT615K. Not a new tyre to the market, but first time I've used them, using a 255/40/17. I paid $250 a tyre fitted. I was really impressed; very good progressive grip and good grip in wet too. Haven't got more than 9000k's for any of the 200-treadwear tyres and these were no exception, but didn't wear faster than any of the others in that treadwear range and semi-slick type pattern. They have under 2mm tread left and still gripping well at the moment, although getting slippery in wet now. Tread pattern is soooo sexy too, and good build quality made-in-JPN tyre. Would buy again, but can't seem to find in stock anywhere for some time now.

- Zestino Gredge 07R, in the 240 treadwear rating, 255/40/17. These are on the rear only, and wanted something that will last me longer than 6 months but still keeping a semi-slick type tread pattern. $160 fitted. Tread pattern looks to be a rip-off of the Bridgestone semi-slick. Been on the car a few months, and for a pretty cheap tyre, they've been quite good; raining here at the moment and gripping fine in the wet when driven reasonably. Build quality looks to be Chinese-made pretty average (ton of wheel weights on one section of the rim too) but I would expect that for the price, and performance bang for buck seems choice bro. 

[niZmO_Man]

Anyone tried Valino? I know it's a "drift" tyre but 160 treadwear rating...

[44014]

R34 Gtt 600rwhp

Hankook rs4 

265/35/18

Great first time on the track and fantastic grip on the road 

Drove about 1000km between track days mainly moderate speed runs in the twisties 

When I went back to the track was like a different set of tyres 

No grip, went off extremely quickly and became unpredictable.

So in conclusion great when they are fresh but don't seam to cycle very well.

Still work very well on the road but going to some ad08r's very soon .

2000km ( of hard driving ) rears are about 50% fronts about 60%

[The Bogan]

Replaced my RS4's with RE003

Toyota 86, 1250kg 145 kwatw.

Went from 215/45 17 to 235/45 17 on a 8" rim

Both are running at 34psi front and rear

RS4:

Much better in the dry than RE003 (yes, the 215 RS4 grips better than the 235 RE003, rim size may have something to do, I went from minimum size to maximum size tyre for a 8" rim running 45 series, spooky.....)

Lasted about 15k km of street driving

Really average in the wet

Really average initially in cold temperatures 

They were pretty noisy

After scrubbing them in they stayed very predictable.

RE003:

Better than the RS4's in the wet

Not as good in the dry

Much much quiter

The additional sidewall, 9mm,  gives a noticeably smoother ride.

Next set of tyres: RS4 235/45 17, I can deal with the noise, I can drive slow in the wet, but I don't like giving up the dry grip, plus there cheap, bang for buck is excellent. 

[d1git]

Bridgestone have a flash sale running till Saturday this week.

Just replaced 2 x 7 year old rears (looked like crap compliance tyres) with RE003's for $210 each.  245/45/18's

Haven't given them a workout yet but they're a huge improvement on ride quality and have been good to me in the past on other vehicles.

Made me laugh when the guys had to break out the jack cause they were juuuust touching the ground pulling it into the workshop and were worried about getting it on the hoist.

Can recommend Bridgestone Mentone Vic for quick good service, rang them, told them exactly what I wanted, no quote needed I did that online, checked stock, booked, slotted in between some big service jobs and done an hour later.

Super helpful. Not affiliated at all but when I get great service I like to call it out,

[Stixbnr32]

I got a set of Good Year Eagle F1 on my stock 16" R32 GTR Rims (225s) and well have I been surprised ran 11.4 @ 125mph on unprepped track with a 1.8 60ft and a 1.7 60 ft on a prepped track but missed a gear so didnt run faster but hat was an 11.2 run.

Not something I'm keeping forever need some bigger wheels but I am happy with the cost/performance ratio.  

Edited November 28, 2019 by Stixbnr32

[ianjb]

This needs some life kicked into it.

less go!!!!

[The Bogan]

On 12/01/2022 at 4:04 PM, ianjb said:

This needs some life kicked into it.

less go!!!!

10k km old Hankook RS4 tyres are rubbish for drag racing, rhey do make good sm9ke though 

Sorry, but that's all I got at the moment 

 

[Kinkstaah]

They are however pretty decent for actual motorsport and IMO are the best value for $ road/track tyre that exists right now. No road tyre works for RWD Drag applications. They never have 😛

It is a bit disappointing that this hasn't changed since the RS4 came along. The uber cheap options that were almost as good as the RS3/RS4 are now 90% of the price instead of 50.

Looking at you, Federal RSR, Nankang NS2R etc, and you have newcomers like Zestino who are aren't up to the RS4 performance but you just don't save enough money to consider the downgrade.

[GTSBoy]

On 1/12/2022 at 4:04 PM, mlr said:

10k km old Hankook RS4 tyres are

....f**king noisy too. Horrible f**king things.

[GTSBoy]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:46 PM, Kinkstaah said:

It is a bit disappointing that this hasn't changed since the RS4 came along. The uber cheap options that were almost as good as the RS3/RS4 are now 90% of the price instead of 50.

After suffering more permanent hearing damage from RS4s, I am still convinced that ADO8Rs are worth paying more for.

[niZmO_Man]

I had RS-3 and put AD08 on, haven't tracked it yet (rarely drive it these days) but from initial experience the AD08 is nicer to drive. Grabbed a set when it was buy 3 get 4th free deal.

[No Crust Racing]

Umm what can I add here....

 

2018 Nankang AR1s: Not bad, seem to be quite temperamental to what tyre pressures they are run. I found them quite easy to overheat when going for PBs and if you did you would need to give them a solid lap to recover then go again. Wear rate was not bad for a cheap tyre, I did 6 events on them (3-4 sessions per event, 6-8 laps per session tracks ranging from 1k to 3.2k long) and they still had tread to go and were sold on the rims as being useful tyres. 

Grip at the limit was reasonably progressive with decent feel about what was happening under you and a bit of audible feedback. I drove that season with a win it or bin it mentality, go for a PB every session or stuff up so I was rough on the tyres and also had some brake balance issues early in the season that resulted in some minor lock ups and they took it. 

Do not try and switch back to a few year old Federal RS-R that you've already done a bunch of events on, they will be hard AF and you will basically just drift the entire lap 0_0

Hard to compare new AR1 to  new RS-R (not RS-RR, the older RS-R) as I had them in different sizes and car changed a lot during that time but I can say the AR1 had more outright grip but less consistency. AR1 had a narrower window for its best performance but gave better results when it was in it. 

[Dasmbo]

Wish Pirelli still made 275X35X18 and 235x40x18 P6 all season tyres they were the best i ever had on my car they dont make them any more got conned into buying Pirelli P Zero's which were crap havnt had a decent tyre on it since currently have Dunlop ice skates on it at the moment

[admS15]

Still rocking ad08r from 2016 on my street wheels, still got decent tread and grip. I'll probably replace with the same, next time there's a good deal. 

Track wheels still fitted with ar1, haven't done much track work for ages, would still consider buying a new set depending on the price. Not sure if they're still cheap.

I recently bought an rs Megane and it came with zestino o7a (harder street tyres). I did a day recently at Sandown and found them to be quite decent. I managed a flat 1:29, there was 2 other Meganes with more power and suspension mods and on ar1's doing 1:26 and 1:27. Racechrono reckons theoretically a  low 1:28 was achievable. So the zestino couldn't have been too bad. They are a little noisy on the street though. Came with the car, not complaining. They held up pretty good too after the track day, unlike the brakes which only lasted 2 sessions before the spanners had to come out.

On the same day, Richo had his R33 out on 4-5 year old RS4 and did a lazy 1:20 and looked like he was just warming up. He did say he is a bit faster on ad08r.

Out of the street tyres for motorsport it's still ad08r followed by RS4 ahead of the others and full track it's still a050/z221 at the top imo.

[Kinkstaah]

I agree with all of the above but...

Zestino 07A (280TW)= $170
Zestino 07R (240TW) = $210
Zestino 07RS (180TW) = $310
Hankook RS4 = $285 (but 4 for 3 is common, literally 100% of times I have bought RS4's..)
AD08R = $398, but amazingly becomes $500 per tyre when it goes 4 for 3....

(all prices for 265/35/18)

 

[admS15]

On 13/01/2022 at 11:25 PM, Kinkstaah said:

I agree with all of the above but...

Zestino 07A (280TW)= $170
Zestino 07R (240TW) = $210
Zestino 07RS (180TW) = $310
Hankook RS4 = $285 (but 4 for 3 is common, literally 100% of times I have bought RS4's..)
AD08R = $398, but amazingly becomes $500 per tyre when it goes 4 for 3....

(all prices for 265/35/18)

 

You get what you pay for I suppose. Where do you get zestino from at those prices?

[dyl33]

I've got Bridgestone s007a tyres 265/35/r18 on at the moment and they feel brilliant heaps of grip and road noise is very minimal.

 

[Kinkstaah]

On 1/14/2022 at 12:33 AM, admS15 said:

You get what you pay for I suppose. Where do you get zestino from at those prices?

Thats my point I guess, the RS4 is much better value than the rest for what you get, so you kinda don't get what you pay for. I had a set of AD08R last a grand total of 15,000kms on the front too.

The prices were from https://www.dhftyres.com.au/ which is just around the corner from me. I feel prices on tyres don't tend to vary too much nowadays, but if the prices are wildly inaccurate I should shop around more!

[replicate]

Can vouch for Zestino 07RS. I’ve been through 5 or 6 sets over the last two years. Used as daily and track tyres. Prices aren’t as sharp as they used to be so not as cheap as RS4 especially when they have buy 3 get 1 free. But you get what you pay for. The Zestinos are faster. 
Have done a 1:06 at Wakefield in a light tuned Golf GTI. 1:45 at Sydney Motorsport Park. 
 

Currently trying the new RE71RS and they are amazing. Won’t spin in 2nd on the GTI from a roll. Yet to try on track but expecting them to be at least a second faster than the Zestinos. 
 

For reference on A050 I’m easily in the 1:43 region on the GP circuit. Pushing into the 42s. 
 

Ran AR1 for a while. Not super impressed. Actually found Zestinos and Cup2s faster. But it was a while ago and I wasn’t really using the lateral grip available on the AR1. When you don’t they are just a heavy tyre with no feel or feedback. 
 

Have also used Zestino 07R. Not bad for the money but I’d rather spend a bit more for the much better 07RS.