[JakeM]

Hello guys. Anyone have experience with the R888's? I'm considering picking up a set for my DD tire. I won't see much rain and I can get a great deal on them. Curious if anyone has any complaints about them.

[Jazzer The Cat]

I run them as a DD from April~October

They grip VERY well on the street and got about 8K out of my last set. That included about 8 HPDE AX days and -2° of camber. I let them sit over the Winter and re-installed them the next april. They were pretty slick initially, but after an AX event, they were "OK", not great. I ended up replacing them at that point and the new ones hold better for sure.

Jazzer

[YoKev]

I used to run 'em pretty-much exclusively on my Evo's. I first tried the Nitto track tire, then after running the Toyo's, I never looked back. Excellent grip if you treat them right. Track tires are really susceptible to heat cycles. They only have a limited number in 'em, so you don't want to drive with them on the street. You'll wear them out before they've lost even half their rubber. Ideally you want to mount them on a second set of wheels, and ONLY mount those wheels for the track.
Anyway...Like I said really good grip, and when they slide, they do it predictably, and are easy to control while sliding. Depending on how you drive, that could be AS important as how well they grip.
They lasted pretty long on my Evo's as well, and the last one was an Evo-10, which weighs about as much as the Mustang(3500lbs), but is all-wheel drive. I haven't yet used 'em on my Boss yet.
Hey..you mentioned you get deals on 'em. If you found a place that blows them out, please PM me their contact info..
Thanx!

[Jazzer The Cat]

^ 'tis true

My tires were basically dead, with about 50% of the tread remaining. Oh well, this is the price I am willing to pay for good grip all Summer long

[ReverendDexter]

If you can get RA1s instead, I recommend it. The RA1 has near identical grip, but last longer. The spec series that were using RA1s and had gone to R888s when they came out have pretty much all gone back to the RA1 because of the complaints of the drivers for tire wear.

However, as a street tire, I think it's a waste either way. These are both 100-treadwear track tires, and don't even get sticky until they get hot (then they stick like velcro).

My recommendation for a sticky DD tire would be the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec. It's a 200 treadwear tire and I find them equally as sticky as my RA1s ever were on an AX course. They're also about 3/4s the price of the Toyos.

[94racing]

If you get another set of wheels i can prob sell you some shaved the heatcycled ra1s for a decent price. Have two roadcourse hpde days on them and they are still sticky as can be on the track

[farms04]

has anyone ran the nitto nt05?

[Jazzer The Cat]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter If you can get RA1s instead, I recommend it. The RA1 has near identical grip, but last longer. The spec series that were using RA1s and had gone to R888s when they came out have pretty much all gone back to the RA1 because of the complaints of the drivers for tire wear. However, as a street tire, I think it's a waste either way. These are both 100-treadwear track tires, and don't even get sticky until they get hot (then they stick like velcro). My recommendation for a sticky DD tire would be the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec. It's a 200 treadwear tire and I find them equally as sticky as my RA1s ever were on an AX course. They're also about 3/4s the price of the Toyos.

I don't know about the RA1's, but the 888's heat up VERY fast. I can drive about 2~3 blocks and they are pretty much ready to go. I can say that my Winter wheels with the PS2's are like a frickin' ROCK for much longer. I need to drive a few miles to get them to hold anything.

Jazzer

[Serlin]

I run NT 01's, just got my first set of RA1's and i'm pretty happy with them too.

I leave mine on the car, and pretty much just drive to and from the track.

Dont overlook the Falken Azeni's as well. Even for a occasional track day, or autox, they are a good summer tire. Tread wear is 200 iirc.
I've also ran them in the rain, and felt pretty confident with the grip.

[ReverendDexter]

Azenis are 180 I think.

I know my Dunlops are considered crazy high treadwear for how sticky they are.

Just do NOT think that Ziexes are anywhere in the same realm as Azenis. Ziexes are seriously some of the worst tires I've ever had the displeasure of driving on, and I've had my share of crappy tires.

[JakeM]

Thanks for the advice guys! My car isn't a DD, but I will be driving on them for a season for sure. I plan on getting them from John B tires. I'm sure some of you know about his website. I know they aren't ideal, but they are cheap. I plan on trying a set of the John B's next season since I will be spending a lot of money, and already have spent a good chunk as well, on my car over the winter. So, really good rubber won't be in the budget until the season after next. Still trying to get into a house in 6 months or a year. Priorities, who needs'em?

Originally Posted by 94racing If you get another set of wheels i can prob sell you some shaved the heatcycled ra1s for a decent price. Have two roadcourse hpde days on them and they are still sticky as can be on the track

Thanks for the offer, but unless you can beat $145/ea shipped I got it covered.

[Jazzer The Cat]

DON'T buy a set of used racing tires

They are heat-cycled out and are NOT worth the money you will pay regardless of how cheap. They won't offer the grip that a brand new tire of a harder compound would deliver.

Please go back and read posts 3~4 to see why those tires are not a good deal.

Jazzer

[JakeM]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat DON'T buy a set of used racing tires They are heat-cycled out and are NOT worth the money you will pay regardless of how cheap. They won't offer the grip that a brand new tire of a harder compound would deliver. Please go back and read posts 3~4 to see why those tires are not a good deal. Jazzer

Damn.. Well back to "Plan A" then. Which is Dunlup Star Spec's. They are less than $100 more than the used R888's on Tire Rack right now brand new.


Star Specs on Tire rack > http://tinyurl.com/6w5kva


PS: For some reason Autoguide auto redirected my first link to some autoguide review site.. That is NOT cool.... I had to use Tinyurl to keep autoguide from auto-redirecting from the tire rack url I had originally posted.

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat DON'T buy a set of used racing tires They are heat-cycled out and are NOT worth the money you will pay regardless of how cheap. They won't offer the grip that a brand new tire of a harder compound would deliver.

That's not necessarily true. It depends on the tire and the source. High-dollar teams are going to get rid of tires when they're costing them a tenth of a second, at which point there's still gobs of life for amateurs like us.

That being said, Toyos are known for being sticky 'til they cord, so I'm not sure when a team is gonna be tossing them.

The unfortunate thing is that tread-depth is NOT an indicator of tire life when it comes to a race tire; you need a durometer reading (lower is better).

[Jazzer The Cat]

^ exactly

My tires had LOTS of tread depth, but just lost that edge. I would certainly agree that even my "dead" 888's had better grip than many street tires, but not compared to that which I was accustomed. Sticky to the end, is what I was counting on when I put them in the storage for 5 months. Turns out, I did some suspension mods and didn't want to "tune" them on what were probably pretty heat-cycled out tires. The following season, I ran the old ones to a single AX event and then did my new springs and fresh set of 888's. It was at this point, I was really able to tell the difference.

For my money, the odds of them being better than a brand new of street tires at a similar cost is too big a gamble. For this reason, I don't recommend a tire such as those found at Big Bobs, or whoever it was... lol

[nileppezdel77!]

Aren't the NT01's basically the same as the R888's but with a different tread pattern? They are cheaper than the Toyo's but iirc made from the same compound.

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by nileppezdel77 Aren't the NT01's basically the same as the R888's but with a different tread pattern? They are cheaper than the Toyo's but iirc made from the same compound.

I had heard that about the R1Rs being the same compound as either R888s or RA1s, but nothing concrete.

[94racing]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter That's not necessarily true. It depends on the tire and the source. High-dollar teams are going to get rid of tires when they're costing them a tenth of a second, at which point there's still gobs of life for amateurs like us. That being said, Toyos are known for being sticky 'til they cord, so I'm not sure when a team is gonna be tossing them. The unfortunate thing is that tread-depth is NOT an indicator of tire life when it comes to a race tire; you need a durometer reading (lower is better).

we moved from toyos to hoosiers because they didnt have as much grip and we picked up 6 seconds on the hoosiers and its pretty neccisary to keep up so i have 4 sets of toyos now.

Originally Posted by jazzerthecat DON'T buy a set of used racing tires They are heat-cycled out and are NOT worth the money you will pay regardless of how cheap. They won't offer the grip that a brand new tire of a harder compound would deliver. Please go back and read posts 3~4 to see why those tires are not a good deal. Jazzer

the toyos have many more heat cycles on them we have got as many as 15 out of my last set. that and the fact that these im willing to sell were really only ran half days due to rain. in the case of shaved tires the tires ware to the belts before they loose grip to the point of being unusable.

some people pay to have there tires heatcycled. if done right they last longer but after the frst heat cycle they have to cure for a month to two months.
so really the tires cost more normally especially if they are preshaved with one correct heat cycle. at two heat cycles you just used a little of what you get out of the tire.this also makes it so that they are less street worthy being shaven i also dont know how warm you can get them on an autocross course though. i may encounter my first experience next month in either a supercharged miata or my mustang.

[Jazzer The Cat]

^ good to know, as I would not have imagined as many as 15 heat cycles

I don't know how just DD effects the heat cycle thing, as I don't know enough about how hot they need to get to be considered a "cycle". Furthermore, I don't know how hot they get just DD'ing 'em all Summer

I can say, that running them from April~October last year, they had noticeably less grip the following season after they were warmed back up for a week or so of driving. The brand new ones I had installed, were much better and braking is where I noticed it most.

I have pretty much resigned myself to just installing a brand new set every April and just go ahead and maybe run a full -3° of camber year 'round

Jazzer

[94racing]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat ^ good to know, as I would not have imagined as many as 15 heat cycles I don't know how just DD effects the heat cycle thing, as I don't know enough about how hot they need to get to be considered a "cycle". Furthermore, I don't know how hot they get just DD'ing 'em all Summer I can say, that running them from April~October last year, they had noticeably less grip the following season after they were warmed back up for a week or so of driving. The brand new ones I had installed, were much better and braking is where I noticed it most. I have pretty much resigned myself to just installing a brand new set every April and just go ahead and maybe run a full -3° of camber year 'round Jazzer

From what we experienced the older they are the worse the grip.
I can run about 15 till the tires are down to belts dad can run about 7 before belts strt poppin out but hes making 150 more hp and also pushing and sliding around alot more