Semi Slicks Tyre Recommendation

[patty]

Hey guys I need to replace my front tyres on the RX7 and can't make my mind up on what to get haha.

Need 17s and they will be used mainly on track and street but mostly track days.

Budget is roughly $200-300 ea.

Tia!

[Sensible]

Try the Nankangs that the guys at Aussie Trailer Hire are now selling, Bart ran them on the 34 at Buno and didn't die

[patty]

Yeah I've heard the Nankang AR-1 are the new craze.

[monk_13]

A few will be running them at Rallysprint on the 16th, from what I hear. Maybe head down if you can, and chat to a few of the guys.

[shifted]

Anything wrong with Nitto?

[patty]

Can't say I've ever tried Nitro. Only ever had Achilles 123 and Federal RSR but want to try something different as mine are shot.

[S13]

Hankook Rs3 is best ive tried in that category (ie: 123's and RSR) bit $ but found them really good

[DISTRBD]

Try the Nankangs that the guys at Aussie Trailer Hire are now selling, Bart ran them on the 34 at Buno and didn't die

Correct , we did not die but I did try :P I was pretty happy with the grip from them , for the $$ you can't go wrong :)

[MrSparkle]

Agree rs3 are the best all round (one set of wheels for everything) have only used rsr as comparison not the new rsrr it might be better? Also ppl get all excited about the ad08r but theres a price I just cant get past there.

Nt01s are good on track but take too long to heat up for a typical collie day and suck the big one on the street no real heat till 4th lap imo and thats 400hp /1300kg car 245 17 size. Water on the road is killer and the noise they make gets old fast. But once warm they are amazing and they are sticky till the belts. I would suggest for track only or 90% track car.

Please report back with results and general happiness on whatever you choose. Id like a good local tyre thread.

[shifted]

Don't mean to hijack but I myself am looking to get new semi-slicks for the Supra so may as well keep it in the same thread. :p

If the Nitto's aren't going to be much good for street use (granted car is barely used) then keen to see cost-effective alternatives. :D

(Was considering getting the NT01's as the tyre places on eBay have them for $300-$330 delivered for each rear and Bob Jane is asking $375ea, so a local buy seems ideal).

[2jzlux]

Don't mean to hijack but I myself am looking to get new semi-slicks for the Supra so may as well keep it in the same thread. :p

If the Nitto's aren't going to be much good for street use (granted car is barely used) then keen to see cost-effective alternatives. :D

(Was considering getting the NT01's as the tyre places on eBay have them for $300-$330 delivered for each rear and Bob Jane is asking $375ea, so a local buy seems ideal).

I run the Yokohama ad08r on my chaser
Seem to hook up relatively well on the street and managed an 11.3 at the drags, haven't tried them on a track yet though but they are priced ok
I paid 365 a tyre at my local Bob Jane.

[patty]

Hankook Rs3 is best ive tried in that category (ie: 123's and RSR) bit $ but found them really good
Yeah I'm some what looking to stepping up a category in tyres. I sorta that I mainly drive the car at events more than the street so may aswell go something better.


Correct , we did not die but I did try :P I was pretty happy with the grip from them , for the $$ you can't go wrong :)
Yeah I've been hearing good things so they may be the go. Do you think they would be some what streetable?

[200MPH]

NT01's are fine. Run them on the back of my car. Drove to Albany and back for RW on them, plus gone through a few sets in the last 3 years. Work well enough on a wet track, despite lack of tread. I generally only drive mine to competition events though. Not a daily tyre I guess. I didn't think they made noise either, despite what said previous. However my car is so loud I couldn't tell if a tyre noisy or not!

[shifted]

NT01's are fine. Run them on the back of my car. Drove to Albany and back for RW on them, plus gone through a few sets in the last 3 years. Work well enough on a wet track, despite lack of tread. I generally only drive mine to competition events though. Not a daily tyre I guess. I didn't think they made noise either, despite what said previous. However my car is so loud I couldn't tell if a tyre noisy or not!

I don't mind noise, I prefer driving the car with the radio off anyway to hear all the noises haha

[Byah!]

Thread jack!!!

Guys I need a new set of rears on my silvia. Issue is my fronts are still in good condition (nitto INVO) but as it stands the car is kinda understeering at the moment so didn't really want to get a set that overpowers the fronts more (semi slicks). Planning to get a full set of semi's once the fronts are spent.

I like the INVO's...but before I replace the rears with a new set are there any other recommendations? was thinking a set of federal 595 rs-r but seems like they are semi slicks and will overpower my fronts?

The car is a daily but I do track events about 6-8 times a year.

[200MPH]

Put existing fronts on rear and then decent tyres on front, like AD08R (seeing as its your daily skip the full r comp tyre).
But of course you don't run same tyre size I bet!

[Byah!]

haha yeah that's the problem....got 225 on the front and 245 on the rear running wheels with different offsets as well.


Ended up going with a set of Kumho's on the rear, k39's I think. Strange thing is the rear of the car has let loose mid corner a few times at track events but when I did a drift session the other day it seemed too grippy.....guess setup of the car is all learning...will play with the tyre pressures and sway bar settings and see what I can do...may put a little bit more camber on the rear as I think its relatively straight at the moment

Plan is to wear those out then go full new set. After doing some research it seems the Kumho V720 could be a good choice for my situation (street/track)

[Phyber]

Hadn't heard about the V720s so I looked them up and quite a few people have posted about delamination issues during track work, most recent review though one guy who tracked them in his M3 had no issues. Read through a few reviews from here if you haven't already:

https://www.tirerack.com/survey/SurveyComments.jsp?&category=tire&additionalComments=y&commentStatus=P&tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+V720&fromTireDetail=true&tirePageLocQty=



The V720s were on my car for the past autocross season. Wear was acceptable for my camber limited car but after around 1200 miles the front right tire started to delaminate on the outside edge of the center rib. I rotated that tire to the back to finish out the last event of the season because the rear right tire seemed to be wearing normally. However, the new front right tire began to fall apart in the same manner as the other tire.I think these tires are a good autocross tire for someone in a milder climate who is not co-driving. They have good grip characteristics and wear relative to the other top tires (RE71R, Rival S). However, it appears they are very sensitive to heat. My car was codriven for this season of autocross and my guess is the extra heat from codriving contributed to the delamination problem. This is even after spraying down the tires after each run whenever we were running in warm weather. Kumho has specifically come out and said these are not a track tire, I assume because of the heat issues. Keep this in mind if you plan to autocross in hot weather or with another driver.If there was no risk of delamination or Kumho offered more compensation when I encountered the problem I would probably buy them again. However, I had to stop using the tires while they still had 3 or 4 days of autocross left in them because of the delamination problem.




Also said to be super noisy on highway driving by a few people, but I'd probably look past that. One guy reckoned they sounded like muddies on a 4WD though!

[Byah!]

yeah did see the noise issues but thought that was not an issue given im in an s13 :p

delamination is an issue....hmmm may not be a good choice then...thanks for the heads up!

[Phyber]

One post said it was only an early batch issue but you never know!

[Fujiwara13]

Bit of a thread revival.

Looking to see what people are running at the track now for semi slicks and approx times. I need a new set of semi's for my 180sx, which is bout 1300kg including the cage and rb conversion.

My goal has been to go to 66ish seconds per lap on the long track on something like an Achilles 123. I was running Westlake sport rs, which were good, and tried powersports, which were less good but both pretty old tyres when I started putting proper laps in.

Westlake would be good again but seems like suppliers are limited. Other options look lile:
- nangkang ns2r, treadwear 120/180
- zestino???
- nitto nt01

Any comment on what people are running nowadays around the $200 per tyre mark?

[Nugs]

What sizes are you looking for?

[Fujiwara13]

265/35/18 currently. Could do a 275 or a slightly larger profile without too much hastle.

[Simon]

Plug for the kuhmo v720. I have them on my ek4. Their incredibly loud but grip does not end.
I use them as daily wheels, great in the rain too. They do tramline pretty hard so be prepared to keep both hands on the wheel at all times.
There is a spot on roe highway before you get to Tonkin where there is a bump and then the surface changes, I almost change lanes uncommanded there every day.

[Tre-Cool]

i've been running the nankang AR1's on my vy ute. I needed to run a much sticker tyre for traction and they seem to cope pretty well with 600+whp. power delivery comes on pretty early in that the 20's would just spin as boost come in, even in 4th gear.

20's where nothing special in comparison Achilles ATRs, but these tyres have gone 10.6 in my old ve.

[200MPH]

Nankang AR-1 if you want a true semi-slick R compound tyre that is cheap and by all reports last well. I've not used them however. I'm talking about tread wear of 80 or less here, none of this 200 tread wear 'semi-slick' wanna be race tyre but actually road tyre stuff. NT01 are good enough, but not as good as you can get.

Want to go fast and not be able to make excuses for tyres? Then A050's. Or similar looking Hankook Z214. Or Dunlops, or Kumho V70A. Get your wallet out though, especially for the A050's. They're the best, they know it, they don't discount.

[Sensible]

Nankang AR1 are cheap and cheerful but don’t heat cycle well,

We got 4 rallysprints out of a set before the grip really dropped off but they still look fine and plenty of tread depth left, I will probably treat them to a bath of Octopus grip for a while until there is no tread left

[mr_rotary]

Chat to Peter, has some pretty decent cheapo tyres he uses on his RX-7 for street and track.