thoughts, info on these radials, im deciding on buying these or replacing the set of Hoosier R compounds ive got already

this car see the road a few times a week, and its tracked from time to time.

has anyone run the R888?

 

Since you seem to be doing a significant amount of street driving, have you thought about getting a second set of wheels specifically for the track? It will save you money in the long run. Something like a Bridgestone RE-01R would be a better choice for a daily tire (still a bit soft, IMHO) and you can save the DOT stickies for the track. They will also give you much better wet performance for those times when you get caught out in the rain, and can serve as a wet tire on the track.

It's a win/win.

As for the R888's - everything I hear indicates that it will be a hair faster than the RA1's it replaces. It won't be as fast as the Hoosiers on the track. But it should still wear better like the RA1's did.

I have RA1's on the FC, but I only run them on the track. The FD has an old set of Bridgestone S02-PP's that are need to be replaced, probably by the RE-01Rs, since they are currently on sale at TireRack.com.

-bill

 

thanks for the info man, you got a list of street worthy tires i can look into

 

Honestly they are NOT great in the rain, but in the dry weather I can't think of a DOT tire that compares to them! Besides I don't drive the FD in the rain anyway. I love em
-J

 

What sort of sizes are you looking at. One good one is the Dunlop Z1, in Tire Rack testing it matched the performance of the RE-01R, but at a cheaper price.

 

Kumho V710 would probably whup them in the dry.

Definitely like the Dunlop, that's going to be my next set.

 

as of now i have 15x7 inch diamond wheels, id like to keep the 12 inches of width i currently have but i want more side wall than i have now given the R45a's, so correct me if in wrong but i think im going to need new rims

 

on a 15 x 7, Bridgestone's RE-01R's 195/50/15 would be a good fitment.

Does Dunlop make anything that small in the 15's?

 

The only 15" size for the Dunlop is 195/55/15

 

Yeah, unfortunately Bridgestone doesn't offer anything in a 15-inch size - 195/50/15 would be more than a bit narrow on 7-inch wheel. 225/50/15 or 225/45/15 is a more common size for that rim.

Do a search on Tirerack.com and plug in size 225/50/15. I see that the Goodrich g-force T/A KD's are on closeout at $148/ea, which seems a decent price, but I have no experience with the tire.

Good luck,

-bill

 

the Bridgestone 195/50/15 is wider than the Falken 205/50/15, so I think it would be just right on a 7 inch rim. You could run a 225, but now you're trading sidewall rigidity for ultimate grip.

 

At the 25 hours of thunderhill this year...the R888 was the only tire we ran. Even when it started to sprinkle, it was freakin awesome. The entire race only used up one set of tires, and they wore perfectly the entire time. They heat cycled wonderfully, and they heated up quickly coming out of the pits.

We used them on our first gen, and our miata, on some panasport wheels, 15x7 I believe.

Personally, I love this tire...handles like a dream, and the other miatas that still had RA1's were getting spanked in the corners by ours...course it was David Voden driving...so that might have something to do with it too.

 

Even at 205, it is still not enough tire. I run 205/50/15 Toyos on my NA FC w/ stock 15x6 rims and that's a proper fit for that size wheel. And it's still not enough tire for the car. There is a reason that the ITS guys are running 225's either in 50 or 45 profile on 15x7 rims. I'm currently looking for some cheap 15x7s so I can run 225's. You can supposedly shoe-horn the 225 Hoosiers onto 15x6, but it's not recommended.

-bill

 

It sucks no one makes a good 205/225 tire for the STS guys.

 

The Hankook RS2's are available in a 225/45/15, and the Toyo R1R's are supposed to be available in a 225/45/15 soon, then there's a few in a 225/50/15, like the BFG T/A KD and the RS2's again. So there's some selection, but it's not great.

Then again, you can always step up to some 16" or 17" sizes to get a better selection.

 

Toyo T1R's should prove to be rather nice, I'm anxious for some reviews.

 

I think you mean R1R's, since T1R's have been out for a while and aren't in the same league.

 

yea, sorry, i was referring to the upcoming Toyo tire, which I didn't know what the name of it was.

 

I love the ra-1 on the stock FD wheels, I don't think there is an r888 that will fit that rim...

t

 

According to the Toyo site (http://www.toyo.com/), the R888 will be produced in both 225/50/16 as well as wider 245/45/16 (a nice alternative). The first is a fairly common size, but the second is a bit rare. There will probably be an issue of locating someone who actually stocks these sizes.

-bill

 

I use the 245-45-16 ra-1. Glad they will have the 888 in that size as well...didn't say that when I looked a few mos ago.

t

 

I have just brought a set of R888's for my car - yet to go out for a skid, interesting about the comment about the wet :-(