I just did my 1st Auto-X w/ Toyo RA-1 and the car was so much better now! It has traction in 2nd gear in a straight line and when they do spin exiting turns you can actually modulate the throttle to get them to hook back up.

So, how long will they last with mixed Auto-X and daily driving? My last tires (Dunlop sp8000) only lasted 4,000 miles in the rear since they were always spinning. Think I can get that out of the RA-1 if I keep being easy on them?

 

Sounds about right...
Don't want to keep them around too long anyways.
I think the extended heat cycling would drastically affect performance.
I'd think they would last about 6 months?
The RA-1's don't like being cold, and sometime you gotta be careful.
Getting some heat into them doesn't take long though...
I was running 225 / 50 / 16's on stock Kouki 16" wheels before.
They had nice stiff sidewalls!


-Ted

 

From everything I have read and heard the Toyo RA-1 is quite unique compared to the other DOT-R tires as they have so many heat cycles in them they tend to wear out before hardening up even w/ mixed daily driving/track. They also get stickier as they wear and expose more surface area.

I do love the immediate feedback of the stiff sidewalls, much more like the Yokohama A520 than the slushy Dunlop SP8000 I had last or the Pirelli SS P7000.

I have 225/50-16 on 7.5" +30 front and 8" +30 rear rims right now.

With the recommended minimum 2 deg negative up front it looks like I could clear 245/45-16 all the way around

 

I'm also going to run RA1s on stock S5 T2 wheels. Will these tires wear all right if I don't have the recommended -2.5 degrees camber? I don't have camber plates yet!

 

They will still stick great, but you won't get the most out of them without negative camber up front- they are camber sensitive tires.

The more body roll the more negative camber needed up front, so if on stock suspension you will probably wear the outer shoulder fast when driving hard.

Before my friend had camber plates his car with Hoosiers had about the same cornering power as my car with max perf. street tires and more aggressive suspension- but his car's braking was SOOO much better.

Get as much negative camber up front as you can by loosening all the strut mounting bolts (top and bottom, with wheels off) and bolt them back up using all the slop to bias toward negative camber- should be able to get at least a degree.

 

The RA-1's are a great tire, mine lasted me almost 3 years (at least 2000 miles) from 1996-1999 with about 30 AutoX events on them. They are not the fastest DOT R compound (since they are old technology) but they last a long time if you take care of them but at the end of their useful life, they get very slippery (even though there is still adequate tread).

You will be disappointed unless you are a real good driver that can overcome the Hoosier A5 & 6's and Kumho V710's. I think I was running 1.25 or 1.75 negative camber in my fronts.

 

Before my friend had camber plates his car with Hoosiers

Doh, I think they were Kuhmo. Something more R, but still DOT

I'm not a good driver yet (1st season), but the car makes up for it as I am much more competitive than I should be .

I think my bank account would be disappointed if I was daily driving on Hoosiers A5 &6s or Kuhmo V710s.

The RA-1 are enough to make the car easier to drive on the street without constantly fighting wheelspin; get out of 1st before 5,000rp and its fine.

 

Believe it or not, street driving will do VERY little wear on the R compound tires (slightly more on the A compound Hoosiers since they are a lot softer); it is the heat cycling that will kill them. To figure out if this is true or not; On your next autocross, measure the tread depth of all 4 tires before and after the event; then drive the normal amount of miles you would and measure them again just before the next autocross and compare the wear.

When you get more competetive in your class, you will find out that the V710's are the bargain of the bunch (R compounds) since they cost very close to the RA-1's and feature great wear characteristics and still almost as fast if not equal to the A compound Hoosiers.

But then again, Motorsports no matter what level is always expensive.

 

I ran a few autox events on V710s, size 205/50-15 on stock 'vert wheels without camber plates. By loosening and retorquing all of my suspension components while a friend shoved the hubs toward negative, I managed about .75deg. Unfortunately, I still got pretty heavy understeer and corded the fronts in only 5 days of autox w/2 drivers. As Blue TII said, the cornering was nice, but the braking was just unreal. I didn't even find the braking limits the first (dry) weekend!
Those RA-1s are awesome! I'm very intersted in seeing how they wear.

 

While I agree the Kumho v710 are a great bargin for autocross/lapping day tires, they are slicks, so your not gonna run them on the street for any length of time.

If you want a tire for street & track I would either use the Kumho VictoRacer or the Yokohama A 048 (if you can find them, the A 032R is even cheaper)

The Toyo RA1 is a good lapping day tire, but not as good for autocross (can't generate enogh heat in the short time your on the track).

The Victoracer is a much better autocross tire & lower cost to boot.

All four (Toyo RA1, VictoRacer, A 048, & A 032R) will work in the rain, but the V710 would be deadly.

I run 245/45 ZR17 VictoRacers on the street on my FD.

Prior to that I had a set of Yokohama A 032R's. They lasted a little over a year, 4K miles. That included over 6 lapping days & numerous autocrosses.

 

I ran a few autox events on V710s

Got it right the second guess

Believe it or not, street driving will do VERY little wear on the R compound tires (slightly more on the A compound Hoosiers since they are a lot softer)

That is good to hear and I hope it proves true, but our Auto-X venue is gravel on chunked asphalt so it wears a deep/distinct "river bed" pattern into the tires; I noticed yesterday that pattern is worn off on all but the very outer edge of the fronts w/ the RA-1. The max perf summer tires kept the wear pattern between Auto-Xs. I'm not getting my hopes too high.


it is the heat cycling that will kill them.

Yep, and I have read and been advised the RA-1 are the most tolerant to lots of heat cycling.

Yokohama A 048 (if you can find them, the A 032R is even cheaper

I was leaning toward the A048 since it is so popular as a "street" time attack tire in Japan and has huge tread blocks for low squirm, but I know the old A032R didn't have too many heat cycles in it and would harden up way before it wore out (in 12-15,000mi) with street driving.

Does the newer A048 tolerate lots of heat cycling better (daily driving)? Is it any quieter than A032R?


I have noticed one big drawback to the switch to RA-1.

The drop in gas mileage with RA-1 sucks . On max perf summer tires I was getting ~17mpg on my commute since I had to drive gently on the street to keep the tires from spinning. Now I am getting 9-14mpg depending on whether it is Auto-X weekend or not. That is with cutting a bunch out of fuel out of cold start correction, throttle pumps and low load since my engine is gaining compression.

Can't really blame the tires for that though; although they do scrub a lot of speed when cornering- a weird feeling in a street car.

 

RA1's will lose its tread rather quickly, but from then till it cords, you should be able to get in decent street/track mileage. Be sure to have a nice "street" alignment setting and a "track" alignment setting though. As with most R-compounds and grippier tires, proper alignment is vital for performance as well as tire life.

Also, as previously mentioned, RA1's might not perform as well as certain other "autox" tires. RA1's are more a track-oriented tire.

Check out http://www.meisterschaftmotor.com/tires_wheels.html and https://secure11.nexternal.com/share...RowID=629&All= for "scrubs" (used/heat cycled RA1's).

I, too am running Kumho Victoracers on the street (255/40 all around) on my M3. With tires so grippy, you learn to respect the public highways that much more, as the speeds you are capable of taking turns at are...

 

So it rained a LOT last couple of weeks here and I have to say the wet traction of the RA-1 is awsome compared to street tires as long as you aren't hydroplaning (duh).

Apparently they suck on cold dry pavement though.

Last night I got a tiny bit sideways on the freeway from 6,000rpm to 7,000rpm in 4th from wheelspin. I want AWD.