Tire Talk Megathread

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by e92BMW///M3

Looking at the RE-71RS and am interested in 275/35/18 front 295/35/18 rear. Wheel specs are 18x9.5 et 22 front 18x10.5 et 23 rear on Ohlins RT. Alignment is -2.7 front -1.8(ish) rear from memory. I’m interested in the 295/35 rear because the shorter 295/30 is pretty short on the LRP autocross course that I frequent and requires me to be off the throttle very early on the straight because I run out of 2nd gear and shifting to 3rd and back to 2nd is a bit much for my skill level (6MT) at the moment and doing the whole course in 3rd I feel like I’m leaving time on the table.

I understand that conventional wisdom in the track forum is the 295/35 is a no go, but in the Wheel/Tire forum it seems people run them without issue on similar spec wheels. Is it ‘simply’ a matter of increasing rear ride height a bit for it to be track safe or…?

Any thoughts from someone that has run it would be appreciated.

just upshift to 3rd early, you really gain no extra hp after peak rpm anyways. that would be the EASIEST solution. I still wouldn't run a 295/35 on the street. that just looks awful, performs awful and waste of money.

[b4hand]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

just upshift to 3rd early, you really gain no extra hp after peak rpm anyways. that would be the EASIEST solution. I still wouldn't run a 295/35 on the street. that just looks awful, performs awful and waste of money.

I'd disagree here, just because its an autocross and the s65 doesn't make good torque. I'd suggest OP just let it hang out in 2nd (it will close throttle not hit the limiter) until he gets better at downshifting quickly. This could also be a good place to practice that.

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by b4hand

I'd disagree here, just because its an autocross and the s65 doesn't make good torque. I'd suggest OP just let it hang out in 2nd (it will close throttle not hit the limiter) until he gets better at downshifting quickly. This could also be a good place to practice that.

oh I thought it was on track not auto x course

[spxxx]

Thought I'd bump this thread with my experience driving on the new Nexen Sport-R Sur5 tire.

Sizing:
- The only size that fits our cars easily is the 275/35/18, I was worried that it'd run narrow and be a big downsize from my 285/30 Rt660's... I was very wrong, these things are meaty. They run nearly as wide as 285 RT660's. They also have really square sidewalls and run taller than most 275/35's so you may have some rubbing. Unfortunately, since they are much taller than 285/30/18s, the gearing felt even longer and the lack of torque was very pronounced up the hills.

Grip:
As documented in the GRM tests, these things are STICKY... I was looking for something with slightly better wear than the Rt660 and was willing to give up some pace but these seem to check both boxes. The info I received from TPM said they wore much better than RT660/A052's but grip nearly as well with much less drop-off after a few laps. I can confirm this 100%... I took them to Laguna and saw similar lateral grip as my wider RT660's and they weren't uselessly greasy after 1-2 hot laps like A052s or Falkens. I actually ran my fastest lap of the day (1:40.9) on the 10th lap of a 12 lap session. They did seem to like running at higher pressures of around 39psi hot, my pyrometer is ghetto so I'm not 100% sure of this but I'll try to get more data next weekend.

Wear:
This is what I really cared about since all of these new cheater 200tw tires have massive grip (minus Continental but that's not their goal)... going through a set every 3-4 days was eating into my track budget so I was debating picking up DH scrubs or trying the new Nexens. I can confirm that these hold up to abuse/wear much better than my RT660 and don't have any weird chunking or splitting issues. With the wear I saw after Laguna, I'm hoping they'll be good for 4-5 more events depending on HC behavior. Picture attached of LR tire.

I'll follow up after my next event at Thunderhill on Saturday.

[tsk94]

Awesome, thanks for the info spxxx!
Sounds a like a very compelling option for near A052/RT660 grip but better wear and don't grease up - sweet.

[Cmassey3]

Goodyear SC3s seem backordered through the rest of the year, has anyone tried the endurance Michelin Cup 2s, the 240 TW ones?

[F80_Katz]

Originally Posted by Cmassey3

Goodyear SC3s seem backordered through the rest of the year, has anyone tried the endurance Michelin Cup 2s, the 240 TW ones?

I've run both original cup 2 (180) and the cup 2 connect (240) on my M2c. Have yet to run them on my e90 but very similar setup. I cooked a set of cup 2's in one track day. Swapped to a set of the new 240 connect's and they held up for three track days plus a little street driving and still had some life left but not enough for a track day. They're just a tad expensive.

[Cmassey3]

Originally Posted by F80_Katz

I've run both original cup 2 (180) and the cup 2 connect (240) on my M2c. Have yet to run them on my e90 but very similar setup. I cooked a set of cup 2's in one track day. Swapped to a set of the new 240 connect's and they held up for three track days plus a little street driving and still had some life left but not enough for a track day. They're just a tad expensive.

Thanks for the insight, it kinda confirms my worries that they may not offer a good enough value above 300-340 TW max summers for intermediate HDPE.

The impossible problem I'm trying to solve is finding tires with a higher heat ceiling than the ECS without going to a 200 TW tire since it'll need to have some street duty to it. That'll solve itself once I get track rims, but I don't think I can swing them this season.

The V601 might do it:

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by Cmassey3

Thanks for the insight, it kinda confirms my worries that they may not offer a good enough value above 300-340 TW max summers for intermediate HDPE.

The impossible problem I'm trying to solve is finding tires with a higher heat ceiling than the ECS without going to a 200 TW tire since it'll need to have some street duty to it. That'll solve itself once I get track rims, but I don't think I can swing them this season.

If pace isn't the primary focus, the PS4S is a totally appropriate double duty tire. I did 8 track days on a set. I'm not sure what more to ask for outside of the 200tw category. I think it's one of the best tires on the market for what it does.

[Cmassey3]

Originally Posted by slcook54

If pace isn't the primary focus, the PS4S is a totally appropriate double duty tire. I did 8 track days on a set. I'm not sure what more to ask for outside of the 200tw category. I think it's one of the best tires on the market for what it does.

That's pretty high marks, I'll have to check them out. I think Costco will only spec the Cup 2s (180 and 240) on my OEM 19s and bar me from getting other Michelins, not 100% sure why on that one. Tire Rack and others might come close in cost and they'd have no problem with PS4S on the 19s.

[slcook54]

That's 7 days rotating, all at Laguna and I'm pushing pretty hard. Was full weight at the time.

[F80_Katz]

Originally Posted by slcook54

If pace isn't the primary focus, the PS4S is a totally appropriate double duty tire. I did 8 track days on a set. I'm not sure what more to ask for outside of the 200tw category. I think it's one of the best tires on the market for what it does.

Agree 100%. That's what I'm currently running on my e90. They do it all. Ps4s is the best current all around tire. Very capable on track too

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by slcook54

That's 7 days rotating, all at Laguna and I'm pushing pretty hard. Was full weight at the time.

Any alignment and setup recommendations for the PS4S? Example: Negative 3 degrees of left and right Front camber and Negative 2 degrees of left and right Rear camber with a Hot pressure ceiling of 40psi at all four corners? 1/8th inch total toe IN at the front and rear axles and as much caster as possible for the chassis? Am I even close?
.
Old PSCup Care & Feeding and BFG R1S .pdf files with setup info:
.

[slcook54]

Originally Posted by DrFerry

Any alignment and setup recommendations for the PS4S? Example: Negative 3 degrees of left and right Front camber and Negative 2 degrees of left and right Rear camber with a Hot pressure ceiling of 40psi at all four corners? 1/8th inch total toe IN at the front and rear axles and as much caster as possible for the chassis? Am I even close?
.
Old PSCup Care & Feeding and BFG R1S .pdf files with setup info:
.

I'll grab my alignment specs later but this was only -2.6 front, which worked fine but my NT01 are begging for a lot more camber.

[e92BMW///M3]

My alignment specs with PS4S are -2.5* front and -1.7* rear with near 0 toe all around. Caster is around 7* I think.

[Exclusivs]

Anyone run BOTH, AR1 & CRS? Trouble deciding tbh

[tsk94]

CRS can't possibly be worse than the AR1, but Nankang never does fail to disappoint. AR1s and NS2Rs are both garbage.
Back when they came to NA originally and they were super cheap, then for the money they weren't bad. But for what the cost now, f that.

[tsk94]

^ In my experience at least..

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

AR1 and NS2R are awful tires. Don't bother with them.

[Exclusivs]

Holy cow! Okay, definitely wasn't expecting that reply from guys. Seem to be the Go-To semi slick in EU. And trusted by Apex Nürburgrings taxi fleet. What was the issue with them? Can you guys site specifics.

[tsk94]

I had a chance to use a prototype/early release set back in 2016 on a 135i I was tracking at the time. Coming off the R888R's I had used as my previous set, the AR1s felt quite good. Faster, didn't grease up and wore pretty well. That said, the compound likely changed from that set I used to the full production model available now - and the size was very different (255/35R18).

After hearing a bunch of good stuff, particularly from APEX and their experience with the AR1s on the XX31 (the Schirmer E92 they tracked), I decided to give them a go on my E92 race car since I could get them in 295/30's. Didn't live up to the hype. Initially they are faster then most tires in that category (NT01, R888R, RR, etc.), but after 2-3 heat cycles they start to fall off, massively. From halfway wore down to corded, they are 2-4 seconds slower then when they are new, and they probably lose ~1 second after 1 days use (~5ish heat cycles). Just nothing special about them.. They have very stiff sidewalls, so turn in is nice, but that's about it. Something to do with the construction, sidewall stiffness and tire pressures they like, seemed to cause uneven wear that left me chasing tire pressures and alignment settings on both cars. Like I mentioned, if they were cheapo tires then sure, you put up with some of those short comings. But these cost me as much, or more, then NT01's or RR's do. I only used 4 sets of them because they were the only option available at the time in the sizes I wanted.

It almost makes me think that the tires we get over here from Nankang are produced somewhere else compared to EU models and that something is different in the compound or construction. I just can't understand how they like them so much over there given how terrible they are here. I know a ton of people locally that have run them as well, and it's all been very similar; 'Ya, they are okay, but I wouldn't buy them again'.

I've used 2 sets of 295 squares on my E92 when I had it and ran 2 sets of 295/315 on my M4 now, so I have decent amount of experience with them. Going back to NT01's and RR's this year after using AR1's last season was a welcome change..

[spxxx]

Nexen Sport-R after 11 HC's (1 event + open test day so closer to 3 events). They're at ~5.5/32nds coming from 7.5/32nds brand new.

The wear is extremely even across the board, haven't seen any major drop-off in pace... Loving this tire so far.