Talk me out of R Compound tires

Thanks for the feedback on the R888R Hungary Bill. It's an interesting tire as it has the lower tread wear rating but it's not that clear how it stacks up against the best of the 200 tw tires. They're probably the best sub 200 tw tire that can actually be driven on the street.

I usually only look at Tire rack for reviews and specs, once again the shipping and exchange just kills most of the deals from there. As an example the RE-71R in size 225/50R16 is discounted at $166/tire there, change that to CAD and we are at $207/tire which is $20 more per tire than PMCtire's normal price. Then I'll pay another $106 US Shipping plus Duty and Brokerage and taxes on top of that. Long story short the discounted tires at Tirerack will cost me an extra $366 CAD !

In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :

Yikes, I didn't realize the Canada factor would be so significant. 

adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:

Thanks for the feedback on the R888R Hungary Bill. It's an interesting tire as it has the lower tread wear rating but it's not that clear how it stacks up against the best of the 200 tw tires. They're probably the best sub 200 tw tire that can actually be driven on the street.

I usually only look at Tire rack for reviews and specs, once again the shipping and exchange just kills most of the deals from there. As an example the RE-71R in size 225/50R16 is discounted at $166/tire there, change that to CAD and we are at $207/tire which is $20 more per tire than PMCtire's normal price. Then I'll pay another $106 US Shipping plus Duty and Brokerage and taxes on top of that. Long story short the discounted tires at Tirerack will cost me an extra $366 CAD !

 

I hear ya.  I was out over $1000usd for the set i bought (330,000huf +).

When i kill this set, i'm going to buy a set of 17" wheels to drive the cost down a bit.  At 275/40 i should save $50 a tire locally.

I still like them and would recommend, but would prefer not to spend a years trackday budget to get them 

Good times

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Tom1200 said:

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

The key to Hoosiers is properly scrubbing them in The vintage TD-Rs I use will do 14 heat cycles

I was assuming we were talking about the Hoosier DOT R comps -- the A7 and R7.  I don't know anything about Hoosier slicks.

 

The Hoosier TD-Rs are  DOT R Comp tires..............they have 4 squiggly treads. note they are also bias ply tires.

As for slicks, on my F500 you can actually manage 3 weekends out of them.

My stock tire size is the same as yours, 225/50-16.  I have run the Dunlop Direzza, the Hankook RS-4 and the Pirelli Trofeo-R in that size on my SVO Mustang.  The Hankook were better than the Dunlop, and the Pirelli had better grip than either, but were terribly expensive and I essentially ruined them on the first outing.  The Pirellis seem to have an extremely soft sidewall and on my first HPDE session using my normal 36 psi starting pressure (worked well with the Hankook and Dunlops), the front tires rolled over so far that it was scrubbing far down the sidewall.  I finally wound up with a starting pressure of 48 psi in order to get them to stay on what was left of the tread.  I'd never buy them again, but they did have great grip while they lasted.  They are the only tire I have ever had chunk on me. 

I also have a set of 17" wheels and am running 245/40-17 Toyo R888R's on them now and they are awesome.  I will definitely buy another set of them and perhaps try them in 245/45-16's.  I just put a set of Toyo Proxes R1R in 225/50-16 on a set of rims for use in wet conditions.  I only have one track session/one heat cycle on them but they seemed pretty darned good considering the conditions (cold).  I think they would be an excellent street/track tire.

In reply to stukndapast :

That's good feedback, thanks for replying. How would you compare the R888R to the RS-4? It sounds like you like them better.

In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :

Yes, the R888R's definitely have more grip than the RS-4's, but it wasn't exactly a fair fight as the R888R's were 245's and the RS-4's were 225's.  Even so, I think in the same size the Toyo is a stickier tire.  I also really liked it's responsiveness on turn-in and the way it gives nice audible feedback when you are pushing it to the limit.