R881 is very old tyres. at least they are popular around 4 years ago
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All depends how much cheaper is the used/old stock semi slick tyres and how important minimum lap time is to you.
If some privateer or a shop is flogging off some old stock that has beenonly used once with much of its tread remaining or sitting on the shelf respectively and still wants 80+% of the price of a new new set then I would say pay the extra and get something as fresh as possible. Also bear in mind if you buy from a privateer you still have to pay say $15-20 for them to be fitted and balanced.
On the other hand if you get a used set for very little and still last you a few track days and have enormous fun and experience grip levels not possible even with high performance road tyres.
People often get very concerned about the manufacture date of the tyre, but they should be aware of the number of heat cycles the competition tyres had, and also the conditions they were stored as well. Ozone ages rubber quickly and constant exposure to sunlight hardens the tyre as well. On my tyres on my old BMW racecar I keep my wheels/tyres set in a stack and put a wheelie bin rubbish bag over it to keep the sunlight out and store them in a garage that doesn't get too hot ( so yeah ideally an underground cellar would be great ). I only put them on at an event and use old street tyres leftovers from my other cars as transport tyres so I don't wear them out/pick up punctures on the way to an event.
My current set of RE540s in 215/50R15 are close to 4 years old now with about 45% tread left and still nice and grippy once warmed and scuffed up after 2-3 laps and the ultimate laptime is only a tenth or two per 1 min more so in my case plenty good enough for trackday, sprints and tuning days. If that's the margin between winning or losing your class in a competition event then yeah fork out and get a new set.
So to answer your question, it doesn't matter to the backyard racer. Just go out there and whack something on, anything.... and have some fun!
Ok this thread is way too massive, i'm wondering if anyone can give me a straight answer on what tyres u would recommend.
Tyres i'm looking at are 205/50/15 and i'm looking at using them only for track and drag as i use my 17's daily. I don't want to spend ridiculous amounts on them coz i won't use them much so basically a tyre that will do the job ok for the lowest price possible, preferably under $125 a tyre.
I just looking for normal tyres, i would keep the tyres i got on there but they are in terrible condition, two are like 5 years old and the other 2 are bold as causing me to have little grip last track event, so new tyres would definantly be beneficial.
did anyone get a price for re001 fr 195/55 r15
yeh i know that and i said im not looking for circuit or special tyres, just normal road tyres that are grippy. You know how some normal road tyres are just bad in the rain but good in dry and some are the opposite, some are just all bad and some are all good.
Like the nankang's i bought for my 17's are an awesome tyre, they grip very well in the dry and wet, i used to easily rip up the tyres in 1st now it's not so easy and it's cause of the tyres, wet had improved heaps too as it is very hard for it to spin in 2nd and 3rd wont spin at all like it used to. That's going from tornado's to nankang's, a massive difference and they cost me $140ea.
That's why i'm asking here for just normal street tyres that would be like my nankangs but in that size cause my tyre is unavailable in that size :(
if you have to choose between toyo t1r and bridgestone adrenaline re001 for the same price (say $200 each), which one do you choose and why?
EG30 you got any side pics of your tyres mounted? I just wanna see what they look like mounted. Cause these days it's all about looks yo!
^^ he didn't mention wat size though :P