Semi-Slicks and Performance Rubber..

[beeza]

That's for everyday driving DYNALL?

[DNYALL]

haha nah man, got a second set of wheels with the semi's on for track. AD07's for street

[beeza]

Ah cool!

[DNYALL]

Car is still a daily and I drive 100km's a day traveling to work and back Semi's are a big no-no for street for me...

[DC5TYPER]

KU36 is Best Tyre for street and track that is affordable.

I went quicker at winton with KU36 on my setup then the used A048. RE55 and R6 should be used when you have sufficient track time and you've maxed out street tyres and cheap Semi's.

This is what i've learnt from owning many different tyres and also tracking on them.

[chargeR]

I have used Bridgestone RE001, S03, RE55s, Advan AD07, and Hoosier R6 on track and if I were just starting out I would probably stick to the RE001s. They provide adequate feel and feedback, and wear pretty well.

In terms of track performance I would rate them in this order from worst to best:

RE001
S03
Advan AD07
RE55s




R6

The R6 were a lot better than the others but they were in a much wider size so that perhaps accounted for a lot of the improvement.

Beginners should stick to street tyres in my opinion, they don't even have to be high performance. I switched to RE55s after only 2 track days and I regret it somewhat, it was some time before I was able to make good use of the added grip.

[DNYALL]

hoosier R6 hmmm I never even considered Hoosier how long did they last out of curiosity? how many track days? might have to try em out.

[chargeR]

hoosier R6 hmmm I never even considered Hoosier how long did they last out of curiosity? how many track days? might have to try em out.

Not sure how long they will last, I have only run them at two events for a grand total of around 50 laps of Winton. Wear so far is pretty reasonable so I would anticipate upward of 200 laps out of them.

EDIT: This is in 275/245 sizes on a lightly modded DC5R with about 110kW at the wheels.

[lukits01]

my quick impressions from what I've tested

R888: not the fastest semi slicks by far, but the easiest to use, No need to worry too much about pressures or temperature, just go out and drive them. Compound lasts quite awhile but will overheat given constant laps. Good as a starting tire, sprints, auto-x, hill climb, cheap, can be easily had from taleb tyre or elsewhere.

RE55S: fast circuit tire, sensitive with temperature. They are horrible when cold but will handle continuous abuse at the circuit. Give it a few warm up laps and strap yourselves on and feel the Gs! These tires will carry amazing cornering speed. compound will last awhile, but grips gets worse as you wear them down.

D03G: The dunlops are a lot more tricky, they have a very narrow operating window, if you stay in it they deliver grip like no other. They are a very soft compound tire, I would not recommend them for circuit work, when you overheat them they leave chunks of compound on the tarmac. They are by far the best tire I've had for late braking right to the point where the compound delaminates itself ahaha probably the best tire for auto-x, sprints, hill climb etc but they wear down like no tomorrow!

Mickey Thompson Street ET: Drag radials, nuff said :-P

A048/A050: I personally have not used these tires, but I've been told the A048 is rubbish because Australia only get the Medium-Hard compound and they dont grip as well as any of the above tire. The A050 however are getting a lot of good rep because for once, we get the Medium and Soft compound, these will be my next tires to test. From the ppl Ive spoken too, the consensus is they give the same level of grip as the Dunlops while using a harder compound, so they dont suffer overheating issues.

[VT3C]

Great post Sena !! exactly the type of response that I was looking for !!

I am thinking the R888's are worth the extra $80 each over KU36 Khumos..

R888's are still street legal arent they ?

[lukits01]

tbh, I'd go with what ppl have said, go with the KU36
use the money saved for all the entry fees and licenses
first few events will always be about getting used to the car, and driving the car at speed, experimenting with lines and setup.
In which case nobody is able to drive 10/10 first out.

Learning with semis just seems like a waste of a competition tire, before you know it, all those experiments with different lines and setup, and you'll need a new set before bringing the tires to the limit.

Last year I drove Barbagello a lot on Nexen N6000 (*shock* *horror*)
I learned a damn sight more with the tires moving around. Semis just tend to cover for your mistakes and let you get away with doing silly things. With street tires you get punished for mistakes, and that's the best way to learn.

Oh and R888 are street legal, BUT I've been harassed by police for using them on the streets. Despite telling them that it's street legal tires, I was told to go home and change them ASAP. LoL

[91type-r]

I had tried the ADVAN A048's as my first try with semi slicks and found that they had good initial grip once warm but they felt like they went away very quickly after about 4 or more laps, I purchased a set of ADVAN A050's and found them to be much better! they got up to temp nicely and then stayed consistent throughout the whole session and gave good confidence for each one of the days that i used them on even after about 6 or so track days they were still good, worn but good. sadly i gave the front ones death by commuting to work (due to normal road car being broken!) so now i have semi's on the back and pretty much slicks on the front! don't know how well they would fare for a track day now!
Deffinitely agree with going out there atleast twice before you change the car (except for tire pressures and such) most of my speed came from learning the track and finding the limit!