14901490

I am Very happy with the Hoosier R6 ( 275 35 18) in the dry.

I want to get a set of reasonably priced "rain" tires- so I can still play when its wet. - reccommendations??

I have a separate set of rims & may want to drive to the track on what I end up with

I am told the Hoosier " rain " tires self destruct on ANY dry pavement.....

Do I want the same size or is a narrower tire better to avoid hydroplaning 265??

What about height 35 or 40 ?

Thanks

candymanjl

on my older S2000 I had kumho victoracers and they were very good in the rain. double checking their site they have a slightly different tire specifically for the wet that I'm sure is pretty awesome.

http://www.kumhousa.com/Tire.aspx?id...913d155&cat=18

I'm guessing but I'm pretty sure that a good wet design is more important than the width of the tire.

the only bummer with that tire is that it's a wet only design and compound, it won't take the heat of dry conditions. I'd guess it's the same way with anything designed only for the wet.

michelin pilot sport cups are designed to have extra grooves cut to make them wet tires. then you would have something that can handle dry heat but still push enough water away to handle wet.

Philostang

I have the same plan as you, run my "street" set up as a "rain" set. I'm currently using Toyo R1R for the task, and I love them. I had a huge advantage over lots of folks in the rain the last time I was at Blackhawk. They hold their own in the dry as well, a very low treadwear rating (140) helps that (and Sam has said he thinks its true rating should be lower). They're a very aggressive street tire (just perfect!). I've ran them plenty of times on track with no ill/overheating effects.

They come in 265/35R18, which is what I'll be getting next. Right now (due to previous wheel used) I run 245/40R18s.

Something to look at.
Best,
-j

Argonaut

I have been debating this same question lately. I've been using my street tires (KDW) in the rain and am unsatisfied. When it rains I have two choices - sit in the paddock praying for better weather or head out on the track where guys with 'wets' will be blowing by me, rooster tail and all, while guys with streets like me will be slipping and sliding at little more than a Sunday drive pace. I more or less "lost" 3 track days to rain last year. That adds up to $ waisted. Sure...I went out on track and tried to make the best of it. But to be honest, I don't enjoy it. I watched a guy reduce a $100K Porsche to a crumpled mess in turn 1 at Lightning on a slick track. I've seen far to many offs on wet days. I don't want to join them so I take it easy and as a result its not much fun.

Having a better street tire might help, something like the Bridgestone RE11 comes to mind, but I've read about this subject quite a bit (bimmerforum recently had a great thread on it) and I've concluded that even the best street tires will still s%%k on the race track. The only real solution is true racing 'wets' - Hoosier or Kumho.

If you can't tell, I'm trying to rationalize spending upwards of 12-1400 (used rims and new Hoosiers) for a third set of wheels that I will likely only use a few times a year.....hmmmm....decisions, decisions.

Sleeper_08

My #1 track day objective of driving the car home results in my also deciding to park it when it rains - especially at a high speed track like Mosport.

I was out on a drying track a couple of weeks ago and with the SC trying keep the back end from getting away in even third gear was a challenge and no fun.

Philostang

Hey Argo!

I'm all for rationalizing spending on car stuff! Fortunately, my wife is not, so I do try to keep a check on things.

I don't want to try to come off as selling the R1Rs, but you really may want to look at them some more. Here's what Sam had to say (09-22-2009): "Toyo R1R's aren't really street tires. They durometer softer than my Hoosier H-wets, and @ the ProSolo Finale I ran the last round of the challenge against a Honda driver I am both friends with and sponsor--and he had more pickup on his Toyo's than I had on my Hoosiers. "

If the thought was that the only solution is a set of racing wets, that may not be the case.

Best,
-j

Argonaut

Philo - thanks for the info. So you are running the R1Rs as your daily street tire? How many miles on them? How are they wearing so far?

Searching and reading reviews on the internet turns up a really mixed bag. First there is very little about the R1Rs in the wet that I can find - although the few comments I did find say they are pretty good. (Read #5 in this thread) In general what most of the reviews say is - they are very soft and heat up very fast. They go greasy in a hurry and don't last long. For example - here are some reviews: Star Spec vs R1R. Lots of guys saying the R1Rs are more for lighter cars. But then your comments indicate they are fine on a Mustang. Arrr....too many choices.

Philostang

Hey Argo,

I should first clarify, I run the R1Rs as a street tire, but the car is no longer under daily use (she's retired!!). This year and last, street use has been confined mostly to running to and from events.

Now to the reviews, I tend to think most folks there either don't have direct experience with them, use them in a very different way than I do, or just plain don't know what the hell they're talking about. I'm reserving the later for the guy who claimed they'll go off after the warm up lap - that's just f'n stupid stuff flying out his derriere. My fast laps on these tires have ALL been on the later runs of my sessions, a good 8-12 laps in. Keep in mind this is also on tires that are sized small - I'm only running the 245/40s, and I really should be on their 265/35s. So the notion that these will go off in a lap sounds like pure internet bullsh%$ to me (keep in mind, you were trolling in the BMW forums there ).

The only one whose opinion I would give weight to was Terry from Vorshlag. But note, Terry is speaking in an autocross context where the cars are brutalized for 60 seconds at a time with minimal chance of a proper warm up. Maybe that has something to do with the concerns voiced in the threads?

As for my experience, I've only once felt them getting greasy, and that was at the last event (first of this year, I was letting the fresh NT01s cool down for the day after scrubbing them in the morning). I wouldn't say they got real greasy, more like just starting to notice it. This was after about 7 or 8 track days and probably 2K miles of street driving. I imagine that constitutes "fast wear" to a lot of people, but I think they've still got some life left in them on track and they'll likely still be a fine tire on the street for some time to come (if they don't cord the shoulders). Wear at the tread has been good considering how we drive these things. The outside shoulders are unsurprisingly being murdered by our strut suspension and they're directional, so you can only rotate them front to back (unless you remount them). I should also note that the above time frame was all on the same rotation, so we're up for round two with the rears now taking up the main duties. I probably should have rotated them sooner... Their are many things I "should" do.

Anyway, about the only thing I'd really second in the reviews you mentioned is their phenomenal performance in the rain. My fast lap in the dry at Blackhawk was in the low 1:25s and in the rain it was in the high 1:28s. That's a big difference, but I'll wager it wasn't as big as most other folks experienced, because I flat smoked the hell out of everyone else there who was doing a decent job of keeping pace before. Some of that, no doubt, has a lot to do with driver attitudes in the rain, but at least I can say I felt very confident on these tires in the rain.

Sorry to ramble...at least we know from the other posts that the Dunlop SS tires seem to be tried and true by many. I'm just giving you my experience. =)

Best,
-j