Yet Another Tyre Fred - Semi Slicks

[eightsixboy]

Going to be hitting the track soon and want some really good semi slicks.

I've had ku36's before and rate them well but I've heard they tend to fade a bit on the track. I really want something that will last more then a few hot laps and fade.

The tyres I'm looking at are

Falken RT615 - Heard they arnt as soft as a ku36

Federal 595 RSR - meant to be pretty awesome

Toyo R888 - Havent heard much about them

Theres obviously a heap more out there but these are the ones that I've heard the most about.

So which of these would be best? I wanna spend around $300-350 per tyre max.

The car will be only minimal street use from now on so not to fussed about tyre life or noise.

Cheers.

[djr81]

Going to be hitting the track soon and want some really good semi slicks.

I've had ku36's before and rate them well but I've heard they tend to fade a bit on the track. I really want something that will last more then a few hot laps and fade.

The tyres I'm looking at are

Falken RT615 - Heard they arnt as soft as a ku36

Federal 595 RSR - meant to be pretty awesome

Toyo R888 - Havent heard much about them

Theres obviously a heap more out there but these are the ones that I've heard the most about.

So which of these would be best? I wanna spend around $300-350 per tyre max.

The car will be only minimal street use from now on so not to fussed about tyre life or noise.

Cheers.

It is amazing how many threads there are about semi slicks that dont talk about semi slicks.

The first two tyres are not semi slicks.

The third tyre is but doesnt suit heavy cars like Skylines.

Go and look for some SR2 compound Bridgestone RE55's. The problem being you wont find them (or any other semi slick) in a large enough size for the money you have listed. 255/40/17's are just under $500 but 235/45/17's are cheaper and are probably what you should aim for. 18's are more expensive.

In the long term if you want to save money you need to spend it on getting the suspension set up right so the tyres will live.

[The Bogan]

Tire rack. Why buy in Australia for twice the money, I was quoted $450 per tyres here but got the same tyres for $159, add on $318 for shipping got the final price to $954 USD for 4 tyres shipped to my door.

Here would have cost $1800, that a saving of 47%

[eightsixboy]

I guess either of the tyres would do as they will be more suited to track work then my current tyres, I just wanna get the best thats available out of these road/track tyres.

Honestly I wouldnt bother with the true semi's as my car is not serious enough to need them and they are hella expensive. Just spoke to a mate at work who said you only get a certain amount of heat cycles from them, I guess thats why alot of people sell semi's with 50% left on them.

[eightsixboy]

It is amazing how many threads there are about semi slicks that dont talk about semi slicks.

The first two tyres are not semi slicks.

The third tyre is but doesnt suit heavy cars like Skylines.

Go and look for some SR2 compound Bridgestone RE55's. The problem being you wont find them (or any other semi slick) in a large enough size for the money you have listed. 255/40/17's are just under $500 but 235/45/17's are cheaper and are probably what you should aim for. 18's are more expensive.

In the long term if you want to save money you need to spend it on getting the suspension set up right so the tyres will live.

Toyo R888 review

Why would they be not suited to a skyline? A 32 isnt that heavy, atleast compared to a gtr its not.

[djr81]

Toyo R888 review

Why would they be not suited to a skyline? A 32 isnt that heavy, atleast compared to a gtr its not.

The conventional wisdom is the Toyos (as a range ie including other than the 888)is a better tyre on a light car (relative to a hard SR2 compound RE55) and less suited to a heavy one - the sticking point is the stiffness of the sidewalls. I would reckon a GTST as being heavy but each to their own. I dont know anyone using them that prefer them to the Bridgies on a GTR put it that way.

If you want to get half pregnant with regard to tyres you should include the new Yokohamas Advan Ad08 (?) on your list of stuff to look at.

With regard to tire rack and motorsport tyres you have to be careful about the age of the stock. For road tyres it doesnt matter if they are a couple years old but I would be well unhappy to receive two year old R compounds for example.

[The Bogan]

With regard to tire rack and motorsport tyres you have to be careful about the age of the stock. For road tyres it doesnt matter if they are a couple years old but I would be well unhappy to receive two year old R compounds for example.

3 tyres were made in 5110 (Dec 2010) and 1 in 0211 (Jan 2011) so as good as if not better than the ones you find here.

[Bullet32]

Going to be hitting the track soon and want some really good semi slicks.

Federal 595 RSR - meant to be pretty awesome

Where are you located Paul?

If you are in NSW and you sign up as a NSW club member you can benefit from the excellent savings on Federal Tyres available to club members... You should easily be able to grab some 595RS-R's for less than the price you have listed in your first post.

If you're not in NSW, have a look at www.federaltyres.com.au for info on the 595RS-R's

[Cassbo]

It is amazing how many threads there are about semi slicks that dont talk about semi slicks.

The first two tyres are not semi slicks.

I was of the opinion that CAMS consider 595RS-Rs as semi slicks... I won't argue that they aren't R compound though

Regardless, 595RS-Rs work very well on my R33, they do handle a good pounding right up to canvas

[Tangles]

Pirelli pzero semi slick tyres are my suggestion. A TRUE semislick tyrr with treadwear rating of 80, compared to ku36 wear rate of 180. Excellent grip levels and don't seem to wear abnormally fast.

[MrStabby]

Some people seem to call S spec tyres (KU36, RT615, 595RSRs) semi slick and some dont.

Everyone seems to agree that R spec tyres (888s RE55s) are called semi slicks.

OP needs to decide if he wants S or R spec. If you're only going to run one set of rims and use the car for street as well, you'll probably want S specs, in which case the 595RSRs are good (more expensive than KU36s but more grip).

[eightsixboy]

I would buy re55's but its a little of my price range at the moment, same with the toyo's.

I guess out of all the 'cheaper' semi's I just wanna know whats the best for the track. I currently have 595 SS and I'm a little worried that they are going to fail pretty bad on the track.

I have 2 sets of wheels so having dedicated track wheels is not an issue.

[MrStabby]

I've used 595 SS at the track, and yeah being a straight street tyre they're not great. RT615s and 585RSRs were more fun. I havent tried R specs yet because ive only got a single set of rims.

[R377]

i grabbed some dunlop direzza z1

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=EP

[Russman]

Hey Paul.

I wouldn't bother using the 595 SS's on the track.

For you I would recommend using KU36's, RS-R's or AD08's if you want to spend more. In my opinion, why buy a street tyres for more money than you can buy semi's!

KU's and RS-R's are available pretty cheap through option 1 or maybe OTR. Look in the traders section of SAU.

If you wanted to spend 450-520 a tyre go for Advan AO50 or AO48 or Bridgie RE55's.

Have a go with good street's first before you go buying semi's new.

If you can stick with 17's I'd recommend that too.

Don't right off 2nd hand semi's. I did a couple of years of track work on 2nd hand stuff and they served me well. Just beware of the manufacturing date stamp. ie 3409 means 34th week of 2009. Beware semi's drive very different to streets.

[neil_se]

Nitto NT-01s are similar to the R888s (reviews I read rated them higher), I paid $285ea including shipping from the US for 255/40/17. They're very quiet on the street and I don't have to worry about heat-cycling, but of course they're not going to be as quick as RE55s/Dunlop D03Gs/Federal FZ201.

Edited July 7, 2011 by neil_se

[Russman]

Yeah I'm interested in the Nittos cos they're so cheap. Are they DOT legal? or am I thinking of NT05's? One is a pretty slick looking tyre

[eightsixboy]

I might be getting some 17's for the track so for me having road legal slicks doesn't really matter. The nitto's do look good.

[ssxRicho]

Russ, David in the XR6t ran some nittos for a while (not sure if it was the R comp ones). Either way the nitto website says the NT05R are for drag racing not circuit work.

[R31Nismoid]

Nitto are confusing as shit for their tyres.

NT05 - High performance street tyres.

NT05R, NT555R, NT555R-II - All drag radials

It's the "R" you have to look for, and the resulting tyre resembles nothing of the same family

The NT01 is their true semi comp, yet for whatever reason doesn't carry the "R"

Stupid branding IMO.

It is amazing how many threads there are about semi slicks that dont talk about semi slicks.

The first two tyres are not semi slicks.

The third tyre is but doesnt suit heavy cars like Skylines.

+1

AD08, RSR, RE01R, KU36 etc are just high performance road tyres.

They are NOT a semi slick.