Unpeeling the Orange

[GTSBoy]

Heh. I copied the link to the video direct, instead of the thread I mentioned. But the video is the main value content anyway.

Otherwise, yes, in Europe, surely you'd be expected to buy local. Being whichever flavour of Michelin, Continental or Pirelli suits your usage model.

[sunsetR33]

23 hours ago, MBS206 said:

I know in Australia you'll definitely get above 30c. Parked in the shade in Summer you'll be above that. 😛

But in cooler climates, you might get that warm driving on the highway for a bit, but you'd never get to full heat temp. I'll try and find some of my historical tyre temps between Aus summer and winter (be aware immin the warmer area of Aus too.)

Well our climate is definitely way less hot overall and the weather can be quite picky at times. I just know that during normal road use or even spirited drives there is no way I'd be able to consistently stay in the operating temperature, and constantly changing the tire pressure would also be a royal pain.

[sunsetR33]

23 hours ago, Duncan said:

Semi slicks are horrible for road use, just use a high performance road tyre unless you really need the maximum grip. Noisy, unpredictable (amazing, until they are not), expensive due to very high wear and not good in cold and particular wet.

And yes, it is a thing to store cars on stands instead of tyres if you know they are going to be parked up long term.....but who ever realises that a short park is going to stretch into years before it is out again!

Talk about noisy. Even when I still had the Tomei under the car I could distinctly hear the tires rolling. And I doubt I ever will need maximum grip like on a track. My GTR will maybe never even see the 600hp mark and I need to get used to the car quite a bit before challenging the limits of its handling.

For the next winter storage I think I will get a set of these rubber drive-on thingies that have a tire shaped base. Those supposedly really help prevent flat spots.

[sunsetR33]

23 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

I refer you to this thread on PF, by someone who knows what he's doing.

Paints a good picture of the humble AD09.

Thanks for the linkie. Certainly always a great deal of help when people post comparisons like these, but I think for now I'll stay away from any semi slicks.

22 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

Continental have consistently beaten the absolute shit out of every other performance tyre in Wet/Damp/Cold conditions and give up a little bit of time (half a second at most) in the dry.

Almost like it's engineered for German conditions or something. I'd def give those a try.

I did go ahead and order the sportcontact 7. My buddy has them on his modified A4 and he keeps saying how good they are. For my intended purposes these will probably work real well. I'll report on them once I had the chance to try them out

[GTSBoy]

1 hour ago, sunsetR33 said:

but I think for now I'll stay away from any semi slicks.

These are not semis. None of the tyres in that comparo are semis. They are UHP tyres. Perfectly streetable. I'm on my second set of AD09, after using a couple of sets of AD08R. On the street. Every day. I get 15-20 thousand km out of them, which is perfectly acceptable. They are a really nice tyre to drive on. I have few, if any, complaints.

[Kinkstaah]

I mean I agree. I've seemingly never had issues and I have RS4's in the rain, but I drive pretty slow in the rain, and I commute around on the street and pretty much never push it. But it's not like you're going to uncontrollably slide off the street with them in the rain.

At least here in Aus. And I say this before I drive to Tassie in Winter.

AS above, the term "Semi" is a bit of a misnomer. The ContiSportContact7 is also a "Semi" or a "UHP" tyre. It's the same category as an AD09 in any case.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

14 minutes ago, Kinkstaah said:

I've seemingly never had issues and I have RS4's in the rain

TBH, a cheaper / lower performing tyre like a Potenza RE003 does better in the rain than a RS-4 / Z232, probably due to the tread pattern design

[Kinkstaah]

This is why I gave the disclaimer about how I drive in the wet which I feel is pretty important. I have heard people think RS4's are horrible in the rain, but I have this feeling they must be driving (or attempting to drive) anywhere close to the grip limit.

I legitimately drive at the speed limit/below speed the limit 100% of the time in the rain. More than happy to just commute along at 50kmh behind a train of cars in 5th gear etc.

I do agree with you with regards to the temp and the 'quality' of the tyre Dose. Most UHP tyres aren't even up to temperature on the road anyway, even when going mad initial D canyon carving. It would be interesting to see a not-up-to-temp UHP tyre compared against a mere... normal...HP tyre at these temperatures. I don't think you're (or me in this case) is actually picking up grip with an RS4/AD09 on the road relative to something like a RE003 because the RS4/AD09 is not up to temp and the RE003 is closer to it's optimal operating window.

[GTSBoy]

Yeah, I thought that Reedy's video was quite good because he compared old and new (as in, well used and quite new) AD09s, with what is generally considered to be the fast Yokohama in this category (ie, sporty road/track tyres) and a tyre that people might be able to use to extend the comparo out into the space of more expensive European tyres, being the Cup 2. No-one would ever agree that the Cup 2 is a poor tyre - many would suggest that it is close to the very top of the category.

And, for them all to come out so close to each other, and for the cheaper tyre in the test to do so well against the others, in some cases being even faster, shows that (good, non-linglong) tyres are reaching a plateau in terms of how good they can get, and they're all sitting on that same plateau.

Anyway, on the AD08R, AD09, RS4 that I've had on the car in recent years, I've never had a problem in the cold and wet. SA gets down to 0-10°C in winter. Not so often, but it was only 4°C when I got in the car this morning. Once the tyres are warm (ie, after about 2km), you can start to lay into them. I've never aquaplaned or suffered serious off-corner understeer or anything like that in the wet, that I would not have expected to happen with a more normal tyre.

3 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

TBH, a cheaper / lower performing tyre like a Potenza RE003 does better in the rain than a RS-4 / Z232, probably due to the tread pattern design

I had some RE003s, and they were shit in the dry, shit in the wet, shit everywhere. I would rate the RS4 and AD0x as being more trustworthy in the wet, once the rubber is warm.

Bridgestone should be ashamed of the RE003.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Just now, GTSBoy said:

once the rubber is warm.

When they're dead cold, and in the wet, they're not very fun.

RE003 are alright, they do harden very quickly and turn into literally $50 Pace tyres.

[GTSBoy]

Just now, Kinkstaah said:

I legitimately drive at the speed limit/below speed the limit 100% of the time in the rain. More than happy to just commute along at 50kmh behind a train of cars in 5th gear etc.

The rain is the best time to push to the edge of the grip limit. Water lubrication reduces the consumption of rubber without reducing the fun. I take pleasure in driving around the outside of numpties in Audis, WRXs, BRZs, etc, because they get all worried in the wet.

2 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

When they're dead cold, and in the wet, they're not very fun.

They warm up faster than the engine oil does.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I drive the Tiguan much harder than the Skyline in all conditions, because it just grips and hooks, unlike the R33 shit box

[GTSBoy]

41 minutes ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

I drive the Tiguan much harder than the Skyline in all conditions, because it just grips and hooks, unlike the R33 shit box

Tiguans are the sort of shitbox that I drive around the outside of in the wet. Especially if they've got an R on the back. My understanding is that anyone with a VAG product with an R on the back cannot drive.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

6 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Tiguans are the sort of shitbox that I drive around the outside of in the wet. Especially if they've got an R on the back. My understanding is that anyone with a VAG product with an R on the back cannot drive.

LOL well, lucky mine doesn't have some R shit on it.

Around town, it handles so much better than the R33, R33 in the wet is pretty dangerous to the untrained hoon, especially with 13kg/mm front springs.

[GTSBoy]

1 hour ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

13kg/mm

Yes, well. Mine are less than half that. ARBs are not set to "dumb" either.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

46 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Yes, well. Mine are less than half that. ARBs are not set to "dumb" either.

yeah... the 13kg/mm springs weren't always in there, I had 10kg/mm but doing a few SMSP commanded heavier front springs.

It's so good now going into T1 and T2, just need more seat time and real tyres.

[sunsetR33]

Fair enough, I am in no way a tire expert so I'm not familiar with all the terms and conditions. I'll definitely note down the AD09 to potentially try in the future. Rain is not too big of a concern for now as I will probably only drive in the rain when I have to. And considering I still lack experience driving the GTR I'd more than likely take it easy too.

I have coilovers in the car but as I barely got to drive so far I never bothered to even check if they are adjustable haha. The suspension is almost entirely old and worn as well so I suppose when I eventually fix that in the future that would make a huge difference.

[GTSBoy]

Well, the good news is you have more than one very good option for new coilovers in and around your country. Worth the drive over to KW to talk about GTR stuff.

[sunsetR33]

7 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Well, the good news is you have more than one very good option for new coilovers in and around your country. Worth the drive over to KW to talk about GTR stuff.

KW only offers a set for the R32 GTR. Popular options are D2 racing, Ksport or Öhlins. I have a D2 Racing coilover set, though I don't know for sure which one.

[GTSBoy]

D2 and Ksport are essentially the same thing and basically just generic Taiwanese manufacture. Better than ChinaBay crap, but... not top shelf.

Öhlins have got to be some of the best dampers around, so likely to be a good option.

It's going to get to the point though where I suggest you buy from Oz. We have at least 2x excellent options here.

If I were you though, I'd be talking to KW about doing something for the R33. There's bugger all difference between that and the 32. In GTR land, anyway.