So, I got my track wheels out to inspect before I get to some track events, its been a while. Despite the tyres being only 6 years old and having lived the last 18 months or so IN the garage on a wheel rack, they are covered in dry rot.

Given I now need new tyres, I think I'll try to find a set of 18's rather than 19's for this rubber. Then, I started thinking, considering I do about 3000 k's - 4000 k's per year in my car, perhaps I could get some semi's that are still ok for street use and then I can get rid of 2 sets of 19's and replace with 1 set of 18's.

I know that I'll wear them out on the street at 200tw but what I was more worried about was the car being a handful in the wet. We have some roads around us that can get very slick when it rains. I don't want to compromise the cars' safety by keeping the semis on.

I can see that a tyre like the Advan Neova has a bit more tread than something like the new Nankang CRS (which is being marketed right at me - a track tyre you can leave on).

Thoughts?

Well.... can we get some definitions straight here? A 200TW tyre is not a semi. It's maybe a semi-semi. More correctly a UHP tyre (usually, if you're talking about AD09s and the like).

I use AD09s on the road. I get 10-12000 km out of them. They are fine in the wet, fine when cold, although definitely better at both things when they warm up. They are a very good road tyre. Quiet and predictably grippy.

I see many people in the tyre wonkosphere saying they are not a great track tyre, that there are plenty of better options for track use. And, if you're actually talking about semis, then of course that is going to be absolutely true, because they're not a semi.

Sadly, I can't really speak to many of the other options, because the reason I'm using the Yokos is that I have come to like them and like them more than the other tyres I've used in the last few years. I used a couple of other things after the previous AD08Rs and did not think they were good, and so was happy when the AD09 was released. I would quite like an AD09R.

AD09.

I have CR-S and they are entirely fine to drive in the wet, and that is with a 295/315 staggered setup in a RWD V8 R34. You would think this is hydroplane city, and it might be - but commuting around sensibly has been fine. Much more grip than I would have ever expected in the wet, but I never try to drive 'fast' in the wet.

However:

I still worry about 'wasting' them by driving them on the road. The AD09 or RS4 I never really had this worry and lets be honest, are more than enough for 99% of track drivers and probably won't overheat them. If you can do 1m30's all day long on an AD09, going to a CRS really is like just wanting to say you did a 1:28.5 for the hell of it. Either tyre will happily just do sessions on track all day for almost everybody.

Could just be happy running 1:30's and not needing to actually do the expense/hassle of stepping 'up' a tyre level. Then drive to bunnings without worry.

I will probably replace mine with AD09 because my car is considerably head of me as a driver on track. I would expect that it's not like I'd be changing to a tyre that will do 1 hot lap and then be utter shit for the rest of the session. They're called "Endurance 200's" for a reason, though it really depends on how long these CRS actually last for me. I could only ever get about ~15,000km out of a set of AD09 or RS4 with a couple of track days mixed in there.

38 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Well.... can we get some definitions straight here? A 200TW tyre is not a semi. It's maybe a semi-semi. More correctly a UHP tyre (usually, if you're talking about AD09s and the like).

Ok, sorry

The RS4's I had did last ages and are actually still going, daily, on my bro in laws' 130i. I haven't looked for a while but the reason I didn't get them again was a hole in their supply sizes, so I went the Federal 595s which didn't feel as good on the track and are now dry rotted. :(

The AD09's look great and are well priced. Good to get positive street (and wet use) feedback from you guys.

Yeah was about to say the same thing, R-S4 aka Z232 is just an Ultra High Performance tyre.

Great tyres for street use, when dry. They're awful with the slightest bit of moisture on the road.

Trying to do a hill run in the rain, or a full launch in the wet, or I guess a track day in the rain (in which case there's probably much better wet track tyres).

Commuting around at regular traffic pace will have no issues whatsoever with a RS4. I don't think I've had any wheel slip on any of these "bad in the rain" tyres while driving around in traffic in the last 15 years I've been using "semis" (or tyres with a semi-slick tread pattern) having used KU36, RE050, RE003, RSR-R, NT05, Falken 452 (?), AD08R, RS4, CRS.

What are you boys doin

Yeah, but of that list:

• KU36. OK in the wet when warm. Terrifying when they're still cold.

• RE003. Terrible at all times. A totally indefensible tyre.

• AD08R. Probably the nicest tyre I've had on the R32.

• RS4. OK. But not a patch on the RS3. And not as good as the AD09, IMO, in any area.

11 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

Trying to do a hill run in the rain, or a full launch in the wet, or I guess a track day in the rain (in which case there's probably much better wet track tyres).

Commuting around at regular traffic pace will have no issues whatsoever with a RS4. I don't think I've had any wheel slip on any of these "bad in the rain" tyres while driving around in traffic in the last 15 years I've been using "semis" (or tyres with a semi-slick tread pattern) having used KU36, RE050, RE003, RSR-R, NT05, Falken 452 (?), AD08R, RS4, CRS.

What are you boys doin

Driving like men...

Last time I had the LandCruiser out in the wet, even it lit up a 33" AT tyre, in a ~2.8T car that makes all of no power. oh, and it did that in 2nd too, not first

Since I have put a lot of time and effort into doing my own wheel alignment, getting various arms and suspension joints up to scratch, my overconfidence level is now quite high and I will happily approach high speed sweepers, roundabouts and various other slip-n-slide triggers in the wet at speeds that would have previously had me worrying about sudden transitions to negative gutter/armco clearance.

I have always been more worried about losing the front end under such treatment, and now that I have what feels like epic turn in along with massive improvement in the previously variable mid-corner grip, I am free to worry about what happens now that there is substantially more angry available at the rear tyres.

I call it conservation of difficulty. It's a basic engineering law, right up there with Murphy's, Finagle's, Brook's and the 90/90 laws.

I think this is a really hard balance - I get frustrated by anything but the best available semi for track use (because afterall, you are generally chasing a time and the tyre can make 1-5 seconds difference). I've current got A052s on the V37 for track use and they really annoy me because I can't tell if the car (and driver) are slow or if they tyres are just not up to it.

I reckon put hankook Z221 on it and just ignore the noise for daily driving (and drive slower if you take it out in the rain)

NS2r for a street track tyre still in your “semi” slick style or just jump to a AR1 it’s a real semi and there amazing, once warm your arse hole puckers up before the tyres let go, AR1 combined with a track set up and your away, wet driving is fine just don’t and be a egg around corners.

NS2r warm up real quick on the track, AR1 takes me about 3 laps (make 7kms)