Page 1 of 6
Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 9:36 pm
by davekmoore
BARMY is no longer a daily driver but will see some road use. I can afford to buy one set of new tyres to go on my 15x8s and need your recommendations please for road legal semi slicks.
For instance:
888s seem to be around $880.
KU36s seem to be under $500.
Are the 888s so much better?
What other options?
Are there semi slicks which will better handle being used for normal road driving as well as on the track?
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:00 pm
by manga_blue
R888s are simply horrible on the road. Harsh, noisy, pick up huge amount of stones and clatter them against the guards, lousy wear, no grip in the wet compared to road tyres. Don't go there.
Dunlop StarSpecs are not that far behind R888 laptimes in the dry and are much faster in the wet. They're quite good on the road too. I bought my last set from Tirerack - around $175 each delivered.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... &tab=Sizes
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:54 pm
by plohl
If you're quick, you'll be able to pick up a set of Yokohama Advan AD08R's for $624 from bob Jane, offer ends on Thursday. I ordered a set today that I am just going to store for until my hankooks die.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:33 am
by davekmoore
manga_blue wrote:R888s are simply horrible on the road. Harsh, noisy, pick up huge amount of stones and clatter them against the guards, lousy wear, no grip in the wet compared to road tyres. Don't go there.
Thanks. I was about to go there.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:35 am
by davekmoore
plohl wrote:If you're quick, you'll be able to pick up a set of Yokohama Advan AD08R's for $624 from bob Jane, offer ends on Thursday. I ordered a set today that I am just going to store for until my hankooks die.
This looks like a great deal. Anyone care to chime in with experiences of these tyres?
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:42 am
by chrons_rotary
I've actually had good wear and grip from the R888, been running the same set for about 20 hillclimb days and 3 supersprints in the last 2 years, still grip up pretty good when up to temp.
It's true about the wet weather though, they are horrible anything above a light drizzle.
Considering buying another set of R888 once these are gone, or changing to NT01.
Cheers,
Ken.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:26 am
by sailaholic
Dave have a look at tirerack. They've done back to back testing.
Ado8rs came out on top if the version 2 star specs.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:18 am
by rascal
davekmoore wrote:plohl wrote:If you're quick, you'll be able to pick up a set of Yokohama Advan AD08R's for $624 from bob Jane, offer ends on Thursday. I ordered a set today that I am just going to store for until my hankooks die.
This looks like a great deal. Anyone care to chime in with experiences of these tyres?
AD08Rs seem to be the pick of the S specs.
Faster on track and much cheaper than Starspecs. Win-win.
I ran them at the wet sandown meet in May and managed FTD so they must be alright.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:39 am
by deviant
I have been using the Nitto NT01 for a few seasons. I thought that ultimate grip was slightly higher than the R888 and I did maybe 30 heat cycles before the grip started to go out of them, they were still good though and they can be used until the canvas pokes out.
I used R888's on a rain soaked Nurburgring a few months back with no problems so don't know if the ones we get here are different in some way.
Any semi slick tyre you get is going to be noisy on the road and pick up crud to fling at the underside of your car.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:53 pm
by davekmoore
Bob Jane out of stock of the AD08Rs. Tyre Power took my payment but rang me back to say they're out of stock and there are none in Australia and the next shipment, which isn't yet made, is also sold out.
KU36s any good?
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:01 pm
by sailaholic
How quick do you want them. Ku36 not in the same league.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:01 pm
by davekmoore
Mid August. Pressure's off a bit now thanks to the loan of some wheels.
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:02 pm
by manga_blue
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:04 pm
by davekmoore
How did you get a shipping quote?
Re: Which 205/50/15 semi slicks?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:30 pm
by sailaholic
Wait on the site long enough for the help pop up. Tire rack is getting less useful as brands clamp down on them shipping to Australia.