I'm extrapolating that my Advans will need replacing sometime in the middle of next year. If that's the case, I might get a set of RE-01Rs just to compare them back to back.

 

i just want a good tire that doesnt feel greasy. what do you guys think of KDW2's

 

KDW2s are a definite downgrade from the Advan Neova and RE-01R in terms of dry grip, steering feedback, and response.

 

Yep, the AD07 and RE-01R are pretty much the 2 top tier tires with the RT615, RS2, Direzzas next tier down.

 

yea, but they are how much more expensive?

 

Just back from the track - well a few hours back anyway... As it was the RE-01Rs first day out and I had a new alignment I feel I haven't yet developed a full picture of the verses performance.

What I can say though is:
- Braking - Neova tended to lock up on me pretty easily where as the RE-01R seem to have superior braking. This was an issue throughout the life of my last set of Neovas and not just towards the end. I felt more in control of my brakes with the RE-01Rs and I liked that!

- Grip - I haven't seen their limit yet. The new alignment gets the back around nicely and the rear tires dig in and get grip each time it breaks a little. Very confidence inspiring.. On the highspeed final corner at Tsukuba I felt quite confident looking for more speed. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my braking right and peeled off too much speed mostly entering about 120 kmph where as I wanted to drive in about 135 kmph. Slight touch of the brakes and it just peels off speed. So I need to work on the timing there. I did go in fast once or twice though and it handled it just fine. Max speed I managed with the Neova was 135 where it started to get hairy. (Maybe read that as very hairy - hate it when the back comes around at that speed).

Wear - After 3 hard 20 minute sessions the tires look really good. I was running with 260kpa pressure. Haven't figured out the ideal pressure yet. I used to like 240 in the Neovas but recently think I should have been more around 250 on them. The sides survived quite well.and I got some nice slanty rubber developing on the top. I found once the pressure hit 280 the tires were harder to control so I think 260 is a decent exploration point. Anyway, quite happy with wear so far.

Lap times - Best lap today was in the 3rd session. It was a 1'10.254 which is about half a second off my best lap on the Neovas which I set recently. It was a warmer day today though which took its toll as I had gear box trouble due to my gear oil over heating. I just changed oil tonight to 75W-140. Previous oil was 75W-90 which I put in without too much deep thinking. Anyway, as a result I didn't get as many smooth laps as I would have liked as I kept missing shifts towards late session. New oil should solve that (assuming I didn't do any major damage today).

Its kind of hard to separate the tires from the alignment differences so I'll keep tracking the car and keep thinking about it.. Buying Neova instead of RE-01R saves me about US$220 for 4 tires so financially I'd like to prefer the Neova if my wallet is talking. I'm dying to see if its worth the extra dosh. Interesting to note that the opposite seems to be true for you guys.

Have fun!

 

One of my neighbors told me that my house used to be owned by a Matco tool guy. He built a small barn of a garage in the middle of Long Beach to park his tool truck in. No tires in the house here!

 

Kumho SPT's are great for you, especially since you don't track it.

 

On Sunday I was back on Tsukuba TC2000 on my new RE-01R tires (225/45R18). I got a new personal best of 1'09.425 and had 5 x 1'09 times. Best I ever managed on the Neovas was 1'09'774 and that was the only time I broke 1'10. That said, I'm a better driver (I think) than when my ADVANs were new. The guys here tell me that new RE-01Rs are about a second off the pace of partially worn RE-01Rs so I can look forward to more speed.

Anyway, in the "More" class (on Sundays event) that was enough to get me 9th place out of 17 which I'm pretty happy with. I was one of the few guys running on 225 size tires. Everyone in front of me was on 255 or 245. The fastest 2 guys got 1'06.9xx times. They were using "TOYO Proxes R1R" tires. So were most of the other guys ahead of me.

Back to comparing Neova to RE-01R tires, I feel that the RE-01R tires steer better than the Neovas. There is just more feel there. They also grip a lot more, I can feel them keep the line better. They seem to be very gripy for the first couple of laps but if you push them hard they can get a little greasy. I feel the Neova tires were more consistent through a hard couple of laps. I feel in a race, I'd need to look after the RE-01Rs a lot better to keep on the pace than I would using Neovas. Can't be certain though. Just my feeling from Sunday.

That said, I am really enjoying the new tires, its a very different driving experience to the Neovas and I think its worth trying both tires out to see which one suits your style better. I'm currently under the belief that the RE-01Rs suit me better. Perhaps I'll try those R1Rs next. The guys here say they are more like S-tires than radials. Everyone gained on their personal bests with those tires on Sunday. Must be something to them.

 

Keep the tire reviews coming tpodowd. These RE-01s seem like one of the best new tires with the promise of good daily drive/track handling as you're experiencing.

 

the STU guys claim the opposite

 

That may be so for driving in a parking lot, but I thought we were speaking of using the car on the track? ... you know...at speeds over 35mph

 

Well, you may have exited, but I'm sure you were excited when you went.

HEY! Thanks for sharing your race clip. I have never raced, and it was fun to be inside the cockpit of an 8 with a fellow owner, "seeing" the race experience. I think you are too hard on yourself: you have a very relaxed style in the car, hands gentle on the wheel and not over-correcting (usually). Also, your shifts are pretty smooth and, again, economical. Sure, you had a few rough bits, but so what? Even pros do that. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks again,
Jeffrey

 

Jeffrey,

You are too kind! Glad to hear you enjoyed the video although I'm sorry about the video quality. I fixed a loose connection before last Sunday's event and the video came out a bit cleaner. Not sure if you are interested but, the following clip shows 3 laps on the RE-01R tires at the bigger TC2000 course. First lap is my best ever time.

http://roxy-rx8.blogspot.com/2007/11...l-footage.html

or if you want to be scared, I was really lucky in the second session.
http://roxy-rx8.blogspot.com/2007/11...number-13.html
Can't blame the tires for this at all. I hit the throttle too much! Always fun to stop in the nick of time though. Luckily nobody was on my *** at the time.

Tom.

 

TeamRX8, I'm not really sure what STU is like so can't really comment on this. It could be just that the guys that are winning are also better drivers than the guys who are on other tires. Or it could be that in STU you guys slide a lot more than might be typical on a track and that the Neovas are easier to control when you start to push beyond where they grip. The RE-01Rs definitely brake a lot better than the Neovas so on the track that really counts for me. I'm still discovering the RE-01Rs myself so it will take time before I can decide for myself what I want to drive next. The Neovas may well be better for what you guys are using them for. So far the RE-01Rs are getting my vote. We'll see as they wear. I've signed up for 4 track days in December :-) Going to Fuji Speedway on the 9th!

 

tpodowd I have a question for you. I'm getting some R-comps for the track, obviously dry track that is, and was wondering how to manage when it turns to rain. Looking at the RE-01r they look as though they have serious swiping to them and might handle rain well...not sure though. Do you have any experience now it's been a while with them in the rain? and esp. in the rain on track?

It would be nice to be prepared for any contingency wet or dry!

 

^
Have you considered the Dunlop Z1 at $174 (instead of $216 for the RE-01R)? Z1 200 treadwear vs. the more expensive RE-01R 180 treadwear and the Z1 is proving to be a true RE-01R competitor. I've run in the rain with them well.
Heck, as a rain tire, also consider the $115 Bridgestone S-03 mega special from TireRack. They have a great wet pattern and are sticky at 220 treadwear (they only give up sidewall stiffness compared to the Z1 and RE-01R).

I can vouch for both tires as performing well in the rain at the track.

 

Spin9k, have a look at my last rain video at Tsukuba.
http://roxy-rx8.blogspot.com/

I was running with DSC fully off and wasn't quite so brave. I haven't had that much wet track days under my belt, but I did one or two with Neova also. I felt more confident with Neova in the wet though than the RE-10Rs. The RE-01Rs were quite slippery in qualifying where I had some large moments around Dunlop and the last corner. Infact I ended up doing a 360 spin out of the last corner on the last lap of the race. Not a good place to be spinning. That was my fault though, I had too tight a line and probably put on a tad too much power on exit.

Sadly, I'm selling the RX-8 soon and getting a Miata. I'll be racing in the Party Race series this year in the Miata. I'll miss the engine but am looking forward to broadening my experience by driving something else. I believe the new RE-11 tires are worth looking at too. They have good wet performance I hear as well as the dry.

 

Thanks for that info, and as I've researched a bit more, the opinion of the RE-01 sound right..i.e., perhaps not the best in the rain. 360s are not fun, I've done one at about 95mph into a turn and it happened so fast...just shouldn't have lifted...my fault. Enjoy the Miata, that should be a fun change of pace!

SouthFL I'll check out the Dunlops, thanx.

 

From certain reports of the ST guys, the Z1s might just make the RE-01Rs redundant as they're cheaper and might offer the same if not better performance. The Advan Neovas are still king of the hill, but it's very much a pay to play issue with that tire. I'm currently running Advan Neovas, but I must admit the Z1s price is extremely attractive.

 

From my attendance at a Bridgestone "tire education event", at a track in Phoenix...

Bridgestone spent a LOT of time making the tire's contact patch remain more consistent under braking, cornering, and acceleration. Their studies indicated that contact patch shape was one of the biggest considerations, possibly more so than tire compound. When the rubber can maintain better contact with the ground you can use a harder, longer-lasting rubber compound. Also the RE-01R has a dual compound rubber, with the outside edges being harder. As the tire wears down it exposes more of the soft compound. This is also born out in the statement above that RE-01Rs are better half worn.

The 245/35-19s that I use on my RX-8 are fantastic. I just swapped back to my stock rims and Dunlop tires and the loss of grip is noticeable in ever dimension.

 

A concern about the RE-01Rs is that from all reports, the RE-01Rs have a comparably soft sidewall. This probably makes them better every day tires, but they give up a bit of pure performance.

 

That's because you went from an Extreme Performance 180 treadwear tire to an Ultra High Performance 280 treadwear tire if you went back to the 8090. No surprise there.

 

Advan FTW!!!

TPO, we're talking the National Championships where the top 24 places out of 50+ drivers was completely dominated by Advan tires. Most of these guys were on other brands previously and wised up ....

 

Well, as I was the one who ressurected this thread from it's resting place...here's the end of the story. I've settled on a track rain tire - so one more thing buttoned up before the start of the season! Thanks guys for all the input, but ending up decided on something completely different...

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 245/40/18 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Eagle+F1+GS-D3 on Enkei 9.5"x18 rims

Based on Tirerack's review here http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=98

and esp from Car and Driver here http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires...y_f1_gs_ds.pdf

Ok, so aside from the obvious after reading these reviews that there are other tires that ultimately perform a tad better (but not by very much) in this rarified world of 'Max Performance Summer" tires, these seem to fill the need I have. Namely, with my Cusco Coilovers the ride is considerably stiffer on the less-then-stellar roads I need to travel on to go to track events. (read - mostly Canadian roads - and they truly suck!) So I need something to cushion the bumps, save my *** bone, and get me to the track on time, come rain and high water.

Plus when I get there, in case the rain followed me, I've still got a creditable tire to attack the twisties on the circuit (see the C&D Review). And if it IS dry when I get there - then off come these boots and on go my 17" R-Comps in the back seat.

And I found a cooperating forum member with a used pair (went to 19s) at an attractive price - problem solved.