Semi slick all year round

[jamesgw200]

ive been searching the forum high and low recently seeing what the best tires i could get for road use and maybe a track day, but priority road.
ive got contact 5s on the front atm and contact 3s on the back. the contact 3s have about 5mm probably but i think ill change all 4 just for the sake of it.
been looking at nangkang ns2rs medium compound
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4x-Nankan...+Ratio:45|Rim+Diameter:17&hash=item4d2f62de21,
was hoping anyone whos had all year round experience could shed some light on if they are ok, or any other suggestions..
AD08r seem too expensive considering they wont last long.
cheers james

 

[Kazumz]

AD08R's lasted me 6+ Months and two Welsh mountain meets.

Decent value for money, just don't wheelspin and show off.

 

[chappers]

I've not long had Michelin Pilot Sport 3s fitted to my 200 and had it on a track day at Goodwood using them on Tuesday.

They were great for the track day and really didn't let the car down, didn't wear anywhere near as much as I thought they would for a full day and they handle very well in the wet.

 

[BEEFTEC]

Is the AD08r a lot softer than the AD08? Because I bought a set wheels that came with AD08's with about 5.5mm tread and I got over 10k miles out of them with a trackday!

I've now got the Nankangs on and they're very similar but the AD08's are definitely slightly better in every way. I'd say easily 10%-20% more grip in the wet on the Yokos than the Nankangs - Especially from a standing start. 1st gear in the wet on the Yokos was no problem unless the road was rough, but on the Nankangs its quite easy to spin up the wheels in 1st if the roads damp. But whether they're £45 odd a corner better though I don't think so.

Overall though with regard to using semi-slicks year round - They're fine. They'll still have better grip in the wet than a real budget tyre. I use mine year round and have no problems - Even used them in slow last winter and they didn't struggle particularly.

 

[jamesgw200]

cheers, i think ill probably get some nankangs then because they are so cheap in comparison to most other tires.
yeah i believe the ad08rs are better than the ad08s from what ive read anyway.
maybe wet grip isnt as good as all round tyre but its not like im gonna be racing around when its wet like the stig lol.

 

[DB_CLIO]

I've done track and road driving on the ns2R and dont really like them really they are grippy but just don't feel stable enough for me I'm trying the federal RSR next for road and track but I have a set of R888 for tracks days on a separate set of alloys and I love them so grippy and I feel I can throw it in at speed an know they will grip where as the NS2R I really didn't enjoy them I've also ran the advan AO48 there also a great tyre

 

[Turbobell]

Federals or nankangs get my vote.

 

[Pav]

have had my ado8's on for a year now..they are great in every weather apart from snow obviously..done a few meets/runs and a couple of track days and they still live!!!bought them with only 4.5mm of thread left.. to answer your question-yes you can run semislicks all year round..

 

[TB Rich]

My AD08R's on the front only lasted 1 track day and probably 4000 miles - most of which was motorway too. They've got enough left in them for 1 more track day but no chance of being legal for the drive back.

I now think AD08R's and therefore NS-2R's, are neither fish nor fowl really. Not as good on track as a R888 or a A048 etc, yet too high a wear rate to be a real daily tyre.

I therefore decided to switch back to road tyres for everyday, and use my second set of wheels for track with a proper track tyre. Obviously I need to kill the AD08R's off first but after that I'll run something like R888R or FZ-201's.
I guess if you absolutley only want to run 1 set of wheels, maybe, but I think a better compromise would be a Bridgestone RE002. I intend to to try these next as my road tyre (and serve as wet track too).

 

[john_walker74]

TB-Rich. If you get the Federal FZ201's post up you thoughts as I am interested to know how they perform on a Clio.

I am with you that if you can run two sets of wheels it is the best option. A decent compromise doesn't really exist... A cheap track day tyre may be reasonable and good value for money but won't give the performance of an R888 or Dunlop direzza dz03g.

 

[DB_CLIO]

Ive just bough a set of Silverstone alloys for £50 that just over £10 per alloy £30 for a diy referb really cheap way of a spare set of alloys

 

[jamesgw200]

yeah its a possibility thats for sure..
how are the ad08r like on cold days?

 

[Warren]

I used NS2R's constant for 14 months, and tbh I'd never do it again. Winter months with the ice on the roads and heavy rain wasn't a pleasant drive whatsoever. So unless you're doing about 2 miles a day, IMO I'd find something different.

 

[DB_CLIO]

595 RSR turned up today il fit them at the weekend and go for a play but anything will be better than the NS2R

 

[Kazumz]

yeah its a possibility thats for sure..
how are the ad08r like on cold days?

They'll perform only slightly better than a decent regular road tyre when cold. They do 100% need heat. They're a good all rounder if you can fork the cash out for them. Don't expect more than 6k miles though. I ran mine down to 1mm tread and it was smooth as a babys ass in the center.

I would have them year round if I could afford it. Depends on your preference personally, but they've certainly got my vote.

Once up to heat though, absolutely fantastico!

 

[jamesgw200]

after thinking about it for a few weeks i think may go for a safe bet with the eagle f1s or possibly dunlop. Any one had experience with the sport max rt?
thanks for everyones thoughts

 

[JamesS]

They'll perform only slightly better than a decent regular road tyre when cold.

No they won't. They'll perform significantly worse than a standard road tyre when used in particularly cold conditions because of the compound used in them. Track tyres are designed to be used at higher operating temperatures than standard road tyres and operate poorly below their intended operating window (much like a race tyre). A road tyre is inherently designed to have an operating temperature window which is lower down the temperature scale than a track oriented tyre.

When you drive on a tyre you put a given amount of energy into the tyre resulting in a delta increase in tyre temperature. It doesn't matter if the ambient temp is 10 Celsius or 30 Celsius, on a given drive you will increase the tyre temperature by the same amount.

At significantly lower temperatures you can struggle to put the same amount of energy into a tyre because of lack of grip, or it may just take longer.

The fact that you have a common delta increase in temperature, coupled with the operating temperature window being higher up the temperature scale means a track tyre will not perform as well in cold conditions.

 

[BEEFTEC]

No they won't. They'll perform significantly worse than a standard road tyre when used in particularly cold conditions because of the compound used in them. Track tyres are designed to be used at higher operating temperatures than standard road tyres and operate poorly below their intended operating window (much like a race tyre). A road tyre is inherently designed to have an operating temperature window which is lower down the temperature scale than a track oriented tyre.

When you drive on a tyre you put a given amount of energy into the tyre resulting in a delta increase in tyre temperature. It doesn't matter if the ambient temp is 10 Celsius or 30 Celsius, on a given drive you will increase the tyre temperature by the same amount.

At significantly lower temperatures you can struggle to put the same amount of energy into a tyre because of lack of grip, or it may just take longer.

The fact that you have a common delta increase in temperature, coupled with the operating temperature window being higher up the temperature scale means a track tyre will not perform as well in cold conditions.

Whilst you are correct in what you say, its also worth considering the additional contact patch a track tyre provides which may reduce the difference between them and a standard road tyre, the sidewalls of the tyres are also much more square, meaning the 225 track tyre will actually be a fair bit wider than a 225 road tyre - See photo below.

My conti sport contacts that came on my car did perform better in really wet conditions that the Yoko AD08 or Nankangs I have now, but the difference was marginal.

 

[rosscoe]

TB-Rich. If you get the Federal FZ201's post up you thoughts as I am interested to know how they perform on a Clio.

I am with you that if you can run two sets of wheels it is the best option. A decent compromise doesn't really exist... A cheap track day tyre may be reasonable and good value for money but won't give the performance of an R888 or Dunlop direzza dz03g.

The FZ-201's are a really good track tyre, a further step up from 888's. I run them on track on my clio now and took over 2 seconds off my best time with the 888's on. They take longer to heat up,I need to do a full lap of weaving and trying to get heat into the fronts, but they just don't go off like the 888's do. Even after 5 hard laps the back was still wanting to slide due to the rears not being hot yet.

My next try is 201's on the front with some of my 888's on the rear.

On the road I wouldn't recommend them,from a cold start in the morning they're pretty awful till they get a bit of heat into them, but that means driving like a tit....as a track tyre, you'll struggle to beat them.

 

[john_walker74]

The FZ-201's are a really good track tyre, a further step up from 888's. I run them on track on my clio now and took over 2 seconds off my best time with the 888's on. They take longer to heat up,I need to do a full lap of weaving and trying to get heat into the fronts, but they just don't go off like the 888's do. Even after 5 hard laps the back was still wanting to slide due to the rears not being hot yet.

My next try is 201's on the front with some of my 888's on the rear.

On the road I wouldn't recommend them,from a cold start in the morning they're pretty awful till they get a bit of heat into them, but that means driving like a tit....as a track tyre, you'll struggle to beat them.

Rosscoe. Thanks for the feedback and they sound an interesting proposition! They sound similar to the Dunlop's in that they need a bit of warming up first, but even more so. If you don't mind me asking; how much did you pay for them and where did you get them from?