semi-slick racing tyres on the road

[white86]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering who's had any experience using semi-slick tyres on the street. I consider tyres to be of primary importance in terms of handling (because they are...) and would make some compromise in terms of tyre wear (I only get 20-30k km's anyway...).

There's a few good prices on this site (MX5 Mania (http://www.mx5mania.com/wheels.htm#Tyres)), I am looking at Dunlop D01's and the Falken Azenis RT215's.

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

Cheers, Dan

[ae86levint]

lol 20- 30k km's is pretty good, damn good infact i'm using toyo pra1's on mine if i don't there is no forward motion and i have to do alot of steering to go straight ahead.

[RobertoX]

rich people use semi slicks on the road!! pretty much a waste of time

i was going to do it, but them i discovered yoky a539 185/55/14

semi slicks for track YES

[indi]

John uses Falken Azenis on his sprinter for both road and track (I think he's just to lazy to change them over http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/wink.gif ) handling is much better. I say go for it http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/cool.gif

[mumblezzz]

You're really just wasting them by driving them on the road. They do handle better in the dry but standing water makes things interesting. Plus the constant heat cycling of day to day driving makes the compound harder and grip less.

[Medwin_3sGTE_AE86]

I drive on my yoko Ao32R on the road every day.... cuz i'm too lazy to change it over (plus it costs money).... still lookin for a 2nd set of rims. I'm running soft compound and i gotta say.... they last a shit load longer than i expected. If ur not thrashing... they hold up pretty good ey... i'd say if driven normally... i'd probably get 15-20,000 k's out of a set... where as normal tyres would be around 25-30,000ks a set.

If ur the sort of person that thrashes every corner and tries to get wheelspin as often as u can on the street... i reckon the semi's will last LONGER than normal tires... i always get problems with tread blocks falling off in bits when i thrash too hard no normal road tires. Diff story with the top quality road tyres though (RE-01 etc.)

I wouldnt say semi's handled better but... i find semi slicks breakway much quicker than road tires but u do get shit loads more grip b4 it breaks away.

As for rain... i reckon these tyres still out perform normal road tyres ey... but the same story goes... more grip but breaks away faster...

My treads are pretty low now so aqua planing is a problem in deeper water...

[RONIN]

just a FYI for you guys,

The Falken Azenis RT215's are not semi slicks... They are not an R compound tyre as a true semi slick is.

I drive with Bridgestone Potenza RE55S semi slicks on the street and they are the best tyres I've ever driven on. Even in the rain.

[4agZeAE86]

I've had Falken RT215's and they lasted about 10K including 4 dry track days and 1 wet track day.

Then i bought Toyo R888's. They have done about the same amount of track use and lasted about 12K with some tread left.

I set faster lap times in the dry with the Toyos and they were cheaper. In the wet however, the Falkens were better.

These sort of tyres arent worth it unless u do track days. They are very very very noisy and wear fairly quickly. Due to stiff side walls they transmitt every bump through the steering wheel and chassis, which u could reduce by running lower tyre pressures but this would increase the rate of wear. etc etc. Its about ompromise.

These tyres were on a honda with LSD so the wear would probably be simular to 86's only reversed.

[seek]

I run Toyo RA1's on the missus's Onevia atm and by god do they hook up. Best tyre by far ive used although they are a little soft and i am wearing them out. Might have something to do with me wringing there neck all the time but by god do they grip. I was running yoko a539's on the front of the hachi for a while found they are a good grippy tyre too

[Black_Hachi]

I wanted some semi's for the front only a while back but didnt really look hard enough to get the right size. I ended up with Bridgestone G3's but by the looks of that site i shoulda gone for the semi's. I use the G3's on the track and im happy with them, then again i do have -3.5 camber on the front so turn in is not a problem.

[DRFTAE86]

Used semi slick on the rear once (came with the rims wen i had em)...
Traction in the wet was amazingly bad. Wheel spin off the lights for ages without effort.