mx5cartalk.com

So my neovas have pretty much run out and I'm thinking of trying the Advan AO50.

I've got 15x7.5 6UL's so deciding between the 205 and the 215. Car is stock power...any thoughts what is the better size?

Also, there's soft and medium compound. Is there much difference?

The car doesn't get dríven much besides going down the Hume Hwy to Wakefield. I'm thinking I'll just end up driving there and back with the semis on.

205 would be the fastest with that rim width.

Softs would be for time attack, sprints/hill climbs or autotests. Medium will give you longer tyre life on circuit type racing.

Hope that helps based on what I use them for and what our Motorsport tyre supplier recommends.

Les

Direct from the Yokohama site for ADVAN A050: http://www.yokohama.com.au/ourtyres/tyr ... tyreid=221

205/50R15 5.5 - 7.5
215/50R15 6.0 - 7.5
225/50R15 6.0 - 8.0

As you can't get a 45 profile in the 15" you're far better running the 205's for drive out of the corners. Also get mediums.

If you want to step back to A048's this place has them for $229ea.
http://www.tractiontyres.com.au/pdfs/a0 ... yer_v2.pdf

Thanks guys. Ah yes, I didn't consider the profile size. I'll go with the mediums too, esp given I'll drive it on the highway. Thanks!

Word of warning here!
The guys from Yoko were adamant that their R specs would not last very long if dríven to/from the circuit.
When asked about the fact that many were doing just that, they replied that few if any were doing it on Yokos.

Ive got AO48s on daisy wheels and find them hard - done 4 track days on them including the 600kms round trip to WPk and 150kms around PI and they are only 1/2 worn. I will try something softer next time.

The problem with R comp tyres is that it is all about the heat cycles. Running them on the road is wasting track grip because the rubber changes with each heat cycle - they get harder. The 1st run on my new A050s was totally awesome, but it is slowly down hill from there and running them on the road will speed up that decline in grip. I cannot imagine an A050 would last long on being used on the road, either that or they would become very hard and have little grip.

Width wise I would go for 205. One of the WA club members had 225s on his 160rwhp car and he just could not get the tyres switch on, he was slower than on the 205s.

Compound wise, I can only speed for the soft - massive grip when new. Lasted about 10 events, so that is 150km, but I am hard on tyres.

Si.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll put the A050s on my 6ULs and put some street tyres back on my stock rims and just figure out how to get the rims down there.

Sounds like 205 are the go. I'll probably go with medium compound too.

R-specs need to be understood and cared for or they won't do you very much good.... You shouldn't heat cycle them on the highway unless your running silly low pressures, I have a TPMS system with temp sensors and I can tell you they stay pretty cool on the highway. For each 1psi they grow you'll see a 10C temp increase and deformation is what generates that temperature until the tyre stabilises (36psi for me sees only a 2-3C change between stationary/expressway). You should be running them at normal hot temperatures before driving to/from the track to prevent the higher temps. I've personally run a set of 225/50/15 A050's with my 90kw N/A NB8B and had no trouble reaching their temp band either. They did their fastest ever session for me on their very last session before I reached Canvas.

Understand every bit of light/heat continues the vulcanisation process used to make the tyres harder so it's important to minimise exposure to both unless on the track. I got 9 sessions out of my set and their last session is the modified <2.0 record for the NSW club. I store mine in tyre totes when not on the car and I don't keep driving hard on them once they've overheated on a club day. I also run mine in before taking them to the track and do atleast 1 light session at %80-90 before punishing them. So far all my tires have lasted well and continued heat cycling to canvas. Your always losing a little frictional grip as you use the tyre but that get compensated for by tread squirm reduction and surface area increase as you get through the rubber.

A048's are a special case, based on experience and talking to the guys at Gordon Leven... first session is the best and everyone after that will be slower. Very well known bad tyre unless your planning on doing one big non-stop race with them. Some people like them though for the same reason R888's are popular...they're harder and can last really long. A050's are an awesome tyre and are a massive step forward... directly comparable to the V70A's I usually which were the fastest tyre I'd ever used.

Hey Hellmun / SiG thanks for TYRE LIFE 101. Understand the life / deterioration of tyres now!

Ivan - if you are looking at ways to transport purely track only tyres, check out this.

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=54988

Not my cuppa personally, wouldn't want the extra weight sitting that high and far back but then in the mx5 we don't have many options.

Mini-trailer is another option.