Shopping for tyres - T1R / R1R and Adrenalin prices

[Okibi]

Just rang a few tyre places for 195/50/15

T1R = $165
R1R = $179

Adrenalin = $141

Still not sure which way i'll go.

[16bit]

get the r1r's they look the best imo. they are all quality tyres but the r1r's are in a different league.

[bigdog]

If you can wait till after the weekend STM and I are going to do a little tyre comparo on Sunday, all going to plan... will compare my R1Rs to his RT615s and my Kumho semis by putting them all on his car and letting him judge the differences. It won't be a track test, but at least we'll have a back to back impression on turn in etc. I have done quite a few normal road ks on the R1Rs now and they are still wonderful IMHO. An easy 10kmh faster through my favourite test corner is quite impressive. Looks like they are wearing OK, certainly not overly fast.

[StanTheMan]

really looking forward to the catch up

[Wivvix]

$141 for 195/50/15 adrenalins? Yeouch.

When I was buying they were $127.50 with RAC discount, altho that was a couple of months ago now...

[Nark]

Whatever you do, don't buy the T1Rs. Horribly soft sidewalls mean that there's little feedback and no progressiveness at all.

[Okibi]

I love my T1-Rs, GREAT feedback and VERY progressive ... what psi were you running?

[Nark]

I tried 26, 30, then 32-36 in 1psi increments.

Granted that these were the tyres that were on the car when I purchased it so I don't know their history, but they were really, really bad.

[bigdog]

My T1R's were great till the last 5000km when they became progressively more slippery and vague. When i changed them they still had around 5-10000km tread life left, but they were awful. When I bought my car the Pirrelli PZero Nero tyres that were on it were the same - good tread but no grip, yet many people had raved about them, and indeed they were OEM fitment on Porsches, so they couldn't have been that bad. Perhaps you had the same experience Nark - the tyres had simply 'gone off'. The soft sidewalls are accentuated in this scenario as the car is moving around more.... just a thought.

[Nark]

Possibly. The thing is the grip was still good. It's just that they would snap without any sort of warning.

[Charlie Brown]

[quote="Nark"]Whatever you do, don't buy the T1Rs. Horribly soft sidewalls quote]

Tick.

I also agree with bigdog. I got rid of my T1-Rs last weekend. 38,000k's with another 1 - 2mm to the wear bars and they were slipping and sliding everywhere plus were becoming very noisy.

When new they were 2 seconds slower a lap around Wakefield compared to the OEM Michelin PP1s fitted to the NC. I needed to line the corner up and start turning earlier due to the soft side walls, and that was running the same pressures as the Michelins, never letting the psi exceed 41 hot (started 37 - 38 cold).

I now have a couple of hundred kilometres on some RE001s which still have the release agent making them greasy but they are getting better. Also the tyres need to "adapt" to the 2 degrees negative camber I'm running. ie they need to get some more surface area on the road. I find them quieter than the T1-Rs and the ride is as good if not better but the big bonus is that they cost almost $500 a set less, so they are worth the experiment.

EDIT: Never had them "snap" on me. They were very easy to control, just their reaction to steering inputs was slow.

[Nark]

I attribute the snapping to the soft sidewalls. That's why I was adding higher and higher pressures to them.

Either way I was glad to be rid of them and I still had plenty of tread. Just couldn't stand driving with them.

I got the Federal 595RS and never looked back. Fantastic tyre.

[Okibi]

Nark what alignment settings and sway bars did your car have?

[Nark]

No idea. It's how the car was when I bought it.

Changing to the 595RSs made a world of difference though. I drove around with the Federals for 2 weeks before getting an alignment.

Swaybars are stock AFAIK.