semi slicks

[trist]

i was wondering on what sort of semi slicks to put on my vr4 it has 215/45 R17 on now so what sort of prices and type have some of you got
cheers aaron

 

[CLuTZ]

Are you aware that semi slicks are fairly expensive and also wear out quicker than normal tyres?

 

[marinetowing]

and are also not the greatest in the wet....i have a set of toyo r888's which i use on the track but have driven with them on the road a couple of times....$400 a corner and the car tramlines badly on the road with them after a bit of wear.

 

[rob323]

You should be able to get Silverstone FTZ in a similar size for about $300-$350 each.

Also, most semis are noisy on the street and like lots of camber if you are really going to push them hard.

 

[trist]

i was planning of using them for when i do the rob foy hillclimb in feb and these ones you speak of are they road legal

 

[rob323]

The FTZ's are road legal. As are nearly all of the semis slicks out there (until they wear out anyway)

 

[trist]

The FTZ's are road legal. As are nearly all of the semis slicks out there (until they wear out anyway)

cheers i shall do some detective work
thanks to all

 

[doommachine]

If you daily drive the car, it's worthwhile investing in another set of rims, one for daily use and some for events/hard driving. 265T does that, he has the stock galant 15's with normal tyres, and his 16's have some semis.. makes those expensive, expensive tyres last a bit longer. When he decides to go for a spirited drive, it only takes 20 minutes to change the rims.

Hendo on the GSR-evo club has some colt ralliart 16's for sale for cheap... fit on the galant beautifully. Maybe leave the 17's for dailys and put semis on 16s (surely 16" tyres are slightly cheaper than 17s?) and also you get more sidewall etc.

 

[trist]

If you daily drive the car, it's worthwhile investing in another set of rims, one for daily use and some for events/hard driving. 265T does that, he has the stock galant 15's with normal tyres, and his 16's have some semis.. makes those expensive, expensive tyres last a bit longer. When he decides to go for a spirited drive, it only takes 20 minutes to change the rims.

Hendo on the GSR-evo club has some colt ralliart 16's for sale for cheap... fit on the galant beautifully. Maybe leave the 17's for dailys and put semis on 16s (surely 16" tyres are slightly cheaper than 17s?) and also you get more sidewall etc.

sweet i shall add that to the to do list

 

[rob323]

I found that there was not a lot of options for 16" rims, most of the profiles were too big. But with 15", there are 50, 55 and 60 series available.

 

[trist]

I found that there was not a lot of options for 16" rims, most of the profiles were too big. But with 15", there are 50, 55 and 60 series available.

do you think the 15s will be better then the 17s for the same tyre on a hillclimb

 

[rob323]

I don't think you would notice any difference, but, I haven't used 17" semis so I can't say for certain.

 

[trist]

what have you used end what were the results

 

[rob323]

I'm a tight ass so have only ever used 15" semis.
Have used 195/50/15 FTZ's (Hards) and currently have some old 205/15/60 AO32R's.

The FTZ's had a lower profile and much stiffer sidewall and were bumpier on the street than the AO32's but I could not tell any real difference in the performance around QR. Even the different profile didn't seem to make much difference.

The one time I did the Mt Cotton Hill climb, I chickened out and just used A539's (I have seen too many cars written off at Mt Cotton so I wasn't going to push it and become part of the tally).

One thing about hill climbs, its very hard to get enough heat into the semis for them to really work properly, unless you use the soft compounds. But if you use softs at a race track, they will wear out very quickly.

 

[trist]

cheers i have also looked at sumitomo HTR Z11 high performance road tyres as an ulternative to semies any thoughts

 

[rob323]

I believe that there are "road" tyres and that there are "race" tyres and that there are very few tyres currently available that do both (despite what tyre salesman will tell you).

And the few OEM tyres fitted to the likes of the current evo's, sti's and hsv's that nearly perform as good as a semi cost as much if not more than a good semislick anyway.

 

[GSR70Y]

See what others are using.. At my local hillclimb it seems that ADVAN A032r's are the popular choice. Last year I noticed most of the guy's with Evo's use AO42's at wakefield park. This year it seems to be Bridgestone Potenza. Perhaps they got a group buy at the time, I know there is one at the moment on the Evo oz forums, in time for Evonats.

 

[trist]

cool i cant wait to see what is the number 1 choice cheers for all you help

 

[rob323]

I don't think AO32's are available anymore and some people prefer them to the AO48 which replaced them and they are hoarding them up (much like some people did the Dunlops old W10's). But yokohama semislicks are not cheap.

Some other brands to consider which I don't think have been mentioned yet - Continental (yes its true, they do make semis) and Khumho.

 

[DOUGMO]

the car that won targa tas this year was running the kuhmos