Road Legal Track Tyre

Road Legal Track Tyre

Author
Discussion

stevekoz

Original Poster:

532 posts

169 months

Friday 20th November 2020
quotequote all
Hi. Unsure whether this is the best forum section so apologies if not. Looking for peoples opinions and recommendations.

Car is -

Megane F1 R26
FWD
1460kg
-1.0 camber Front and Rear
330hp.
Coilover suspension - BC BR Type Ra
Spring Rates 7/4kgs
Min 3 track days. Max 5.

Daily driven car. Doesnt have a dedicated track set of wheels.(not as yet)

Road Miles roughly 4-6000k per year.

Dont mind a bit of road noise.

Looking for turn in grip. Good grip under braking. Good grip in wet for road. That also offers similar for track. You know the usual I guess.

Car currently has Michelin PS4.

Any opinions and recommendations welcomed.

Edited by stevekoz on Friday 20th November 22:55

motorhole

678 posts

227 months

Friday 20th November 2020
quotequote all
If you're doing 6k road miles a year and just the odd trackday I think it would be hard to find better than PS4 tbh. It's just excellent in all conditions, a great wet track tyre and an 'okayish' dry track tyre too. Once you're doing several trackdays a year and/or the car is no longer doing many road miles, then dedicated track tyres make more sense - or dedicated track tyres on a second set of wheels.

stevekoz

Original Poster:

532 posts

169 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Thank you for your constructive comments. Appreciate it. Somewhat echoes what I thought myself.

I'll open it out further in line with that, to say, if i did end up having a second set of dedicated wheels for track use, that perhaps needed to do some road only driving, of limited miles.

What would the recommendation then be?

In the past ive used toyo r888r but they were "scary' in heavy rain.

GC8

19,910 posts

197 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Id definitely keep the PS4s and buy a second set of wheels.

e46m3c

875 posts

162 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Cup 2

Mark83

1,219 posts

208 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
e46m3c said:
Cup 2
So long as the wheels are at least 19in and they can run more than the -1 degree of camber, I'd agree.

In an ideal world, I'd run two sets of wheels and tyres, designed for their specific purpose rather than compromising.

Edited by Mark83 on Saturday 21st November 09:43

stevekoz

Original Poster:

532 posts

169 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
I see the value of two sets. Definitely the way I'm going to go now.

The car can only run -1 degree front and rear without major shims and work and she only runs 18" wheels. It's harder to get wheels to suit or fit the megane due to offsets. So it would be a second set of stock wheels.

PJ_Parsons

143 posts

145 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Try the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport and avoid the nuisance of having to swap tyres on track days. Especially when the weather won’t make up its mind. I use them and highly recommend them. They are a road tyre designed for drivers who track their cars. They have slightly stiffer side walls than your average high performance tyre. They work great in the dry and in the wet. They are A rated for wet grip and feel like it on the track and have never even squirmed on wet roads. The dry grip on the road is excellent and on a dry track is pretty close to a semi-slick. They also work in the cold, even on a wet track. Ideal for this time of year. I paid £410 fitted from Black Circles for 235/40/18. The only compromise is a slightly harsher ride due to the stiff sidewalls. Look at the review on tyrereviews channel on YouTube.

Edited by PJ_Parsons on Saturday 21st November 18:59

BaronVonVaderham

2,322 posts

154 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Yokohama AD08R are a fantastic semi slick style track tyre, also fine for the road and in the wet.

Massive upgrade in grip on my Clio 200 over the oem Continental SC3/5.

PJ_Parsons

143 posts

145 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
Didn’t Yoko, change the AD08R to the AD08RS? I heard the RS are not as good. Would love to be proved wrong.

Mutton

395 posts

229 months

Saturday 21st November 2020
quotequote all
PJ_Parsons said:
Didn’t Yoko, change the AD08R to the AD08RS? I heard the RS are not as good. Would love to be proved wrong.
That’s exactly my experience of the RS version with my old Megane RS250. I had them on a second set of 18 inch track wheels and they squealed loads and felt no better / were no quicker than the PS4S I had fitted to my 19 inch road wheels.
I’d go for two sets of wheels so you keep the PS4 for road / wet track days and a second set of wheels with Cup 2s for summer / dry track days.

stevekoz

Original Poster:

532 posts

169 months

Monday 23rd November 2020
quotequote all
Hmm well lots of good info.

I'm tempted to try the Gpodyears when the PS4 have worn.

Other than that I think I'm set of on a separate set of wheels and tyres and trying the cups.

There are alot of options for sure.

Thanks everyone

upsidedownmark

2,120 posts

142 months

Monday 23rd November 2020
quotequote all
stevekoz said:
Thank you for your constructive comments. Appreciate it. Somewhat echoes what I thought myself.

I'll open it out further in line with that, to say, if i did end up having a second set of dedicated wheels for track use, that perhaps needed to do some road only driving, of limited miles.

What would the recommendation then be?

In the past ive used toyo r888r but they were "scary' in heavy rain.
If you have a second set of wheels, then why does scary in the wet matter - get a good dry tyre (I know squat about meganes, but a r888r would seem to tick boxes), and bung the road wheels back on if it pours? Certainly not unfeasible to take a second set with you..

Turbojuice

607 posts

96 months

Monday 23rd November 2020
quotequote all
PJ_Parsons said:
Try the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport and avoid the nuisance of having to swap tyres on track days. Especially when the weather won’t make up its mind. I use them and highly recommend them. They are a road tyre designed for drivers who track their cars. They have slightly stiffer side walls than your average high performance tyre. They work great in the dry and in the wet. They are A rated for wet grip and feel like it on the track and have never even squirmed on wet roads. The dry grip on the road is excellent and on a dry track is pretty close to a semi-slick. They also work in the cold, even on a wet track. Ideal for this time of year. I paid £410 fitted from Black Circles for 235/40/18. The only compromise is a slightly harsher ride due to the stiff sidewalls. Look at the review on tyrereviews channel on YouTube.

Edited by PJ_Parsons on Saturday 21st November 18:59
Another vote for the Goodyear Supersport. Fantastic tyres and come in 18 inch size which Michelin have only recently started to do with their equivalent Michelin PS4S. Continental SportContact 6 are another equivalent. These are all a distinct step sportier than the Michelin PS4 (non S model) and are much better at dealing with track work.

Could also go Nankang NS2R if you want a further step towards sportiness whilst also of course sacrificing a bit of everyday refinement.

Edited by Turbojuice on Monday 23 November 15:09

PJ_Parsons

143 posts

145 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
quotequote all
NS2R is a great value tyre. Great on a dry track, but my experience of cold and wet conditions is that they are very poor. Certainly not a road tyre for the UK. They do last well on track and I do use them.

I think that my approach would be to buy the Supersports (not the R version, as it is poor in the wet). See if they are enough to be a one size fits all road and track tyre. If you want more, buy additional rims and semi slicks for track day only use. The Goodyears, would still be ideal on the road and for wet track use.

anonymous-user

61 months

Tuesday 24th November 2020
quotequote all
Megane R26 does not weigh 1460kgs.

I have tried a few tyres on mine and have a few friends with them. Thoughts are:

Uniroyal Rainsport 5s - good in the wet, shredded in no time on track. Not for me.

Michelin PS4- good on the road and wet conditions, decent on track but get hot and start to fall apart. Road only tyre really.

Yoko AD08R - Decent in the wet and good on track, a very good compromise. Decent wear rate on both. The new AD08RS is meant to be not quite as good but seem fine on my impreza .

Michelin Cup2 - I like these tyres and have been through 3 sets. Good on track but pretty crap in the wet. They wear very quickly though. I will be trying the PS4S as a middle ground between this and the PS4 next time as they are now available in 18 inch size.

Nankang NS2R - decent on track, not good in the wet. Good for cheapish tyres but personally I'd rather spend the extra on Michelins.

Nankang AR1 - good on track but wear very quickly and useless in the wet. Personally I'd opt for a Cup2 over these.

Nankang Racing slicks - unbelievably grippy compared to any semi slicks but unsuitable for cars without a roll-cage.



Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 24th November 12:35

Kev_Mk3

2,944 posts

102 months

Saturday 12th December 2020
quotequote all
PJ_Parsons said:
Didn’t Yoko, change the AD08R to the AD08RS? I heard the RS are not as good. Would love to be proved wrong.
Exactly the same times around the ring on the R to RS if that helps.

nickfrog

21,955 posts

224 months

Sunday 13th December 2020
quotequote all
Kev_Mk3 said:
PJ_Parsons said:
Didn’t Yoko, change the AD08R to the AD08RS? I heard the RS are not as good. Would love to be proved wrong.
Exactly the same times around the ring on the R to RS if that helps.
I ran both. Very little difference in grip BUT the RS took ages to scrub in and squealed a lot on the way there. But then they felt the same as the old AD08. Never tested with the Vbox though

In the OP's situation that would be my choice. They're not meant to offer more grip than a PS4S or a GY SS over 2/3 laps but they will do a good 20 minutes stint where the road tyres would have overheated and lost friction and got damaged. This is down to the construction and the much stiffer sidewalls as well as the bigger size of the blocks.

Hol

8,732 posts

207 months

Saturday 26th December 2020
quotequote all
Elatino1 said:
Megane R26 does not weigh 1460kgs.

I have tried a few tyres on mine and have a few friends with them. Thoughts are:

Uniroyal Rainsport 5s - good in the wet, shredded in no time on track. Not for me.

Michelin PS4- good on the road and wet conditions, decent on track but get hot and start to fall apart. Road only tyre really.

Yoko AD08R - Decent in the wet and good on track, a very good compromise. Decent wear rate on both. The new AD08RS is meant to be not quite as good but seem fine on my impreza .

Michelin Cup2 - I like these tyres and have been through 3 sets. Good on track but pretty crap in the wet. They wear very quickly though. I will be trying the PS4S as a middle ground between this and the PS4 next time as they are now available in 18 inch size.

Nankang NS2R - decent on track, not good in the wet. Good for cheapish tyres but personally I'd rather spend the extra on Michelins.

Nankang AR1 - good on track but wear very quickly and useless in the wet. Personally I'd opt for a Cup2 over these.

Nankang Racing slicks - unbelievably grippy compared to any semi slicks but unsuitable for cars without a roll-cage.



Edited by Elatino1 on Tuesday 24th November 12:35
You cannot fault real world experiences like this.

It looks like the starting point is PS4 on the road tyres for use on wet tracks and Cup2’s on the track tyres for the majority of track days.

If you buy 225’s and not 235’s you will save a few quid for very little difference in performance.


My R26 is train station hack and back up track car, but I also run PS4’s on the road.

Nickjd

208 posts

213 months

Saturday 26th December 2020
quotequote all
There are many track tyres that are road legal that would shame a PS Cup2 on circuit depending on the use.