Hankook R-S3: What's the next best Thing?
 

I don't mind spending the bank on a set of Hankook R-S3's because, well, they're awesome. Problem is my commuting boring city highway driving distance is FAR greater than my spirited driving clover excitement. Face it, the RS3 tread wear is 140...

What would be the next best tire with a higher tread life in a 225/45-15 (or similar size) with similar value?

Very interested if someone has an answer, but from the research I've done in the past you'd pretty much have to go to different size

Also didn't know the rs3 was only 140. OUCH. And here I was pretty much set on them for my wheel setup. 140 treadwear on a street car is not happening

Buy 2 sets of wheels; and have S-drives or something on one set, and the 'kooks on the other.

225-45-15 is a funky size. Why not use a 205 for the DD tire?

This. If you want sticky tires, you pretty much *must* have them on a second set of wheels. If you DD them, they will (all of them) heat cycle out and lose their grip.

Or replace them frequently.

If you have the 16" NB wheels, the BF Goodrich Comp 2's are available in the weird 205/45R16. They are treadwear 340 or so but supposed to be very sticky and apparently will survive track days.

The 15" options are not as good, I believe they only have 195/50.

This. I had the same dilemma and ended up retiring my 6ULs for track/autox duty , mounting NT-01s on them and getting another set of wheels for daily driving.

If you care, I went with 15x8 TireRack C1 and 205/50/15 Star Specs. Very cheap, looks good, works great.

:vash:

Buddy recommended the Z1 Star also, but they're not even close to wide enough. I hope to run a 9" wide wheel so obviously the options are going to be somewhat limited.

I don't/won't daily drive the Miata, it's only a nice weather / weekend playtoy as I've got 3 other cars to drive otherwise. Guess I'll order a set of RS3's and see how long they last..

On another note, I really like the cost of those TRM C1's...

I DD on my Star Specs. They hum like crazy at 40mph, but are crazy sticky.

On the 9's you are stuck with the RS3's as the highest treadwear as far as I know. Star specs are great tires and grip like crazy dry and have good wet weather traction too.

that sucks.
does anyone know what the QUIETEST tires are?

Bridgestone RE 11 is another choice

I run the BF Gforce Sports in this size, f'in spectacular tire with great life and rain traction, quiet, and handled the 235wftlbs with no spin in 2nd. So a great daily driver tire. I am considering something more aggressive now that my car will hopefully have more power and won't be driven in the rain, once it's done.

I've had zero problems with noise from mine.

I only put 3,000 miles on my RS3's when I had the turbo car but after 3K they still had the little flames that are molded into the tread at about 1/32" deep. I thought they wore very well when straight commuting.

It's nonesence. They are silent compared to NT-01.

I DD Star Specs too (205/50/15), no problems with noise. Drove halfway across the country on them and will be driving back in 3 weeks. They're at least as sticky as the 225/45 RS2s they replaced.

I originally had Toyo R1R 225/45/15's on my DD which have the same treadwear (140) as the RS3s and decided to save them for the track so purchased another set of 6ULs and Star Specs (205/50/15) for DD.

The Star Specs are definitely noisier but their handling in the wet is amazing. We did a club run to Mt. Glorious in Queensland on a very wet day and the roads looked very slippery but the Star Specs never lost grip once despite me trying to force the issue in some corners.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them as a DD tyre (though some may find them too noisy).

Not surprised. Summer tires don't wear out as quick as the fear-mongers try to say.

I expect 8,000miles and 20 autox events out of my 205 star specs. They'll probably be replaced due to heat cycling when they have about 3/32 on the inside edge. I DD with 2.2* of camber like a boss. Currently preparing to shoot for 2.7*+. :giggle:

I pulled 8k out of the NT01's. That was 4k more then I expected.

Heat cycle RS3's daily driving them? Do they even ware when you daily drive them? Things are impossible to get up to temp driving hard unless its over 75* out. And from the hand pyrometer they're not even up to warm enough to get out on course temp after my 80mph hour drive to and from work. Maybe today, since it was like 85* out when I drove home, but I didn't check. Once you've driven on them truly up to temp (aka nearly too hot to touch) anything below that and they feel like rocks.

Star specs wont fit on that wheel, but dailying you'll heat cycle them out way before you kill them, should be good for 20k miles easy though. I haven't run the RS3's long enough to get an accurate life on them.

I cooked a set of Toyo T1R's in about 5500 miles on the Speed6 and they're rated at 280. That was a VERY exciting 5500 miles though! The difference between Mazda's factory garbage tires and T1R's made it more than worth cost of entry!

Personally have never owned either the RS3 or Star so I'll give the RS3 a shot and see what happens. It's only like $500 worth of tire, what's there to lose? :D

I DD'ed RS3s last season and they lasted me 15k miles, like a 100 autox runs (one event I did 12 runs...) and an hour of HPDE. With 2.5+ degrees camber all around.

I wore them to cords. They probably DID heatcycle but I didn't care. Awful (dangerous, actually) in sub-50* weather. Fantastic in hot, hot hot weather. The hotter the better. They looooove heat.

I would recommend a skirt with integrated earplugs. :party:

:rofl:

I can't hear my Star Specs over the exhaust and gear noise. Fantastic daily driver tire and extremely good in the wet.

+1 on the extra set of DD wheels

I DD some 15x7s with 205 S-drives and autox the 15x9s with the hankooks. They would heat circle WAY too quick if I DD'd them.

G-force Sports came in a 225/50/15 at one point in time. Their new compound, Comp. 2, don't come in my 205/50/15 size though :(

Miatas deserve 225's :)

How noisy are the Hankook R-S3??

Not bad. Loud in the rain though.

Yoko S-drives are one of the best tires in the longer-lived class below Star Specs and RS3's. Good all around and pretty quiet.

A couple of miata drivers I've met at the local PCA autocrosses use S Drives and like them, using them for DD and for Autox.

I would recomand XS,
-long lasting, atleast compare to R1R,RS3,Re11,...
-superior dry grip
-somewhat quite
-cheap
only down side is you have to drive REALLY slow in the rain.

Thats a pretty lame downside. With the RS3s you can just drive like a normal person in the rain and be fine, they are useless for racing in the rain though.

Bruh, the Federals.

I run 600 treadwear Toyo minivan tires for the daily, Nitto 360 treadwear NeoGens on the green car for street rubber, and NT-01 on the track. the NeoGen is a pretty good tire. I can't comment on tire life because I drive around with 3* of camber in the fronts, lol. Those get flipped and mounted on the rear. There is a "continental divide" on my rear tires now with a point just off center in the rear.

600 tread wear? Are they made from concrete?

lol, they're hard as hell, listen to them in the middle of the vid. I was on Duralast pads and stopping the car with the hand-brake occasionally. The good news was that it makes so little power I rarely had to slow down.

I don't understand how people are complaining about XS's in the rain. I've been through a few sets and they've always exceeded my expectations in the wet.

Kinda forgot about this thread:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1348162907
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1348162907
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1348163094
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1348163022
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1348163022


Think I made the right choice: 15x9's with 225/45 R-S3's. Haven't had the chance to really push them because I haven't rolled fenders yet and the front rubs, but what little I've seen thus far they're incredible!!

Going to follow the advice of others and eventually buy some 15x7's to daily drive a slightly cheaper tire.


Thanks for all the input guys!

205 NeoGens look great on an 8. They are just as wide as the NT-01.

When does that MAxxis tire come out? If it's cheap, we may have some competition for the NT-01. Hoosiers are way out of my price range.

My set of Hoosiers came with the car-damn they were expensive;)

They're only like 200 something a tire. Its not like we drive corvettes.

S drives are one of the most well rounded tires ive owned. They're quiet, lasted a while, and the grip was damn decent. Nothing compared to race rubber but quite good considering their life.

I need to get some daily tires for the mustang (these factory all seasons are driving me crazy), I'm thinking of trying the s drives again. Too bad they're like 180 a pop...

I run 205/50/15 kumho xs's on 15 by 8 konig wideopen's 20 mm backspace.fit is good and looks great. 1990 with rolled and stretched fenders. May have room for nines.:idea: .

Going to try my buddies 15 by 9 6ul's with 225/45/15' r1r's to see if they fit. I have difusers on the rocker panels.

Currently this set up looks amazing and has alot of extra clearence.

Good grip but likes heat in tire to really hook up. Not rated as very easy to drive in heavy rain. Got only 1000 miles on this set up so far. I'm a rim whore. Lots of wierd rims some rare.

I like the Yoke AD08's

Soviet, chime in and tell us how the StarSpecs are doing @400whp

Whatever happened to that 245/40 maxxis tire suppose to come out?

Word from my driving god friend is the RS3s are superior to the Stars.

HAving raced jeffs car I can tell you only my r-comps have been better

100% true but the Kumho XS is still better and cheaper.:party:

They don't hold 4th gear but I haven't died either yet.

RS3 wear out a whole lot quicker. 200 vs 140 threadwear is a big difference.

Agreed. I've had both and RS3 better