I've actually seen a couple of folks run them on the street here in SoCal, and I would certainly be open to running the RA1 or the NT01, however my understanding is that they absolutely suck when cold.


Space for tire storage at my place is finite. I already have a set of hollow-spoke 14s with El Guapo brand all-season tires stacked up in the living room next to the front door, crowned with a steel spare. (I honestly have no idea why I have more compact spares than cars. If anybody needs one, lemme know.)

Still have T1R's on mine. Dry, wet, snow, slush, hot, cold, etc., they seem to act the same year round.

I did have Ecsta's before these and those were ---- in comparison.

If not care about the wet traction some Kumho XS would do fine for you then. Hell some new Azenis would be fine also.

i dont understand, my wet traction is fine.

I had a set of T1Rs several years ago, and I didn't care for them at all. They always struck me as sort of a compromise tire in the same class as the Eagle F1. It probably didn't help my impression of them that they were on the red car when I spun it backwards off a mountain road at a fairly high rate of speed and rear-ended a tree.

Worst recommendation in this thread. ES100 isn't even in the same league. I had a set on my 240sx and hated them...

Apparently rleete has never experienced good tires if he's pleased with ES100s.

I ran RS-2s on my car for a couple years and was generally very impressed with them. Apparently the RS-3s are better in just about every way, if that's the case then they should be a pretty darn good tire. Only downside was they were a bit not-grippy below 40F

I'd have to vote for star specs, I wouldn't recommend RS3s because you would need 225s. I've been there done that on a 7" rim, it's a little numb, no point if you have the star specs available.

Local guy has done 20 track days on a set of 205s on his NA, 2 or 3 of those were wet, and towards the end of those 20 track days. They still have plenty of tread left, but they're heat cycled to death. That's enough for me, they're my next set of tires.

All and all for daily tires I would do Star Specs....problem is price. I think they are a bit out there and you HAVE to buy them from Tire Crack.

+1

Don't run an NT01 on the street, you will destroy them in short order. I've got a friend who killed a set in 4-5k (or less) on his daily. 225 NT01 on 8" 6UL on a 2554'd 95 NA. (fitment was fine BTW, no rubbing or pulling required IIRC)

Are the NB Sport spares larger than the standard donuts for fitting over the big brakes? I'm wondering if you have one, as I might be interested. I don't see myself in SD anytime soon though.

I believe I read somewhere that they are now a TireCrack exclusive.

Oh, I don't know. The T1R recommendation was pretty awful as well. I'd say that the two recommendations are about equal in their worthlessness and deservance of scorn and ridicule.


That's what bugs me about the RS3. I'd prefer to stick with the wheels I have now, as they're relatively light, not at all ugly, and fit the car. 15x8 wheels are not likely to clear the fenders on a '90, especially one with greater-than-stock compression travel.


Although, I could attempt to start a styling trend. Rather than stretching 185 tires onto 10" wheels, we could try to squeeze a 245 tire onto a 6" wheel.


Huh?

First, re-read what I wrote earlier. When we're talking about a difference of $100 or less between sets, on a set of tires that will most likely last for 3-4 years or more given the relatively low mileage which I put on the car, price is completely irrelevant. I waste more money than that on certified organic weasel polish.

Second, TR lists the 205/50/15 Star-Spec at $115 each. That's $22/ea less than the RE-11 and $8 less than the R1R.



The R1Rs are looking more and more attractive as I read some of the reviews out there...


It's funny, really. I can remember years ago we were all pissing and moaning about how there weren't any decent street tires out there to compete with the 615. Now I wish there were fewer to choose from. :rolleyes:

Edit:

Cool. Get r1rs. Get the 195's thought. They have magic compound in them.

I have 225/45/15 RS3 on my miata and 215/sumthing/17 XS's on my gf's WRX.

They are comparable in grip and sidewall. I don't know about wet because I never drive the miata in the wet (although I do know the XS's suck in the rain for hydroplaning). The one bad thing about the XS is that they are STUPID LOUD. like so loud they actually makes my gf's 3" ebay exhaust seem quiet.

Oh and as far as snow... XS's were epicly fun in the October snowstorm we had in CT. Drove the car 50 miles in the storm. Thank god it was AWD so I could at least move forward somewhat.

And what, exactly is supposed to be so bad about them? The only complaint I have is that they are a bit loud. Quite a lot of road noise.

?

Are you being serious? Is there some kind of data to substantiate this?

I DD on 205 star specs; 15x8 +20 TRmotorsports wheels. I absolutely love them. They don't give me issues in cold weather, or rain, as I was led to believe. After about 1500miles, the show no appreciable wear, even with more than 2* of camber.

I see no reason I will not get 10k and 10+ autox events out of them. In all honesty, they'll probably be replaced with 225s for next season before the current 205s run out.

The 195 toyo is know as the "pixie dust" tire, because its extremely sticky compound has been proved to extend to the 2/32 layers. Many tires have differential compounds through the tread. The 225 tire does not appear to have the same thread compound through-out. No other sizes has had extensive research done to them, so for the time being the 195 is the only magic tire.

For street driving, there's no reason to run a r1r. You will not benefit from the consistent compound, since I assume you will not be shaving them. With a compound like the r1r's; the tire will heat cycle out before you run the tread down.


For DD, you want the XS, the star spec, or the re-11. The toyo is just overkill.

This is exactly what I found with my first set of 205 sDrives (and its the reason I'm on 195 sDrives now.) The only reason I sold my 205s was to get into the "better" and "more aggressive" RS3. I'll be going with StarSpecs next time I need to buy DD tires.

By all accounts, you just can't loose with the 'Specs.

I was not happy with my 205 star specs. Calling them a high performance tire (as yoko does), is not accurate. They heat soak like mother-------, and then loose all grip.


EO2K: How do you like your RS3s? Do you have any issues getting them heated up with such a light car?

I have not run any of the others, but I'm really impressed with the 205/50 XSs on my summer wheels (15x6).

I've tracked them once (very predictable breakaway point, whether it was lap 2 or 10), drove on them over the winter here in Colorado down to the mid 20's occasionally (no snow though), and only pulled them off a few months ago when the Miata became my DD...I can't stomach wasting the rubber on them for an uber boring commute. Bought some ZE912s for that task.

I can't comment on rain traction because it never rains here, but in the dry they stick harder than I'm willing to test on most public roads. I have never even broken them loose on my favorite roads with which I am intimately familiar, but not from a lack of trying. But on the track day I was willing to push them, and found they gave up grip in a very controlled manner, no snap oversteer even on my shitty suspension...the back end drifted smoothly around and came just back as nicely.

There was a definite cutoff temp-wise WRT to how they felt (mid 50's seemed to be pretty consistent), but once they were driven a few miles on a sunny day even at those temps they felt pretty good.

I'd guess that I will get 10K miles out of them even with another track day or two. There are probably 4K miles + 1 track day on them already and are perhaps not quite halfway worn, and I put a LOT of those miles on them up in the mountains beating on them.

What Scott said.