Choosing a Tyre & when to change

[Josh Lawson]

Hi All,

Currently have 3mm on the back and 4mm on the front. I am doing a track day (Car Limits) in June and unsure as to whether to keep the tyres on the car and risk ruining my day as I have run out of tread or changing my tyres now.

I am currently running Toyo 888's and struggle with grip when it is either cold or wet. There is very little feedback until the grip is no more and then it just lets go. I have heard T1r and R1R toyo tyres were a good choice but they differ massively on price.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Also does any one know of a 'tyres on the drive' type service who would fit a suitable tyre?

Many thanks,
Josh 

(London, Barnet)

[Onliest Smeg David]

T1Rs more suitable for hatch Tintop. I had them for a while on Westie and a Fabia vrs. Good tyre and brill for learning handling on track, having good but not the best of grips. Actually had great fun on track with them.

But R1Rs much better all round on track and road being a softer compound, but deal better with heat on track. Have progressive feel when handling on limits. Still good wet performance too.

All IMHO!. Done around 3000 miles per year mixed use all year on both tyres.

[DamperMan]

I have some almost new t1r's waiting for me to sell.   I did not find them very inspiring in the damp.  If your coming from 888's you'll expect better.    R1r s I like and I find them very predictable past the limits..:) but I can't make comment to how they perform against your current tyre. 

[B.RAD]

How old are your 888's? They're pretty much perfect as a track tyre for the Westfield so I'd be surprised if you were struggling with them, unless they're old.

What do you want from your tyre? Do you want all out track grip and are willing to sacrifice some road comfort/wet performance for it? Are you on a budget? All these are more important than going with what others talk about.

If it helps at all, I have run a pretty good selection of tyres on my Westfield now and have found that how much you're willing to spend and what you expect the tyre to do is way more important than going with brand.

I now run a set of used slicks on track (cost £150 for a set of 12 with 4 minilights!), a set of falken ze912's for road (awesome tyre, £30 a corner and super predictable), a set of kumho v700 supersoft (moving to Avon zzr for this season) for sprinting.

I also had a set of r888 in sg compound which I found great for track work and ok on road in the dry but unpredictable in the cold/wet. Also had a048r's and found the same. Also ran medium compound zzr on trackdays, these were fantastic but do wear quickly. That prompted me to move to a dedicated road tyre and a dedicated track tyre, as when I'm on track I want the maximum grip available, not a compromise.

I can also recommend Michelin Pilot Sport 3 - we have these on our shared Mazda mx5 track hack and they're fantastic - plenty of grip, predictable and willing to let go when pushed!

[DE04*]

I had T1Rs when first got the Westy,I thought they were ok until I got 888s and R1Rs for the wet track days. Much better ,I would not bother with T1Rs they are to hard and useless on track in the wet. Just my opinion 

[SootySport]

If you are going to buy new tyres and want a tyre that does everything well, if you can only buy one set it has to be R1R's.

If you are going to North Weald Car Limits then use your old tyres as you'll trash them in one day, doesn't matter what you use there, it's just meant be a fun day hooning around.