another tire thread

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 5:34 pm

ok, time for new tires for the 328. While there was decent grip in the 5 year old RE01's, it's time to upgrade to a better tire. I liked the RE01 and also liked the Dunlap Z1's on the mustang. I hear lots of folks like the Hankook R-s3 and at 97 a tire from tirerack, hard to beat. Z1's are 131 and the RE-11 are 178. Really makes the Hankooks look good price wise.

Suggestions? Are the Hankooks worth picking up? I know some of you have starting running them.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 5:49 pm

Marcus and Keith are both running them on double wishbone cars (s2000/RX8).

The word on the street is they like a bit more heat than Star Specs so don't expect your fastest run on the first run. Since the 328 is on the heavy side AND has struts, you should be able to get some heat in the fronts pretty quickly. But also that they drop off like a cliff if they get TOO hot (the camber gaining cars mentioned above probably won't have as much problem if at all with this) whereas the SS is more of a gradual trend towards greasiness so in NC summer events you might have to deal with some spraying with a codriven car.

Rain performance goes handily to the SS.

SS has stiffer sidewalls.

However at a $140/set difference it's probably worth giving a shot to see how they like a strut based car.

Are your wheels 16x7.5?

EDIT:

Keith and Chris run RS3s on the SMF cars they run. A good bit lighter than the 328 but still struts in the front. Looking at their times, it doesn't seem like the RS3s are holding them back

.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 9:16 pm

JamesShort wrote:

Keith and Chris run RS3s on the SMF cars they run. A good bit lighter than the 328 but still struts in the front. Looking at their times, it doesn't seem like the RS3s are holding them back

.

^this^

Them tires got flames on them, they must be fast

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 9:40 pm

I've seen mainly "lighter" cars driving on them...I think, however, it's worth an experiment to see how they do, especially an ST car which can get closer to -2 to -2.5 camber up front. Geez at $50/tire cheaper it'd be hard to pass up. But, I do recall when James Short got his RS2s on a "smokin good deal" and they ended up heat cycling out fairly quickly on his WRX.

michaelsmiller · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 10:09 pm

Ryan Holton wrote:

JamesShort wrote:

Keith and Chris run RS3s on the SMF cars they run. A good bit lighter than the 328 but still struts in the front. Looking at their times, it doesn't seem like the RS3s are holding them back

.

^this^

Them tires got flames on them, they must be fast

Not any more, I noticed that the flames were pretty much gone. Burnt off is my guess.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

RS2's are lightyears behind the RS-3's. I would have bought RS-3's for my next tires if I were still in ST.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2011 11:49 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

RS2's are lightyears behind the RS-3's. I would have bought RS-3's for my next tires if I were still in ST.

Agreed...my point was also that when they get to that price there may be a new model coming down the line.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 7:59 am

With the limited time I have on mine I like them. Like Brice said they are a million times better than the Rs-2's. I have found that I have a lot more fun and go faster on a tire that is predictable. I don't mind sacrificing ultimate grip for a tire that breaks away smoothly and is easy to "catch." The Hankooks seem to fit that bill.

I didn't spray mine and bled about 1.5lb of pressure from the rear tires. They gained 2.5lb total and the grip improved through all five runs. The front tires only gained a pound and did not bleed them. I had just over 100 miles on them before the event.

MarcusMcRae · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 11:59 pm

Have you considered the toyo r1r?

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 8:48 am

I also really like the R-S3s on my RX-8 - very grippy and predictable. Of course, I don't really have anything to directly compare to as I've been running on R comps the past few seasons.

As for R-S3s on BMWs, I was talking to Chris Cline on Saturday - he recently switched from Star Specs to R-S3s on his E36 - he said the R-S3s are quite good but he liked the feel of the Star Specs better. Based on our conversation, I was left with the impression that he would choose Star Specs over R-S3s, at least if price is taken out of the equation. Given the difference in price, I'd lean toward the R-S3s.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

I'm liking the R-S3s, but I'm a bit of a zealot against the Falken Azenis.

At Laurinburg, it was a fresh car and fresh tires, but I'm almost certain I could have kept up with Ram and James in the 2000 Miata on 225 V710s on 15x9 wheels through the lane change if I had more time in the car prior to the event.

THSCC Forums

another tire thread

Who is online