wongmb

I like to hear from anyone that has experience with the Eagle F1-GS-D3. And in particular on a 993s. I am looking for a new set of tires and the F1 seem to get rave review except for soft sidewall, which is my major concern. I don't value the wet gripping power as much given I drive conservatively when it rains anyway. My car is basically 90% spirited street driving and 10% tracking.

Also any comment regarding RA-1 if you have experience with those. They sound great except I store my car in unheated garage in the winter and am concerned about the prolong exposure of R compound tire to subzero temp.

Last but not least, if there is a puncture on a R compound tire, can it be patched/repair like a street tire ?

Traffic53

not sure if this review counts, but i had these goodyears on my honda s2000 for about 35 hours. that's about all i could take before heinous nausea forced the immediate removal of those tires. i found they weren't nearly as soft and grippy as the SO2s that came OEM. they made noise going around corners and didn't grip the pavement like the bridgestones. it didn't rain that day, but i hear that's where the goodyears excel.

nile13

Ummm... do the words "mold release compound" mean _anything_ to you?

wongmb

"mold release compound " ?? No clue what that is. Something to do with tires ??

nile13

This question was for Mike.
The tires come oit of mold covered with very slippery crap called mold release compound. That needs to wear off before the tire starts to really perform. 35 hours... is woewfully inadequate, unless he drove at least a few hundred miles on them.
Now, given that OEM S-02s on S2000 are very good tires (and wider than indicated, which might have been another problem with GS-D3 - the car will ovesteer something fearce if he put on the indicated sized tires), his feelings might or might not have any merit.

chris walrod

Mike is right about getting the mold release worn off the tires before one can get a 'real' read on the tires performance.. Also a some heat cycles to burn off the bonding solvents etc.

I had a 'at the limit' ride in a friends Boxster at Streets of Willow last week during a track day. He has just put on a set of these F1's. I thought they were actually pretty well behaving tires. Not much noise from them like typical street tires as well.

I was impressed..

Traffic53

"mold release compound" in fact does not mean much to me. one more reason why i never claim to know it all. you seem offended mike. if that's the case, i apologise. are you a goodyear rep or something?

maybe bridgestone doesn't have/use/apply a "mold release compound" as the so2's didn't behave the same way as the goodyears at all; even after only 35 hours. the so2s seemed ready to go right out of the garage.

nile13

Oh, not at all. I very much dislike most GoodYear tires. Except I hear very positive things about G3-DS specifically.
I disagree with an idea of dismissing a tire that was not properly scrubbed, that's all. If you think I can get offended by little things like that...

Quote:

maybe bridgestone doesn't have/use/apply a "mold release compound" as the so2's didn't behave the same way as the goodyears at all; even after only 35 hours. the so2s seemed ready to go right out of the garage.

That surprises me, as every Bridgestone tire I've tried was very greasy at first and some remained so. My recent experience is with S-02s (on the car now), S-03s, RE950s.
The question remains about the tire size. It is widely known that S-O2s are much wider on an S2000 than indicated wall sizes. If you had the GYs in indicated size, that might be part of the issue. Did they feel overall greasy, or did the car oversteer? I'm just very curious (and the fact that I currently spend $2 a minute on tires has nothing to do with it :-) ).

Traffic53

the car didn't seem to grip as well and squealed around corners like i was driving a toyota corolla. it was the squealing that was most disturbing. i had never heard that in my s2000, even after the original tires went bad. they slid, but they never made any noise.

i'm sure the goodyears are fine, maybe even excellent tires. i just didn't want to risk waiting for them to break in. i returned them for a full refund.

Phil

mike,
you've got me on the "35 hours on the car" ???
I would think 35 hours of driving time would wear out the "mold release compound"

Traffic53

not 35 hours of driving, but of ownership. more like 100 miles on the road. perhaps that's not long enough to scrub off the grease.

Terry Adams

I was also intrigued by that review, if it is the Tire Rack review you are talking about. They came out top, but I noticed (a) none of the cars on which they were reviewed is a 993, (b) the tire is not Porsche OEM rated, and (c) it does not come in the F & R matching 18" stock sizes I need. I would be willing to "try" them for free for 35 hours, or 100 miles, though that is about 200 short of scrubbing the mold release compound off.

ceboyd

heck.... the first 100 miles driving to the track on my new MPSCs was horrid and then I got on the track and on my way home they were a totally different tire on the street... very compliant... and even pretty good in the downpour on the way home...

What a huge difference that 'break in' period makes IMHO!!!

Dudley

Eagle F1-GS-D3 were also top rated in Consumer Reports. The Toyo Proxes TS-1 were rated nearly as well. I have run a couple sets of the Toyos and like them. I also found them at a better price than the Eagles. Third place was Continental.