deputydog95

Cross post again. I need to wait 5 minutes before posting.

2 seconds is close enough for DE purposes and if you can pull a 219 on RA1's, that's already on the extreme side of DE'ing in a street car. Not sure I would want to go much faster than that, not that its even an option for me at this point. Then again, this is the Sebring GT3 DE Cup Series Crew where bragging rights boil down to hundredths of a second

Mvez

Which means a 305-35-18. That's great news.

Can't help but wonder if Nitto kicked this back to Toyo so they could sell the tire at a premium price to all the Porsche owners though. The NT01 is better and faster than the RA1, and the bigger block tread design allows them to use a 6/32nds depth for better initial wear, so I'm kinda bummed about the 4/32nds, but beggers can't be choosers.

sin911

This is the best news of the day!!! I'm so happy Toyo is coming back with RA1

I just got a used set of RA1 rears. So they should last me until the new batch comes out.

mdrums

What happened with the Kumho's?

deputydog95

Badness... This is the worst of them, but the other three showed signs of splitting as well. This particular tire had splitting all the way around the inside of the tire. The scary part is there was no indicator whatsoever on the outside that anything bad was happening on the inside. But for me flipping them before Sebring, never would have caught it. Kumho agrees that there is an issue, but has passed me off to Tire Rack. Damon at Tire Rack has been very responsive so far and asked a series of questions about the setup to figure out where to go from here. Damon is a good guy, I like doing business with him. Hopefully I get a credit as I only had 2 days on these.

mdrums

Thanks for the reply DD...that's horrible.

Stick with known brands with high performance tire experience I guess.

deputydog95

Kumho V710 is a good tire. There's a lot of 996 GT3 guys running them. Mike Kim has been using them for quite some time. I'm just wondering if there are some quality control issues with their batches.

Right now my only options in 18" are hooters, Kumho, and R888. Clearly Kumho is off the list (didn't care for it anyway even when they were new) and you already know how I feel about the last choice. Although I will say the 888 makes a great endurance street tire. I have 6 track days and around 10k street miles on them they are so hard at this point

AudiOn19s

I ran a set of Pilot Sport Cup's down to the cords last year on some very similar advise from a very respected driver. I think they had 36 heat cycles on them when they finally corded which is WAY past their prime for PSC's. I was barely any quicker than my buddy in a similarly setup car on AD08 in the end but I learned soo much driving a car that I'm still not 100% up to speed in.

Kuhmo's are a tempting choice this year but I think I'm going to stay on a slow tire (NT-01's) until I'm 100% confident I'm driving the car to it's limits.

deputydog95

I would guess Kumho's and NT01's would be very similar. Not worth switching IMO if the NT01 are even close the performance of a RA1. Not to mention they look way stretched on the recommended 12" wheel fitment.

Fritz Flynn

My 1st time out in my car I had bald 710s on the rear and it was a great learning experience but a little hard on the nerves

Next time out on sticker hoos was pure bliss and I'm sure running on bald (corded by day 2) 710s helped me to balance the car sooner.

My car is for sale and will likely sell soon but I'm really glad I was able to experience how incredibly nice these cars are and will be back in another 911 at some point in the future

The Greek

I use NT01's for front and mix them with RA1's in rear. The NT01 is an awesome tire honestly. Great grip, last forever. Really wished they made a 305 for the GT3.

TRAKCAR

NT01 fronts RA1's rear seems to be a good option for when we run out of fronts then.

mdrums

Well here are your options...

#1 Just hang out at the track and become the milkshake and beer runner for Randy and Reter...you'll never catch them anyway no matter the tires

#2 Run street r-comps in stock sizes....you'll never catch Randy and Reter no matter the tires

#3 Buy a Miata and sling it around the track, it's cheap...like you...and you'll never catch Randy and Reter.

The Greek

Burke can catch them or at least get close, just needs to get out of his comfort zone. The lines are there, just faster speed for turn in. But I also would feel like **** if he pushed it, and crashed BumbleBee. That would suck....

He will get it. I have faith in the Little Irish.

mdrums

That's like me...comfort zone....my car with a pro driver can do a 2:26 but I'm still stuck at 29's with the ocassional 28 hero lap on R888's...so far the MPSC tires have not been as fast.

You are right it's a DE not a race...be comfortable, push when you want, learn a little and most of all have fun among friends.

I'm no where near the GT3DE Cup league. I must bring beer to the next track day just so I can at least hang out.