badabing

So, after 30+ track days on street tires, I'm ready to try some R-comps.

Not sure which tire to get. My top criteria are user friendliness and wear life. I don't know diddly about heat cycles or anything else when it comes to these tires and I'm not interested in the "fastest" tire just yet.

Not even sure what sizes I'll be getting, open to suggestions on that as well.

Car is a 2010 cayman S.

Wheels are 18X8, 18X10 alleggeritas.

Car is still driven to and from the track and therefore the alignment settings are a compromise.

-2 camber all the way around currently. May go up (down) to -2.5 in front.

What say you?

zedcat

Nitto Nt-01 in 245/40/18 and 275/40/18.

Gear Rower

For dry, damp (no standing water) conditions, the NT01 is still the top pick. Perfect sizing for the cayman, grippy to the cords, reasonably priced.

Toyo R888 are also popular, and they've just come out with the "new and improved" R888R. I haven't used these, but the R888s have a loyal following.

Either will serve you well.

dgm8138

Knowing the tendency of most who post on this forum...I'm probably going to get razed for the suggestion I'm about to give you.

I drive a 2.9L cayman. It is all stock except for Boxster Spyder springs and cup car lower control arms in the front.

I tried NT-01s (specifically 245/40/18s and 275/40/18s) after several seasons driving on an assortment of sticky street tires (RS3s and RE71Rs) and a season of R7 take-offs. I was sorely disappointed. The severity of stagger between front and rear induced more understeer to the balance of the car than I was accustomed. And overall grip leaves something to be desired compared to RE71rs even. On top of this, the NT-01s would overheat. Not as bad as street tires, but it was noticeable (perceptively and in my lap times).

By some stroke of luck, I happened upon a few sets of lighlty used hankook C51s. The predictability of this tire gave me the confidence to carry brake pressure deeper into the corners than any other tire (visible in AIM data). The C51 doesn't generate near as much lateral G as a hoosier (also visible in my AIM data), but I reset my PB at every track I visited wearing the hankooks. The first set lasted me 6 track days @ 4-5 sessions a day.

This suggestion depends on your willingness to invest in a tire trailer or some other method of transporting your R-comps to the track besides driving on them there.

If you are planning to continue to drive your track car to the track...stick with street tires. And try out some RE71rs to scratch that itch for speed...they have more grip than NT-01s or R888s anyway.

And FYI if you decide that you want some NT-01s....I have a set I'm willing to part with for super cheap

Thundermoose

C51's are a 40tw tire compared to 100tw NT-01's. C51's are in the same category as R7's you also drove. I run similar times with Hankooks and Hoosiers which are 3-4 seconds faster than NT-01's.

That being said NT-01's are still best DE R comp IMO in terms of life and consistency.

If you want to set PB's then yeah I highly recommend C51's.

dgm8138

Fair.

I suppose what I am trying to say (in not so many words) is that if you're looking to switch to R-comps like NT-01 and you're already coming from the latest batch of 200tw street tires...don't expect much if anything.

Thundermoose

Agreed

Gear Rower

That wasn't my experience. At Mosport, I was 2-3sec a lap faster on the NT-01 compared to the Hankook RS3 and Bridgestone RE71s.

I'm guessing that most people are running the Nittos at too high of a pressure when hot. I aim for 32psi hot, which means starting out around 26psi cold. There is a notable drop off in grip once they get over 34psi on my Cayman. Then, once you start getting into increasing the slip angle with front understeer, you cook the surface temps and everything starts to go Pete Tong.

I have -2.5 front and -2 rear camber and the wear at 32psi hot is right to the "wear triangle" on the side, so the sidewalls can certainly handle the lower pressures. Nice even wear across the tire, too.

But, every car, track and driver is different, so feel free to dismiss all of the above and follow your own experience

dgm8138

Interesting. I'd be curious to know if you were using the stock suspension or aftermarket?

I second the notion that results may vary by driver. I never felt the same confidence on NT-01s as other tires.

I targeted the same hot pressures on NT-01s and found the same consistent wear across the width of the tires as well.

I was about 1 second quicker at Grattan and about 0.5 second quicker at Mid-Ohio on RE71r. I am far more familiar w/Grattan though...especially considering the laps at Mid-Ohio on RE71r were from my first visit to the track.

Gear Rower

I was using the stock suspension & shocks but with lowering springs and I also had camber plates up front. I have since been building my car into SPC racer, so the suspension has been gradually upgraded which has made a significant improvement to the handling. I've enjoyed doing it step by step as it has illuminated how each part has it's effect -- Not the cheapest or quickest way to do it (repeat alignments, etc), but quite valuable.

ProCoach

Yep. If you're going to go, go ALL the way to 40!

breljohn

NT-01 are great tires but... don't overdrive the car. That is where they overheat (and take a while to cool down)

g-50cab

I think the gap between the great 200 wear street tires and Nt01's has narrowed over the past five years - before that - there was a big jump from going to a Toyo RA1 - from streets. Now the 200w act like R compound - the next jump is to a set of R7 hoosiers /C51's etc.

I like the Nt01's (and R888's for that matter, Kumho Ecsta V710, etc) because they tend not to get as greasy as quickly as the 200 series tires -

badabing

I'm currently using oem ContiSportContact 3 which are 300+ tw so any r comp should be a significant difference.

dgm8138

Honestly, I would suggest Hankook RS4s or RE71rs in this case. I think you will be very happy with the increased grip and solid wet performance (especially RE71rs).