todinlaw

The correct way is to take tire out on the track so you can bring them up to temperature in a control ed environment, run them for about 4 to 5 laps approx. total. bring up to temp slowly and then bring it in and let them bond for at least 24 hrs before the next heat cycle.

doing it on the road does not get it up to temp unless you have are nuts.

jenk12m

how far is it from tampa to sebring

mdrums

About 1.5 hours of driving.

mdrums

Thanks but I was affraid of that because I can not afford to pay $300 for 5 laps of a DE and just sit the rest of the day plus the hotel room and such. Any other ideas?

007DT

+1 on Nitto NT-01.. I use mine for Street and Track Duty. So far I'm happy with them.. 8 track days & 250 Street miles. Still have a lot of life in them. I got the set for under $1K 275/35/18 235/40/18

todinlaw

Allot of guys just mount them and drive them, If you have a big parking lot some place go out on an sunday and run a big fig 8 for about 15 min and then do some braking and get them hot. Or do nothing and drive them. I was going to go to my next DE and bring two sets of tires so I would only lose about 1/2 of one segment.

mooty

when the get to 2/32 or less tread, they just dont have the grip they used to. it's still good, but not at their best.

i had those on a 2000 lbs exige. 600 trackmiles, they harden. reduced grip
btw, when i say grip is gone it's not like they become greaseballs. they still got grip and still better than street tires, but not as good as they once were. where as RA1 gets better until they cord.



for ME, yes. very noticeably.

kgorman

From my data, I say:

Shave them, otherwise they heat cycle out before you get a lot of good laps out of them. They are good for about 30 H/C's then are toast. They are fastest after H/C 5 or so, and start to drop off around H/C 25. I run them around 38 hot. I rotate them side to side on the rear and side to side on the front. The direction or tread does not matter much, and does not make a difference in lap time.

This is on a 2700lb spec boxster.

This kinda matches what Mooty is saying..

333pg333

Nittos if not out of the Toyo factory are made of the same compound from what I've gathered. The R888's don't need to be heat cycled in my opinion. There is no info on any Toyo site to suggest this and I've spoken to the tech dept down here. Toyos are used in many control tyre series in Australia. Obviously we see pretty high track temps so getting to heat is usually not an issue. However even on a cold morning I find they get to temp very quickly for such a hard wearing tyre. Next step is a Hoosier type tyre and then slicks. Both of which can benefit from heat cycling.
I was also amazed at how well they hold up on the street in the rain. Again not talking standing water, but I was expecting to aquaplane all over the place and they in fact provided very good wet weather grip for what it's worth.

M758

That sounds EXACTLY what I did with the RA-1's on my 944 spec car. Not sure what will happen with R888's on my 944 spec as rarely have I gotten the same responses from the 944 guys who have been running R888. Everyone has a different story.

BTW... heat cycleing on track is best done with two sets of tires/wheels. This way you run one session to heat cycle a tire and then run the rest of the day on your other tires. By the next day both tires are ready to go. Clearly not everyone has two sets fo of race tires. I as a racer however have 3 and recommend all 944 spec drivers have at least two sets. You never know when you could seriously flat spot a tire and why go home for that. Of course a set of wheels for us costs about $200.

911S3.6

Thanks Mooty and all of you for input.
great stuff.

Martin S.

that the Nittto tires are the R-888 compound.

Ray S

Where is the best place to buy the RA1's?

Martin S.

Tires in general, Hoosier, Yokohama, AVON, Toyo, Hankook, Kumho, I have gotten the best prices from:

Lynn or Lori Heaps
Topless Performance
928-636-1222 in AZ
877-728-0914 toll free
928-636-3715 fax
toplessperformance@commspeed.net