Which Track Tyres?

[Lloydie38]

Which Track Tyres?

I'm looking at tyres for my 325i track car. I have two sets of wheels and plan to have them set up like:

1st set: For wet use and road driving
Options: Kumho tyres KU31 Ԛ£195/50R15 86V or Kumho KU31 195/55R15 89V
Roughly Ԛ£45 each
Anyone tried them?

2nd set: For dry track

Struggling to find something that's not going to hit me for Ԛ£120 per corner

What are you guys using on the track on dry days?
What widths? 195 / 205 / 215 / 225??

Any advice would be much appriciated as I need to get ready for 17th September - It's my 1st track day in the 'stripped E30 325i'

Cheers

[JCB]

i too am in the same position. just bought the bmw (www.greenbmw.co.uk) and the tyres fitted are kumho v700 as run in the kumho championship. they are pretty worn and will need replacing soon. also got a second set of wheels and need some tyres for rain use.

all tyres 205/50/15

for wet :

been advised that toyo t1-s are good - about Ԛ£50 per corner
also colway intermediates a possibility - again Ԛ£50 each

for dry :
same issue - all tyres that i have been advised cost a fortune
yokohama A0048 demon twonks have just quoted Ԛ£541 for 4
they also recommended toyo r888 which come in at Ԛ£453.

so i am left in the same position. good tyres but very costly - i supposed my position is slightly differnet in that the car is not road legal so tyres willnot get any wear between events

cheers
Jonathan

[Lloydie38]

Weird!! 've just sent a reply to your pictures at 12.26pm!!

Great minds think alike but idiots seldom differ!!

[Taffy]

The Kumho's are decent in the dry & last well but they're tosh in the wet & cold so look to get 2 sets if possible.

[JCB]

i know all about the wet performance from our wet trip to donnington a few weeks back - thanks again for letting me come along and convincing me to buy an E30. sideways was definitely the word of the day !!!

[astondg]

I have Toyo Trampio R1Rs on my 323i. They are used for my road tyre and my track tyre. Might be an option for the road/wet tyre? They seem to grip ok in the wet on the road and even on the dirt/clay/mud at Autocross (dirt circuit racing). They also work fine for me on the track in the dry. I can't afford a seperate set of wheels and track tyres at the moment but I am very happy with these. I'm on my second set.

I'm not sure if they are available in many sizes though. I have 205/50/16.



Aston

[Taffy]

i know all about the wet performance from our wet trip to donnington a few weeks back - thanks again for letting me come along and convincing me to buy an E30. sideways was definitely the word of the day !!!

Tell me about it, i was amazed none of us wiped out badly, coming through the craners at 90 degrees will not be forgotten! What a day

[JCB]

a testiment to your superior driving skills !!

[Taylor325i]

Dry tyres on my track car are Colway Formula 2 semi-slicks 205x50x15. They are excellent for the money ( I paid about Ԛ£50 each ) Grip is superb and they don't wear too badly. I've done about 7 or 8 track days at Knockhill on them and will probably get another 5 or 6 days out of them before they will need changing. For wet tyres I'm just using road tyres at the moment but will go for Colway Intermediates when the time comes.

Taylor.

[JCB]

INTERESTING - where did you get the formula 2's from ?? the guy at demon twonks was very disparaging of colways. strange as they do sell them but he said the yokos were far superior (but at over 500 notes for four of them they would make more profit wouldnt they !!)

[Taylor325i]

Got my tyres from a small backstreet tyre and exhaust place called Abbotsinch Tyres. He is the cheapest in this area. His prices are more than half what you would pay to the big boys i.e. Quicksh1t, etc. Suggest you try a few small outfits in your area. If you don't have any joy try contacting Colway direct.

www.colwaytyres.co.uk

Taylor.

[Lloydie38]

Got my tyres from a small backstreet tyre and exhaust place called Abbotsinch Tyres. He is the cheapest in this area. His prices are more than half what you would pay to the big boys i.e. Quicksh1t, etc. Suggest you try a few small outfits in your area. If you don't have any joy try contacting Colway direct.

www.colwaytyres.co.uk

Taylor.

Cheers Taylor for this info.

I'm with JCB's comments regarding the price of some tyres - Ԛ£500 for 4 tyres? Do me a favour sonny Jim!!! Thet's half the cost of the car in the first place...

For Wet & daily driving (all of 2000 miles a year) I've bought some Goodyear F1 195/50/15 at Ԛ£50 each. apparently v-good at disspersing water and we get loads on this Island.

[Lloydie38]

Dry Track day tyres for Ԛ£50 ish each

MAXSPORT RB5 from Demon Twonks
Track Tyre for Ԛ£49 plus VAT www.maxsport.co.uk
Size: 205/55R/15

Description: The mouled slick, a road legal tyre for Dry, hard smooth surfaces. Desin to maximise road to tyre contact area within FIA regulations

Or

Colway Formular 2 semi slicks 205/50/15 (as reported up the page)
Price: Around Ԛ£50 plus VAT
Deamon Twonks also

Now that certainly sounds far better than Ԛ£500 for the four!

[JCB]

i agree - i dont care if the yokos are supposed to be the mutts nutts. they are just too bloody expensive. i have budgeted for tyre costs when i took on this track day lark but not that bloody much !!!! i was going to have one set of drys and one set of wets - i picked up a 2nd set of very nice wheels for Ԛ£50. i am beginning to wonder if i should bother - maybe just a good set of soft road tyres for all weathers is a cheaper option.

the colways / maxsport are probably the best solution for now.

i did pick up a goodyear eagle F1 on fleabay for Ԛ£30 (205/50/15) but need to find three more to go with it !!!! one would do for now - at least i could kit out one axle !!!

[Lloydie38]

Bitten the bullet and ordered the folowing tyres from Richard Priest-Jones
at Deamon Tweeks, really helpful guy mailto: RichardPJ@demon-tweeks.co.uk Direct line 01978 663052. He's involved in the rubber section...

Maxsport RB5
Ԛ£58.00 inc vat
Total inc del Ԛ£265.20 to IoM (always a premium!)

Wanted Yellows to begin with (med -hard) but 6 week delivery - can't wait so..ordered Blue...always a good catagory in films so why not tyres??

Maxsport Tyre compound categories are:
Yellow: - med soft for Tarmac rallying
Double Yellow - Softer
Blue - soft
Double blue - super soft / almost liquid..!

Chosen Category Blue = Soft as they were in stock and available.

It's a month away from the next track day so loads to do.

On a slight tangent from tyres....The welding work being done today & tomorrow that was quoted at Ԛ£120 has turned out at approx Ԛ£250 as it was much worse than they first thought..

Deamon Tweeks seats and harnesses are here...

Car due at BMW specialist Thursday / Friday....

The other stuff from Proven Products has arrived today so........ IT'S GETTING FAR TOO EXCITING AHHHHH

[Lloydie38]

Oh yea forgot to tell you the size 205/55/15

[JCB]

this might be a silly question but.......is there any difference in tyre requirements/wear for tarmac rallying and track days ?? i suppose they are essentially the same -driving a fast car on a tarmac surface, but often wondered why they say for "tarmac rallying" and not "tarmac use" "circuit use" etc

[Lloydie38]

Fair question tarmac rallying and track days - as for the answer..ermm no idea, to me tarmac is...tarmac!? not grass or off road - so I am on the same theory that they would offer the same wear / requirements (watch some smart @r5e come and prove me wrong..!)

[astondg]

I think tarmac rallying can sometimes include wet and dry surfaces without a chance to change tyres in between so the road legal slicks might not be the best choice. They also sometimes use narrow roads were the driver has to get a wheel or two off the tarmac for the fastest line and there can be dirt and a whole lot of other stuff on the road too. The only other thing I can think of is that there are limits to how many tyres you can use over the whole rally and when you can change them so in some cases tyres might have to last longer than on a race track and tyre wear might be accelerated because tarmac rallies can include a bit more wheelspin and sidewaysness than circuit racing.

That is going by the tarmac rallies we have here in Australia, like the Targa Tasmania. Sometimes the teams do use the same road slicks that are used for the race track, but sometimes they use a slightly less slick type tyre. Might also depend on how many tyres they can afford.

Aston

[Lloydie38]

Cheers Aston, that makes logical sense - I just can't justify to myself let alone my wife why I need to spend Ԛ£500 on specialist track tyres.

[astondg]

I don't think you have to get them. I think what I said is right but it is only a small difference and I think mostly a problem for race track type tyres on a tarmac rally (might wear too quickly and not great if it rains or something) but they would still work ok, just not optimum. Having tarmac rally tyres in a race situation shouldn't be a problem and should provide almost as much grip, maybe even equal grip if you have good tarmac rally tyres and average race track type tyres. I am quite happy with the grip provided by my Toyos (which in the picture above are tarmac rally tyres) and they are definately better than the Yokohama ES100s I had before (supposed to be a high performance road tyre) but they are worth maybe 1/2 to 3/4 second a lap. Can't remember how much they cost but 1/2 a second a lap isn't much so maybe not worth worrying about.

Wait I don't know if I understand what you mean. Which ones cost GBP 500? The race track or tarmac rally or other? Either way GBP 500 is a lot so as long as you get something fairly good, even a good road tyre, it should be fine.

Aston

[Lloydie38]

I was quoted Ԛ£500 but got four RB5's for Ԛ£250

[Taffy]

Just a thought, has anyone tried phoning people like Protyre to see if they would sell some of the ex Kumho Championship used tyres? Our last set had a few trackdays in them & they'll only sell them on for recycling!

[Lloydie38]

Just a thought, has anyone tried phoning people like Protyre to see if they would sell some of the ex Kumho Championship used tyres? Our last set had a few trackdays in them & they'll only sell them on for recycling!

Sounds good to me - Cheaper and 'recycling - ish!'

[JCB]

problem is that pro-tyre will not do mail order !!! i phoned them and asked the very question about kumhos. there depots/shops are all miles away from me so not a practical option.

The guy at demon twonks told me today that he (and many of his colleagues) use toyo tyres for dry and wet use. he siad he uses the t1-s and finds them really good. I aked him why he didnt use the t1-r and he did not really have and answer other than "not got round to it" and "the t1-s have always been good" !!!1 i did read a review on an elise website ref t1-s and they did not like them - they said there was too much roll in the block pattern (if you know what i mean - sorry bad explanation !). I suspect the t1-r will be better as it is the later technology. i looked on www.blackcircles.com and they quote Ԛ£227.80 delivered.

i think this is what i will select - certainly for wet use and until i get used to the car. then i will step up to semi slicks or even slicks.

[JCB]

ps - the other option might be the yoko A539 @ Ԛ£278 for 4

[karlp]

I have ordered tyres from Protyre and had them by mail order.

Karl

[JimmyC]

Yoko A048's are great track tyres in the dry, not sure if they do them in your sizes- but get the thumbs up here


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[Taffy]

problem is that pro-tyre will not do mail order !!! i phoned them and asked the very question about kumhos. there depots/shops are all miles away from me so not a practical option.

The guy at demon twonks told me today that he (and many of his colleagues) use toyo tyres for dry and wet use. he siad he uses the t1-s and finds them really good. I aked him why he didnt use the t1-r and he did not really have and answer other than "not got round to it" and "the t1-s have always been good" !!!1 i did read a review on an elise website ref t1-s and they did not like them - they said there was too much roll in the block pattern (if you know what i mean - sorry bad explanation !). I suspect the t1-r will be better as it is the later technology. i looked on www.blackcircles.com and they quote Ԛ£227.80 delivered.

i think this is what i will select - certainly for wet use and until i get used to the car. then i will step up to semi slicks or even slicks.

Yes they will speak to shaun Chetwyn, they charge Ԛ£3 a tyre for delivery & i've just ordered a set

[Lloydie38]

The new Goodyear F1's just put on the car at present and now the Maxsport RB5 205/50/15 arrived today along with the strut brace.

As soon as I get back from Turkey they're going on the spare set of Wheels (the RB5's not the strut brace!)

I've completly c0cked up my diary and I'm away for the next IoM track day on the 17th Sept so the next track day for me is the 8th October...can't wait!!

Signing off until the 5th September...

Cheers

[austen_e30]

Which Track Tyres?


Any advice would be much appriciated as I need to get ready for 17th September - It's my 1st track day in the 'stripped E30 325i'

Cheers

What trackday you doing on the 17th?? Anglesea?

[iainmac]

A539s not good in the wet. It's a relatively hard tyre that's great for hooning about in the dry, particularly sideways stuff round the tighter corners at Rockingham or Anglesey. I virtually spun in the pitlane my first (and last) time on them in the wet a few years ago.

[JCB]

protyre - i will phone them again. they said no mail order to me !!!

A048s- i am sure they will be excellent but at Ԛ£500 a set i dont think i will be buying these !!!

RB5 - Ears motorsport told me not to buy these for trackdays as they are likely to get too hot. they are for mixed surfaces during tarmac rallying. they also said stay away from colways as they are sh*t !!!. They did offer me used michelin slicks at Ԛ£50 each but said i would get a least three track days out of them . At Ԛ£200 a set i want to get more than 3 track days !!! i think i will compromise on grip to get a bit more life !!

I dont think the RB5s will get too hot as you only tend to do 6/7 laps before coming in on an open pit lane track day.

too much conflicting advice coming from everywhere I think i will just bite the bullet and order some tyres and see how a i go !!!

[m-dtech]

i will sell you slicks. see my other post in motorsport ;)

[Demlotcrew]

Ive seen Maxsports in action and they are very good!

You wont be disappointed. (im also going to order some)

But they are not road legal and the wet ones will shred to bits in the dry!

Andrew