E30 Zone

Hiya,

I have had Toyo Proxes T1Rs for the last year on my relatively budget track car, having done four track days and a couple of thousand fun road miles.
The Toyos are completely dead, which is fair after the abuse I have given them, especially since we managed to fluke all four track days being baking hot...

I am torn though about whether to replace them with the same again and stick with what I know or try some Yokohama Parada IIs which sound pretty good for the money.

The Yokos are meant to be better in the dry but not very good in the wet at all.
The Toyos are reported to last longer, however unlike the Yokos they are directional so I can't swap them side to side. This is a pretty big disadvantage as the LH ones are far worse than the RH due to the clockwise tracks, the RH have tread left that will be wasted..

I am running 195/50/15 which is great and keeps the weight down, Toyos come in at £127, Yokos at £154, both for four including delivery! Bargain compared to 888s and the like!

Has anyone tried both on an E30 or have any experience of the Yokos at all?

Thanks!

Are you overheating the proxes? If so, how about the Marangoni Zera Linea? I've had them and Toyos on mine and though they're not quite so good in 'damp' conditions, they are very good in the dry and heavy rain. They also seem to hold up a lot better than proxes when you're getting them hot, a lot less graining going on.
Overall, tyre wear seems lower than the proxes (especially when hot) yet grip seems very similar

They're pretty much the same price as Toyos from mytyres and camskill

I've over heated proxes on my MR2 yet, have yet to overheat Dunlop fast response, or Dunlop SP 9000's on the S50 E30

although the mechanical grip offered by the MR2 chassis was something to behold, if only the E30 handled like that on track

billgatese30 wrote:I've over heated proxes on my MR2 yet, have yet to overheat Dunlop fast response, or Dunlop SP 9000's on the S50 E30

although the mechanical grip offered by the MR2 chassis was something to behold, if only the E30 handled like that on track

Chris, I've never done a comparison between the two, but if the compound rubber in the Proxes offers a higher co-efficient of friction that would a) explain why they got that much hotter and b) offered superior traction, although I don't for a moment doubt that the rear engined MR2 (with it's commensurate improvement in balance over an E30) contributes to the improved traction. In fact, any factor that works towards improving a tyres traction will result in increased heat dissipation into the tyre. From a heat perspective the ideal situation is to suspend the drive wheels in the air, reducing traction to absolute zero. Of course, that makes driving anywhere rather difficult .

The point I’m making though, is that your Proxes overheating may not have been the fault of the Proxes, but rather that there was that much more demanded from them on the MR2. This is just a thought (not a statement) since, as I say, I have never done an objective comparison between the two.

TBH Geoff they were so different it really is hard to compare. The MR2 had very stiff suspension, making it resist roll much better than the E30. It had wider tires with a much lower profile than the E30, it was about another 300kg heavier too. then as you say, a totally different chassis etc and comparing them almost becomes worthless unless you start doing back to back comparisons with as many constants as possible.

Which I'd happily do if someone supplied the tire & wheel combinations to work with

Toyo's for sure.. The Parada's are shite..

Never had the parada but i'm lovin my toyos right now

gareth wrote:Are you overheating the proxes? If so, how about the Marangoni Zera Linea? I've had them and Toyos on mine and though they're not quite so good in 'damp' conditions, they are very good in the dry and heavy rain. They also seem to hold up a lot better than proxes when you're getting them hot, a lot less graining going on.
Overall, tyre wear seems lower than the proxes (especially when hot) yet grip seems very similar

They're pretty much the same price as Toyos from mytyres and camskill

Hmm never heard of those until now, just read a few reviews though and it seems they are quite popular. Just £5 more as well which is nice.

Yeah the Proxes were overheating slightly, then again the first two times they were on track were both baking hot days which didn't help as they were barely scrubbed in.

How did you rate the Zetas in terms of steering feel? Tempted to give them a go based on a few comments about the Yokos...

billgatese30 wrote:I've over heated proxes on my MR2 yet,

When I had my MR2 Turbo they were pretty much the default tyre to have. They were good, but I didn't think they were as good as a lot of people made them out to be.

They feel very similar to the proxes in my opinion. Unfortunately i've not had both in the same size tyre. the proxes were on 16" wheels, the zetas are on my current 15" BBS.

gareth wrote:They feel very similar to the proxes in my opinion. Unfortunately i've not had both in the same size tyre. the proxes were on 16" wheels, the zetas are on my current 15" BBS.

Nice one, thanks. In the end I went for the Toyos again as they were quicker to get than the MaraZLs and I was in a hurry due to spending far too long trying to decide... Next time though I think I'll try them as couldn't find a bad review!

hankook rs2

Kos wrote:hankook rs2

Nice but £210 delivered vs. £126 for the Toyos...

£80 difference, not too much really and i'd take the hankoos over the toyos.