tnord

i'm currently building a Spec Miata, and the wheels that came with the car are just your plain ol silver steelies.........i'd like to get my wheels/tires soon, but i also drive the miata on the street still. how bad is normal street driving gonna wear on some RA1's? will it matter if they are shaved and heat cycled? maybe i could buy them heat cycled but not shaved??

Track rat

They'll be fine if you avoid heavy rain. Wear will be minimal if you drive easy. Hard cornering and acceleration is what eats them up.

I've frequently driven Kuhmos 70 miles to the track (each way) with no noticeable wear.

.RJ

will driving on the highway heat them up enough to use up a heat cycle?

CRX Lee

If you are ready for a wear compromise of a race tire on the street, the RA1 would probably be the best choice. I would not shave them though for street. We used them unshaved for years as racing rain tires then wore them down for backup dry tires and autocross tires. I wouldn't heat cycle them either. Although they will get warm on the street , they will never get racetrack hot enought to really have a heat cycle. RA1s are the least heat cycle count effected tires that I can think of. Although they may pass their prime a bit, I always found that their not that fabulously sticky prime was not that different from the decent grip they got until they were nearly gone. I always thought that time itself (years sitting around) had more degradation on RA1s than did actual wear heat cycles. The nice thing was that the carcass was strong and they always were a good predictable feel.

Although they were never the ultimate stick tire, I felt I could drive them closer to their limit with good feel unlike the "stick then let go" feel that I never liked about the several sets of Kumho Victoracers that I used. I got rid of a set of brand new heat cycled Victoracers in favor of an old set of RA1s just based on their feel and predicability at the limit.

tnord

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will driving on the highway heat them up enough to use up a heat cycle?</TD></TR></TABLE>

this was my main concern.........and it appears that the answer is no?

Crack Monkey

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will driving on the highway heat them up enough to use up a heat cycle?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe, but Toyos don't "cycle out" quite as bad as the Kumho or Hoosiers so it probably isn't a big concern.

.RJ

I guess the better question is this - how did your toyos do last time out at summit - they came off of Dan's street car, no?

Lt. Dan

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I guess the better question is this - how did your toyos do last time out at summit - they came off of Dan's street car, no?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, they came off my street car, and I'm currently using them on the street... AGAIN... the wear characteristics are remarkably quite good, considering they have THREE track weekends worth of driving on them, combined with about 5000 street miles... getting a little low on tread (skates a little in the rain), but grip is still much higher than a "street" tire... Too bad they're over 100 bucks a tire, or I'd run these on the street all the time..

Dan

.RJ

Is grip affected with so many street miles... thats what i was really getting at

Crack Monkey

Yes, but not as bad as it would be if you did the same with the Kumho.

.RJ

vtecvoodoo

theyare scary in the rain on the streets

Mine actually wore pretty well. I was amazed.

356racing

I have shaved RA1's on my daily driver. 3 track days and about 3K street miles and still plenty left for the track. Monsoon season is here so I am putting the full tread RA1's on this weekend.

.RJ

monsoon season in phoenix? so thats what, like 12 minutes of rain once a week?

BryanSprinkel

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crack Monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes, but not as bad as it would be if you did the same with the Kumho.</TD></TR></TABLE>

AO32R's seem to be worse than Kuhmo's, at least that's been my experience.

tnord

perfect......after the cage and seat, i think it's wheels/tires

thanks guys

MaddMatt

Yeah, RJ. The Toyos seem to be able to take a good number more heat cycles before they drop off in performance. In fact, I don't remember anyone ever complaining about their Toyos heat cycling out. I damn sure did that with my last set of V700s. 3 laps, turn in, and nobody home.

Which is why I'm now on Toyos.....

RacerBowie

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaddMatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, RJ. The Toyos seem to be able to take a good number more heat cycles before they drop off in performance. In fact, I don't remember anyone ever complaining about their Toyos heat cycling out. I damn sure did that with my last set of V700s. 3 laps, turn in, and nobody home.

Which is why I'm now on Toyos.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have had a couple of set of Toyos do something like heat cycling out, but not quite. After they had about 1800 track miles and god only knows how many autocrosses, street miles, etc, they were completely bald, but still had rubber... from one session to the next they just gave up completely... happened to Thomas Lackey too. I mean, jeez, only 1800 miles...some of which were racing, including a 2 hour enduro...I want my money back!

We were actually only running the tires out of morbid curiousity, trying to see if we could kill them...the replacements had been carried to 2 track events and not used yet. After every session we would look at the tires and say "Damn, they aren't dead yet!"

phat-S

Hehe, I FINALLY killed the set of Toyos we ran at the THSCC TT last year in October this last race weekend at LMS. I don't recall them heat cycling out as much as maybe cording out maybe I was bummed (and wanted to just put the cords on the insides but alas I think I would have been busted ), I thought we had some good momentum with these (actually it was only two of the originals). BTW, they were .3 secs faster fast lap than good looking, 4-heat cycled yet 8 month old R3S03s - but dayamn did those Hoosiers feel fun as hell - can't wait to try some from the current year.

Blue Liquid

I ran Ecsta V700's almost year round in my R. In the winter on dry roads, they held ok but man did they give up silently and far sooner than when it's warmer out. When it's really cold out, like below 35 degrees, they would flat spot from where the tire was in contact with the pavement overnight, so it would thump along for about a minute until they'd warm up enough to be pliable. Those tires stick so well i just never wanted to take them off. When it'd rain, I'd just do the posted speed limits and I'd be fine, actively avoiding standing water when possible.