Yesterday, a good friend of mine approached me for some opinion on new tyres for his RX8 with a profile of 225/45/18 all round.


It seems like I'm always looking for tyres every year be it for myself or someone else. So, I decided to document my findings are countless of after work hours looking at forums, contacting my contacts in the tyre trade and looking at my old notes of my previous tyres.


The RX8 is not going to see any track days so the requirements would be

• good wear ( I would say on average, 280 )
• good grip in the wet
• low noise
• traction rated at least 'A" ( looking at AA)
• temperature at 'A'

Shipping from the US

As tirerack.com is the best place to get tyres, the problem is that it takes time to have the tyres shipped from the US to Australia. It will benefit people who are buying:

1. spares, or
2. in advance, or
3. them for a very low price (well, most Australian tyre shops have high mark ups except for my contacts')

Options considered

•  Hankook Evo S1 K107

        Tyre plus in Glen Waverly, Vic wants $380 for this. My contact's getting them in for $300 per corner ;) 

           Review from

1. Tyretest.com - pretty good
2. EvolutionOz.net - by an ex Evo IX owner quoting, "I am using this tyre pretty good.My tyre shop says customer who ran eagle F1's on his porsche (regularly tracked) tried a set and claims the handling was comparable, except it lasts longer due to the compound"

•  Hankook Evo S1 K110 (winner)

           Tyre plus in Glen Waverly, Vic wants $330 for this. With tirerack.com quoting "280 AA A" for the required profile, it looks good.


Got pretty good reviews on
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+V12+evo+K110
http://www.modified.com/tech/modp-0904-hankook-ventus-v12-evo-k110-tire-review/index.html
http://www.1010tires.com/tires/reviews/Hankook/Ventus+V12+Evo+(K110)

From http://www.hankooktyre.com.au/iDrive/ (look under "Street"), they have a Road Hazard replacement guarantee for 1 year

• Kumho KU31
  Price: $1020 for all 4 from OTR motorsports 
  This thing has a high tread wear (380) which is close to my friend's current tyres. Higher thread wear mean that it will last longer but will give way to grip earlier than a tyre of lower thread wear
• Bridgestone RE002

  Price: $379 per tyre (before my contact puts in the discount)
  I have the RE001 on both the Evo, Lexus and my friend’s Mazda 3. Excellent street tyre which has no noise and great grip. I would think that the RE002 which superscedes the RE001 to be as good if not better

            The concern I have here are:
            1. the 17" RE001 for my Evo were made in Japan
            2. the 16" RE001 for our Lexus IS250 and my friend's mazda 323 were made out of Japan ( I think it was korea)
           With the recent earthquakes in Japan, tyres made in Japan are lesser and of course, with less supply, comes more demand. As Bridgestone's website is pretty much a promo site, they do not disclose any threadwear rating NOR would they disclose where they were made   :(
  
  

Options dismissed

1. Advan AD08 - too aggressive thread pattern although I could get them for $376.18
2. Michelin Pilot Sport 3 - a little overkill for a street car in capabilities and price ($500+)
3. Bridgestone S001 - priced at $429 per tyre (before I ask for discount). This is one class higher than the RE002 and it's a bit over kill for my friend.
   
   
   

References

1) http://www.rx8club.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6662&hilit=TYRE+REVIEWS

So I can get Michelin PS3s 235/40/18 for $279 each.


The Bridgestone Re001 Adrenalin is around $369 per tyre.


So I'm thinking the Michelin PS3. Reviews have been good.


Any recommendations on tyre deals here in Brisbane (northside)?

2) http://www.rx8club.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6662&hilit=TYRE+REVIEWS&start=15

"I went away from the Adrenalins based on price and went for the Falken 452's. I am now on my second set and each time have got them for around $240 each for the standard 225/45/18.
I have found them to have great wet and dry grip and produce a lot less noise than the Bridgstone's.
Got around 40K out of the first set, but wheel alihnment was poor and I scrubbed out one side. Anyway 40K from RX8 tyres is better than what most people told me I would get."