Tyres for 350bhp

Evening, having lived through the winter not being able to accelerate in any way shape or form (even spins in 3rd when wet), I like some tyres that won't spin in first gear.....

Now this may not be possible but what is my best shot, I've got a budget tyre and a falken fk452 on the front, replaced it on the cheap as was hoping the falkens would start to available again but it appears they are not......

So, best front tyres that don't spin as soon as the turbo kicks in (if possible)

Adam

conti contact 5's

Cheers

Had a quick look, they look to be available in 17's, I'm on standard alloys with 205 50 16

Adam

Eagle F1s? Awesome in the wet and decent in the dry.

If you don't do many miles eg 3k per annum, consider Yokohama Advan AD08R's. They are semi slicks and have amazing grip!

Matching tyres on the front would be the start point! FK452 has been replaced with the 453 but haven't tried those yet.

In the dry I agree with Gunzi, but the AD08 is not great in the wet.

As I said, one of the Falcons on the front gave up so didn't have much of a choice

The Yokohamas look ok and aren't a bad price, the car is my daily driver so they may not be ideal

I'll have a look into the eagle f1's

Adam

Hi Adam,

The new AD08Rs have a B wet rating, link.

The fallen 452 are C and Toyo T1-R are E!

If you are a daily driver en they will wear faster than the others. Tyres are now broken in to categories so it's worth spending a bit of time finding our which tyre falls into which category.

It's worth considering the Michelin Pilot Sport PS3.

Gunzi

Alternatively, get an electronic boost controller and turn the gain down a bit - I don't have any traction issues on decent surfaces - this is due to setting the turbo to come in fairly gradually. In the dry, I can use any setting I want and I don't have issues in 2nd gear or higher - toyo T1-R

Ps - your biggest issue is mis-matched tyres, not only in brand, but also quality. Budget tyres are borderline dangerous in the wet on a bog-standard car. On a 350bhp car, they would be suicidal. A single budget tyre on an axle is really asking for trouble

Cheers for the input

I've had Toyos before, they wore very quickly......

Putting a budget on wasn't ideal, but I couldn't find a falcon and didn't want to put a good tyre on when the other falcon was perfectly useable

I quite like the idea of the Yokohamas, dare I ask if I need to put them on the fears as well?

Is an electric boost controller expensive and hard to fit? Mines got a manual one fitted by flea, I quite like the way it accelerates, but always spins in first, I'd love to nail it knowing it will stick

Adam

Michelin Pilot Sport 3.

http://www.gizzmoelectronics.co.uk/Product_IBC.html

not that expensive and very easy to install and set up .

I'm going to put the cat among the pigeons here & recommend a winter tyre. If you feel the need to drive like an Italian a winter tyre will meet all your needs in the wet. Different story but I've still got the front winter tyres on my hack & the grip is quite amazing in the wet. (still crappy weather here) Indeed I've read on here some others have kept their winter tyres on way past winter time.

Winter tyres tend to be a speed rating below normal, so I wouldn't dream of fitting them to a big power coupe

Whilst the grip in the cold and damp is great, the precision is lost and they feel vague at speed

I have them on the Alfa from November to March and it's always nice to go back to proper types in the Spring

A 350bhp Coupe would also chew a set of winters in very short order

Fair point, but if you don't go mad in the wet, still an option if you feel some tyres don't give enough grip. Then again it's down to how you drive as you say. I'm thinking daily drive with the liking towards spirited now & again.

Those Toyo T1R are second best tire I used. Good grip in dry and wet and durability also good.

But still my coupe had to much wheelspin in second-third gear in dry.... So I needed better front tires. I looked for semi slicks but they are to expensive for me (200 euro for one tire toyo, yokohama etc) And they wear done to fast for that price and if driven as daily driver on normal roads. And occasional trackday.

So I tried Federal 595RS-R semi slicks. They are not so expensive, costs around the same as Toyo T1R. But they have more grip. They classify as semi slicks but i class them between summer tire like toyo T1R and a real semi slick.

Federal 595R is my first choise now!! Only thing is that I have LE wheels and the tire size 225-45 R16 are not produced by federal so had to swap to 205-50 r16 so the original 16v turbo size. But after fitting they seem pretty much te same as the toyos 225-45. They even protect my wheels on the side like the toyos so no issues there!!

Interesting that the AD08R gets a B rating, it didn't score well in the evo magazine test in wet conditions - http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-EVO-Max-Performance-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm

We were discussing the AD08 today at Harewood Hillclimb as it was wet for the first practice runs and the view is that they are a lot better in the wet when new than when they have worn or are a bit older. The R version may be better but no experience of that as they aren't allowed in the class so no one has them.

Pilot Sport 3 is one I'm considering for next year when the AD08 is banned.

Looking at the reviews of the federals and yokos the federals weren't far off

Given the cost I might well plumb for the federals and see what happens, can't get any worse....

Thanks for all the help

Adam

Had 3 hours endurance race with my Coupe using Federal 595RS tyre.....then same 2 tires had another 3 hours race as rear tyres on BMW E36.....Price-grip-durability wise i will use federals only......

That article helped me chose the Yokohamas. I'm not likely to be driving like Evo do in wet conditions, but in dry I am, and since they won the dry test, and I do 3k per year they became the best choice. They were a fair bit more expensive in 225/45 flavour than 205/55, but doing parallel parking daily, I went for the extra wheel protection!

Can you tell me size and pressure (cold and hot)?

Federal 595RS-R 205-50-ZR16 87W is what I read from the tire. Pressure you can play whit yourself and what is best for your car.

Ok.

Erm, just dawned on me, the 350bph bit in the title which I missed.. What a plonker. I did wonder why you mentioned the 350 bit. No excuses.

Day 1 with the federals has gone ok, still spins in first, second isn't as bad, car seems faster now, probably need to get some heat into them to see how they really perform....

Only concern I have is that 39 psi seems to be the recommended pressure for the fronts but the tyres say a max of 40 psi.......I've got them at 34 at the mo but would appreciate people's thoughts

Adam

I go about 37 on the fromt and 30 on the back, wouldn't go much lower than that, its a heavy lump on the front end . Used to do the 39-32, but found it too hard

I seem to have missed the wheel spin bit the first time around…

You really cannot expect a 350bhp FWD car not to wheel spin in 1st gear. A rear wheel drive car would. Hell, I’m sure you could get a decent squeal if you hoofed it off the line with 4WD!

I previously used Hankook RS2s with 342bhp and they allowed me to nail it from a roll and didn’t spin at the later rpms in first gear. Falkens and the like still will starts to spin as the power ramps up at the higher rpms at this power level

I’m currently using tired old Falkens with over 400bhp and they will spin at any point in 1st, at the start of 2nd if I want them to and then again at the very top of 2nd - that’s painful!