R888 for a "daily" toy?

Am I a fool?

The old RA1's were dandy as a street tire back in the day.

I'm looking for a daily driver tire for my V8 Firefly.  It'll see rain, but never ice or snow.

I came here to suggest the RA1 :) If it's not available in your size anymore, check out the Nitto Nt01. Same compound. The R888 is more heat sensitive - although iirc it was standard equipment on one of the most bonkers Renault hatches. 

You can't go wrong either way 

All summer, I left my R888s on the 911 and drove it daily. Once they wore down enough they were terrifying in heavy rain but it took 12+ days to get them there. For the most part, they were fine. Very loud compared to street tires and the 997 lets in a ton of tire noise anyway.  When I first put them on it sounded like all four wheel bearings were going out!

I drove them on a friend's Exige once. I thought they were fine until it started raining. Only time I ever pulled over and told someone I wasn't driving any more.

I left my NT01's on all summer on my Mk2 Jetta.  Loud as heck but no other issues.  Good grip on wet pavement, but not good in heavy rain or standing water.  On the street it's kind of fun having more tire than brakes on that car.

Cooper  Zeon RS3-A's no surprises when it rains here in Houston.

Given the performance of some of the newest 200 treadwear tires, I'd be looking at them. Hankook RS4 and Bridgestone RE71R, for example.

759NRNG said:

Cooper  Zeon RS3-A's no surprises when it rains here in Houston.

Those are, uh, a few orders of magnitude less performance oriented than anything else being discussed in here.  So much less so that I'd call them totally irrelevant.  

Yeah the 200TW EPS tires are fine for daily driving on. Z2(SS) or RS3v2/RS4s are ideal since they'll last a long time. RE71Rs are the stickiest but also the fastest-wearing of the bunch. The DOT-Rs you're looking at will be only a little stickier but much faster wearing, and although R888s have decent treads, most DOT-Rs are scary when wet.

Keith Tanner said:

Given the performance of some of the newest 200 treadwear tires, I'd be looking at them. Hankook RS4 and Bridgestone RE71R, for example.

^^^^This. The RE-71R are very good in rain until there is absoletely no thread left. And then they still grip unless you are passing thru standing water. 

Piling onto Keith and fanfoy's notion; Been on RE-71Rs on the Mini since spring, and though it admittedly hasn't been wet much, I've noticed zero issues. The closest thing I have to a complaint for a street tire is that they're noisy, and if you're dailying a "toy", hopefully it makes enough fun sounds to drown them out!

About the RE71R "not lasting" - we ran 15 hours on a set at Laguna Seca last weekend on a turbo ND and they were still just fine to drive 1000 miles home. Our V8 car has been through a few sets but, well, journalists always want that burnout shot.

I've driven on the street with the Toyo R888R and Yoko Advan AO48. They're fine as long as it's relatively warm and dry. They're definitely sketchy in heavy rain at highway speeds: they're prone to hydroplaning. But, honestly, not all that much worse than something like a Falken RT615K (which I currently have on my daily driver). 

Ransom: the car has headers and glasspacks, no sound deadening or insulation, so it's probably noisy enough already.

It seems what used to be a common 195/50R15 size is approaching the endangered species list.

pmctire.com has stock, decent price, and free shipping in Canada, so a set of RE-71R's are on the way.

Thanks, y'all.

Glad to hear you're sorted.

For the next time around - performance tires in 205/50-15 are looking pretty healthy if you can squeeze that extra little bit of rubber in there. Heck, you can even get the RA1 in that size.

I can't easily fit the 195's as it is.  Those fenderwells are pretty wee. I've got quite a bit of fender-rolling (and either inner fender re-shaping, or front wheel re-positioning) ahead of me over winter.

I have the same problem with the MG. I feel your pain.

My mr2 runs 195//55 front and 225/50 rear 

I have had yoko a048 and ad08 on other cars 

never ran with r888. For my size for the mr2 it seems like r888 is all I can get. About $580 for all 4 

how many street miles are you getting ? I don’t see temps under 50F and no rain 

Why? They aren't sticky until they get warm, which they aren't going to do on the street. Like make easy for my old 1.6 Miata to break loose slick.

As for the rain comments I think it's the typical overreaction we get on the internet, I tracked my R888s in the rain more than once. I'm still here and didn't die. Drive to the conditions. That's all. Not "Why can't I drive 85 on the highway in a torrential downpour on semi-slick tires designed for the track?"

That said, I'd be looking at the 200TW tires for street use.

In reply to z31maniac :

Some of my most white knuckle driving moments have been driving to/from the track on track tires like RA1's, NT01's, and getting caught in a rain storm.  The track is a relatively clean surface, the street, not so much...

docwyte said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Some of my most white knuckle driving moments have been driving to/from the track on track tires like RA1's, NT01's, and getting caught in a rain storm.  The track is a relatively clean surface, the street, not so much...

 

Slow down or pull over? I've had to pull over on the street with normal tires because the rain was coming down so hard there were "rivers" across the road and/or visibility made it dangerous to continue driving. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I am looking for some 200TW for street tires, but haven't found anything in the 195/55 and 225/50 that I need. 

I have driven A048s in my Lotus in the snow twice  - wasnt fun, and I was going the slowest, in Chicago....but didn't die or kill others :)

docwyte said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Some of my most white knuckle driving moments have been driving to/from the track on track tires like RA1's, NT01's, and getting caught in a rain storm.  The track is a relatively clean surface, the street, not so much...

A full depth RA1 is a decent rain tire. NT01, not so much.