RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

Interesting to discuss about tires with utqg 200 or less in our stock tire size 205/50R16.

I just searched all over Canada for Bridgestone RE71R . Costco had the best price but they phoned the distributor for me several different times and, like other vendors confirmed, Bridgestone themselves are not shipping to Canada or even making these right now. wtf

So unless I want to pay about $200 per for Star Specs, the only other "sticky" tire available in our size is the Federal 595 RS-R. Now, the Ontario distributor/vendor cannot get these(!). Geez...

But thats okay, I ordered from kx wheels in BC whom I have bought from before. Excellent price, cheap shipping. There ya go.

jcmaz

I saw on Tirerack that there were Toyo R1R's in 205/50/16. Have you considered those? Btw, I didn't you could find Federal Tires here in Vancouver, awesome!

RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but those are about $200 apiece from vendors here in Canada. As far as importing from USA with the low Canadian dollar, expect to be out-of-pocket about 2X what the selling price is in USD. For example, if something costs $125 dollars in the USA then after import duties, dollar conversion, taxes, shipping, and God knows what else, my total cost would be about $250.

In the past when the Canadian dollar was near par, it cost about 1.7 times more.

The old style R1R offers no better performance than the Federals for my use. Not worth the money at all for the short life they would have. I can buy 6 Federals for the price of 4 of those Toyos.

Yes, your BC supplier is good to deal with

jcmaz

Huh, I didn't realize it would be that much since I only pay the CAD-USD conversion and the occasional tax when crossing the border.

Question about those 595 RSR tires, did you find that they were sized wider than "normal" 205/50/16 tires? If so, how much wider where they? I'm planning to get Federal 595SS summer tires or Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 in 225/50/16 when my current set of all seasons die.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

Star specs will likely last more than a season, depending on how may laps they see. And they are good tires. I would not run federals. A few cars had issues with the sidewall and tread coming apart from each other at the last track day.

RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

Federals are a bit wider. I have comparison pics in another earlier thread: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...ne-re-71r.html

letsgetthisdone, its true that the mould line across the tires becomes visible; however, that does not affect anything, as has been documented by many other users too. There has NEVER been a "sidewall coming apart" issue that I have seen or even heard about anywhere - if you can direct me to pics or something I'd like to see this. My use of Federal tires has been positive, and I run them to the cords: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...revisited.html

Now, how has your experience with them been?

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

I'm not talking about tread splicing, I know what that is and that it's not an issue.


I saw three different federal RSRR's, properly inflated, on 3 different cars at my last track day have the carcass (tread portion) of the tire completely come off of the sidewalls. This was on Miata's and civic's.


Seeing this happen in person is reason enough to never run those tires.

RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

I knew a guy who knew a guy who had these tires...

Sorry, I've been around too long to believe what is not shown to me. Take pics and post. And details? New tires with experienced driver, or teenaged third owner, under-inflated and rolled over, sidewall damaged, wrong rim size? Who knows?

Maybe someone can do a more accurate web search than me, but I'd think such a carcass failure, if the fault of the manufacturer, would be headline news in the forums. Can't find a thing. Maybe someone else can?

So, gotta go strictly with my own positive experience. If that changes I'll post asap.

Nothing to see here. Buy Federals.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

This is isn't knew a guy who knew a guy ****. This is me, seeing the tires come apart at the track.


If you want to be a smart *** that's cool. Good luck.

nemsin

iTrader: (19)

RalliartN, could you post some wear pics after your 1st track day on the Federals? Thx.