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I am 100% surprised to see the 660 rate higher than an a052.
Just goes to show you how important a properly set up car is.
As for the RS4, I've been promoting that tires, personally, for years. I had a set on the Evo, on stock wheels, and absolutely beat on the car at Laguna Seca for a whole day. They never complained once. I also don't think they wore it all lol
The A052 is very much a 1, MAYBE 2 hot lap tire and it's done. They may not have had the test set up appropriately to maximize that tire. Or they weren't driving the car appropriately. With the AO52, we'll do our warm up laps at 15-20 seconds off the pace to gently warm the tire up before we put in a flyer.
The A052 is very much a 1, MAYBE 2 hot lap tire and it's done. They may not have had the test set up appropriately to maximize that tire. Or they weren't driving the car appropriately. With the AO52, we'll do our warm up laps at 15-20 seconds off the pace to gently warm the tire up before we put in a flyer.
I guess I assumed everyone does that, but their test isn't for the best time attack tire, so ...
I finally read the test, it sounds like the A052 had enough grip to cause enough body roll in a stock suspension car that the front end stopped working. The A052 was a second slower than the RE71rs in that test. Most other tests it's the other way around.
They did acknowledge that chassis tuning would have been necessary to make the A052 work properly.
Tire testing is hard.
@LetsGetThisDone in your experience, can the A052 recover after a cool down lap? Or is it a more prolonged falloff after temps get too high?
They seem to be ok if you give them a good cool down lap, slower than a warm up lap, like as slow as you'd go as if it was an in lap after the checker. We'll usually get 2 hot laps in a 20 minute session.
Out lap, warm up, hot lap, cool down, hot lap, in lap. However, if you want top performance, they heat cycle worse than a Hoosier. Less than 10 hot laps. And really they're at their best with less than 5 fliers on them.
Def my current favorite tire. They are fastest the second day, unless you get them heat cycled. I've been getting about 4-5 events out of them before they heat cycle out. I also stayed out almost whole sessions every session this past season as I got used to the car and they don't fall off a ton like the A052 and RT660, however I don't drive like an Ape.
They also make no sound like NT01/AR1/R888. No helicopters following you. My one criticism is that they don't communicate audibly a ton on the limit but they are recoverable, which is good.
It's like the A052 but without the whole one lap wonder thing, and you can actually feel things.
I have a set ordered for the Supra. Which is the same size I run on the Evo. It's a damned shame the bolt patterns are different so I can't move the wheels and tires from one car to the other.
On the Evo, I am still using NTO1s. They are 2.5 years old with an unknown amount of heat cycles, and I'm still setting PBs. Sure, those PBs would be faster on a newer, fresher tire, but I would have stuck with them until my lap times peaked, then swapped.
I have a set ordered for the Supra. Which is the same size I run on the Evo. It's a damned shame the bolt patterns are different so I can't move the wheels and tires from one car to the other.
On the Evo, I am still using NTO1s. They are 2.5 years old with an unknown amount of heat cycles, and I'm still setting PBs. Sure, those PBs would be faster on a newer, fresher tire, but I would have stuck with them until my lap times peaked, then swapped.
My one criticism is that they don't communicate audibly a ton on the limit but they are recoverable, which is good.
Sure, those PBs would be faster on a newer, fresher tire, but I would have stuck with them until my lap times peaked, then swapped.
