Not impressed with r888's


Darragh said:
You will find it on the sidewall , imprinted in a rectangle eg: [0713] , 7th week of 2013.

Its just another thing to check , but Id be surprised if they are old.

Your camber is fine , anywhere near factory levels will cook the shoulders when pushing it hard though..

All nerdiness aside ha , how much experience do you have with other brands of tyres on the same track/conditions ?

The R888 although not the best , is still a really good tyre ... but being straight out of the box and comparing it to softer compound A048s that have been heat cycled with shallow thread isn't going to be really fair.

As they wear ( and once heat cycled right ) , they should improve a bit so dont lose hope yet lol.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, hopefully you are right! I'm going to put the fronts on the rear now seen as I've worn a fair bit of tread off.
I went out and put 1 heat cycle through them 48hours before the track day.
Experience with the track is zero, first time out on that track, so I guess it could be the track?
Tyres experience on this car is only t1r part worn a048s and these 888.
 
Firstly are these new tyres? Production date?
Also what compound are they? G, GG, GGG?
When first put on the vehicle, there is a complete procedure about heat cycles which you must follow.
Also, at toyo site i guess, you can find info about tyres pressures and recommended camber angles with which these tyres give their optimum performance.
How did they wear? Was the wear uneven? Could you upload some pics?
 
Copy of some info from toyo themselves

SET UP ADVICE FOR THE TOYO PROXES R888

What I would like to do is to offer some advice on tyre temperatures and pressures and how to achieve the best from our tyres when taking part in either trackdays or racing.

The R888 has a semi race construction (very stiff) and a race tread compound. The optimum tread temperature range is between 85C and 95C measured using a probe type pyrometer, and ideally a maximum difference across the tread of 9C. The maximum hot pressure we recommend is 40psi. Camber angles up to 5 degrees are permissible but the final setting will depend on tread temperatures. It is advisable to have as much positive castor as practical as castor induces a beneficial camber change during cornering. I recommend that the tyres be put through a heat cycle before hard use, this will scrub them in and remove any mold release agent.

The pressures you use will initially depend on the weight of the car, too little pressure on a heavy car can lead to over deflection of the tyre and subsequent failure.

Below are some basic settings:

VEHICLE WEIGHT COLD PRESSURE HOT PRESSURE
Very Light < 800kg 17 - 22 psi 22 - 29 psi
Light 800kg - 1000kg 20 - 26 psi 24 - 32 psi
Heavy 1000kg - 1400kg 23 - 27 psi 28 - 40 psi
Very Heavy > 1400kg 27 - 35 psi 37 - 40 psi


As a tyre gets hotter the pressure increases, this is due to the moisture in the air. The cold pressure you set to achieve a desired hot pressure will depend on the conditions on the day i.e. ambient and track temperature, wet or dry. If the day/track is cold you will need to start with a higher cold pressure as the tyre will not get as hot therefore the pressure increase will not be so great.
Hot pressures must be balanced side to side. Once the tyres have cooled you will find that you will have a difference in pressure side to side, if you have been racing on a right hand track you will find the offside pressures will usually be higher than the nearside.

Changing hot inflation pressures by small amounts can be used to fine tune handling.

Reduce Oversteer Reduce rear pressures or increase front pressures
Increase Oversteer Increase rear pressures or reduce front pressures
Reduce Understeer Reduce front pressures or increase rear pressures
Increase Understeer Increase front pressures or reduce rear pressures


Achieving the required tread temperatures will depend again on the conditions on the day i.e. ambient and track temperature, wet or dry.

You often here competitors saying &#8220;My tyres started to go of towards the end of the race&#8221;, this is usually due to the tread getting to hot.

The tread temperatures are constantly changing through out a race, hotter when cornering and cooler when on the straights and cooling even more when you are slowing to come into the pits. Therefore the temps you record in the pits will be lower than those during the race. So if you record temperatures within the range given above the probability is the temps will be too high during the race.

Increasing your tyre pressures will cause your tread temperatures to increase, more pressure stiffens the tyre&#8217;s casing which results in the tread having to do more work resulting in the tread getting hotter. Lowering your pressures will cause them to decrease.


Inevitably changing one thing will affect other things, the whole set up of your car is a compromise between anything that is adjustable.



Alan Meaker
Technical and Motorsport Manager Toyo Tyres (UK) Ltd
 
I wouldnt say R888s are over rated. Theyre rated perfectly fine for what you pay for.

People just think omg semi slick going to be astonishing.

R888s are good tyres for the price, but in comparison to the Yokos theyre not as good at all. Take a look at DZ03Gs road legal slick too, theyre not tooo bad.
 
R888s are $148ea/$592 a set where I live.
This is not low cost at all for track only rubber.
There are much better out there for a tad more; $160ea/$640 set

If used for track only, better get good rubber or don't bother.
I mean what is the point. RE11s perform better than the R888s. I love toyo tires, but the R888s are just inferior tires.

On the other hand, great tires to learn car control with...
R888's are the worst tires Ive ever used on track.
 
Last edited:
Checked the dates. They are all late 2012 tyres.
 
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