SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

Evening all.

Need some new tyres for my Supercat, looked at may forums/reviews and blimey, we are an opinionated lot!

Sooo ... lifting the lid off the can, any recommendations??? and no I don't know how long the piece of string is ...

I have been researching but it seems most tyre reviews are on heavier road cars so I'm not sure how relevant they are (lighter car, do they warm up enough etc?) & many '7" forums are just talking about lap times, not road use. I'm looking at mainly 'B' road driving, avoiding the wet if I can but still a consideration if i get caught out, hoping maybe when things calm down i might get to try a track day or 2 (still not popped that cherry yet). Yes i want it all!

Scarily, checked and I'm currently on 15 year old Toyo T1S's! so think it's time for a change. On 205/50/15's. I'm coming to the conclusion I'm driving like a girl as so far no real scary moments from the tyres, yet most seem to slate the T1R/TR1 Toyos as ditch finders. Maybe (hopefully) they are just not giving me the confidence! . In my naivety when I first got the car I did buy a set of T1Rs as they were on offer, still sitting on the garage floor so may stick with these or flog them on fleabay to fund something better depending on opinion!

On my short list so far:
Toyo R1R - seem to get good wet/dry middle of the road reviews but hard to find as discontinued.
Nanking NS2-R
Federal 595 RSR
R888r seem very popular but not sure if that's overkill for the road.

Any advice, offensive or otherwise much appreciated thanks chaps.

I have a set of nankang NS2R’s fitted.They are ok for the money, though not the best in the wet. My rears are 255’s which probably doesn’t help in the wet with the bigger footprint. Get the softer compound if you go for them. If I ever get round to getting the car back on the road I would consider AR1’s though to be honest they are not far off 888 money.

I've got Federal 595`s on my Cat Mike. Plenty of grip in the dry and never had an issue in the wet despite getting caught in a few deluges. Was also considering a set for my MX5.

r888r's for me.
Used to run r1r's and they were my 'go to', tried 595's didnt feel as grippy to me. Decided on the r888r's at the last reshod, and like them - alot.

As for those or anything else in the wet - I think much is obvious. Light car + puddle is never going to end well if the foot stays planted to the floor! Having driven through massive storms i'm still happy with the 888. My 2 cents....had tr1's on a tintop and they were ok, nothing more...on a kit that i'd be driving a wee bit harder, i'd stick them on if i fancied flirting with the undergrowth.

Like Mark I used to use R1R's and they were great in wet and dry, on road and track. Sadly they stopped making them as they weren't environmentally friendly. I know that's not helpful but I now have R888R's on and no complaints thus far.

I don't think that TR1/T1R or what ever they are called this week have had great reviews from kit drivers. It does depend on what you are driving and how hard. But obviously our little cars don't weigh much and that seems to be the main reason given for these tyres not "switching on". Are we taking advice from track day nutters? I suspect from the language perhaps we are?

I do have a brand new set of R1R's in the Garage but they don't fit my new car (now have 8 inch rears).

Weathers Sadly they stopped making them

Openeo still do them, well in my size.

I went through the same thing Flyingtiger, I spoke to loads of people and on here of course. Toyo R1R all day long for me, they are very good in the dry and driven properly good in the wet.

Wingco wrote:

Weathers Sadly they stopped making them

Openeo still do them, well in my size.

Good call I'd not heard of them but worth knowing.

Ive been running uniroyal rainsports for the last few years which I have had no issues with in the dry or wet. I have just fitted a set of Toyo tr1’s on another set of wheels I got and have used them the last couple of weeks which have been wet and had no problems with them and they seem to grip well as the roads are drying out too