Hankook R-S3 Track Use Info

[VoodooBoss]

I'm driving my car to the track so I'm trying to find an excellent street tire for track use and the R-S3 looks like a good place to start. If I was trailering my Boss to the track I'd use R comps. The Yokohama AD08 is another really good street tire but their 18" sizes aren't ideal and they are more expensive than the R-S3. The BFG G-Force Rival looks promising but they aren't available yet.

I'm about to order a set of these tires and know several other owners are also running them so I thought it would be useful to have a thread to share feedback on sizes, tire pressures and other info. Looks like Sam is using them with good results, Grant just bought a set and so did Ron. Anyone else? I'm running a staggered setup and my instinct tells me to buy the 265/35/18's for the front and not the 40 series. I'm curious which profile other owners are using. Also where do you start the cold pressure at for the first run of the day and what temp hot works for you?

Specs from Tire Rack

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Hankook&tireModel=Ventus+R-S3&sidewall=Blackwall&partnum=635WR8Z222XL&tab=Specs

Hankook's crappy site

http://www.hankooktireusa.com/Product/product.aspx?pageNum=1&subNum=1&ChildNum=2&FnCode=02

 

[Grant 302]

Jason is running the same size tires as my GT: 275/35-18 square. I'm on 18x10s and I think he's got 18x9.5.

I set my pressures for tire longevity, not maximum grip...and settled on 42.5 front and 40.5 rear. Wear and tread temp was even enough across the width of the fronts that I didn't bother to rotate after burning the first tank of gas in the morning.

While I usually set my pressures hot, this morning I was curious what the cold pressures were. At about 52 degrees in the shade it was 32F and 30R. The right side of the car was in the sun (didn't take temps) and I read 34F and 32R.

After seeing Jason's car run, I'm considering running the same tires on the Boss. Just with a bit less pressure on the rears.

I think the 265/35 makes more sense than the 265/40, for a staggered setup. The 265/40 has nearly the same tread width (9.9") as the 275/35 (10.2") and the 285/35 (10.1"). I really wish more tires were available in the 10.5 to 11" range. Most brands usually jump to 11.5" tread widths right after the 10" range.

 

[NewBossowner]

I think the 265/35 makes more sense than the 265/40, for a staggered setup. The 265/40 has nearly the same tread width (9.9") as the 275/35 (10.2") and the 285/35 (10.1"). I really wish more tires were available in the 10.5 to 11" range. Most brands usually jump to 11.5" tread widths right after the 10" range.

I notice a lot of tire companies have odd jumps, some dont have a 285 but have a 315 or, a 305 and no 315, some jump from 285 to 335 and skip 305 and 315 completely. I am having a helluva time finding tires I want for a staggered setup for the street. Must be hell for you track guys.

Can you explain running square with considerably smaller tires than your car can handle. Is it for a specific class, or cost of smaller tires being quite a bit cheaper or some other reason?

New rubber tech is far better than when I was younger and going fast so I come from the " whats the biggest tire I can squeeze into the fender wells" school. Besides, big meats look sexy under your ride.

 

[VoodooBoss]

It seems sizing is always an issue. The Nitto 555R II's are perfect sized for our cars but I don't want to burn them up driving to and from the track.

 

[JScheier]

I ran RS-3's in 285x35x18 on 18x9.5 SVT wheels (square setup). Pressures were 32 cold front, 30 cold rear. Not sure what I hit warm. You'll want some camber in the front or you'll kill the outside shoulder.

Pemberton ran these at Hastings (sold them to him in the parking lot) and liked them as well. They will get greasy if you really push them... but for the most part, I could get a 20 minute session out of them pretty easily.

Note: they will take 1-2 sessions to really get the mold-release scrubbed off. They are slick-as-hell before they are scrubbed in... you've been warned!

 

[jnathan68]

Chuckwalla was my second track event with a 285/35-18 square setup with the RS-3's on 18x9.5 wheels. Not the optimum wheel size but the wheels were a great price. With the Steeda Boss specific springs, the square setup seems to work pretty well.

Still playing around with the tire pressures but started with 31 PSI cold at Chuckwalla and after lapping, would check and make sure they were around 40 psi hot. Seemed to be a pretty good place to start.

Having said all that, I love the RS-3's. They have incredible grip for a "street" tire, they hold up to a full session of track abuse without going away and they wear pretty well (for a tire with 140 treadwear).

The 2 new tires I am checking out are the Dunlop Direzza ZII (285/30-18 and 275/35-18) and the BFG Rival (275/35-18). And yes, hating that it seems the 285/35 tire size is not available in quite a few tires.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Chuckwalla was my second track event with a 285/35-18 square setup with the RS-3's on 18x9.5 wheels. Not the optimum wheel size but the wheels were a great price. With the Steeda Boss specific springs, the square setup seems to work pretty well.

Ah the Steeda Boss springs. This partly explains why you aren't experiencing any oversteer with a square setup and stock sway bars. AFAIR a couple of members installed those springs and complained about understeer so your square setup balances that out to some degree.

Thanks for everyone's comments and I'll report back after my first track day with them which is hopefully March 16th at Thunderhill.

 

[moto]

I got my RS-3 tires off today and the wear looked pretty even across. It looked a little worn on the outside edge, like they could have used a little more camber than the -2.3 I have, but otherwise was pretty decent and even across the tire. I ran them 39psi hot. It looks about 1/3 used after the 2 track days and a lot better than the NT555R2 after 2 days. BTW, I have the front 265/35/18 and Rear 285/35/18. Balance was pretty good with maybe just a little understeer. I think I might go for the Square 285 next time as Jason's worked so well and might be better for my slight understeer.

 

[Grant 302]

I notice a lot of tire companies have odd jumps, some dont have a 285 but have a 315 or, a 305 and no 315, some jump from 285 to 335 and skip 305 and 315 completely. I am having a helluva time finding tires I want for a staggered setup for the street. Must be hell for you track guys.

It is a pain. Couple that with rim size selections and offsets, etc, ...it's a HUGE pain!

Can you explain running square with considerably smaller tires than your car can handle. Is it for a specific class, or cost of smaller tires being quite a bit cheaper or some other reason?

With the camber bolts and 18x10 wheels I'm running, this is as wide as I'm comfortable with. I have to ditch the camber bolts, get CC plates, and maybe different rims/offsets. I'm also finding I have a preference for a tire that isn't squeezed onto the rim.

New rubber tech is far better than when I was younger and going fast so I come from the " whats the biggest tire I can squeeze into the fender wells" school. Besides, big meats look sexy under your ride.

I have different tires for the street that I'll put back on once it's to hot to track around here. 27.7" tall vs. the 25.6" tall with these R-S3s.

 

[KBBOSS1086]

I don't have personal expereince with RS-3's but have heard fairly good things about them. I've used Bridgestone RE-11's since replacing my stock tires. I've gotten about 3k street miles and about 8 track days out of them and they are about 1/2 worn. They are definitely no R comp tire but they are very good on the track and street - huge improvement over the stock Perelli's w/ pretty good tread life.

 

[VoodooBoss]

I ordered my tires today but Tire Rack does not have the 265/35/18 in stock so I ordered them through Online Tire via Tire Tab. I should have them in plenty of time for an Aptil 8th track day.

 

[Fat Boss]

I've got 4 SVE 18 x 10's on the way and am looking at these R-S3's for my trip to Vegas / Spring Mtn. Is there any reason not to go with the 285's? Is there much difference between the two when it comes to brake duct clearance? Any opinions would be appreciated.

Also what about the rear sway bar? Should I just order an adjustable one to be safe or is the oversteer with my P's and MM C/C at -2* more or less going to be tolerable?

 

[Grant 302]

I've got 4 SVE 18 x 10's on the way and am looking at these R-S3's for my trip to Vegas / Spring Mtn. Is there any reason not to go with the 285's? Is there much difference between the two when it comes to brake duct clearance? Any opinions would be appreciated.

Also what about the rear sway bar? Should I just order an adjustable one to be safe or is the oversteer with my P's and MM C/C at -2* more or less going to be tolerable?

Brake duct clearance was one of my concerns when deciding. The section widths are given on two different measuring rims, so I don't think it's a full 0.5" wider. I went with the 275s for clearance to the swaybar endlink bolt (I have camber bolts), width at the tread, and lighter weight. Main drawback for me was that it's .3" shorter.

I think you should be okay running square with the P springs and the stock bars. My GT has only a slightly smaller rear bar and it's still biased to understeer.

 

[VoodooBoss]

My rear set of tires arrived today. I know I'll be faster with them check out the flames on the rubber!

FWIW I ordered the rears from Tire Rack and the fronts form OnlineTire. Both are not too far from me. I received the rears from Tire Rack BEFORE I received shipping notification from OnlineTire.

 

[dabossinnne]

My rear set of tires arrived today. I know I'll be faster with them check out the flames on the rubber!

FWIW I ordered the rears from Tire Rack and the fronts form OnlineTire. Both are not too far from me. I received the rears from Tire Rack BEFORE I received shipping notification from OnlineTire.

Nice! Those flames have gotta be worth a couple seconds!

 

[Fat Boss]

I just dropped off my 18x10 SVE Drifts at Custom Alignment along with the TPMS recommended by Scott. They had nothing but good things to say about it BTW Scott.

They're ordering the R-S3's in 285/35/18 for me and I'll pick them up this week. I'll have some feedback in a couple weeks after the trip to Vegas and Spring Mtn.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Mounted and ready for the track,

 

[NeuRon]

Those are badass! I do love the flames. ;D

 

[Grant 302]

Speaking of the flames...it's my opinion that if you are wearing these tires 'evenly' that the flames and the center 'Ventus' will disappear *before* you lose the very outer tip of the tread. Only the pyrometer and profile temps will confirm.

 

[Fat Boss]

I just dropped off my 18x10 SVE Drifts at Custom Alignment along with the TPMS recommended by Scott. They had nothing but good things to say about it BTW Scott.

They're ordering the R-S3's in 285/35/18 for me and I'll pick them up this week. I'll have some feedback in a couple weeks after the trip to Vegas and Spring Mtn.

One thing I forgot to mention was Custom Alignment was not able to get the road force within spec. I suffered some pretty bad vibrations at high speeds, above 100. I'm not 100% sure it was the tires, but all my other mods were pretty simple, springs, CC plates, LCA's. My plan was to slap the stock wheels and tires on when I got home to see if it went away. Plans change.