I have a set of RT660's. These are the first directional tires I've used in a long time.

I use the car pretty much only for track use. The track I ended up going to the most amount of times has a very abrasive surface and a lot of high-G right hand turns (clockwise direction).

So...my LF tire is massively worn.
My LR tire is so-so
Both RH tires are mint

I want to rotate them side to side and run them backwards for the next track day.

Assuming the weather is good, I am going to try this out in a couple of weeks so I'll report back.

If I'm doing this in dry weather, should I expect any realistic difference?

Anyone tried it?

 

 

Seems harmless. Why not use up all the tread?

-- Chuck

 

Good article. I figured there wouldn't be much difference.

I'll give it the real world try in a couple weeks...assuming the weather is good. Not wasting my time and money for a rainy track day

 

Yes, you can run them backwards. Have done this many times myself due to too many CW tracks in the rotation as well.

 

Great!

Some tangential information about the RT660....

I've had these tires for a long time. Since mid 2021. They were at the peak of their grip in mid-2022, with about 4 or 5 track days under their belt.

The wet track performance was abysmal in 2022, however lol.

I always stored them inside a warm, dry basement during the winter.

At the first DRY track event I could manage to get to in 2023 (July?), the grip was drastically lower. I thought something was wrong with me or the setup.

I came back to the same track, 2 months later, in better conditions and the grip was the worst I'd ever had. They felt like a typical 300+TW tire feels.

I stopped storing them properly. They sat out in my cold ass garage in the winter of 2023-2024.

Its 2024, and since there's still tread on the tires, I'm wasting no part of the animal and still running them.

The car is dog assed slow lol. I have to work really hard to keep a respectable pace....which is 4 or 5 seconds slower than my PB with the same tires, at the same 2 mile track, in the same temps.

They won't wear out. But the grip is so drastically different. Never had a tire who gave up the ghost so quickly.

I'll keep beating the hell out of them until they're worn out.

My previous tires were the Falken RT615K+. They were wonderful! Sure, my PB with those was about 1.5 to 2 seconds slower than with the 660's. But the 615's were consistently quick throughout the entire tread.

Anyone else had the RT660 fall on their face after some time on them?

I think for my next set of tires, I'll look for something with better wet grip and a trend of consistency

I may go back go the RT615K+ because I'm just doing all this for fun anyway. Or maybe the RE71RS because I've had my heart set on achieving a specific lap time before I move on to setting the car up for aero.

 

660's will cycle out before the tread wears thin IMO.

Typically I think directionality means more for rain than dry.
On tires that are assymetrical, but not directional, then the outside sidewall may be stiffer than the other and flipping them may result in a squishy feel and poor cornering.
But for directional tires this should not be the case as they have to be able to be run on both sides of the car and thus, if directional this means a different sidewall out. So likely mainly is going to affect rain performance if run backwards.

I liked my 660's fine but did notice that they seemed to fall off some before the tread was worn badly. Maybe it was just me, but I toasted a couple (hit a wall) before I could run them all the way out and see.

I ran the Kumho V730s after the 660's. Honestly, IMO a much better tire. I was faster on them than the 660 and they were pretty cheap. Wore well too. The outside shoulder barely has tread to start will and will appear to wear fast but overall they wear very well. But if you think 660's are bad in the wet... lol the Kumhos are worse. They are horrible in the wet.

 

Yeah, the Kumho looks like it would be consistent, but very bad in wet weather. A few friends have confirmed what you're saying about them as well.

I've always tried to keep my hobby somewhat cost efficient, and now its tough to find a tire that does what I want.

The RE71RS is over $1K installed, which totally blows my head off. But...everything is more expensive than it was a couple years ago, I guess.

The RT615K+ is cheap, but I know its limitations so I'm not sure I'll be as delighted with them as I was the first time.

The RT660 is definitely out for me. If it were better in water, I'd reconsider. It is also slightly north of $1K installed...and at that point...I'm buying RE71RS's.

 

Expensive especially for someone like me who doesn't leave the street but the car loves them.

I paid $1250.89 "out the door" for RE71RS (215/255) in June 2023. Including sales tax, mounting, and balancing. Maybe $1060 + $25/wheel M&B + 7.5% sales tax. Tire Rack wants $1003 + + today.

-- Chuck

 

Yep I paid $1,111 for a set of 4 255/40/17 RE71RS in April of this year, plus mount/balance. Tires are certainly not getting any cheaper!