I honestly only got about 10K miles out my rear SO2's and about 14K out of the front SO2's. I've recently replaced them with OEM once again. Only days after that a guy tells me he got 10K miles (those miles included 8 track days) out of the Toyo RA-1's....I found it hard to beleive but I guess it's possible. Now I'm mad at myself for getting SO2's again...the only thing keeping me from getting the RA1's was I figured they would last more like 5K miles instead of 10K.

anyone back this up???

The only warning I got about RA1's on a daily driver was that they pick up a lot of debris and are prone to punctures.

anyone back this up???

 

RA-1's is more of a track tires...You should PM DongTran, he drives around street of San Francisco with these tires...What a Poser!!

 

I used them for track/street last year before getting a second set of track rims. RA1's are a good track tire that can be used on the street. They withstand heat cycles well so don't loose too much of their grip with street use. I found they last about the same amount of time as SO2's, where the SO2's would wear down more on the track, but less on the street. That's the good.

Now for the bad. They have stiffer sidewalls than SO2's so they are less comfortable. They are stickier and pick up street debris. The tread is "staged", i.e. full tread is rain tread, 1/2 tread depth has less tread grooves, for dry grip and 1/4 is basically a slick tread. The design is intended to allow shaving for dry grip tires or no shaving for rain tires. Great for track setups, but sucks on the street. Near worn tires will suck in the rain with standing water, so you will only be able to use the car part time for the last 1/2 of the tread depth. On the flip side, running full tread on a dry track is a little squirmy, if you are fast.

Compromise is compromise. If you are going to get into tracking more seriously, dedicated track rims/tires and race pads for the track is required. Seperate street rims/tires and street pads are required for the street.

 

sounds good..I'll probably be on the track < 3 times a year for fun so I'll stear clear of the RA1's. I'm sure they're right for a lot of people.

follow up question:

Why get RA1's when you could get sticky Hoosiers if you have two wheel/tire setups anyway?????? I thought the purpose of the RA1 was as a crossover street/track tire or a track rain tire.

 

Personally, I'm really not that serious about ultimate performance. It's great to have, but honestly I don't want to spend the time or money for the ultimate tires, especially when I'm not in competition. (Also because I'm just an intermediate driver now. I'll be faster with practice rather than equipment.)

Hoosiers, or whatever super-stickies, should be saved for track time only. That means, getting the tires and support equipment to the track and swapping there. That means towing the car or getting a trailer. That means a whole lot of more work for maybe 1-2 sec a lap for a couple of track days before getting new tires. I also autocross, which requires a whole different kind of R-compounds for ultimate performance, another set of rims.

It's a lot easier just to setup the car the night before with a good all round R compound at home and just drive to the track, have fun and drive home with very little hassle.

 

TRUE TRUE