Falken RT-615! Your comments plz.

[SmithSR]

Anybody using them?

I ordered some to use in place of the more expensive Toyo RA1About $50 difference between the RT615 and RA1 in size 225/40-18.

Toyo RA1:

Treadwear Rating for each:Toyo RA1: 40Falken Azenis RT-615: 200

Alan once suggested he'd run Kumho Ecsta MX against any tire with 200 or above wear rate. This might be the one!

Azenis RT-615:

Nice solid outer shoulder tread blocks. Fancy new tread design.

FYI: Price is right on these tires! No reason we shouldn't get some good responses and reviews.

[GhostDriver]

They look credible. How long did the RA1s last?

[InsanityInc]

Falken makes great tires, I've never had any complaints with them.

[turtl631]

I can't imagine they'd be anywhere near as good as the RA1s. I've read some reviews from autocrossers that said the 615 are very similar to the 215. Some others said they're better. But, the price has increased a lot.

Another cool but really expensive tire is the Advan Neova. They're supposed to be a little better than KDs and MXs, but they sure cost a pretty penny.

[Exar-Kun]

Well, GRM just tested the AD07, RA-1, 615 and more in back-to-back test (KD and MX too)

and the 615 won, but with a stipulation that falken had NOT fixed the heat sensitivity issues (they had to cool the tires with water between sessions), where the two other tires that did well (the AD07 most notably) did not have any overheating issues.

I'll post the summary here this weekend.

I'm sticking to my PS2's once I upgrade my Z33's wheels

unless the AD07 comes out in 19"

-CHet

[nismofly]

let us know how good they feel...

i was thinking id get a set of ra1s for track tires but if these are close then itd be worth it from a money standpoint

[Nismo_Freak]

Alan once suggested he'd run Kumho Ecsta MX against any tire with 200 or above wear rate. This might be the one!

I wouldn't go that far, I have ALWAYS advocated the usage of the Falken Azenis Sport. I might have said that, but the sole reasoning is because the MX is offered in alot more sizes. The thread could have been relative to a budget or sizing constraint.

To reinforce this, I will be running RT-615's on my S13, and I ran the older generation on my S14.

There are maybe 3 tires out there that can touch the Azenis in terms of dry grip (wet grip is worthless to me) in a non-R compound. Those would be the BFG KD, and the Advan Neova (AD07). There are many close, but few that can surpass.

I know Chet has a hard-on for expensive tires, but you can't beat the affordability of the Falken and Kumho line-ups. Advan, Michelin, Pirelli, and BFG all make excellent high grip tires, but they just don't offer the same in the price department. I can't quantify spending mega dough on some Michelins that offer very very little in terms of performance benefit over say the Kumho MX. I'd much rather buy the MX, enjoy a nice tire, and rotate out to actual race rubber for track duty.

[SmithSR]

What size do you have in mind for your S13?

I chose 225/40-18 RA1 for the Z33 rays wheels, and figured since the same size was available in RT615 I'd stick with the size.

25.10" vs. 24.80" regular OD.Got a spare 4.36 gearset to combat larger and larger OD tires I keep picking..

Here are the tire/wheel packages in my garage:-S14 SE 16"205/55-16 RA1 F / R

-Z33 Rays 18"225/40-18 RA1 F / R

-Z33 Base 18"225/40-18" RT-615 F / R

I may switch the RT-615 onto the lighter stronger and much cooler looking Rays wheels..

[turtl631]

Well, GRM just tested the AD07, RA-1, 615 and more in back-to-back test (KD and MX too)

and the 615 won, but with a stipulation that falken had NOT fixed the heat sensitivity issues (they had to cool the tires with water between sessions), where the two other tires that did well (the AD07 most notably) did not have any overheating issues.

I'll post the summary here this weekend.

-CHet

Really? Wow, I need to check out that issue. I was under the impression that the RA1 was an R compound and as such would be significantly better than any street tire, even the stickiest. The line between streetable R comps and sticky street tires is definitely blurring.

[nismofly]

from what ive seen on the nasa forums, they say the ra1 isnt as grippy as like a kuhmo v710 and the like, but will last much longer...theres some on there who will get like 15 track days out of a set of ra1s, they can use 1 or 2 sets for a full racing season, whereas the other tires only last maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of that

[SmithSR]

For '05 Toyo has upped the wear rating from 40 up to 100.Mine are stamped from various weeks in 04, therefore they keep the lower rating designation.Was there a massive change in compound? Or did Toyo make a move more toward the center to marginalize any comments about less grip and longer wear?Hmm.

[Exar-Kun]

Smith, E-mail me about it, I'll find out. Considering the business we do with toyo, I can get you an explanation

-Chet

[nismofly]

Smith according to another thread about the wear rating, because the ratings are brand controlled Toyo just put a higher rating on the ra1 because it had been at a 40 which is where the kuhmos and such are at and they last a lot longer than the kuhmos, but no change in the tire from what ive heard

being a 100 is because some race classes require 100 wear tires, so the ra1s are now legal in those classes

[Slappy]

"I was very surprised to see that there was not much of a time drop after 15 laps. Usually, there will be a 1 second or more difference after the first few laps. The 1st lap was 1 min 37.174 seconds followed by the 3rd lap at 1 min 37.326 sec, only a .15 second difference. At the 15th lap, the difference in time never passed 60 seconds (The worst lap was 1min 38sec 099).

http://www.jdm-option.com/eng/....html

[evildky]

615's are great dry autocross tires, but not well suited to wet traction, the MX is a better wet street tire but not as sticky in the autocross, the new brigestone RE-01's are sticker than the 615's but cost a lot more