Why I chose Toyo Proxes T1-R, long post beware

[Nauticar]

For those who are interested in these tyres - this is my review. Long, so for those who do not like details, I suggest you skip this post.

 

History of tyre usage: Pilot Precedas, followed by Yokohama ES-100. This so you know what I'm comparing against.

 

Style of driving: Mildly aggressive. I tend to take corners faster than others. No track days at all, street driving only.

 

Wheel size: 14"

 

My ES100s were wearing to the wear bars already, which prompted me to shop for new tyres. In the 14" sizes, there are not many high performance tyre choices, and I do not want to give up my 14" wheels which I find nice and light. Also: the fact that bigger tyres are always more expensive, and I do not see the point in going bigger.

 

I asked myself what I wanted in new tyres. The ES100s served well; good dry grip and good wet grip for about the first 80% of their estimated 27,000km travelled. However I am able to feel them sliding at dry corners taken at a higher speed. They became quite scary in the wet as they wore down to their wear bars. I locked my tyres twice during the last 1000km of their service. All tyres do that I suppose. They get noisy at about 20,000km, but that was not something I was too concerned about. I'm quite impressed with their hydroplaning-resistant capabilities, but wet grip could be better.

 

So before I changed tyres I asked myself what are the five most important qualities my next tyre should have. Perhaps you should ask yourself too, if you are intending to buy new tyres. With my style of driving, my wheel size and the kind of car I'm using, I decided on these five priorities in order of importance:

 

1) Wet Grip

2) Weight

3) Dry Grip

4) Comfort

5) Tread Wear

 

Reasons:

1) Wet grip. No matter how good you think your tyres are....everything pretty much comes to the same level once you drive in the wet. No tyre in the world has equal wet and dry grip...all tyres have reduced grip in the wet. I have experienced a 180 turn in wet weather, sliding during ebrake manouveres and the feeling of losing control due to hydroplaning. All experiences were unpleasant, and I was lucky to have not met with an accident. That is why wet grip is my top priority, and will always be, given our tropical climate, my high daily mileage and the ever increasing number of idiots on the road.

 

2) Weight. I do not have a powerful car, so my priority is to keep my unsprung weight to a minimum, even if the weight savings are less than a kilo per tyre. My car is sensitive to unsprung weight changes and I do not want to lose the handling I am enjoying now if i change to heavier tyres.

 

3) Dry grip. As mentioned the ES100s had good grip. They were able to take quite hard cornering (Reminder:Not on track,on SG roads only). However I quite dislike the greasy feeling they gave me at times...can be fun sometimes, sliding around and being able to break traction but I prefer to have more dry grip.

 

4) Comfort. The ES100s were quite harsh especially so during the last 2000-3000km or so of their lives. I usually pump them to 32psi front and 31 back and even with a 60size sidewall, they were quite hard. My Bilsteins are rather stiff shocks, and while stiffness usually aids in cornering, my daily driving route can be uncomfortable. Having harder tyres than the ES100s will definitely be a negative.

 

5) Tread Wear. Last in my list, since I chance my tyres every two years and less, which is about 30000 or more km. Some tyres wont last that long and I do not want to spend unnecessarily on a fast wearing tyre (which will probably made with a softer rubber compound, redundant for my needs).

 

So my new T1Rs are 195/55 R14s, which gave a slightly wider footprint than the ES100s. I have a soft spot for aggressive looking tyres, and the T1Rs did not disappoint me in the looks department.

 

Comparing with the ES100s, they are slightly softer. This is at about 30psi all around, and I will pump up to 32psi all around and probably report back the results here. But probably the most shocking discovery of these tyres - they are squirmy. I tried some hard cornering and the feeling is like I'm riding on jelly the split moment after I jerked my steering wheel . Examining the tread pattern of the T1Rs , I understood why they were like that-the T1Rs have deep treads and a relatively high void volume....the weight of my car rests on the relatively tall treads. However once this split second squirminess goes away, the tyre stays planted to the ground. I have not driven my car as hard as I did with my ES100s and I will do that after when I feel the tyre has worn its mold compound sufficiently (and probably report here too).

 

I had some chances to drive the tyres through puddles of water about one inch deep - cuts through with very little resistance, and this is with a speed of about 60-70kmh. Impressed. On damp surfaces (damp means no standing water) they are greasy but I attribute that to the mold compound not scrubbed off completely yet. On wet roads (wet means a thin layer of water on surface) they perform well but like I mentioned before, slightly greasy.

 

They are quiet but not dead quiet as some people report them to be. But considering I was from worn ES100s, any tyre will probably be as quiet. Not an issue to me though.

 

Perhaps the most impressive observation was the lighter feeling my driving felt with the T1Rs. Again, I do not know whether it is because of the mold compound. But the car feels slightly lighter overall and I like it. I have not observed my petrol consumption after the change but I doubt it will be of any significance. Another plus from these tyres, they do not crash on road imperfections, something which I encounter daily with my previous ES100s. It feels more comfortable and my journey is more forgiving. Take note that softer tyres will absorb more shocks, stressing your suspension components less.

 

For the record I was also considering the highly recommended Hankook RS2s, but the RS2s are heavier, harder and although they drive well in the rain, from user reports I have read, T1Rs win over the RS2s in this department. The RS2s were also cheaper than the T1Rs but my research points that the T1Rs last longer.

 

So if your priorities for your next tyre are similar to mine, I recommend these Made in Japan tyres over other tyres. Oh and I really think the tread looks nice, did I mention that before?

 

N

[Toyo]

very comprehensive reviews

i was also considering T1R sometime back but chosen Falken ST115 instead cos its cheaper and it grips well

[Cactus]

my 14' also due for change... time to make decisions...

toyo tyres are known for being lighter.

[Dynaway]

hi,

 

interesting.. didnt know T1R comes in 55 profile for 14"

 

are they readily available???

 

can let me know the price & place to purchase???

[Nauticar]

Hi Dynaway,

 

Try going to the Toyo website, all the sizes available are there. Yes, 14" are pretty unusual, some tyre shops I've been claimed that Toyo doesnt make T1Rs in 14"!

 

If you read our local car forums, you'd probably know who sells tyres with the best prices. Get from him but for 14", it's not so common so you have to indent and it will take 45 days to get to him. So you must plan to get the tyres justin time, if you know what I mean.

 

There are other distributors but their prices are not so cheap.

 

Also take note that since people with 14" wheels do not normally go for UHP tyres, the 14" T1Rs will not be 'freshly made', since they sell relatively slower than other sizes. I settled for mine which was made in November 2006. My T1Rs will never see their 3rd birthday, which I think is reasonably safe.

 

N

Edited August 27, 2007 by Nauticar

[Nauticar]

Hi Toyo,

 

Thanks for your positive comment bro, I still can improve on my review, since I have not experimented with different tyre pressures...and also I have very little kms on them so far....

 

ST115 is quite popular.....I see them all the time but they are known to be quite hard and noisy. I liked the two longkang design but the harshness they are known for made me decide against them. Was considering the flagship RT615 for a while as they are reportedly gentler and grips EXTREMELY well in the dry....but the wet performance reportedly are not up to T1R's level.

 

N

Edited August 27, 2007 by Nauticar

[DarkLord]

Good review. Hope to hear more from you soon!

[Toyo]

True, ST115 is indeed popular. i thk this is because it is cheap and performs quite well in the dry and wet. it is good enuf for normal usage. previously i was using firenza ST-03, this must be the cheapest MIJ tires but it doesn't perform as well as ST115

[Arowana1]

toyo t1r are not light. urs would weigh in at 16lbs.

 

i was comparing tyre weight of size 205/55/16 and found:

csc2 - 8.4kg

csc3 - 8.5kg

cpc2 - 8.8kg

toyo t1r - 10kg!

 

unfortunately no figures for michelin but suspect they are light too.

[Iziz]

Good review!

[Dynaway]

Hi Dynaway,

 

Try going................................

 

.........................................

 

N

 

thanks...i think i'll give it a miss since need to indent.... too troublesome.

[Minicooper]

yeah, great review. Wish rubber over here in perth cost as little as in sg and msia. 205/45/16 for t1r cost 195 over here... wth

[Nauticar]

Arowana,

 

Not sure why you're comparing weights of 16" tyres when I can only use 14"? Also... where did you get the weight data from? Even Conti Online doesn't have them - appreciate if you could tell me! I usually get data from TireRack (they do their own weighing or so I've read) - and the CSC2, at the profile you mentioned weighs at about 9.52kg, more than a kilo away from your data.... like I said I'm very interested to know where you got the data from

 

Oh and my Toyos are light - at about 7.25kg per tyre, they are one of the lightest max performance tyres out there for the 14" size..... perhaps you have in mind a lighter max performance tyre than the T1Rs? I've done my research but came up with nothing

 

And just for the sake of comparison - I don't have real world data on the CSC series tyre - hell they dont even have 14" in the correct profile for my usage ! Perhaps you have links to forums / articles where I can read info on them and how they perform as compared to the T1Rs or other high performance tyres? I'd love a good read

 

N

Edited September 1, 2007 by Nauticar

[Nauticar]

Hi Dynaway

 

Need to indent means just give a call to the shop - troublesome? Ok what....

[Dynaway]

the waiting time is too long....

 

if jus happen that one tyre burst or tear beyond patching, i dun thikn u'll want to keep the car in the carpark for more than 1 mth..

 

i still prefer readily available stock type of tyre..

[Kingcopa]

review.

 

FYI i am also on T1R and i had no complaint abt this tyres at all. So far so good for me.

[Mzrmazda3]

Bro, your review is very detail

[Agp01]

nice review... im oso on T1R. so far so gd. gd grip on wet and dry..