My gf and I did eight runs each in a 100% stock MY03 S2000 on new Hankook RS-2s this Saturday. We were both very unhappy with how the tires performed. The surface was 40 year old asphalt, and the course map is below.

The problem was immediately apparent - anytime the car was asked to transition from one direction to the other, it took an eternity to take a set and stabilize. It felt like the car had MUCH softer suspension. The rear was very floaty. I tried higher pressure (41psi) for runs 4 and 5, which just made things worse. Bringing it back down to 34psi for the remaining ones helped some, but the car still wasn't nearly as responsive as when it's on S02s.

Overall grip seemed good enough, and break-away was progressive. Neither of us had any spins the whole day.

Perhaps these tires are only good when shaved?

Oh well, at least they were cheap.

 

I used them this weekend as well, but at a concrete track in Houston. No other S2000's there for comparison, but the only cars to best me were on R-compounds (plus Elise and Porsche GT3). Considering the heat, the tires look like new, except for 'extra' wear down the rear centers. My car does this to all tires in all conditions, so tough to pin a cause for that. 32 psi cold, 37-38 psi hot, 25 to 50 sec courses, ~30 runs

 

Did you jump from 34 all the way to 41? I think your problem may have been the transition from too low to too high. I don't have any experience with these but that is a huge adjustment in pressure.

 

No, I went from 38 to 41, hoping the extra pressure would solidify things a bit. It just made things worse. (My current theory is that the pressure caused the tire surface to curve more, so I was relying more on the thre circumferencial tread bands when don't have a lot of lateral support, rather than the borader shoulder tread pattern.) So I went from 38 (bad) to 41 (horrible) to 34 (not quite as bad.)

 

just how "new" were the tires?

 

They had been on the car for 1.5 weeks worth of city driving. Full tread.

 

I autoX mine two weekends ago. Previous to that i did 60miles of hard lapping. At the Autox i was 1.5s behind the next S2k w/rcomps.. ....I was satisfied with them....perhaps the need to break-in more

 

what size did you get for the rears, 245/45/16?

i agree, the sidewalls are too soft...but the grip is there.

i'm gonna try another set of tires after these hankookies.

 

When I had my ITR, I ran RT615's on it. Very stiff sidewalls (equally stiff or stiffer than the RE010's) and great grip. General consensus among the ITR group was, the Hankook's lacked just a notch down from the Falkens in all categories. Sidewalls softer, less grippy, etc. If you're not going to be running R-Comps, I'd definately recommend the Azenis.

 

^
i don't think they make RT615's for the OEM 16 inchers. PLease correct me if I'm wrong.

For the person that started this thread, ur opinion is useless unless you can state a tire that is BETTER than the RS-2 at prices south of the S-02's. Any suggestions?