New Tires for 2016 - How does this setup sound?

[Uncle Rusty]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to replace my set of 4 Toyo R888's (295/30/18) on 18x10 SVE Drifts Wheels. I was thinking of going with a staggered setup this time, NT05r 285/40/18 in the rear, and perhaps some 265/35/18 Michelin PSS up front.

Any concerns or thoughts on this setup? My goals with this would be occasional strip use and mostly just cruising around for fun. I enjoyed the R888s as they were fantastic at the track, but the low profile made the ride quality pretty terrible, and I wasn't a fan of the wide fronts as I had some issues with high speed stability and the tires steering from the grooves in the road.

Obviously this setup wouldn't work well on an actual race track, but what do you guys think? Mods are in my signature for reference.

 

[helloWorld]

How many miles did your R888's last you?

 

[Zandura99]

Front: 265/35R18
Overall Diameter..... 25.3
Rear: 285/40R18
Overall Diameter..... 27.0

Bad fitment. shoot for 27 +/- front and rear... with as high at 28 in the back. Try to keep your overall diameter within 1 inch... car likes that (I have never had issues at 1 inch). I have never seen a pic of our cars with that small of a front but man that's short. Its going to ride just as crappy as your r888's. Try one of these sizes:

1 64YR8S04PPXL 90 265/40R18 BS POZ S04 POLE 190.30
1 64YR8ECDWXL 89 265/40R18 CO EXTR CONT DW XL 200.87
1 64YR8PSSXLV2 88 265/40R18 MI PILT SUPER SPRT 285.90

Much better height 26.3. . . . but I still would go taller:

1 545YR8S04PP 85 255/45R18 BS POZ S04 POLE 167.30
1 545YR8ECDWXL 86 255/45R18 CO EXTR CONT DW XL 163.30

These are 27.0. Perfect match to your desired rear tire.

 

[Uncle Rusty]

Front: 265/35R18
Overall Diameter..... 25.3
Rear: 285/40R18
Overall Diameter..... 27.0

Bad fitment. shoot for 27 +/- front and rear... with as high at 28 in the back. Try to keep your overall diameter within 1 inch... car likes that (I have never had issues at 1 inch). I have never seen a pic of our cars with that small of a front but man that's short. Its going to ride just as crappy as your r888's. Try one of these sizes:

1 64YR8S04PPXL 90 265/40R18 BS POZ S04 POLE 190.30
1 64YR8ECDWXL 89 265/40R18 CO EXTR CONT DW XL 200.87
1 64YR8PSSXLV2 88 265/40R18 MI PILT SUPER SPRT 285.90

Much better height 26.3. . . . but I still would go taller:

1 545YR8S04PP 85 255/45R18 BS POZ S04 POLE 167.30
1 545YR8ECDWXL 86 255/45R18 CO EXTR CONT DW XL 163.30

These are 27.0. Perfect match to your desired rear tire.

Thanks for the information, that's definitely helpful. It does make sense to keep the front and rear as close as possible. The R888's I have are so low profile actually that they only 25.1" diameter, and I wouldn't go with something that small again on this car, I'm currently pretty much right on the ground with these tires and suspension.

FWIW, I have around 2000 miles on the R888's currently. The rears are still okay for driving but currently spin all the way up to 60, sometimes a little in 3rd even but are still pretty controllable. I had good traction for the first thousand miles or so, with one full track day (30 laps @ 1.8 miles). The track day visibly went through at least 1/4 of my tread. The front actually have decent tread/traction left, but I found out the hard way that rotating a square setup after a track day isn't ideal because of uneven wear. When I tried swapping the rears and fronts, the car pulled insanely hard to the left and felt like it was terribly out of alignment, so I had to revert to the original setup... definitely something to keep in mind with a square setup if you plan to track the car.