Semi-slicks ... in the wet?

[Blitzen]

Ahh, sweet as man...Sorry about that. I'm still buggered after the drive home. Seriously though, if you do go with the slicks, you do have to consciously remember that you have them on in the wet, and another thing I found, was slippery intersections(like the Horsely Drive, Cumberland Hwy one) where you get lots of truck turning, you really have to watch for Diesel/oil on the road too, even on dry roads, but doubly so in the wet. I had a small incident in my SRi where I came into an intersection on the old Hume Hwy in Albury, and found myself under steering into the traffic island due to Diesel on the road...All I can say is thank God the tyre walls were higher than the lip on the traffic island. I just bounced off, and was able to drive away(after a thorough inspection of the running gear...No damage).

[Golf Houso]

Yeah no worries Ryan, I've been caught out on oil and diesel slicks before, I almost launched off a road divider into a truck once in the GL and I wasn't even pushing it.

I'll look into this a bit more before I decide to order them in and put them on my VR6 which will still be a reliable daily, well eventually...

[KWICKS]

Branko, I have had semi slicks on my last 2 cars(Falken Azenis on the SRi, and I currently have Federal 595RSR's on the Polo). .

Fixed for you. I just ditched a set of Falken Azenis RT-615's on my Spec B Liberty. They lasted 40000km. They were ok in the dry, being larger than OEM width (225/45/R18 vs 215/45 R18 OEM) they were more comfortable, and reasonably quiet.

BUT WET GRIP WAS APPALING - EVEN IN AN AWD CAR. And I dunno about calling them semi slicks, they have an aggressive dry tread pattern but they are not an R-compound.

After these my thinking about tyres quickly changed to prioritise the question "When am I likely to need my tyres to be great the most?" and the answer was "In the wet", because all other things, like speed, reaction time, etc on the road remain constant in an emergency stop unless it is wet...

[Blitzen]

Hahahahaha...cheers mate...The last few days have been a blur...so many kilometers!!! Sydney to Townsville.....

[tinto]

I have a set of Toyo Proxes R888 that I had on the car for an extended period (even in the wet). Usually they're just on for track days, but sometimes i've been too lazy to switch the wheels over so have ended up doing a fair few road km on them.

In the wet they're fine - just dont' drive like a git - i.e. use the normal amount of caution and remember you're sharing the road. Disclaimer is that this was through the Perth winter / rain, so really pretty pathetic in terms of sitting water on the road (i.e. not much).

But the R888s are a real R compound as opposed to an 'aggressive looking' tread pattern like the Falken Azenis Rt.

Which semis were you looking at?
Get something with decent rain gutters (like the R888 have), and they're reasonable. Horribly noisy tyres though - sounds like you're being chase by a swarm of angry hornets.

As an aside, I'm keen on the Kumho KU36 for my every day tyres when my current KU31 expire. They're somewhere between semi and street tyre.
If you're considering the Falkens, perhaps check these out too - they're relatively new.

[Golf Houso]

I was actually looking at the Falken RT615's the main reason being I can them (in a 15) for very close to what I can pay for a decent sports tire i.e. 150 a tire with fitting and balancing...

My budget (being a full time uni student) is basically $600 for a complete set, the semi's look good for the price anyway. Do kuhmo make the that tire in question in a 205/50/15?

[beeza]

My budget (being a full time uni student) is basically $600 for a complete set, the semi's look good for the price anyway. Do kuhmo make the that tire in question in a 205/50/15?[/QUOTE]

Yes they do, you'll find that just about every manufacturer makes that size and as its also a fairly common size the pricing is usually quite good.
You can't just get them from your nearest Bob Jane. I think you will need to look for the Kumho Motorsport Dealer in your state. Don't quote me on this but i'm reasonably sure that thats the only way to get them. The XS KU36 is definitely a good tyre. I don't have any experiences with it but there is a guy running with them on a fairly stock Supra and he is doing VERY respectable lap times and after the sprint meet he just drives home on them. As mentioned before they are not an "R" specific tyre so they are not a true semi slicks.

[gareth_oau]

As promised, here's an extract from the detail from Motor's test.

the tyres tested are 215/45/17s on a Renaultsport Clio shod with Brembos and excludes "cheapies"

Ive included the best and the worst data for the road tyres for relative comparison.

The Semi-slicks don't lactually look that bad in the wet.

Other tests included lateral g, apex speed etc.

Overall the best semi-slick was the Dunlop (rrp $445) scoring 144 points, compared to the Federal (rrp $240) with 63 points.

By comparison the best road was the Bridgestone (rrp $296) with 120 points, vs the worst being Federal (rrp $180) with 82 points.

If you are looking at a cheap budget semi-slick, you might want to be a bit more cautious compared to these in the test

(I think I might choose the Bridgestone RE001s next time!!)

...................................dry slal.....wet slal.....dry brake......wet brake
Semi-Slicks
Dunlop Direzza 03G..............13.0s.......14.2s........34.2m... ........39.6m
B/S Potenza RE55S ..............12.8s.......14.1s........34.4m...... .....39.7m
Toyo Proxes R888................12.8s.......13.8s........34.7m ...........39.6m
Federal 595 RSR..................13.3s.......14.6s........35.1 m...........39.4m

Best of Road Tyres
B/S Potenza RE001...............13.1s.......13.2s.......36.7m
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymm............................................. .........38.1m

Worst of Road Tyres
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymm.....13.6s
Federal 595 Evo.................................14.2s
Dunlop Sort SP Maxx..........................................40.3 m
Federal 595 Evo............................................... .....................41.8m

Slick
Dunlop Formula R.................12.6s........13.9s........31.9m. ..........55.7m

[beeza]

Yeah, that was a good read.
Although it is only a guide. On another given day these results may have been different. These tyres would also perform differently if they were tested on a different car. There are so many factors that come into play, I wouldn't even know where to begin.
I wouldn't buy a specific tyre just because of what this guide said. I would ask peoples opinions at the track, its probably where you'll find the most relevant information.

[Timbo]

I was actually looking at the Falken RT615's the main reason being I can them (in a 15) for very close to what I can pay for a decent sports tire i.e. 150 a tire with fitting and balancing...

Why do you think they are so cheap? The RT615 is NOT a semi-slick; they're totally *****, IMO -- hard ride, noisy, grip and traction (wet and dry) generally less than a good sports tyre. I replaced mine with Bridgestone Adrenalins, and was impressed by the all round improvement, but I dare say that'd be the case with any decent sports tyre.

I would not recommend a proper semi slick such as the R888 as a daily drive tyre. They work well on the track, but as the test results show, they're generally less adept in daily driving conditions. And they're noisy and uncomfortable.