Atom 3.5 tyres

[atomiser]

My supply of toyo 888 SGs (soft) has now dried up.

Any better alternatives from the powers at be?

Many thanks

*atom 3.5 used mainly on track with occasional road use. All in the dry - UK weather permitting!!!

[AlanP]

I really liked the AO48s on my 3 and now really like the AO52s on my R. Read some reviews. I can't remember the original tyres fitted on the R from the factory, but I was pleased when I changed to the Advan.

Alan

[atomiser]

Never completely got on with A048s med compared to the 888 SGs.

The A052s and kumhos are a possibility or may have to go Avon slicks and have a separate set for public road.

[wasp]

I never liked the A048's on my 3.5 but the Kumhos are fantastic and go on and on.

I've got the A052's on my 4 for track use and they are brilliant, They are also much better in the wet than the old A048's.

Either of these tyres will be excellent imo.

Cheers,
Stu

[atomiser]

Are the kumhos soft or medium Stu?

[Monza]

Soft front medium rear

[speedmachine]

On the Mono the soft Kumho’s are such a blast, I would highly advise those (probably medium rear is ok) tyres, the best I had yet

On 3.5 I had, Toyo r888, where good, r888r where rubbish, Avons where good, but tad hard, now have kumho’s and I’m shredding lap records on road tyres

[stupot]

Agree with the Kumho recommendation. Whilst I only used them on road, I found they were far better than AO48 in terms of warm up, grip and wear rate. Not too bad in light rain either. I more than doubled the mileage out of the rears and they appeared to take heat cycles better with no reduction in grip. The only downside was the high mileage did lead to the rear medium sidewalls cracking at c6000 but they were about done by then anyway. I put this down to the softer sidewalls flexing, mileage and heat cycles. Try them.

[atomiser]

6000 out of a set! Wow!!

In 4135 miles we have been through the originals plus 7 pairs of rears and 3 pairs of fronts.

The rears last about 3 trackdays.

Yes the A048s are sensitive to heat cycles and r888(r) medium are alot less grippy than A048 mediums.

[stupot]

6000 on the rears was road use only. I'd be lucky to get 1500 out of medium AO48s!

[atomiser]

Thanks for the comparison between A048s and kumhos - very useful.

I'll probably try soft kumhos in the first instance - yes I know they wear out within 1 trackday, but so did the 888s soft - if I was on it all the time.

I may try the Avon slicks but that brings its own problems!

[Alec]

I've been very happy with my Toyo R888 Tyres for a very long time, but the ones I'm currently running on my two sets of Wheels, are all nearing the wear indicators, and they don't seem to be available any more.
The replacement Toyo R888R are out, as I will not fit Asymmetric Tyres, so I had a look in the Ariel Shop, and the Yokohama A052 are straight out also being Asymmetric, not that I was a fan of the older A048 ones when I had them.
Any way, as I drive all year round, doing only a couple of Track Days each year so mainly on the road driving, that also rules out the Avon ZZR.
Of the two left in the Ariel Shop, the Yokohama AD08RS and the Kumho V70A, are also out for me, as neither fit in with my expectations of how my Atom looks with the CF Wings.
That just leaves the Avon ZZS, which I might just try on one of my sets of wheels to see how they look and perform.
The only other tyres I've considered, was ones recommended by my local friendly Tyre Supplier, which are the Nankang NS-2R tyre.
He says that he's had good reports about them, and as I've known him for over 30 years, with him running two bikes in the British Superbike Championship, plus another two bikes in lower classes & the TT a few years ago, I trust his opinion on tyres implicitly, but once again, I don't think they fit in with my expectations of how my Atom looks, so it's back to the Avon ZZS for me I think.
The Nankang NS-2R tyres may, however, be a possibility for other Atom Owners to consider.

[PaulF]

NS2R is ok for novice track drivers to quickly find the limits of grip at lower speeds, or for drift days. They also last a very long time. However, when pushing for lap times, you most definitely want a different tyre. I only use them for some casual track laps and drifting.

Kumho V70 soft / medium is my preferred choice. 052 should almost be on par. I've heard good things about the MRF ZTR and will give them a try when my current set of Kumhos needs replacing as the Kumhos are hard to come by.

[autobackup]

Alec

You say that you won't fit asymmetric tyres due to their 'appearance' or do you have some other additional reasons?

This puzzles me as the only time anyone can actually see the tread on a tyre is when the vehicle is stationary and even then I'm not sure that most people actually cares what the tread looks like!

Surely the purpose of a tyre (particularly on an Atom) is to get the very best grip possible when driving (road or track) if that means fitting the latest iteration of tyres with asymmetric tread then so be it!

I currently have Yoko A052s fitted to my 3,5R and am generally happy with them but would have preferred the slightly harder A048s - as I had previously - but which, unfortunately, are no longer available.

I was going to experimentally fit Pirelli P Zero Troffeos (PZ4) but eventually chickened out - mostly due to the extremely high cost of them here in Cyprus and also the fact that nobody else, as far as I'm aware, has tried them on an Atom?

I contributed to a previous thread in this forum on the topic of Pirelli P Zero Troffeos (PZ4) :

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16524&p=281575&hili ... ro#p281575

[Alec]

Alec

You say that you won't fit asymmetric tyres due to their 'appearance' or do you have some other additional reasons?

I've never liked the idea that the tyres will be trying to shift water in different directions on each side of the car, one side forwards & the other side backwards, so decided not to fit them.

As for looks, my Atom isn't always screaming along at full speed, but does stop at times, like when it's parked up waiting for people to book a ride during Sporting Bears events, so it's appearance is important to me.

As for Yokohama A048s, they were never as good as the Toyo R888s, which I fitted as soon as they were offered at a Track Day when a lot of AOC Members were there.

I praised their performance, but was shouted down by most owners who stuck to the A048s which were the norm up till then, but I think some of them changed their minds, when Ariel fitted the R888s to the Atom V8, as they obviously wanted the best tyres on it.

Any way, my tyres will be for mainly on the road driving, as I only do two Track Days each year at my local Aintree Circuit, although when I do, I am in the group with Open-Wheelers and Full Race Prepared cars.