JonaOhana

It wasn't too long ago that I found myself not pleased with the lack of traction my Z had.

Luckily, I discovered the Toyo R888, which ended up being perfect tire for me as they provided huge traction yet retained the sports car level of handling that the Z has.

Link to my R888 review
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...06-review.html

When I heard the Toyo R888R were available , my rears happened to be totally cooked, threads where showing, but my fronts were still very much alive, still I changed all 4 tires as I wanted to experience the new Rs to the fullest.

These tires are the best I've experienced in my 10 years of street driving corvettes. (Nitto Invo, Michellin Sport Cups / Super Sports , RE-11s , Kumho XS)

The magic in the R888R is that you get the same awesome grip (could be even better) as the old R888 (non-R) but the R also retains the razor like handling by having a stiffer sidewall then the old R888.

As I mentioned in my R888 review, the R888 tires are soft, much softer than the cups or whatever came with my car. What I ended up doing, and I have no idea if this was the right thing to do, was I electronically hardened my suspension to compensate for the softer tires.

I have a DSC controller, I up-ed the hardness setting and got back some of that razor sharp handling that I liked from my stock Michellins.

With these new R888R the sidewalls are much stiffer, that in tandem with my old DSC settings and I basically have the best of both worlds, I can dead hook anywhere at any temp and have the same handling as the Michellins.

Also as a bonus the R888R are really smooth, Im not sure what those Toyo did, but this tire rides really nice, not quite as nice as say my Nitto Invos , but for this level of performance , the smoothness is rather surprising. Kudos Toyo, really nice job

R888Rs like their predecessor still can dead hook in the cold, maybe even better and Im talking California cold, so 40+, Im not ice skating with these... although Id probably try if I could.

About the noise... its still there.
Those who have had the R888 have complained about the noise they make, my first set, weren't very noisy, I read somewhere that they are supposed to be 50% quieter than the R888. Well there not, they are def quieter but not 50%, I would say 25% , still big improvement.

Anyway, if you want more traction at any temp with really great handling get these, they are amazing!

PROS
Perfect grip for higher horsepower applications
Tires do not need to be warmed up, ever (Im at 700HP, not at the wheel)
These new R888R make considerably less noise than their predecessors
Stiffer sidewalls make this tire handle very similar to stock michelins
Really smooth ride, and I always keep my car on track

CONS
They have a little noise to them, but at this level, it's irrelevant (to me anyway)


How long do they last?
Thats always a tricky question, potentially lots of variables here
I keep my vitesse controller on 7-8 which always keeps the car peppy I primarily run canyons, which I do alot, I go out almost every night, I average 9K a year, and all those miles are night miles, I have other cars for daily driving. To be honest, Im very surprised at how well the r888 did, they wore no faster than my Michelins , not only that but they wore more evenly. That may have something to do with my configuration, I had my shop match my suspension to DSC specs , I have -1 camber maybe more I forget, on each wheel, Ill post my specs later. You can probably get 8-9K on a set with spirited driving. Obviously this excludes any sort of track time, I only went to the track once with my r888, and I could tell my tires took a beating that day, even though I wasn't trying to get a fast time, I was actually there to monitor/validate some cooling mods I did.

NTMD8R

Unfortunately, with a treadwear rating of 100, they put the car into SCCA class of SSR.
I have them on my '08 Z06, and yes they are great.
Also, you have to be very cautious if driving in wet conditions.

jabeasley1

CTWhite16Vette

AZGASSER

subd

mjcourt

I'm running the 295 front/345 rear on the C7Z06 with no issue. I like them but they are squealers on the track. Everyone will think you are overdriving the car by how much they squeal through the corners.

Bill Dearborn

A counter point. I have used R888 DOT Rs many times. They fall short of a Hoosier A or R Series DOT R tire. The thing is the Cup2 tire with a 180 tread wear rating seems to be much closer in grip to the Hoosiers than the R888s are. If you want to go around a corner faster you want the Hoosiers or the Cup2s. The disadvantage of the Cup2s is how long they last on the track. They seem to wear much faster and have a habit of delaminating in certain sections well before the rest of the tire is gone.

Bill

cvp33

Great review. I have the Deity track wheels 18's and 315/30F 335/30R ready for my next track event. Everything I've read including here has been very positive. I always understood they would be a tick below a racing slick, but give you the ability to drive to/from the track. It's definitely a trade off but a reasonable one.

JonaOhana

This is what I went with

345 30 19
295 30 19

but this is NOT what you should do, the fronts actually rub a little ,its really minor, and I run that way, next set Ill be going 18s in the front. That would be the perfect size. New rims will be required


8-9K with the rears , 9-11K with the fronts , interestingly enough, with my Michelins , by the time I was done, all 4 had to be replaced at the same time, with these the front 2 are still pretty good. Im keeping them as spares.

MCK_Z06

Where do they rub in the front?
I just ordered replica 19's with these same sizes.

I have the stage 3 aero and its pretty tight with the OEM size Cup2's.
Mine rubs with the stock tires now, in the middle of the front wheel liner (away from the side front winglets) when the suspension is loaded while cornering at speed.

mjcourt

I'm running the same size tire on Forgeline stock width 19" wheels and have no rubbing. Mine is not a Z07 though.

Pacembellum

who cares, we are trying to go fast here not play with miatas around cones in a parking lot.

😅😅😅 just giving you a hard time.

Pacembellum

Bill did you drive the R888R or the R888. The r888 is referred as an "r" compound but not the same as the new R888R, just trying to clarify.

jbsblownc5

GREAT review, I've been running the toyo R888s for a long time on all three of my Vettes. I'll be mounting a set of R888Rs next week on the Z, looking forward to canyon runs, as well as having them give me a nice hook up in April at the Mojave Magnum Mile...

When I roadcourse the cars, I throw on Pirelli Scubs, save the Toyos for the canyons!

AzDave47

If there on Sunday, I will see you at Mojave. My JSB C6Z has an LG hood, so should be easy to pick out. I will drive there on my PSS but have my R888R rears with me.

BERETTA

I agree the Cup2 is very good once you get some heat in them, I ran them on a road course that I used to run my C5Z06-ST2 car on Hoosier A6's, they are close to the Hoosiers.

I have a pair of R888R's in 345/30/19 I have not had a chance to run them on the road course yet, they do hook up better than the Cup2 from a launch. I tried them at the Arkansas mile last year, they want hold my car either (M7 with LMR 800HP Package) I had to use 2nd gear for the launch.

Toddiesel

You mention the R888Rs have a stiffer sidewall than the regular R888s. That would logically lead me to believe that the R888s are going to give you better launches. Cornering and highway driving aside, would you say the R888Rs give better 60ft times than the R888s? I know you said they "get the same awesome grip (could be even better)" but not sure if you just mean overall. I'm wondering specifically about launching as I'm looking for a tire to drive to the track, do a few passes, drive home, and switch back to the stock wheels/tires.

village idiot

I never ran R888 but I have run R888R at Circuit of the Americas with 315F/335R. I've also ran Michelin Cups several times, but not at the same track and all in vastly different weather (BTW: Cups on a wet track are basically certain death).

Cups are super impressive. They're also a **** tire for track days given how they delaminate at heat and very expensive. Literally, almost twice the price. On the street, I can't advise against them enough. Unless you're truly driving like an ******* (and this is coming from a guy who uses his turn signals like a BMW driver), they won't have enough heat in them to justify the grip.

I drive to and from the track on cup tires (and sometimes another few days if I have an event coming up again or I'm just lazy and need a day or two to swap them). Whenever I put the PSS back on, I feel like I have more grip *on the street*. It's hard to get Cup tires hot enough on the street to out perform PSS. Given PSS last 4x longer and you aren't staring death dead in the eyes around ever wet turn, Cup tires make no sense for a street car IMO.


Okay, back to R888R. The more and more I mull over over, I do think the Cup tires have more grip, but having a 315 tire in the front just makes the car sing. The car was just such a dream with those big front brakes, especially when my DSC was actually working right (they're sending me a new unit so I'll have numbers soon). My instructor was shitting himself at my brake points on the first lap and then started laughing saying he couldn't believe it was a street car.



It's not like R888R has low grip though. See below- I was nearly lifting my inside front on a downhill turn in the cold (55-60 degrees). I bet a Z06 with more power and stage 3 could get lift.

Toddiesel

When you say "cups" are you just talking pilot sport cups? Cuz those are discontinued and not relevant. Are you talking the sport cup 2s? I was considering those, but I'm given to understand you're not going to hook from a launch like the OP is talking about with R888s and R888Rs. Sounds like the R888R is a good track tire in terms of lateral movement/handling. How are they as far as hooking? Since you haven't run the R888s, I guess you can't really compare, but at least how you feel they are from a launch

village idiot

Cups = OEM Cup2 tires. Sorry for ambiguity.

I can't comment on launch. I only did road course. Cup2 take a lot of time to heat up though. They're also a stiff and thin sidewall. I can't image them hooking up better than an R888/R888R on 18's if for no other reason, sidewall and heat.

The problem with R888/R is how damn big the voids are and how it takes away contact patch. And they're freaking worthless in the rain anyway. I wish Toyo would make the RRR8R in a slick or "cheater slick" like the Cup2's tread pattern. They're also deep, which means the tire squirms for the first half of tread life or you have to get them shaved. Cup2, by contrast, has some very shallow tread (seriously, it's like a hair above the legal limit or something I'm pretty sure they wont pass inspection after like 500 miles ), but the there is LOTS of good rubber for tracking left after you go bald. There are actually "dimples" for tread wear indicators like slicks have. Another plus of Cup2 is they are runflats. You can drive to the track without concern and if you have a blow out mid turn, there is hope for survival

Look at the freaking pattern. They probably have 1/3 of the contact patch lost for absolutely no reason.





see treadware dimples