[Mk2] [NA] 15" tyres : Federal RSR

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Rear tyres will need to be renewed over coming year, so would prefer to change fronts and rears to same make.

Want to stick with the 15" wheels I have, but move way up in tyre technology.

Having read opinions on all 15" (Toyo, Falken etc) what I really fancy are Federal RSRs.

Even prepared to downsize from 205 fronts and 225 rears to the only available combo from Federal, which is 195/50/ fronts, 205/50 rears.

So does the grip of Federals outweigh the downsizing?

Good or bad move?

[Quigonjay]

imho, you would be upsetting the balance of grip for no real gain
just stick with the toyos or falkens

[Donato]

As good as the Federal's are. You'd completely mess up thousands of pounds of research Toyota did to setup the handling. You'd be best sticking off with standard sizes or moving up to 16" wheels.

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ok guys, thanks for your perspectives . Think I'll be forced to consider move to 16" then .. probably with Yoko AD08

[Adam]

I used to have 15" 195 AD08s on the front of mine with 225 Bridgestone S02 on the rear, this gave great balance in the wet and the dry and I did 2 trackdays with this setup with no problems however the S02 is unavailiable in this size now but reviews say that the T1R is very similar but they just go off a bit quicker when they get hot, before you go buying 16"s maybe 195 AD08 front and 225 T1R rear would be worth a try?

Do you have a rev 2 G model by the way?

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Cheers for the advice Adam, real shame about the S02 going out of production, hear they were great.

Would consider T1Rs for sure

Yes it's a Rev2 'G' model, not many about .. so no power steering rack, which I prefer, I'm definitely in the 'less is more' camp ..

[Rosssco]

The RSRs are comparable to the likes of Toyo R888's or Yokohama A048 with regards to dry grip, and significantly better than the likes of average street tyres like T1R or S02 (I've used both types on my VX220)

You would probably find a 205 rear has as much dry grip as a 225 road tyre. Problem is thy aren't as good in wet or cold conditions, come with less tread new, and will most likely wear at a higher rate. So maybe an option for track work, but unless you have some money to chuck at it and try various tyres types and configurations, you'd be better sticking to a proven set up with a more factory tyre stagger and similar tyre types front / rear IMO.

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Ok thank you for your input. Opinion on the whole is to stay with stock widths then.