Tyres - are Cup 2s good?

[DeanB]

As the title says - I know nothing about tyres for bigger cars but I thought some of the sages among the MLOC massive might have the low-down. What do you reckon?

Thanks in advance 😊

Dean

 

[Guido]

Dean - I love my Cup2’s. There might be better all round tyres that last a bit longer and are better in the wet but the grip these have when dry is brilliant. I have to add, I haven’t tried any other tyres on my Exige so I have nothing to compare them against. They are bloody expensive though!!!

[Oakman]

Hi Dean

They are primarily summer, road to track tyres, original fitment on the 430 Evora and no doubt on Exiges and probably optional fit as well, they are standard fit on Porsche GT3, GT4 cars too.  

They usually come with only 5 to 6mm tread, against 8mm on other road and sports tyres, effectively giving you only about 3mm to "use" they are much softer compared to normal summer tyres, hence with less tread and higher grip you don't get as long a life from them - especially when used for what they are designed for, track day driving. I think on the tech side they may have a maximum recommended number of 'heat cycles' too, you probably understand that better having raced.  You do see used ones on EBay from Porsche GT cars for example, that have enough tread to still use, say down to 3mm, you can see that they have heated at the sidewall/ tread areas.

The Cup 2's you now get are better than the original Cup tyres and have more depth and are claimed to be better in the wet, they can be very prone to aquaplaning on very wet roads, I've had the Evora shimmy whilst driving over a strip of water like a mini river that was across a B road on a bend in very wet conditions, I was glad I was taking it very steady. 

I guess if you fancy them for the Elise (if they do them in the necessary sizes) you would no doubt find them exceptional. 

On my Elise I have Yokohama AD08R at the rear, I managed to get a late build pair of the non silicon versions and a pair of the RS (silicon) replacements at the front there were no more R versions in the S1 Elise size left. Allegedly the R's were a bit better - I can't say I can tell as I had nothing to compare to, the ones on the car were Yoko's that were pre AD08 and well out of date but with plenty of tread left.  Having read all the advice regarding the Elise and tyres, I thought it best to get new ones !

Paul

[DeanB]

Thanks chaps that's really helpful. 👍