Federal 595 RS-R inconsistencies (different types)

[sbridgey]

Thought this would be worthwhile posting on here as I know quite a lot of you use this tyre including myself.

There is speculation going around that there are different grades of RSR's, and this is why MyTyres.co.uk can sell them so cheap.

This thread on MX5Nutz might be worth a read-

http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=140157

Basically some of the specialist traders on there have noticed a big difference in terms of grip that RSR's sourced from different suppliers are offering.

 

[Addicted]

What an ugly forum, user signatures are bigger than posts.

 

[sbridgey]

What an ugly forum, user signatures are bigger than posts.

If you look past the annoying signatures its actually really nice to use.

 

[DB.]

Forums with signatures fail instantly with me, hate them! They are for children.

 

[Ph1 Tom]

No issues with my tyres from mytyres.

I'd put money on there being no difference in the compound. Wouldn't make financial sense for a manufacturer to do that on a mass produced tyre where there is a single defined treadwear index, unlike other tyres where you get soft, medium and hard like the R888 and A048 etc. They'll just bang 'em out off the production line.

 

[AdDaMan]

So that thread actually tells us nothing. Just people speculating...
Mine are also from mytyres and they were awesome on track..

 

[DaveDreads]

Maybe people are getting confused between 595 RSR's and normal 595's?

I had the 595 road tyres and they're great for daily use,
but got shredded on a track day, but they are cheap and meant for normal driving.

Then you've got the proper 595 RSR semi slicks which cost a bit more because they're track tyres.

Probably nothing to do with what you're on about,
but I thought it was worth a mention.

 

[Adam G]

Best way for us to try and make a conclusion, is for users to post details of their tyres - DOT codes, country made etc. Then if they're all similar (obviously the DOT codes will vary slightly) then we should be able to say whether there's any truth in the rumours.
I'm off to check mine now.
205/50 ZR15 89W XL
Treadwear 140, Traction AA, Temp A,
DOT UX36, Made in Taiwan

 

[AdDaMan]

Yeah everyone is on about the RS-Rs dave.

 

[sbridgey]

So that thread actually tells us nothing. Just people speculating...
Mine are also from mytyres and they were awesome on track..

If you look at the posts from the traders its clear they believe a difference exists.

Roddisons Motorsport are offering people the chance to test out two different sets to see the difference.

 

[AdDaMan]

But they arent explaining what they think the differences are!

 

[sbridgey]

I know! But at the moment they awaiting a reply from Federal.

 

[DaveDreads]

Yeah everyone is on about the RS-Rs dave.

I'll get my coat then.

 

[AdDaMan]

lol.

 

[Adam G]

I'll get my coat then.

Get mine for me too Dave?

 

[BustaMOVEs]

I've been saying this for ages, although the rsr is still a good tyre but just not as good of a compound when it came out to the Motorsport guys.

In 2009 the RS-R was considered, and fell under the jurisdiction of the Federal Motorsport tyre department and was sold only to specialised motorsport tyre dealers. In 2011, because specialist tyre sellers were not shifting enough products globally it was removed from motorsport sales and became a UHP tyre and sold to European wholesalers. However to make the price reasonable in the very competitive market a lower specification tyre was made to be sold to the wholesale market. Tyre sales are very competitive and if mainland European wholesalers were getting a significantly lower price than the UK, then the UK would be up in arms over it and you would not see RS-R's in the UK. The reason there is such a significant difference is that the UK motorsport dealers pay more for a higher specification product. If we could get the product we do at the Euro price we would be selling at a much lower price also, that is market forces. The fact we don't is because we get the higher spec product that costs more.
And no, there is no obvious side wall marking difference. The lower spec product is lighter and if you move these tyres around all day you will know a light on when you come across it, the rubber is also a different colour.
If you look at MyTyres or any of the other discount dealers you will frequently find RS-R prices lower than the standard 595 budget option. There is absolutely nowhere near the margin in a tyre to be able to cut 20 to 30% in price unless you are buying a cjheaper product inthe first place.

 

[AdDaMan]

So how is the consumer supposed to differentiate?

 

[sbridgey]

So how is the consumer supposed to differentiate?

And this is where the MX5Nutz thread came from...

 

[Ph1 Tom]

It's a cheap track day tyre. I doubt anyone would notice a difference even if there is one, which again I doubt.

If you're serious about lap times you wouldn't be running these anyway!

I'll continue to buy the cheaper ones and enjoy them.

 

[BustaMOVEs]

So how is the consumer supposed to differentiate?

You won't, that's the problem as per my post above.

It's a cheap track day tyre. I doubt anyone would notice a difference even if there is one, which again I doubt.

If you're serious about lap times you wouldn't be running these anyway!

I'll continue to buy the cheaper ones and enjoy them.

Agree, there is not much wrong with the tyre, it's cheap budget option for the market and if it work for you then you won't know any different.
And I don't think the likes of rodders etc use this tyre, was just a comparison made between them.
However you won't get the original as afaik it's not made anymore as it would be too expensive to compete with the rest of the track tyres out there today. Hence this cheaper one.

 

[Steve]

If you use your car for fun makes no difference, for competition different story.

The difference over a lap, between the compounds was 2 seconds, that's the difference between winning & loosing.

 

[BustaMOVEs]

If your looking for budget without breaking the bank then Nanking NS-2R get my vote.

 

[underdog]

i buy my rsr's from mytyres too. i dont know if there is different grades but value for money is superb still. they were 1.7 seconds quicker around llandow than toyo proxes 4s and the toyos cost more. i cant afford the top tyres like dunlop dirrezas or 888 so i have to stick with the feds. id be interested to know whether the rumours are true though.

i did have the common problem of the tread splitting and i emailed them pic and they sent me a new tyre no problem.

 

[Chip-mk1]

If you use your car for fun makes no difference, for competition different story.

The difference over a lap, between the compounds was 2 seconds, that's the difference between winning & loosing.

2 seconds is a hell of a lot of difference just from a tyre, Im pretty confident even on a trackday you would notice that if you do a fair few days.

That said, our rsr were cheap ones, and we have been happy with them, maybe just because Ive never tried the proper ones if they really are that much better.

 

[sbridgey]

Well now what i'm wondering is whether the RSR's I had on my Clio were the good ones and thats one of the reasons it was quite quick...

I'll have to see how it compares to the MX5 at bedford now.

 

[KevF182]

I also like the ones I got from Mytyres last year. I'm sceptical of there being a superior version/compound but keen to hear more evidence for that theory, if it exists.

obviously Federal should be able to offer something conclusive but it also seems there is a big loose-end to this topic that Mytyres themselves should be able to clarify, why are they selling apparently identical tyres at different prices? I was actually looking just last week at their ebay shop and they had the 205/45 r16 83w at roughly £70 and £65..... And now I've just checked their propper site and they list them at £65 and £61 - two seemingly identical tyres!

The mx5 thread implied that mytyres believed they were selling tyres with different efficiency ratings, but it does not appear on the product line to be any different. It's all very odd. But I will be buying another set at this price

 

[BustaMOVEs]

I also like the ones I got from Mytyres last year. I'm sceptical of there being a superior version/compound but keen to hear more evidence for that theory, if it exists.

obviously Federal should be able to offer something conclusive but it also seems there is a big loose-end to this topic that Mytyres themselves should be able to clarify, why are they selling apparently identical tyres at different prices? I was actually looking just last week at their ebay shop and they had the 205/45 r16 83w at roughly £70 and £65..... And now I've just checked their propper site and they list them at £65 and £61 - two seemingly identical tyres!

The mx5 thread implied that mytyres believed they were selling tyres with different efficiency ratings, but it does not appear on the product line to be any different. It's all very odd. But I will be buying another set at this price

Look at post #17 http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=135693&hl= federal rsr

 

[Ph1 Tom]

Or maybe its just the motorsport companies trying to justify charging more for the same tyres?! Who knows.

Doubt anyone will ever really find out, Federal certainly won't clarify. And a couple of mm where it fits on the rim says nothing.

Just carry on using them for a cheap tyre. Then if you want a competitive tyre you wouldn't run these anyway, you'd be on something like V70s Dz03G or slicks!

 

[AdDaMan]

All i know is their far better than any road tyre ive used before.

 

[Ph1 Tom]

All i know is their far better than any road tyre ive used before.

That's exactly it. Road tyre price but with good performance on track and they take the abuse all day.

All this speculation for what?! Do you really want to pay more?!

 

[BustaMOVEs]

You can see the different shade of colour in the tyre, and they ARE track tyres.
As I said in my earlier post, there's nothing wrong with them for the price but the uk Motorsport dealers stock or did stock the original compound which WAS better, but as nobody will know this they won't know any different.
For the price, yes it's a good tyre, but the rs2r is a better tyre IMO for a budget price also
Forum talk can go on for ages tbh and people will always have their view, it's just there FYI, do with that as you choose.

 

[clio182nurburg]

Very interesting indeed, I'm about to buy a couple of new tyres and have some older RS-R's here albeit in a different size. I'll try to see a difference when the new one's turn up.
The price varies wildly, Camskill are normally very cheap, yet they are £94/tyre whereas mytyres have them at £69.70 or £79 fitted! bit odd.. we shall see..

 

[jon_r]

We had this discussion on Northloop and all the tyres are the same in Europe.

Originally Posted by Federal email Dear Paul,

Thank you for your email. It's Luke from Europe Sales department, it's very nice to contact you.

To answer your question, RSR sold in the UK is the same as sold in the rest of Europe - there is no difference.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards,

Luke Sung

Europe Sales Executive
Global Sales Division
Phone: +886-3-452-2156 Ext. 6240
Mobile: +886-958-231-663
FAX: +886-2-2831-4198

www.federaltire.com
www.herotire.com

 

[BustaMOVEs]

Haha, like there going to tell you 'yes there's a difference, we made a cheaper compound to compete with the market'
Really?...... Was you really expecting for them to say yes?
That's not business ethics, think how much money they would loose if they told you, not forgetting that guy would loose his job for doing so.

 

[BustaMOVEs]

Anyway, I'm not commenting further as can't be bothered going in circles, as said in post #31

 

[Steve]

All i know is their far better than any road tyre ive used before.

This.

Going to try 16's at £250 for four no brainer.

 

[Jamie86]

Yeah going to throw a set of 17's on the civic when I removed the winters

Also have about 10x 15" in my garage as well, will see if any of them look different...

 

[clio182nurburg]

That email from Federal is interesting, what about RS-r's in the rest of the world? Are people getting one's from outside europe..
I actually ordered some today from mytyres and they have just been dispatched from Hanover, Germany! Shame as I needed them urgently.
Do they not have the usual Traction, Temperature and treadwear markings on the side? That way if the wear rating is the same they will be the same compound.

 

[Adam G]

I posted the details on mine, which were from mytyres.

 

[clio182nurburg]

Well mytyres have managed to deliver 1 x 205/45/16 and 1 x 205/50/15. Utter t***s. Going down the garage now to hopefully get one fitted.