Cooper Zeon RS3-S

[D_Thissen]

Hey guys and gals,
I did a quick search on the forum but couldn't find any thing.

Does anyone have any experience running these tires on their 86?

Looking for a solid summer tire for spirited driving, some auto-cross, good in wet and dry. I know the usual suspects; MPSS and ZII.

Any input would be great!

Dan

[wparsons]

No first hand experience, but they definitely won't stack up compared to a ZII/Hankook RS3/etc. They're more comparable to a Michelin pilot sport (not super sport).

I'm sure they'll be a decent street tire and handle autox abuse too, just be realistic with how much grip they'll give and how much heat they'll take (probably won't like track use as much).

They also don't seem like a great value compared to other tires on the market?

[Luis_GT]

I have them, I've tracked them, and I love them... can't compare them to anything though since I jumped directly from the Primacy's but so far they're great.

I'm going to the track again this weekend, but my best time was 1:18 a lap, where another FR-S with Hankook RS-3 ran a 1:16 with 2 or 3HP more than me, a bit less weight, and the other driver was slightly better than me (I'm still a bit hesitant to push mine since its my DD... lol)

Both our cars are on bone stock suspension, OEM Wheels, and we both where running 225/45/17's.

Granted a pro driver got that car down to 1:11 a lap (He did 1:14 a lap IIRC with the car bone stock down to the tires, except for brake pads and braided lines)

Their tires where shot by the end of the day (6 heats), and mine still look relatively new (3 heats + a few 1/4 mile drag races and over 1000 miles of DD duty).

[D_Thissen]

Originally Posted by wparsons

No first hand experience, but they definitely won't stack up compared to a ZII/Hankook RS3/etc...
..They also don't seem like a great value compared to other tires on the market?

Thanks Will!

Originally Posted by Luis_GT

I have them, I've tracked them, and I love them... can't compare them to anything though since I jumped directly from the Primacy's but so far they're great.

Thanks!

[The Tengu]

I've had these for about 10k on my daily driven FRS. They are a great inexpensive summer tire option. Got mine from Discount Tire Direct more than a year ago for something like $350 after shipping/discounts at the time. Keep a look out as they offer rebates and discounts often.

Huge improvement over stock Primacy's but not like a Z2/Rival/Hankook Rs3. More like a MPSS or Continue DW than the Z2.

I did 4 autox events last year on stock tires and 5 events on the Coopers. Improved times overall with the Coopers by about 1.5-2 sec easy. Another FRS driver went the more expensive route with 225/45/17 BFG Rivals (more of a dedicated autox tire) and I can catch him in wet runs.

They do wear fairly quickly and turn to hockey pucks in the cold weather though. Overall I would buy these again for a daily driver that autox occasionally.

[Odd]

Trying these out - so far they are pretty good value for the $; I feel like they are a bit heavier than I realized. I'm breaking them in / playing with the PSI a bit still.

[sirsol66]

I bought a set (225/40R18) last year when Amazon had insane pricing on them ($75/tire). I would say they compare favorably against my same size DZ102's but fall short of a something along the line of a star spec, PSS, etc. Good tires for the cost though.

[Captain Stall]

Hi, the Cooper Zeon RS3-A model is on sale this week (22nd-28th) nationally at Canadian Tire (in Canada, obviously) for $108 (regularly $145). I don't need new tires just yet, but will before I switch to my winter wheels in November, so I bought a set of 4 now and will have them installed when the time comes. At that price, they'd have to be utter shite to be a mistake. I do 85% of my driving on the highway and don't go to the track for anything.

Oh, and if you get a quote for the sale price, they honour it for 14 days, even after the sale has ended.