Anzac spirit - Time to sharpen my weapon

It is the Anzac day today, a holiday for me to reflect the lives that sacrificed during the world war. What an opportunity to tell my wife that I need to get new tyres! ... I don't know it worked well deep down in her heart but I still got an "yes".

I have a set of right hand side Bridgestone RE55s SR compound at home, sitting in the shadiest and driest area in the garage. It is time to use it up since the manufacture date is in the 13th week of year 2005. To look it up. You can see the indented combination of the sidewall, usually in the inner aspect of tyre. The last 6 digits are the week and year of manufacture. I heard that the rubber will stay strong if the compound is kept away from the sunlight. I don't know. It is always good to have fresh rubber.

Went to a local tyre shop, whose boss kindly open for me on a public holiday. He ordered 2 left hand side for me. They are the same size (245/40ZR18). For those who are not aware, these are R-Spec compound (or S tyre in Japan, or Semi slick in Australian term). Their benefits are high grip and stable (unbeatable in any class) of their sidewalls. It is the ultimate weapon. The downsides are lots though : They are heavy (compare with road sports radials), noisy (have a constant wooooo noise at around 80kmh), pick up stones, and wear fast (I think their wear rating is a mere 80, and I already have the hardest compound of the list). Anyway, here are some pics for the thread pattern.

 

Also I looked at the old tread pattern that I am driving more evenly across the tyres. It is much better I think with a combination of better driving skill, wider offset and wider rim. Wish I had a camera to take pictures.