[M2joey]

After burning through what will be my last RE-71Rs, I decided to try a set of Goodyear F1 SC 3s. I put 265/35 285/35s on for Watkins Glen this past weekend. After three days (12 sessions), I have to say that I am impressed with this tire! They exceeded expectations! Some thoughts...

Pros -
-Nice street driving tire, pretty quiet, a little harsh. Don't pick up stuff like the RE-71Rs did. Not sure I would recommend this tire for the street although certainly can be.
-Great all-around grip level!
-Great stability under hard braking
-Great control in turns, easy to rotate/slide without "breaking away"
-Temps were easy to manage (ie was 65-75 degrees F all three days)
-Still in outstanding shape
-Improved fastest lap by 1.1 seconds (2:12.13)
-Decent price and lots of sizes

Cons -
-Lack just a very little "max grip" compared to the RE-71R
-Cannot push as hard, that first lap
-Didn't get to drive in the wet, rain or standing water. Imagine they would not be as good in rain or standing water as the RE-71Rs or 4S. Wet or damp would be fine.
-Slightly wider tire for a 285/35, will rub if you do not have enough camber

The car and this tire still have more, certainly feel I could have put down a better time. Tough with traffic, and being passed too. Great tire, very impressed! And the "SuperCar 3R" must be amazing.

[bentom2]

Agree with your assessment. I have two days so far on a set and I set personal best lap times on them at two local tracks so far. Pretty impressive for a tire that looks like it’ll last a lot longer than A052 or RT660.

I’ve been looking for a tire that splits the difference between those tires and the Hankook RS4 for grip and wear. If they continue to hold up, I think the SC3 might be that tire.

A friend (bimmerpost handle pal) just killed a set on his M2 in 9 days (5-7 20 minute sessions and some student lead-follow), that included 2-3 wet days, which is a reasonable life compared to other 200TW tires. He was happy with their wet performance on track and grip was consistent down to the cords.

[M1500Z]

I've got 6 days at COTA on my set of 245/35 r19 fr/265/35 r19 rr and they're close to done—performance dropped off after day 5 and that's with them probably being overdriven on occasion. They still have tread left and would be fun for another couple days but no PRs are going to happen.

I just ordered a 275/35 r18 square set after vacillating between the 3 and 3R and am looking forward to that. Decided I'd rather just change sizes than sizes and compound. What hot pressures have you been running? I was running 34-35 hot with the best results, but a recent GRM article was running them much lower at 30 hot.

[bentom2]

I targeted 36 front, 38 rear hot. I was getting a bit more understeer than I’d like and was experimenting with the higher rear pressures. Any lower than this, for my driving style resulted in the tire rolling onto the shoulder a bit more than I like. The Goodyear foot embossed right near the edge of the tread is partially worn on the outside front.

I’m known to overdrive my front tires though. Someone with a more sympathetic driving style might have more success with lower pressures.

[M1500Z]

Originally Posted by bentom2

I targeted 36 front, 38 rear hot. I was getting a bit more understeer than I’d like and was experimenting with the higher rear pressures. Any lower than this, for my driving style resulted in the tire rolling onto the shoulder a bit more than I like. The Goodyear foot embossed right near the edge of the tread is partially worn on the outside front.

I’m known to overdrive my front tires though. Someone with a more sympathetic driving style might have more success with lower pressures.

I'll have to post photos of my tires when I pull them off, but I wore the foot off on my outside front, but for me the tires were much happier with low pressures even down to 33 hot. Above 35/36 hot and the car was lacking grip—especially at the front end.

I believe our setups are very similar according to an old post I read of yours. Öhlins, -3.2° fr and -2.3° rr. Reading the wear on the front, I'd almost say I should dial in additional camber. I have hypothesized the Supercar 3 and 3R would be happier at lower pressures due to being designed for a heavy car and supposedly having stiffer sidewalls. I'm glad to see more people using these tires as I bought them on a whim have really enjoyed the way they drive.

[bentom2]

Originally Posted by M1500Z

I'll have to post photos of my tires when I pull them off, but I wore the foot off on my outside front, but for me the tires were much happier with low pressures even down to 33 hot. Above 35/36 hot and the car was lacking grip—especially at the front end.

I believe our setups are very similar according to an old post I read of yours. Öhlins, -3.2° fr and -2.3° rr. Reading the wear on the front, I'd almost say I should dial in additional camber. I have hypothesized the Supercar 3 and 3R would be happier at lower pressures due to being designed for a heavy car and supposedly having stiffer sidewalls. I'm glad to see more people using these tires as I bought them on a whim have really enjoyed the way they drive.

Yep, that’s still what I’m running for camber. I’ll try the lower pressures on the 18th and report back. I did note the stiff sidewalls before they were mounted, and given they were developed for the Camaro, that makes sense. The last few tires I’ve run have been much softer sidewalls, so maybe I’m just a bit gunshy.

They do seem to be good tires so far. I just wish they had some additional 18” sizes. I wouldn’t mind going 10-20mm wider front and rear.

[Doublej]

I'm about to order a set of SC3. Thanks for the review.

I was never a fan of RE-71R for the track. They're more suited to autox in my opnion. They're more of an instant on tire but get greasy with sustained session on the track.

I look forward to trying the SC3.

[brand new guy]

Originally Posted by M2joey

After burning through what will be my last RE-71Rs, I decided to try a set of Goodyear F1 SC 3s. I put 265/35 285/35s on for Watkins Glen this past weekend. After three days (12 sessions), I have to say that I am impressed with this tire! They exceeded expectations! Some thoughts...

Pros -
-Nice street driving tire, pretty quiet, a little harsh. Don't pick up stuff like the RE-71Rs did. Not sure I would recommend this tire for the street although certainly can be.
-Great all-around grip level!
-Great stability under hard braking
-Great control in turns, easy to rotate/slide without "breaking away"
-Temps were easy to manage (ie was 65-75 degrees F all three days)
-Still in outstanding shape
-Improved fastest lap by 1.1 seconds (2:12.13)
-Decent price and lots of sizes

Cons -
-Lack just a very little "max grip" compared to the RE-71R
-Cannot push as hard, that first lap
-Didn't get to drive in the wet, rain or standing water. Imagine they would not be as good in rain or standing water as the RE-71Rs or 4S. Wet or damp would be fine.
-Slightly wider tire for a 285/35, will rub if you do not have enough camber

The car and this tire still have more, certainly feel I could have put down a better time. Tough with traffic, and being passed too. Great tire, very impressed! And the "SuperCar 3R" must be amazing.

What size wheels and offset were you running? And also stock suspension or not? I want to try to run the SC3s 265/35/19 on 9.5 ET25 and 285/35/19 on 10.5 ET44 on stock suspension. I can heat gun the fender liner for clearance, worried about other rubbing.

[n8dgr84]

Any update on the questions above?