Riken Raptors

[onion]

I recently purchased a 2004 Accord for the wife. Had fairly new tires on it, which I considered a real plus at the time. They're Riken Raptors, which I'd never heard of before. A little googling reveals that they're made in Malaysia or some place like that... marketed by Michelin as a cheap 'performance' tire.

Now that we've had the car for a little wire, I have to say that these are the WORST tires I've ever owned. And I've owned some [censored] tires. On dry pavement- especially concrete- I can ACCIDENTALLY break the tires loose taking off from a red light in a straight line. This car has the 4 cylinder engine... it's actually pretty quick by my standards, but definitely nothing special.

And they ride rough. Granted, this is a light car with (I think) fairly stiff suspension compared to what I'm used to (assorted GM cars). And these tires are a low profile- aspect ratio of 50. But I can't believe that it's normal to feel every bump, crack, and gravel in the road. It's like I'm driving the solid-tire forklift at the shop.

And it rained the other day for the first time in a while. I've never seen such poor wet traction in a tire that has plenty of tread left. On wet pavement, I have to make a conscious effort to NOT spin the tires on take-off. I haven't had them slide going around a corner yet... but I've been pretty careful. I worry about the wife driving with tires like these. The car actually stops really well on wet pavement- but only because these antilock brakes work much better than the GM's that I'm used to.

I'd be interested to hear from other folks who own Accords and other smallish modern vehicles with low-profile tires. Am I way out of line here? Are the characteristics I describe somehow normal? Or are these tires the absolute junk that I suspect they are?

Money is a bit tight right now, but I'm seriously considering replacing these relatively new tires with something decent. And I'm an amazingly cheap [censored]... but I'd prefer to keep the wife alive.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Which Riken Raptor model do you on the Accord now ? HR or VR or ZR ? What is the size ?

 

[onion]

I'll have a look later when I get home.

 

[HTSS_TR]

The Raptor ZR is uni-directional and it is more likely summer tire, the HR and VR are non-directional and they are all season.

Check the pressure, you may want few pounds above recommendation but not too much. If it is at or near max pressure on sidewall, you loose traction on both wet and dry.

 

[The Critic]

I agree 100%.

My friend has a set of these on his '06 Civic and they have 75%+ left on them. I drove his car down the street to the donut shop last week in the rain and it was downright scary. When I made a right turn, it only took 1/4-1/3 throttle to hear the tires break loose. And that's on a gutless Civic. Scary.

 

[Spazdog]

This really makes me wonder just how bad the Goodyear Eagle RS/A is.

In 70,000 miles, we have had two sets of tires on our PT Cruiser GT. The Eagle RS/A-s were gone in 20,000 miles. The front tires would rip loose violently at 2000 rpm if for some reason you turned the traction control off. Cornering in dry was sketchy. In wet conditions it was downright dangerous.

By comparison, the Riken Raptors were downright sticky. It will still break the front tires loose in the first two gears but that's when they are trying to stick all 245 ft-lbs torque to the ground. Not at partial throttle at 2000 rpm. Wet weather is manageable. Even on a vehicle that is noted to hydroplane easily with 17"s.

And they've lasted 50,000 miles. They are at the end of thier service life and will soon be replaced. I had planned on Pirellis. I wonder how much of an improvement they will make.

 

[rpn453]

What pressures are you running? With my Mazda3, straight-line traction seems to be better below the recommended 32 psi tire pressure, especially when I had the OEM RS-As. It was best at the lowest pressure I tried - 28 psi - but I've been running 35 psi in front to reduce sidewall flex while cornering and to optimize fuel economy. I noticed slight overinflation wear on my Pilot all-seasons when swapping tires recently, so I'm dropping back down to 32 psi in front.

I put a set of the Riken Raptor HR all-seasons in 205/55R16 on my mother's Sunfire GT the spring before last. I probably should have gone with the Traction T/A H I was considering for $220 more (total), but I liked the tread pattern of the Rikens and hadn't yet learned that a 'Traction A' rating can still mean poor wet traction. Regardless, I have no complaints beyond the large weights needed to balance. They're smooth and quiet, dry traction seemed fine on the hard launches and stops I did, and the steering is far more responsive than the way-too-wide OEM RS-As they replaced. The RS-As had a tread width of 7-3/4" in a 205/55R16, so the 6" rims, already about 1/2" too narrow for that tire size, were about 1" too narrow which made for mushy handling. The three sets of 205 width tires we currently use are all 7-1/4" in tread width. Strangely, my OEM 205/50R17 RS-As had the opposite problem: a 6-3/4" tread width that was too narrow for my rims, IMO.

I'll have to go for a hard drive in the wet with that Sunfire someday to see how they do. We just got a big snowfall though, so it's winter tire time. I won't be able to try that until spring.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
What pressures are you running? With my Mazda3, straight-line traction seems to be better below the recommended 32 psi tire pressure, especially when I had the OEM RS-As. It was best at the lowest pressure I tried - 28 psi - but I've been running 35 psi in front to reduce sidewall flex while cornering and to optimize fuel economy. I noticed slight overinflation wear on my Pilot all-seasons when swapping tires recently, so I'm dropping back down to 32 psi in front.

I put a set of the Riken Raptor HR all-seasons in 205/55R16 on my mother's Sunfire GT the spring before last. I probably should have gone with the Traction T/A H I was considering for $220 more (total), but I liked the tread pattern of the Rikens and hadn't yet learned that a 'Traction A' rating can still mean poor wet traction. Regardless, I have no complaints beyond the large weights needed to balance. They're smooth and quiet, dry traction seemed fine on the hard launches and stops I did, and the steering is far more responsive than the way-too-wide OEM RS-As they replaced. The RS-As had a tread width of 7-3/4" in a 205/55R16, so the 6" rims, already about 1/2" too narrow for that tire size, were about 1" too narrow which made for mushy handling. The three sets of 205 width tires we currently use are all 7-1/4" in tread width. Strangely, my OEM 205/50R17 RS-As had the opposite problem: a 6-3/4" tread width that was too narrow for my rims, IMO.

I'll have to go for a hard drive in the wet with that Sunfire someday to see how they do. We just got a big snowfall though, so it's winter tire time. I won't be able to try that until spring.


Wow. I couldn't get any traction with the OEM 205/50R17 Eagle RS-As. That was at the OEM recommended 38 psi though.

 

[onion]

I had a look at the tires a little bit ago. The size is 205/60/R15. The sidewall says Riken Raptor VR.

I initially put the pressure at 38psi... 'cause that's just what I do. But then I didn't like how the tires acted, so I lowered the pressure to what it says on the door sticker- 28 and 30 psi, or thereabouts. Made no difference.

I may give these tires a little time, while I scrape some money together and make sure that this isn't just my imagination. But I discussed the matter with the wife today, and she's not happy about these tires either. I think I'll start looking for replacements... keep these tires and sell them to some sucker on Craigslist.

Any more recommendations? I don't care about 'performance'... I'm not road-racing here. This car drives about 50 miles a day, 40 or so of which is on the interstate- the rest on straight, flat roads in town. I want something that will ride relatively smoothly, be fairly quiet, have reasonable wet traction, and last a while.

 

[HTSS_TR]

There are many tire in that size 205/60-15.
These are good all season tire with long treadlife and price is very reasonable: Pirelli P4 Four Seasons, Hankook Optimo H727, Yokohama AVID Touring-S, Yokohama AVID ENVigor, General Altimax HP and RT ...

 

[onion]

Yeah, I posted the wrong tire size. I haven't had a 16-inch tire since I sold my old F-250.

The tire size is 205/60-16. Sorry 'bout that.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Wow. I couldn't get any traction with the OEM 205/50R17 Eagle RS-As. That was at the OEM recommended 38 psi though.


I'm not saying I ever got a lot of traction out of them, but there was a big improvement when I dropped them to 28 psi! When I replaced them, it was very obvious on the first drive that the Pilots have much more grip.

 

[Errtt]

I just bought tires a few days ago for my little SUV and saw the Riken on the show floor (not for me). Haven't seen them in awhile.
I used reviews & surveys on TR site with a mix on DT site. I looked at the charts and read several reviews, then went and bought the tires. Wet traction & noise was my main concern for a value price. Now were getting hammered with rain for a few days so I'm glad I didn't wait any longer.

 

[YZF_Eric]

I have a full set of the HR's on my Mitsu. Sidewall is too soft for me, but overall great traction. You need to play around with differnet PSI's for this brand of tire to get the correct feel. They work fine for me and stick really good in the dry and in heavy downpours. This would be a great tire if the sidewall wasn't so soft. The Riken VR's are [censored].