16s - What is your opinion...

[SuperRedMR2]

I have recently put on a set of 16" BK alloys on Yoko A539 Rubber 195/45/16s that I got from an MR2 Supercharger I bought at the beginning of February.

I put them on, on Saturday, and after going out for a bit I thought they were pants, only to find the air pressure in all four was way too low. I chucked 28 psi in all of them, and my god! It just sticks to every corner! Before the understeer was very very noticeable, but now, its unless its pushed very hard, I can't hardly feel it.

I've never gone for 16s because I found that my 15s on Toyo rubber were superb, but definitely changed my mind now. Although I am getting a bit cocky going round corners which wont be good when I put my 15s back on lol.

What are other peoples experiences of 16s and are Yoko A539s readily available? As I originally thought they didnt make them anymore?

[pistol pete]

if you wanna get even better ditch the sily a539's and go with good year eagle f1's
i have had both and would go with the f1's every time ( i have always run 16's and love it)

[coverco]

I have A539's and they are great, in fact if I remember right they were used in the MR2 racing series, so they can't be that bad

[un1eash]

14's are way more fun

[oukie]

I have 16's with Yoko S-drive's (aa traction rated) and the handling Fantastic, It is better than with my old 14's , I didn't go to wide though, mine are 195/45/16

[mr2mk1chick]

When you swap wheel sizes i feel the geo may need a tweak to compensate. I know the r-radius is the same but the profile change affects the handling - hence your different 'feel' between the 2 sizes.
I have 16's on tango (with A539s), but 15's on the track cars with r888's.
A539's are okay - people loved them for their progressive slideability not pure grip. they do suffer from side wall roll too.
It depends on what you're after - horses for courses

[IanClements]

16's give sharper handling and a grippier feel but 15's have more grip and better ride. IMO if you want to go fast use 15's and concentrate on suspension, but 16's can be more fun with sharper/more accurate steering.

Having said that, the differences can be overcome with about +-6psi and the right tyre choice anyway.

[Mav122]

What about 15's front and 16's rear. I've also tried 16's with the yoko's on but it understeered a bit more than it did with my 14's when pushed. wondered if 15's up front might tackle this.

[Gersen]

Currently using:-

205/50 15s

Yokohama Parada Spec 2's - fantastic in the warm and dry but utterly no grip in the cold or wet - nice budget tyre IMHO

I have in the past run (all the below are AA apart from the 539's in the 15")

539's - nice progressive tyre but far less overall grip

S-Drives - Budget tyre but alot going for it but you get what you pay for

AVS Sport - lots of grip but prone to immediate breakaway on the limit and frankly the level of grip makes you start to really get irritated with the lack of chassis ridgidity (mine's a T-bar) and they last about 10 minutes

Goodyear Eagle GSD3's (these are F1's but so are GSD2's and NCT2's and NCT3's are Eagle's too, so be careful when people say "Eagles/F1s are great" because they haven't actually specified a particular tyre) - great tyre but the sidewall stiffness isn't sufficient for me - but splendid in the wet and loads of grip in the dry with nice progressive feel

Bridgestone SO3PP's - my personal fav but expensive and now no longer made

Best ever mk1 I've driven was a Tbar NA with Koni's, -15mm +25% springs, 15" 6JJ wheels running the TRD suspension settings with half the camber.

Balanced, progressive and slightly prone to oversteer - my favorite kind or car. Made me pine for throttle boddies, cams and an ECU to preserve the engine characteristics but shift it up a gear

[IanClements]

What about 15's front and 16's rear.

That works, going up a rim size at the back reduces grip so less understeer. Just fitted a 19mm rear arb myself which does the job better though.

[SuperRedMR2]

The 539s do make you feel like you've got more grip, compared to my Toyos anyway. Although I found out yesterday that they dont like being pushed round corners

They are pants in the wet.

[Ben]

What about 15's front and 16's rear.

That works, going up a rim size at the back reduces grip so less understeer. Just fitted a 19mm rear arb myself which does the job better though.

I have read a few posts about people fitting the staggered setup from later MK3s which IIRC is 15"/16". Apparently it killed the handling somewhat...

[mr2mk1chick]

What about 15's front and 16's rear.

That works, going up a rim size at the back reduces grip so less understeer. Just fitted a 19mm rear arb myself which does the job better though.

why on earth would you want to reduce the rear grip?
If you are understeering at the front alter the front Geo
Stick to same sizes IMO

The 539s do make you feel like you've got more grip, compared to my Toyos anyway. Although I found out yesterday that they dont like being pushed round corners

They are pants in the wet.

What toyos?
The A539s aren't at all grippy in comaprison to r888's for example
We used to used A539s for their progressive slideablity
The R888's give surprising grip in the wet on track or road

[IanClements]

If you are understeering at the front alter the front Geo

Just out of interest what would you suggest for a road car Jo?

[Lauren]

I have read a few posts about people fitting the staggered setup from later MK3s which IIRC is 15"/16". Apparently it killed the handling somewhat...

Why do that?

What you don't want to do is put wider tyres on the rear. The car becomes an understeering pig and is absolutely awful. I drove a friend's car with MK3 15" rims on and standard MK3 tyre sizes. It was crap.

To reduce understeer run a parallel toe at the front and less toe in at the rear. Unfortunately MK1s inherently understeer and about the best you can do is drive around it by turning in early and lifting off to try to get the nose in. You can try trail braking as well but whatever you do you will always have that understeer.

In fact funnily enough Mark has got his Super Edition back on the road yesterday. He's been driving the Integra Type-R for the last year. I asked him how it felt being back in the MR2 again. He said 'I have re-discovered understeer and the feeling of a vast weight behind me'... Today he says; 'It's a widowmaker!'.

[mr2mk1chick]

If you are understeering at the front alter the front Geo

Just out of interest what would you suggest for a road car Jo?

well the obvious answer is to use toyota settings

I don't know - as we just bodged our track car at the moment. we know its not right, but are getting round to fitting al new stuff to get it set up right.
I would suggest taking it to a professional place to get set up.
We will set up our own maybe, but we get plenty of track time to test and tweak it to how we want.