Tyres

[C35Rob]

Falkens are good mid range tyre. That's what I'm running at the moment.

The two times i have had falken tyres i have found the tread to go down super quick, wouldn't recommend them for a mr2

Strange. I've had falkens for years and never had a problem with them. I had Toyo t1r once and they wore down quickly.

most, if not all half decent mid range tyres are half decent because they're a soft compound - I killed a set of Toyo T1R's on the front of my 280bhp saab 93 in 4k miles, done a pair of Falken FK452 on my E46 bmw in 5k miles and If I actually drove my MR2 I wouldn't expect the falken ZE-914 that are one it now to last any longer than 4-5k miles (driven as a weekend/dry day fun car, so not clocking up loads of harmless commuter/shopping miles)

another thing to think about is that Falkens are quite small tyres, the 245's on my rear wheels are the same width as the 225 Federals on the front of my laurel (measured next to each other and with a tape measure)

which brings me on to federals - I'm HUGELY impressed with the 595 evo's on the Laurel and wouldn't hesitate to put them on the MR2.

although, I think when I do replace the tyres on mine I'll be going with these

http://www.driftworks.com/achilles-radi ... sizes.html

which are good enough for the DW86, so good enough for the power any MR2 will make

[C35Rob]

Thanks dude! yeah had a think and its also lowered on tein super street coilovers so will probably be best trying to get hold of some 235/40/17!

Seem to be so much more expensive than the 225
Anyone got some suggestions that will be similar to the Toyo T1-R's


Thanks

215
http://ears.co.uk/tyres/yokohama-ad08-t ... 43786.html

235
http://ears.co.uk/tyres/yokohama-ad08-t ... 43656.html

job done.. dont be buying falkens, toyos, nexens or other rubbish, you've a mid engined sports car which requires decent tyres

Lol not going to be going to be tracking much / if at all dude, I need to work out if I have a 7j or 7.5j rim

If 7.5j I will go for 235/40
If 7j I will go for the 225/45 ( can not find a 40 anywhere )

Done a bit of looking and checked reviews, in order cheapest to most expensive.

Kumho KU39 ( apparently pretty good ) £67 a tyre
Toyo Proxes T1 Sport ( meant to be better than the T1R ) £84 a tyre
Goodyear Eagle F1 ( heard a lot of good things about these ) £91 a tyre

you can get federal 595 RSR in 235/40/17 for less than £100 each.. worth considering

[fred130111]

ok so just got of my ar$e and my wheels are

7.5J ( says H2 next to it, what does that mean lol)
ET 42

So I am thinking to go for 235/40/17 ( is this safe to use ? )
And stick a pair of 15mm hubcentric spacers on the rear (is this about right?)

Cheers

[benjo]

245/40

[Martin F]

ok so just got of my ar$e and my wheels are

7.5J ( says H2 next to it, what does that mean lol)
ET 42

So I am thinking to go for 235/40/17 ( is this safe to use ? )
And stick a pair of 15mm hubcentric spacers on the rear (is this about right?)

Cheers

You might not need spacers on the rear, tyre size is fine though

[craig]

How's the trip going ?

Back now mate, only went for the road trip this year. Great trip!

job done.. dont be buying falkens, toyos, nexens or other rubbish, you've a mid engined sports car which requires decent tyres

My Falken tyres coped rather nicely hooning round the mountains in the Pyrenees this year, and that includes soaking wet 180 degree hairpins. Great mid-range tyre imo.

[rev3turbo]

black, round, legal & cheap, job done.

[craig]

black, round, legal & cheap, job done.

Have you actually tested Falken tyres in wet and dry, or just going on how much they cost, then ruling them as cheap crap?

I agree, they're not 'the best' but they're not bad! Like I say, they performed pretty well in the mountains, both wet and dry!

[rev3turbo]

yes on lesser cars, also tried various toyos. people rave about them and they are "great for the price", but they know no different. Try a proper premium tyre and never look back.

You see it all the time, people spent thousands on bodykits, bolt on engine mods, paintwork, but for some reason tyres always have an "it'll do attitude"

[C35Rob]

Falkens are perfectly capable tyres, no need for brand snobbery (not like they're nankang superslippys or anything anyway)

I've ran them on a few cars and had no complaints at all (other than them not lasting ages, but tyres are a consumable part anyway) there's no need to run R888, AD08 etc on a road driven MR2, if you're driving hard enough to need them on the road you're driving too hard to be on the road

[craig]

Falkens are perfectly capable tyres, no need for brand snobbery (not like they're nankang superslippys or anything anyway)

I've ran them on a few cars and had no complaints at all (other than them not lasting ages, but tyres are a consumable part anyway) there's no need to run R888, AD08 etc on a road driven MR2, if you're driving hard enough to need them on the road you're driving too hard to be on the road

agree entirely. My MR2 cost thousands to build, and I certainly don't have a "it'll do attitude" As I say *again* the Falkens performed faultlessly in the mountains both wet and dry. Nothing wrong with them.

[fred130111]

Anyone used tyreleader.co.uk?

http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/g ... 90y-300466

Seem to be the cheapest price for goodyears, have not read a bad review about these so will probably go with these over the Toyo Proxes T1 Sports and Kumo KU39.

Oh also, any one know if its worth me getting 15mm spacers with an offset of ET42?

Cheers for your help guys!

[Gullzter]

Ive tried the following in the past 2-3years:

Toyo T1R:
dry= very good
wet=average

Uniroyal rainsport:
Dry=good
Wet=excellent

Falken F452:
Dry=average
Wet=average

Pirelli pzero nero:
Dry=good
Wet=average

Goodrich bf:
Dry=very good
Wet=very good

Dunlop sportmaxx rt:
Dry=very good
Wet=very good

Hankook v12:
Dry= very good
Wet= average

Ive also tried some budget tyres (not from choice) but ive left them out as they were useless!

So out of all the ones ive tried id really consider the Dunlops and Goodrich for warm dry and all round weather but Uniroyals hands down for wet.
Biggest let down for me are pirelli, they only seem to get going in dry when heated up well which takes alot in Scotland!

Next ones i would like to try are Goodyear as ive had mates who swear by them
Also Bridgestone and Michelin

[QUOC2008]

Look at tyrereview.comfortable unbiased reviews

Tyres I have used

Conti contact 3 as good as falken's but nothing special
Toyo t1r wear out so quick ps. T1s are the old model
Toyo r888 wear out quick too and make lots of noise but grip in dry death traps in wet.

Goodyear f1 asymmetric 2 extra load best tyre I have ever used for price and performance.

Michelin ps3 just as good as the goodyears F1

Conti contact 5 good but not quite as good as f1 or ps3

Michelin Supersport serious tyres best tyre by far as good as slicks in the wet or dry but price make this tyre not as good as the goodyears f1

[Al-sw20]

Michelin Pilot Supersports are probably worth more than the car you fit them too. Such epic tyres though.

[fred130111]

Yeah, well as much as I would love the best tyres I could possibly get I don't see the point on a not so powerful N/A, If I owned a turbo then I would go for the best.


Currently looking at Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 K120, Seem to be getting pretty decent reviews

[synXero]

There is a lot of super sketchy info in this thread.

Your car will run fine on 235/40/17 tyres, and you will not need to increase the size of the front tyres. A 30mm stagger is totally fine. A lot of people run a 40mm stagger. Tyre WIDTH has very little impact on grip relative to tyre COMPOUND. Conclusion: if you have a 255/35/17 tyre on the back, a 195/40/17 tyre on the front that is much, much better than your rear tyre will not be the one that is giving you problems.

You can also run a 225/45/17 tyre if you like. Your likely issue will be bottoming out the tyre top on the inside of your arch or on your suspension components. The size difference between this and stock is small.

The final thing is to learn that the /45/ is an aspect ratio, a relative size, not an absolute size. It means that the height of the sidewall is 45% of the width of the tyre. 100/45/17 would mean 100mm tyre width, 45mm tyre height (45%), and a 17" wheel.

Your brand choice / model choice of tyre is completely up to you and depends what you're using your car for. Don't follow some of this advice and put supersports or AD08s on a commuter car that does 3k rpm and mostly shop runs. You will be annoyed with the money spent vs wear rate. Don't buy cheap xxxx because you will be appalled by the grip. Go for a solid midrange tyre in the size you want, I would suggest the best affordable options are form toyo and falken, both of which will see you right for about 80% of your car's NA performance.

I use Michelin Supersports and PS3s on the corvette but my car's use profile demands it. If I ran T1R's id overheat them. The Supersports will never overheat or scrub out, but I won't get 15000 miles out of them either.

[fred130111]

There is a lot of super sketchy info in this thread.

Your car will run fine on 235/40/17 tyres, and you will not need to increase the size of the front tyres. A 30mm stagger is totally fine. A lot of people run a 40mm stagger. Tyre WIDTH has very little impact on grip relative to tyre COMPOUND. Conclusion: if you have a 255/35/17 tyre on the back, a 195/40/17 tyre on the front that is much, much better than your rear tyre will not be the one that is giving you problems.

You can also run a 225/45/17 tyre if you like. Your likely issue will be bottoming out the tyre top on the inside of your arch or on your suspension components. The size difference between this and stock is small.

The final thing is to learn that the /45/ is an aspect ratio, a relative size, not an absolute size. It means that the height of the sidewall is 45% of the width of the tyre. 100/45/17 would mean 100mm tyre width, 45mm tyre height (45%), and a 17" wheel.

Your brand choice / model choice of tyre is completely up to you and depends what you're using your car for. Don't follow some of this advice and put supersports or AD08s on a commuter car that does 3k rpm and mostly shop runs. You will be annoyed with the money spent vs wear rate. Don't buy cheap xxxx because you will be appalled by the grip. Go for a solid midrange tyre in the size you want, I would suggest the best affordable options are form toyo and falken, both of which will see you right for about 80% of your car's NA performance.

I use Michelin Supersports and PS3s on the corvette but my car's use profile demands it. If I ran T1R's id overheat them. The Supersports will never overheat or scrub out, but I won't get 15000 miles out of them either.

Thanks for the information, you have solved my problem and enlightened me greatly

Cheers!