Tyres, tyres, tyres

[Fatsterjack]

Hi All

I'm like owning to replace the tyres on my recently acquired mk2 Rev3.

It's on the standard 15" alloys so looking at 195's for the front and 225's for the rear. Fortunately, for this area, money isn't necessarily a constraint. Any recommendations really appreciated.

Thanks

Paul

[Race Idiot]

Honestly if money isnt an option, get a set of 16's and either AD08R's or R1R's. Or a set of 17's and any decent premium brand uhp tyre like Goodyear Assymetric 2 or Bridgestone S001s.

[Fatsterjack]

Honestly if money isnt an option, get a set of 16's and either AD08R's or R1R's. Or a set of 17's and any decent premium brand uhp tyre like Goodyear Assymetric 2 or Bridgestone S001s.

Perfectly sensible suggestions, but looking to keep this one standard, so any suggestions for the 15's really welcome.

[SonicSW20]

What is the car used for? Problem with the stock sizes is there's no choice now. You've got a couple options at the track day end with the R888R, A048, and V70A, but none of those are suitable for a daily drive / all weather use.

Really the only other choice that's available now is the T1R, which is a pretty average tyre.

[HighwayStar]

I've been on the T1-Rs for more than a decade now and find it a good daily driver tyre.

Maybe it's not as grippy as some stuff but it does offer good performance in all weather. I happily drive about in the snow and slush over winter with no issue. I confess my road driving seldom has me exploring the ultimate limits of grip nowadays so a grippier dry tyre which offered poor wet performance isn't of interest. The best option obviously is to have two wheel sets

Personally I keep it to a 205/50 front and 225/50 rear so I'm not sure they do the 195/55 standard front. That said the 205/225 combo offers much better balance in my opinion.

R

[SonicSW20]

I'm not saying T1R's are bad, far from it. Their price to performance ratio is pretty decent. However, if you could get something like Kumho KU31, Uniroyal Rainsport 3, or Hankook V12 Ev0 (these are often similarly priced in other sizes) in MR2 15inch sizes, I wouldn't even consider the T1R.

[Fatsterjack]

What is the car used for? Problem with the stock sizes is there's no choice now. You've got a couple options at the track day end with the R888R, A048, and V70A, but none of those are suitable for a daily drive / all weather use.

Really the only other choice that's available now is the T1R, which is a pretty average tyre.

This one is going to stay on the road, certainly doesn't seem to be too much choice, especially if you want to get matching fronts and rears.

The cars currently got 205's on the rear, which have obviously been fitted as an alternative but I was wondering what others do?

T1R's I could probably live with, there is an old set currently on the front.

[Race Idiot]

Exactly, the T1-R is ok in the dry and not very good in the wet. It's quite an old compound compared to some of the stuff that you can get in 16 and 17 inch sizes.

It's ok but I could list a number of different tyres that i've used over the years which were better than the t1-r.

[JLW]

Mate, have a goosey gander at these !
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Yokoh ... -AD08R.htm
Been mentioned above already.

I'm running them on 17's 215/35 front and 235/35 rear with a wide offset wheel. probably the best dry road tyre I've ever run ( on any motor )
wet performance is pretty impressive as well. they take a mile or two to warm up, but when they are hot you won't regret them !

if your after a less fast road / track orientated tyre, then my Daily ( A4 ) runs
Michelin Pilot super sports, again an amazing tyre, and I've tried a lot !

[SonicSW20]

I don't think you can get AD08R's in 225/50R15 unfortunately.

[Fatsterjack]

I don't think you can get AD08R's in 225/50R15 unfortunately.

Unfortunately, you're correct. I could look at 205/50R15 on the rear and 195/55R15 on the front. AD08R's available in both.

Anyone had any long term experience of running 205's on the rear? Car currently has Nexen and Khumo 205's on the rear.

I never like mixing brands across an axle but to be fair I've driven the car in the wet and dry and it has behaved itself so far.

As mentioned above this example probably won't make it in to a track.

[2mad]

I had t1r front and rear ... in the wet the front was rock steady ... rears did slip about if hammering it .... in the dry ... awesome

[rev3gtturbo]

It's on the standard 15" alloys so looking at 195's for the front and 225's for the rear. Fortunately, for this area, money isn't necessarily a constraint. ...

Not much choice in the 15" rears.
For ideas see http://www.mytyres.co.uk/rshop/Summer-t ... 5-50-R15-V
Cheapest half decent option is T1R (used these for many years).
Next up in price (by an extra 120 quid each) is Pirelli P-Zero Assimetrico or Yoko Advan A048 (out of stock).
Next up in price (by further 100 quid) is all out stock.

Similar choice and price at Camskill
http://www.camskill.co.uk/m53b0s295p0/C ... _225_50R15

I currently have T1R on front and P-Zero on the rear in standard 15" sizes.
As money isn't necessarily a constraint for you, get the P-Zero for the grip but I cant yet say how long they last in comparison to the T1R
(I changed from T1R as that was all I could get in time for an MOT).

[HighwayStar]

I wouldn't personally run a 205 on the rear even with a 195 front. That's back to rev1 sizes and I think too small a stagger at only 10mm. Won't look that good either (in my view) and with the smaller sidewall (50% of 205 rather than 50% of 225) your speedo will be out.

Edit: Meant to add… put the T1-r 205 rears onto the front and just buy new T1-r rears. Put the money saved towards a set of 16s so eventuallyyou can run other options but keep the originals.