Uniroyal rainsport 3's with Estorils

[RDV8]

Not sure if I have a problem here but your advice much appreciated.
Just fitted Uniroyal rainsport 3's all round onto Estorils. My concern is with the front wheels....there seems to be a 7 or 8 mm gap from the sidewall of the tyre to the edge of the alloy wheel. Not only does it look wrong, I'm not sure it's safe.
The garage that fitted them said it was but I'm not convinced.
Fronts are now original size as per the handbook for a 1999 400 Chimaera with PAS 205/55x15.
Have just checked the invoice and the rears are Y rated,fronts V rated.....would this account for the problem. The car remains off the road until I get this sorted. Don't remember getting a choice of speed ratings when I ordered them.
Cheers R

[ClassicChimaera]

Do you have any more pics. Looks like the tyre is a bit narrow for the wheel !

There doesn't seem much point in comparing as I'm on 17 x 7.5 in wheels allround
But here's mine on Rainsports
F 215/45/17

R 235/45/17











Both tyre's fill the wheel and in fact overhang so stopping me curbing the rims. Hmmm

[RDV8]

Only this one at the moment.....I was under the impression Imola and Estoril wheel rims were the same size 7" front 7.5" rear.
Tyre taken off was a Toyo 225/50x15 that fitted perfectly. So frustrating.

[2OOM]

I put these tyres on my Imola wheels last year, I have 205/50R16 7.5J on the front which is the rear wheels fitted to the front and on the rear I have 225/55R16 which is the std size wheel ..

These are my pics .. I don't know if they are any help?

[angus337]

Just taken a pic of mine, looks similar, but think it just due to the thickness of the rim.
Also removed 225 toyos from the front and the rs3s feel much better.



Apologies for the filthy wheels!

[angus337]

Just taken a pic of mine, looks similar, but think it just due to the thickness of the rim.
Also removed 225 toyos from the front and the rs3s feel much better.



Apologies for the filthy wheels!

Edited by angus337 on Monday 27th March 23:23

[Ahbefive]

I'm surprised that you guys rate these tyres. I found them very poor.

Edited by Ahbefive on Tuesday 28th March 08:00

[asd2001]

Plenty rim showing on my standard sized Avons - noticed how much when I kerbed them at the weekend!
Sorry away at the moment so can take photo.

[ClassicChimaera]

Ahbefive said:

I'm surprised that youg uys rate these tyres. I found them very poor.

Very poor at what exactly !!!

Edited by ClassicChimaera on Tuesday 28th March 08:15

Edited by ClassicChimaera on Tuesday 28th March 08:19

[ClassicChimaera]

My mates put Rainsport3 on his 15 plate Mondeo estate and the tyres fill the gap over the rim similar to the ones on my Chin 17 in rims.
Is this a problem with them on Estorils or the size. Maybe the 205 in a Rainsport is stretched on the 15 rim.

I had 215/40/17 Toyo T1R fronts replaced for
215/45/17 Rainsport 3
The Toyo exhibited the same trait as yours do now, I curbed thevwheels umpteen times
The Rainsport on a 45 aspect ratio fills that space and overhangs. Curbing has ceased!
So I've gone the other way to you guys who have fitted the standard 15 tyre size. Hmmm!

Very odd!
We might find out over time possibly 215 with the correct aspect ratio on the fronts might fill that gap more. Total guess really but compared to my Rainsports these do look stretched, but I'm inclined to agree it's the wheel design as much as anything. That's very annoying or what!!!

[RDV8]

Thanks for the response......feeling a bit more reassured now. It does seem the rims are quite thick which is causing the problem. Hope this post is useful for others as this combination of wheel/tyre/gap might make them think twice.
Guess I'll have to park carefully from now on.

[RobXjcoupe]

RDV8 said:

Not sure if I have a problem here but your advice much appreciated.
Just fitted Uniroyal rainsport 3's all round onto Estorils. My concern is with the front wheels....there seems to be a 7 or 8 mm gap from the sidewall of the tyre to the edge of the alloy wheel. Not only does it look wrong, I'm not sure it's safe.
The garage that fitted them said it was but I'm not convinced.
Fronts are now original size as per the handbook for a 1999 400 Chimaera with PAS 205/55x15.
Have just checked the invoice and the rears are Y rated,fronts V rated.....would this account for the problem. The car remains off the road until I get this sorted. Don't remember getting a choice of speed ratings when I ordered them.
Cheers R

Some tyres come with a curb protection moulding on the sidewalls some don't and possibly rainsports come up a bit narrow for there size as well like Pirelli tyres, hence they look slightly stretched on a 7j rim

[Ahbefive]

ClassicChimaera said:

Very poor at what exactly !!!

Err, being tyres.

Average grip in the wet, really poor in the dry and don't last long. Not a tyre that I would ever consider again.

[ClassicChimaera]

Ahbefive said:

Err, being tyres.

Average grip in the wet, really poor in the dry and don't last long. Not a tyre that I would ever consider again.

Fair enough. What car were they fitted too if you don't mind me asking.

[Ahbefive]

It was a focus ST. Imo the Continentals that it came with and the Michelins that replaced them were both better in all respects and t9 be fair I didn't even rate the contis that highly.

Perhaps they fare better on a lighter car like a TVR.

Edited by Ahbefive on Tuesday 28th March 18:20

[RobXjcoupe]

Ahbefive said:

It was a focus ST. Imo the Continentals that it came with and the Michelins that replaced them were both better in all respects and t9 be fair I didn't even rate the contis that highly.

Perhaps they fare better on a lighter car like a TVR.

Edited by Ahbefive on Tuesday 28th March 18:20

No weight transfer on a fwd, hence the uniroyals work well on the tvr.
Like for like comparisons are the only way forward tbh.

[ClassicChimaera]

RobXjcoupe said:

No weight transfer on a fwd, hence the uniroyals work well on the tvr.
Like for like comparisons are the only way forward tbh.

[Ahbefive]

Perhaps to an extent but the Michelins really were in a different league when it came to traction and wear.

[ClassicChimaera]

Most Tvr do 2000 miles a year so wear rate isn't high on the list of needs.

The engine is so far back in the chassis and is light, coupled with a light bodied car, generating grip when cornering isn't easy so a soft tyre helps. Many road going tyre's that are fitted to production vehicles with excellent suspension/geo handling characteristics not to mention the main thing Weight can offer very low grip levels on a Tvr.
The lighter footprint of a Tvr requires a compliant and soft tyre of which cheap Rainsports are an excellent winter summer combination.
I can tell you I've done 200 miles on Avon zz3 tyre's in my Tvr and they didn't even get warm. These things are lightnon their feet and hard tyre's cause serious issues when accelerating then breaking away.
As for the rain, a light car with a light footprint, hard tyre's,, not clever. Rainsports are very grippy in the wet for our cars.

I can understand they could be overwhelmed quite easily on a heavier car if pushing it.

[RDV8]

Took it out for the first time yesterday and the car does feel good on these tyres....they do seem to absorb loads of imperfections on the road and they do warm up quickly. Looking forward to testing them out properly