Tyre woes sorted at last I hope.

Tyre woes sorted at last I hope.

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Discussion

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Sunday 19th February 2017
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After faffing around for ages trying to get some 225/50r15's for the front, in a T1R (which seems to me to be pretty good on grip compared to the opposition) and failing with a few abortive attempts to order them on websites that turned out to have no stock, I finally found a website where you can browse for tyres the "right way around", starting with the rim diameter, then the profile, then the width.

And I have turned up T1R's in a 215/45r15 which should just be wide enough for the 8J OZ split rims.

At £70 a corner, not too bad.

GV

2,366 posts

224 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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I'm confused by the tyre question. I have the standard 205/60/15 all round - can i up the tyre size on these rims?

stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
adam quantrill said:
After faffing around for ages trying to get some 225/50r15's for the front, in a T1R (which seems to me to be pretty good on grip compared to the opposition) and failing with a few abortive attempts to order them on websites that turned out to have no stock, I finally found a website where you can browse for tyres the "right way around", starting with the rim diameter, then the profile, then the width.

And I have turned up T1R's in a 215/45r15 which should just be wide enough for the 8J OZ split rims.

At £70 a corner, not too bad.
Adam, are you saying that the 225x50x15 are not available? decent tyre at least. I might be needing a couple for the rears on mine.

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
You can get Nankang's which have little grip (according to the reviews) or stupidly expensive ones over 200-300 a pop.

In the middle - if you do only small mileage each year - are Kumho's at around £170 a pop, but phenominal grip.

Yeah the choice of width you can fit primarily depends on your wheel width, see here for how to measure it:

http://www.more-japan.com/blogs/2011/08/24/how-to-...

as a rule of thumb if the tyre is still on there I have found you can measure across the outside in inches and subtract 1.

Then if you have lattice wheels they are probably 7 or 7.5J which limits you to a max of 225.

See here for the lookup table:

https://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/tyre-equivale...

Then you have to choose the profile (the middle number), on the rear this is done to suit the speedo, as it determines the rolling radius, the front is less critical.

In my case I don't want too wide tyres on the front, max 225, but I can't get them, so the next best thing is 215's. 45 profile is fine for me 'cos I like the front to sit a little lower anyway.

When I changed the rear from 225/50/15's to 245/45/16's the rolling radius went up slightly and now the speedo is exactly correct, which is a bonus.



stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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Thanks for that Adam. yes i have 7.5 lattice on mine.

wedged up

353 posts

94 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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I am currently running 205/50/15 's on the front 8J rims and 225/50/15's on the rear 8.5J . looks and drives great .
Although im gonna be in the market for some 16" tires soon wink

stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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Actually just checked and i have 7j rims, although i believe i have read somewhere that TVR put the wider 225 tyres on the 390SE from factory.
Even so i could drop to 215 i suppose.

wedged up

353 posts

94 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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215 's are even harder to find in a 15" tire .

stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Monday 20th February 2017
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just found some Pirelli 225's at £240!

mk1fan

10,517 posts

225 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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Uniroyal Rainsport 3 available in 205/50/15 at £60 each.

Tamy runs fine on 205/50/16 Nankang NS-2R.

Wendy runs fine on 195/55/15 NS-2R too.

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
wedged up said:
I am currently running 205/50/15 's on the front 8J rims and 225/50/15's on the rear 8.5J . looks and drives great .
Although im gonna be in the market for some 16" tires soon wink
If that's 'cos you're getting some of those 16" 9J's then the T1R in 245/45/26 is a good tyre to go on. If they come shod then do please try the wheels first for clearance with a drive if possible.

Yeah the Nankangs I had found were a different compound, the TOURSPORT XR611, I didn't come across the NS-2 when searching. They certainly look the business with the tread pattern like the old S-02's. And the review looks good. Seems like they are only up to a 205/5x/15 though. Would be good for a 350i methinks.

just got my tracking number and my T1R's are coming from germany!

rev-erend

21,415 posts

284 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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Seems to be a dilema we are all going to face soon..

I have found the place below that lists Toyo R888's in 225 50 15 and 245 45 16

It does not say if they are in stock and these tyres are very dry weather focused:

http://www.trackstuff.co.uk/Toyo%2015%20inch%20R88...

TA14

12,722 posts

258 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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stevoj said:
Actually just checked and i have 7j rims, although i believe i have read somewhere that TVR put the wider 225 tyres on the 390SE from factory.
Even so i could drop to 215 i suppose.
That doesn't sound right. I thought that the 390 SE had 7.5 rims. Has someone swapped then for 350i rims?

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
Yeah R888's would have to be on a spare set of rims for the summer - even though it's technically a desert over in East Angular, you do still get the odd rainy day, and the ruts on the M11 hold a linear puddle half an inch deep.

rev-erend

21,415 posts

284 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
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I've been on the M20 going to the tunnel in driving rain ... 80 was scary with a river of sweat running down my back as it was moving all over the place. Hand to backoff to 70 leptons.

Amazing dry grip though.

stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
TA14 said:
That doesn't sound right. I thought that the 390 SE had 7.5 rims. Has someone swapped then for 350i rims?
No just checked, they are defo stamped up 7jx15 et23.

Be good to know what is on other 390SE's with lattice?

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Wednesday 1st March 2017
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Well my T1R's have been on for a few days - they certainly feel different to the ones they replaced, even after reducing the ggarage's stupidly high 34 psi down to 21.5.

Once I've found the right pressure and they've lost their gloss I'll report back.

stevoj

798 posts

161 months

Friday 10th March 2017
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T1R's seem to be available again in 225x50x15.

I have just ordered a couple and delivery date given as next week!

Maybe new stocks coming through unless I am told later date that they can't fulfil.

adam quantrill

Original Poster:

11,538 posts

242 months

Friday 10th March 2017
quotequote all
A 4x4 place keeps advertising they have stock but have none.

Anyhoo I have been running the 215's on the front for a couple of weeks almost, and the steering seems much lighter than the 225's, which initially doesn't instill great confidence, because the instinctive reaction is that it's slippy.

However, the grip does seem to be there, I've been pushing round roundabouts at almost the same speed so far, and no sign that the front end is understeering, so it's all good so far. Still on about 21psi so I might drop that by a pound and try again.

Edited by adam quantrill on Friday 10th March 19:34