Tyres, tyres, tyres....

Tyres, tyres, tyres....

Author
Discussion

The Surveyor

Original Poster:

7,576 posts

236 months

Saturday 8th November 2014
quotequote all
Much has been discussed about the choice of rubber on the Tuscan, but for the love of God don't ruin your car like I did. In an attempt to protect the rims from the worse of the Northern roads, I went big at the rear. A pair of 255/40 rear Goodyear Eagles totally ruined the handling of my car, to the point it was floaty at speed and felt like it wanted to steer from the back. Felt just awful verging on the dangerous.

Borrowed a set of wheels today with smaller tyres (thanks Pete) 225 at the front and 245 at the rear on some lovely Speed12s off a Tamora. Chalk & cheese.... the Tuscan performed better than it ever has, ever.



Begs the question, is the Tamora actually the best handling TVR because it has the right tyres for the T chassis?

glow worm

5,798 posts

226 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Paul, are the wheels the same offset as the spiders front and rear ? I prefer 225s on the front but always stuck to 255s on the rear. I must say my Sag is far less skittish that the Tuscan, almost to the point of boring hehe .
Also the Sags' exhaust note is far less tinney than the vert, apparantly because of the rear box , so I may get it removed like your modification.

Edited by glow worm on Sunday 9th November 08:58

blueg33

35,574 posts

223 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Was it just the tears that were changed? Some tyres do not work well if you have a different type on the other axle. Mh g 33 went from fantastic to terrible when I put toyo on the rear leaving dunlops on the front. As soon as I put toyo on the front it was fantastic again.

The Surveyor

Original Poster:

7,576 posts

236 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
The Tamora wheels are the same offset Keith and it has made a huge difference, it makes you think how well the Sag would handle with narrower tyres on the front instead of the standard 255's?

As for the tyre type, these borrowed wheels have Toyos front and back and I was running Goodyear F1s before. Both bloomin good tyres but the toyo don't seem to have quite the bite of the Goodyears, well so it seemed but maybe they just give a little more confidence....

I'm just realy surprised how poor the 255/40 were on the back of the Tuscan, lesson learned!

mk1fan

10,507 posts

224 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
I have discussed this with a well known and respected TVR expert. For handling the 16 inch wheels are better along with same sized tyres front and rear.

Given the instant and noticeable vast improvement in firstly fitting the same sized tyres front and rear and then secondly (and laterly) having them set the suspension up, I'm sticking with their recommendations.

glow worm

5,798 posts

226 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
I am told the tyre wall stiffness has a great bearing on the handling and the manufacturers seem to vary greatly even on their own tyres.The original German F1s are stiffer than the Chinesse F1s and the F1 Asymetrics are even softer. Bidgestone S02s went the same way and the latest S-02 from Ireland are worse again. I don't know if something to do with the tyre noise specifications.

cerber

78 posts

135 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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235/265 michelin pilot sport 3 on the sp12 wheel with the correct offset and a geo set up in power performance!
better than my old toyo/dunlop 235/245

Basil Brush

5,060 posts

262 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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I've found F1s can feel like crap until fully cured over a few hundred miles. Might be worth giving them a few heat cycles and a bit more pressure?

I had mine on 245/40 rear F1s when the factory switched from Toyos in 2003.

QBee

20,903 posts

143 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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[geo rant mode]
Please all confrm you have had your cars geo'd on a 4wheel Hunter aligner reasonably recently? No amount of hundreds of pounds spent on tyres will resolve a mis-aligned car. And it costs less than £100 for a geo. A Tamora owner I know had his done recently at my TVR guy's workshops, and went home with a transformed car.

Ok, I don't have a speed 6 myself, but my Chimaera has been totally transformed by a proper geo. And I have found it handles best on tyres that are no wider than TVR's standard spec.
[\end geo rant mode]

mk1fan

10,507 posts

224 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Very true.

Andy_mr2sc

1,223 posts

175 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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mk1fan said:
I have discussed this with a well known and respected TVR expert. For handling the 16 inch wheels are better along with same sized tyres front and rear.
Very interested in this comment. My first chim was awful on 18s and was transformed when I put the original 15/16 combo on. I've always wondered if 16s or maybe 17s would work better on a Tuscan but no one seems to have done it. Granted with the extra hp I guess the Tuscan would appreciate some extra rear width but it is a similar size and weight to a chim.

mk1fan

10,507 posts

224 months

Monday 10th November 2014
quotequote all
Evening Andy. Need to speak to you about a set of throttle bodies I need modding.

It was well documented that the 16 inch wheels gave the best handling on the Tamora. The same should apply to the Tuscan and the T350.

With 16 inch wheels the same size tyres are fitted front and rear. Interestingly, the Sagaris (supposedly the best handling TVR) also has the same sized tyres front and rear with 18 inch wheels.

I have previously questioned why the Tamora, Tuscan and T350 'needs' different sizes front and rear when 18 inch wheels are fitted. The only sensible response was that TVR downsized the front tyres due to lack of clearance.

In my experience, fitting 225/40 18s all round made a huge improvement to a (knowingly) poorly set up car suspension wise. Another huge improvement was made recently when the car was geo'd by a well know independent guru.

The Surveyor

Original Poster:

7,576 posts

236 months

Monday 10th November 2014
quotequote all
QBee][geo rant mode said:
Please all confrm you have had your cars geo'd on a 4wheel Hunter aligner reasonably recently? No amount of hundreds of pounds spent on tyres will resolve a mis-aligned car. And it costs less than £100 for a geo. A Tamora owner I know had his done recently at my TVR guy's workshops, and went home with a transformed car....
[\end geo rant mode]
A good point but not applicable to my original issue. My Tuscan handled very nicely until the rear tyres were replaced, changed worn GSD3 Goodyears in 255/35 for new deeper profile 255 Asymetrics on the rear and it all went to pot. Nothing else changed. I tried different tyre pressures and ran them for about 500 miles and they were just blooming awful!

Tried these Tamora sized tyres and it's better than ever so yes, a full geo will sort a bad car out, but it won't compensate for the wrong tyres. All IMHO

Cheers, Paul

Andy_mr2sc

1,223 posts

175 months

Tuesday 11th November 2014
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Hi Stewart
No problem about the T/Bs. Message or call me any time for a chat.
I'm running 255/35s rear and 225/40 fronts which look to give a similar tyre wall height. My geo has been set up by a very respected tvr guru and I believe it is as good as it can get given the standard chassis mount points. I'm not getting in to this as it has been discussed time and time again but suffice to say I'm pulling all my suspension apart over the winter and making some major changes to hopefully address the mk1 handling once and for all.
I'm a strong believer that low tyre wall height doesn't equal great handling. Just look at an F1 car. That side wall flex is needed to give some feedback to the driver.
I'd be interested to see a Tuscan on relatively narrow rears (225?) to see if the grip under power is there.
Regarding the narrow fronts I thought there was an option of low profile wide rubber or higher profile narrow rubber (255/35 or 225/40?)

so called

9,074 posts

208 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
quotequote all
The Surveyor said:
Much has been discussed about the choice of rubber on the Tuscan, but for the love of God don't ruin your car like I did. In an attempt to protect the rims from the worse of the Northern roads, I went big at the rear. A pair of 255/40 rear Goodyear Eagles totally ruined the handling of my car, to the point it was floaty at speed and felt like it wanted to steer from the back. Felt just awful verging on the dangerous.

Borrowed a set of wheels today with smaller tyres (thanks Pete) 225 at the front and 245 at the rear on some lovely Speed12s off a Tamora. Chalk & cheese.... the Tuscan performed better than it ever has, ever.



Begs the question, is the Tamora actually the best handling TVR because it has the right tyres for the T chassis?
I'n on the same size as the ones you borrowed.
Along with the geo set up it has made a huge improvement in the handling.



PS::::: I'm thinking of going to TOYO's for my next set.

The Surveyor

Original Poster:

7,576 posts

236 months

Sunday 16th November 2014
quotequote all
New Toyos ordered, 225/35 for the front and 245/40 for the rear, ordered from Oponeo, along with a pair of Contisport 5 in 235/45 17 for the Volvo, all for £580 delivered which I though was very good value. I'll let you know how they are once fitted.

Paul

so called

9,074 posts

208 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Great, I'll be here looking out for your report .

rens914

678 posts

230 months

Monday 17th November 2014
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hope you bought the T1R toyo's.
they suit the tuscan great

stevieeg

269 posts

129 months

Monday 17th November 2014
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Just replaced the existing Falkens (destroyed by the Car Limits day at North Weald) with Pirelli P-Zeros.

Stayed with the existing sizes I had in the Falkens (265-35s rear, 235-40s front)

Despite the tyre place having a full Hunter system they seemed incapable of using it for anything a bit out of the ordinary, so no alignment done as yet.

The difference in stability even without is quite remarkable though. Hopefully the alignment when I get it done will make things even better.

The Surveyor

Original Poster:

7,576 posts

236 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
rens914 said:
hope you bought the T1R toyo's.
they suit the tuscan great

Nope, went for the same T1-sport pattern as tested on those SP12 alloys. Hopefully they'll be as good as the T1R.

Cheers

Paul