Tyre age

[ChilliWhizz]

I've been thinking about tyres this morning, mainly due to the new TVR thread talking about how much power people think a modern sports car should have. This led me to thinking about traction and levels of grip, and if this decreased with age... I've done a little research but not yet found anything that answers my thoughts... leaving wear and tread depth aside, it seems that tyres get harder as they get older, seemingly due to chemical changes in the compound due to exposure to sunlight/variations in ambient temperature and chemicals picked up from the road (and maybe other things). It also seems to me that the rear tyres on a rear wheel drive car that's putting rather large amounts of power and torque through them are more likely to degrade in some way than tyres that don't have big numbers going through them.

Anyways, my rears (not been out and checked the date on them yet) have been on the car for 5 years at least, have done around 19000 miles in my custody, and have been regularly treated to large doses of right foot abuse. Amazingly (to me) they're still nowhere near the minimum legal tread depth, and show no external signs of degradation (cracking or bits falling off).

It's difficult to know if the grip (wet or dry roads) has decreased as it would have been a slow process over a number of years, and I suspect one would adjust one's driving style in keeping with the amount of grip (that feeling one gets in one's arse when you're not quite as glued to the road as you expected)

Any thoughts or experiences chaps?

Chilli

[ChilliWhizz]

phazed said:

If you are having problems with breaking tradition for instance it may be that the tyres are old and not at their best.

'breaking tradition'

traction?

Appreciate the offer Peter, was thinking of going the triple R or R1R route when it got near time to get a new set, but the damn things don't seem to want to wear out... Was hoping someone would say 'yep they're knackered after 5 years of hard use despite having lots of tread left'.... this is all I would need to prompt me into buying new tyres

Maybe I'm just not driving it right

[ChilliWhizz]

Thanks guys

Right, where's that number for Quikfit

[ChilliWhizz]

Reference to Kwikfit was my sense of humour at work Anthony

Advice much appreciated though as always

Edited by ChilliWhizz on Friday 12th June 10:53

[ChilliWhizz]

Feck, only 4 number combo on the rears says 3308..........

That's coming up for 7 years.... they must have gone so hard they simply won't wear

R1R's it is then, hopefully they make them to fit the 16" Estorils....

[ChilliWhizz]

245/45/16 on the rear and 225/45/16's on the front Anthony.... Front tyres have probably only done about 10k miles, and were manufactured in 2011

[ChilliWhizz]

phazed said:

After a TD today let me remind you that Triple 8s are awesome but need a bit of heat to work.

Try the R1Rs, really faultless on the road.

Peter, current T1R's are 225/45/16 on the front and 245/45/16 on the rear, according to the Toyo website they do R1R's in the 225 section width but not in the 245....

Back to the drawing board

[ChilliWhizz]

roseytvr said:

Richard

Your not trying hard enough mate! My rears have lasted less than half of that. bTW I have some cheap track day wheels and r888s in those sizes if you want them - pm me for more info
Cheers
Ian

Muchly appreciated Ian.... cheapest route for now would be to just put new T1R's on the back, and then a separate set of wheels and triple 8's for the track days that I never seem to go to

Need to give it some more thought mate... I'll pm you when I know what I'm doing (I usually don't)

Edited by ChilliWhizz on Tuesday 16th June 11:35

Edited by ChilliWhizz on Tuesday 16th June 11:37

[ChilliWhizz]

phazed said:

Can you squeeze a 255 on?

Didn't think they did those in a 16 either?

[ChilliWhizz]

FlipFlopGriff said:

I had a few sphincter clenching moments at around 70mph so decided that was that. R1R's now - wear fast and great grip so hopefully I get to use most of the tread this time.
I agree that you can maybe go to 10 years but some still have original tyres at over 20 years on. I certainly wouldn't and I wont let a tyre get below about 3mm tread now as the braking distance at less than 3mm increases rapidly.
FFG

FFG, what wheel sizes/tyre sizes do have? I'm seriously thinking of going R1R's, according to the Toyo website they do 225/45/16's (which I have on the front) but they don't do 245/45/16's (which I have on the rear).... I'm guessing you've either got 17" rims on the rear or you've gone for 225/45's on 16" rears (significant reduction in amount of rubber on the road and reduced rolling radius?)

Thanks in advance,

Chilli

[ChilliWhizz]

Appreciate that Anthony, and if it was only AR it'd be OK, but going from 245 down to 225 is getting on for a 10% reduction in rubber on the road... I'd be looking for more not less..

[ChilliWhizz]

Thanks FFG....
So, 225/50's on the rear would increase the rolling radius by a couple of mm, give the same tyre width as the fronts, but have 20mm less tread width, which is about 8.5 percent

Hmm, three choices then I guess,
New T1R's on the rears - cheapest quickest option
R1R's all round but lose some tread with on the rears
Put 17" rims on and retain the 225 and 245 tread widths...

Or, go 17" with 8" rims on the rears and fit 255/40's........

decisions decisions.........

So, wider tyres means more grip/traction eh? Not necessarily....
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by ChilliWhizz on Thursday 18th June 08:57