Bargin?

[pr350]

Went to get 2 new front tyres on Saturday for the wedge to finally replace my Goodyear NCT2's (God knows how long they had been on the car - still had loads of tread but rubber looking a bit dodgy) from local place whom I have used before (Got 2 NCT5's last year for £139 fitted, balanced and VAT the pair) - Protyre in Fareham, Hants.

Requested the same again and cost was £141 fitted, balanced and VAT for the pair - was in a hurry as I wanted to get back for the match at 1245 and just left in a hurry afterwards and came home.

Anyhoo - after the magnificent display by the red bambi and his perfect hat-trick went back out to put the car away and noticed that things looked odd.

The numpty fitter had put 205/50-15's on instead of 205/60-15's he hadn't even noticed that that is what he had taken off

So I call Protyre and they say bring it straight back and they will replace. However, they didn't have any NCT5's in that size in stock so they put on HydraGrip's instead for the same price

Is this a good deal? Is it OK to have NCT5's on the rear and HydraGrip's on the front?

TBH car feels so much more stable now - much less steering wheel vibration.

[rev-erend]

Hydra who .. tell him where to go.

There are much better tyres that those..

[pr350]

rev-erend said:

Hydra who .. tell him where to go.

There are much better tyres that those..

Hi Rev

Are you saying that the Goodyear Hydragrip's aren't as good as the Goodyear NCT5's or that there are better tyres than Goodyear full stop?

I had a quick look at Blackcircles and the Goodyear Hydragrip's come in at £75 each fitted and are in their premium range

I just hadn't heard of them before.

[wee man]

pr350 said:

rev-erend said:

Hydra who .. tell him where to go.

There are much better tyres that those..

Hi Rev

Are you saying that the Goodyear Hydragrip's aren't as good as the Goodyear NCT5's or that there are better tyres than Goodyear full stop?

I had a quick look at Blackcircles and the Goodyear Hydragrip's come in at £75 each fitted and are in their premium range

I just hadn't heard of them before.

I went from a full set of NCT3's to a full set of Toyo T1R's. It was like swapping sandals for Nikes.
Bought them from blackcircles.com and had them delivered to my local garage. Never looked back.

Wee man.

[gandalf]

wee man said:

I went from a full set of NCT3's to a full set of Toyo T1R's. It was like swapping sandals for Nikes.
Bought them from blackcircles.com and had them delivered to my local garage. Never looked back.

Wee man.

WeeMan can I have them when you`ve managed to wear all those nasty grooves out of em`?

[digga951]

wee man said:

I went from a full set of NCT3's to a full set of Toyo T1R's. It was like swapping sandals for Nikes.
Bought them from blackcircles.com and had them delivered to my local garage. Never looked back.

Wee man.

I did the same thing - and mixture of Yokohama and NCT3's to Toyo T1-R's. Totally, totally transformed the car. I can now corner at pretty much whatever speed I dare with the full confidence that the car will stay on the road. I now get thrown sideways in the seat on the bends coz the grip is so huge.

Also, I think the Rev assumed that when you said Hyrdagrip tyres, you was referring to the manufacturer. Thats what I thought too and was about to say "avoid" considering Toyo and the like are so cheap. I think I paid about £60 each for my Toyo's from Blackcircles, and about £20 to have them fitted. The Goodyear Hydras may be good, no idea really. Seem to be a decent make so perhaps they will be a good choice.

As for mixing tyres, its something I will never do again on the TVR. Quite soon after I mixed mine, I completely smashed the car up coming off a roundabout at relatively low speed. Its not like I wasn't used to the car either having been driving it for the last 10 years on the same tyres, but within a couple of months of mixing them, I had both ends of my car missing. Each to their own, but I learnt to spend an extra hundred quid on a couple of extra tyres to avoid having to spend in excess of 6k again on another complete rebuild... Put some Toyos on and forget all about substandard grip!

[rev-erend]

Yes - correct.

Assumed Hydra was some cheapo rubbish but and here is the rub - if a premium brand like Goodyear makes a mid range tyre for say the vectra then it has qualities to suite.

i.e. Long wearing (25K), low rolling resistance (mpg) and is build generally for a heavier car that will generate more heat in the tyre.

I would take the advice here and go for something like the TOYO - it might sound like a cheap tyre but is what TVR fits as standard to it;s new cars and is built for the job.

They are the best tyre I have used on a TVR .. ever.

I just looked under 205/60 15 - I had assumed you had a 390 or 400 SE (225/50 15) ..

The choise is not so good but the Falken ZE 512 in VR is a well known and respected tyre.

Edited by rev-erend on Monday 2nd April 21:13

[niva441]

Check on the Goodyear website, but I think the Hydragrip are more all weather tyres intended for normal cars, not performance tyres.

[Toltec]

I was offered Hydragrips when I could not get F1s but went for the Bridgestone RE720s on the 350i as they (hydras) are not really sports tyres, was pretty happy with them. For a bit more cash the Toyos are superb though. Thinking of trying some Toyo R888s on the 400SE, anybody tried these?

Edited by Toltec on Monday 2nd April 22:28

[rev-erend]

Toltec said:

I was offered Hydragrips when I could not get F1s but went for the Bridgestone RE720s on the 350i as they (hydras) are not really sports tyres, was pretty happy with them. For a bit more cash the Toyos are superb though. Thinking of trying some Toyo R888s on the 400SE, anybody tried these?

Edited by Toltec on Monday 2nd April 22:28

Yes- I run 888's ..

They are insane .. and just a little bit scary with standing water

[JR]

Dunlop SP Sport and Pilot Primacy are probably the best 205/60/15V tyres but ignor the scare stories about the Hydragrips - they are a fine tyre and work well on light RWD cars.

NCT & NCT2 were fine tyres for TVRs but NCT3+ are for repmobiles and best avoided.

Or you could switch to 205/55/15 and fit the Sp Sport 9000.

Rev - the best tyre you had was surely the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3, the original fitment on the T350s or did someone put the cheaper Toyos on before you bought it? Interestingly when Toyos were the original fitment for Tuscans the Japanese dealer PDI included swapping these for the F1 GSD3 so as not to create a bad impression...

[beacon]

rev-erend said:

Toltec said:

I was offered Hydragrips when I could not get F1s but went for the Bridgestone RE720s on the 350i as they (hydras) are not really sports tyres, was pretty happy with them. For a bit more cash the Toyos are superb though. Thinking of trying some Toyo R888s on the 400SE, anybody tried these?

Edited by Toltec on Monday 2nd April 22:28

Yes- I run 888's ..

They are insane .. and just a little bit scary with standing water

Rev . I was looking at 888's but noticed that the guarantee is stated as being different to standard tyres .Why is this?????? IS it just because they are effectively road legal slicks or as near as dammit,they are amazing in the dry and but megas scary in the wet?????

[toltec]

rev-erend said:

Toltec said:

I was offered Hydragrips when I could not get F1s but went for the Bridgestone RE720s on the 350i as they (hydras) are not really sports tyres, was pretty happy with them. For a bit more cash the Toyos are superb though. Thinking of trying some Toyo R888s on the 400SE, anybody tried these?

Edited by Toltec on Monday 2nd April 22:28

Yes- I run 888's ..

They are insane .. and just a little bit scary with standing water

The plan is to run the 888s for dry/damp track days and use the T1rs for wet track days and road use. The T1rs got a bit hot on the last track day and that was on a damp track.

[pr350]

Thanks for all the info guys

Problem is that the beggers are on now and it'll probably take me a fair while to wear them out, unless.......

Problem was that the NCT2's were showing fair signs of perishing - there was tread but the rubber looked decidedly dodgy.

Will know for next time. Might just give them all a year or so and do a job lot change anyway - give them a bit of hard driving in the meantime

Edited to add: JR will running 205/55/15's make much difference to the running of the car???

Edited by pr350 on Tuesday 3rd April 15:26

[JR]

What else would you put on? The NCT2 was a great tyre for a 350i but NCT3 to 5 was/are not. I'd be more worried about your NCT5s on the rear than the Hydragrips on the front.

[pr350]

JR said:

What else would you put on? The NCT2 was a great tyre for a 350i but NCT3 to 5 was/are not. I'd be more worried about your NCT5s on the rear than the Hydragrips on the front.

Had to get them quick last year as the MOT failed on the 2 rears and I needed them PDQ

Would you suggest swapping them round? Hydras rear NCT5's front? or leave as is - doesn't go out in the wet anyway so wet weather driving is inconsequential

Paul

Edited by pr350 on Tuesday 3rd April 15:31

[rev-erend]

JR said:

Dunlop SP Sport and Pilot Primacy are probably the best 205/60/15V tyres but ignor the scare stories about the Hydragrips - they are a fine tyre and work well on light RWD cars.

NCT & NCT2 were fine tyres for TVRs but NCT3+ are for repmobiles and best avoided.

Or you could switch to 205/55/15 and fit the Sp Sport 9000.

Rev - the best tyre you had was surely the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3, the original fitment on the T350s or did someone put the cheaper Toyos on before you bought it? Interestingly when Toyos were the original fitment for Tuscans the Japanese dealer PDI included swapping these for the F1 GSD3 so as not to create a bad impression...

Sorry - I never had F1 GSD's but my T350 did have Toyo's as has my SEAC..

Can't imagine why anyone would swap them as they are superb..

Only problem with the T350 was it had too much grip and you could not unstick it.. I always had the feeling if the back end ever went .. that would be it .. no chance of catching it.

My understanding is the 888 is a road legal track day tyre..

[JR]

pr350 said:

Would you suggest swapping them round? Hydras rear NCT5's front? or leave as is - doesn't go out in the wet anyway so wet weather driving is inconsequential.

I'd leave them as they are. Current thinking is to have the best tyres on the rear but since the rear wear twice as quickly I'd be thinking about just wearing out the remainder of the NCT5s (and considering 205/55/15s.)