Most over-tyred car ever?

[BigTom85]

Bought the Mrs a 2011 Seat Ibiza Chill, 1.4 16v, 83bhp. FWIW I had no influence in what car she bought, I just paid for it :P

Anyway, giving it a good clean up at the weekend and was gob-smacked to find it wearing 225/40 R17s. 225 FFS in a car with 83bhp.

Can anyone better that bhp/tyre width ratio for a standard production car? What a joke!!

[denniswise9]

Surely a wide just gives it good grip?

[rb5230]

Expensive tyres on a car like that is a crap idea.

[Dirty Frank]

Whats wrong with good tyres on a slow car?

[rb5230]

Dirty Frank said:

Whats wrong with good tyres on a slow car?

The price when you come to change them? surely only worth it on a performance/interesting car?

[Dirty Frank]

rb5230 said:

The price when you come to change them? surely only worth it on a performance/interesting car?

You dont have to buy like for like though. I get your point though.

Grippy tyres like these on such a car would have a negative effect on MPG wouldnt it?

[rb5230]

Dirty Frank said:

You dont have to buy like for like though. I get your point though.

Grippy tyres like these on such a car would have a negative effect on MPG wouldnt it?

Indeed it will have a negative effect on mpg and yes you dont have to replace them with premium branded tyres but even the budgets will be far more expensive than say a 15 or 16 inch tyre.

It is all done for aesthetics.

[GroundEffect]

Wide tyres on a slow car = no fun.

Slippy tyres on a slow car and you can still enjoy it...as long as the car is good enough.

[aka_kerrly]

Are you sure they are 225/40/17 and not 225/45 which is far more common. Given that 17 inch wheels appear to be as common as 15 inch wheels 10 years ago the price of 17 inch tyres has dropped a bit compared to in early 2000s when it was £100per corner for a budget.

dave

[balls-out]

denniswise9 said:

Surely a wide just gives it good grip?

to a point, but not for ever.
you don't see caterham 7s running 335 for a reason.

[poo at Paul's]

doogz said:

Nthing is wrong with them being good. We don't know if they are good.

They are huge though, unneccesarily so, you could argue.

But at the end of the day, they will provide more grip. And that's safer.

not in the snow it wont be!

[anonymous-user]

Don't Smart coupes have quite big tyres for about 60 horses??? (or am i thinking of the "Brabus" ones??)

[hornetrider]

aka_kerrly said:

Are you sure they are 225/40/17 and not 225/45 which is far more common. Given that 17 inch wheels appear to be as common as 15 inch wheels 10 years ago the price of 17 inch tyres has dropped a bit compared to in early 2000s when it was £100per corner for a budget.

dave

Thing is you can get good 15s for sub 50 a corner, actually 40 odd. The 17s on my 5 are a ton a corner for OE Bridgestones. Expensive but its a sports car so I don't mind, but a boggo hatch?

[Basil Brush]

Max_Torque said:

Don't Smart coupes have quite big tyres for about 60 horses??? (or am i thinking of the "Brabus" ones??)

80bhp standard Roadsters have 205/45x16 optional or narrower 15s as standard. Brabus has 225/17s I think.

[davepoth]

Low profile tyres are if anything more dangerous due to the way they lose grip. Because they have very rigid sidewalls due to the low profile, they don't lean as much as a high profile tyre.

So it goes grip...grip...slide.

With a nice high sidewall you get plenty of flex so the breakaway is much more progressive. Granted the grip level is lower, but you can go far too fast on a 185/65 13 so any more rubber than that for road use is probably excessive.

[brenflys777]

We had Maestro's wearing 185/14 in the Police before I left... about 80 bhp between both wheels.. but strangely great fun! 500 rpm power band but excellent ability to cope with speed bumps!

[Mr2Mike]

Dirty Frank said:

Whats wrong with good tyres on a slow car?

Expensive to replace
Harsh ride
Poorer economy (high rolling resistance)
Greater chance of aquaplaning in wet conditions.

[Mr2Mike]

brenflys777 said:

We had Maestro's wearing 185/14 in the Police before I left... about 80 bhp between both wheels.. but strangely great fun! 500 rpm power band but excellent ability to cope with speed bumps!

My Astra GTE 16v with ~155bhp came with 175/65R14 as standard.

[paranoid airbag]

poo at Paul's said:

doogz said:

Nthing is wrong with them being good. We don't know if they are good.

They are huge though, unneccesarily so, you could argue.

But at the end of the day, they will provide more grip. And that's safer.

not in the snow it wont be!

+1 and in deep water. And if it's dry, the advantage only occurs under high loads. It will decrease braking distances slightly I suppose, but times when you can go significantly faster for the same risk as a result are going to be slim indeed.

[VeeFour]

You just know that kind of car is going to end up on LingLong Dark Horse tyres in a few years time, when the owner gets a quote for branded replacements.