best tyre options for stock 15/16 inch wheels

[twobone]

Hi,

I'm new to TVR. Should I stick to the stock tyre dimensions? 205/55/15 and 225/50/16 or is there a better size for more tyre choice?

I seem to only have 2 options locally in that pairing.

Pics of different tyre dimensions always welcome

Edited by twobone on Thursday 18th August 12:19

[900T-R]

205/55/15 and 205/50/16 are the right sizes; earlier cars had 205/60/15 (which can't be had in an appropriate design and speed racing for love or money nowadays) front and 225/55/16 (fairly common) rear; like most others I've converted to 205/55/16 at the front, but left the rear at 225/55/16 to keep correct speedo and odo readings. You get a bit of 'rake' in the ride height set up with this combo thrown in for free, which proved quite advantageous even before replacing the suspension with adjustables...


I'm running Bridgestone Potenza RE002 Adrenalin - not the best tyres you can buy (the top tier UHP road tyres are all for bigger wheels and lower aspect ratios these days) but probably the best ones you can buy for the car, being of a fairly recent design and quite similar to the S-02s that the car was designed to work with in terms of sidewall stiffness, handling/grip balance etc.

[ChimpOnGas]

900T-R said:

like most others I've converted to 205/55/16 at the front, but left the rear at 225/55/16 to keep correct speedo and odo readings. You get a bit of 'rake' in the ride height set up with this combo thrown in for free, which proved quite advantageous even before replacing the suspension with adjustables...

I'v also fitted a set of 16" front wheels to the front on my Chimaera to give me 16s on all four corners, although in my case I chose the following tyre profile combination:

• Front: 205/50 R16 87V

• Rear: 225/55 R16 87V

The above works perfectly and follows what TVR did themselves with the Mk3 Chimaera, I'm able to further tune my Chimaera's attitude beyond this tyre profile choice as I have fully adjustable Gaz Gold Pro suspension.

To support what 900T-R says a very important point is a bit of nose down rake is essential for high speed stability on these cars.

On the subject of tyre choice I went with the best rain shedding sport based tyre available (Uniroyal Rainsport 2s) because I've seen what happens when a TVR goes up on standing water, a TVR is a very light car with wide tyres which makes it highly susceptible to aquaplaning if the tyres can't get rid of the water beneath them fast enough.

Although the latest trend in tyres is an asymmetrical tread the truth is this is chosen as a compromise between rain shedding performance and road noise, a "V" pattern remains the best performer in wet weather, the downside is they do produce more road noise.

I figured safety is more important and a TVR is a noisy car anyway, a bit more road noise might be annoying on a refined modern car but on a TVR the fact is you'll never notice it.

[BoostedChim]

Have a look on Camskill website, they have a good range. My choice would be the Uniroyal Rainsport 3.

[N7GTX]

^^^^^^ this.

Rainsports recommended.

[jimed]

I've also gone for the Bridgestone RE002s; slightly off standard sizes but they fit well and are only very marginally different in circumference (less than 1% change) so no issues with speedo, etc. The sizes I've gone with are Front 205/55/15 and Rear 225/50/16 - both in W rating. (The original rears on the Griff were 245s but these seem to grip as well and actually look a better fit to the overall car and also help as no PAS). I've done about 1k miles with them and they are very good with no issues so far in either wet or dry and the insurers were OK with the change as well. The above were recommended to me by Heath (X Works) who has recently fitted quite a few sets to various TVRs and he reports very good reaction to them so well worth a look. Bought them from Camskill, quick delivery and decent prices.