Tyre Advice please for my S2

Tyre Advice please for my S2

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Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Wednesday 27th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi Guys

Help please, had my S2 from last October last year and checked my tyres. All fine lots of rubber looked Ok.

Just checked again and I got a bit of a mixture as follows:
Front Off Side Semprtit Speed Comfort 205/60 15 H rated
Front near Side Goodyear Eagle GSN 205/60 15 V rated
Both rears Uniroyal Rain Tyre 205/60 15 V rated

I dont think I'm very happy about the H rated tyre what do you think? What about the rain tyres any comments/advice.

Do I need new tyres advice please

ketvrin

3,504 posts

208 months

Wednesday 27th February 2008
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More of an opinion than advice Norman, but I would not be happy with a combination of makes never mind ratings...

all four tyres the same for me and no budgets or remoulds either...

when you hear the claims of the manufacturers about how their product is better than others, then mixing makes must mean mixing performance so is a no-no in my book...

K

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Thursday 28th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi Kevin

Point well taken, I have always subscribed to having a full set the same even for my everyday barge.

Having searched among the older threads it seems that the following appear to be the better choices, Goodyear Excellence, Bridgestone Turanza ER300 and Vredestein Sportrac 2.

Please guys guidance please

Ragtop

592 posts

200 months

Thursday 28th February 2008
quotequote all
Good morning Norman,

My view is that all modern good-quality tyres perform well enough in the dry, with levels of grip well beyond anything required for normal road use, but wet weather grip is more variable and far more important. Which? magazine regularly do tyre tests in which Continental usually score well for wet weather grip. I've been using Continental tyres on all my fleet for the last ten years and I've been very happy with them. Also see Autoexpress for a test on some tyres very close to TVR size and rating:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_g...

Tyres are also rated on noise, comfort, life and price, as if these were important factors!

Having said that, I should add that my S3 came with four new 205/60/VR15 Pirelli P6000s and after what I've read on this forum they wouldn't be my first choice, but they seem very well-mannered in the dry and the wet.

Regards,
Graham

Edited by Ragtop on Thursday 28th February 07:42

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Thursday 28th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi Graham

Good advice thanks very much

greymrj

3,316 posts

203 months

Thursday 28th February 2008
quotequote all
Sorry if this is 'teaching grandmother etc' but their is a wealth of info on tyre ratings on various websites, Kwikfit for example.

I am not sure what speed I will want to risk in my S1 (when it is finally on the road) but my every day car is good for a little under 130mph and, shall we say, it gets used enthusiastically! I was looking for a good asymetric and prepared to trade a bit of wear rate for good wet and dry grip and predictable handling. But I dont want to pay more than I need to.
I've tried a couple of top brands. Last couple of times I have fitted Firestones and been very pleased with them.
The current tyres are Firestone Firehawk TZ200 205 60 R15 91H.
By a lucky chance my road car needs exactly the same size as my S1.
The 91 load rating is good for 615kg per tyre and is higher than needed for the TVR The H speed rating is good for 131mph, that is good enough for me in a 20 year old car! The grip rating is A to AA, which is amongst the top band wet or dry. The wear index is in the 4-500 range, good, but not a tyre you would choose if wear rate was your first consideration.

The last two tyres went on last month and cost me £55 each inclusive of fitting, balancing and VAT. I intend to fit the same tyres on the S1.

Roy C

4,187 posts

283 months

Thursday 28th February 2008
quotequote all
Another consideration could be that changing your tyre rating from the original equipment (V6 = V rated - V6 / V8 = Z rated) could be construed as a modification by your insurer.

I have also TZ200 on my tin box. They are much better than many more expensive brands. I think there is a 205/60R15 TZ200 91V available for around £65.

Edited by Roy C on Thursday 28th February 13:55

Bomber Denton

8,759 posts

267 months

Friday 29th February 2008
quotequote all
Hi Gerald, got your email. My knee-jerk reaction if it were my car would be to junk the two front tyres, one of the tyres is a lower H rating which 'may' create insurance issues, couple that with a mismatch and it's not looking good, tyres always work best in synergy when at least paired up on axles.
I would then move the rear tyres up to the front, the Uniroyals are an 'O.K.' tyre and there's no point in wasting them if you are not driving too hard and they still have life left in them though. What I would check is the age of them, on every tyre there is a DOT code and it will be branded into the side of every tyre (only on one side though) the four digits will tell you exactly when a tyre has been manufactured
e.g. 4705 - this means the tyre was made in the 47th week of 2005. Make sure this isn't more than five years old in reality.

As for tyre choice for the rear, the Good Year Excellence isn't a bad tyre but I would seriously consider the Dunlop SPT Fast Response in your size.

Hope this helps.

Corin

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Friday 29th February 2008
quotequote all
Great advice guys especially Corin - what a useful place this is

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Saturday 1st March 2008
quotequote all
Hi Corin

Looked at the dot code and it reads A11B 039< (the < is a little left pointing arrow), does this mean the tyre is 7+years old? Help please

Bomber Denton

8,759 posts

267 months

Saturday 1st March 2008
quotequote all
Gerald-TVR said:
Hi Corin

Looked at the dot code and it reads A11B 039< (the < is a little left pointing arrow), does this mean the tyre is 7+years old? Help please
Nope the Dot will always be four numbers embossed into the tyre after it is made. There will be another number.

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Sunday 2nd March 2008
quotequote all
Hu Corin

Looked and looked and looked, cant find a 4 digit code, took some pics





Edited by Gerald-TVR on Wednesday 5th March 16:03

Bomber Denton

8,759 posts

267 months

Sunday 2nd March 2008
quotequote all
039 Looks like the code if there is no other branded on number (it may be on other side)

Third week of 1999 yikes

HarveyB

407 posts

211 months

Sunday 2nd March 2008
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Gerald,

It might be that the embossed code is facing inwards (only shows on one face). I think it should look like:


Which means that whilst my Bridgestones might be nice and original, they are probably a bit past their best (made week 28, 2002)...

HarveyB

407 posts

211 months

Sunday 2nd March 2008
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Must post faster..

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Monday 3rd March 2008
quotequote all
Spoke to Goodyear technical dept this morning and have a difinative answer (not the one I wanted)

The DOT code on the tyre is correct, the < (triangle thing) should be a triangle and it means the tyres were ptoduced between 1990 and 1999, the first two digits the week number and the last the year ie 039 on my tyres means week 3 1999 eek, if it were 030 then week three 1990 on so on, if there only three digits and no < that means 1980 to 1989. The four digit code only applies to 2000 and on

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Tuesday 4th March 2008
quotequote all
Been doing my homework. I have priced the following tyres as they all seemed to have supporters on Pheads, Goodyear Excellance and Hydragrip, Bridgestone ER300, Vredestein Sportrac 2 and 3, and Firestone TZ200 for a set of four the price dosent vary by more than a £5. So no selection on cost!

Autoexpress tyre test put Hydragrip as 1st, Sportrac 3 as 2nd. ER300 5th with the comment Could be better in standing watereek so maybe that ones out.

Any guidance from you guys please, otherwise I will be reduced to picking with a pin. confused

jonnylayze

1,640 posts

225 months

Wednesday 5th March 2008
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I've got Bridgestone Turanzas on my S2. I've got no complaints and they've been quite hard wearing (although I think they might not be available anymore).

I recently bought some Firestone TZ200s for my wife's Focus and was very impressed with the price and quality - I will look at these when coming to replace the tyres on the Trev.

I've had Dunlops Sports and Goodyear Excellence for my A3 and the Dunlops are dreadful IMO. The Goodyears are a bit better but not brilliant.

If it was me, I'd have a go at the Firestones

jimed

1,500 posts

205 months

Wednesday 5th March 2008
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Like some of you my car now has tyres which are getting past their sell-by date even though plenty of tread left with result that it now slides mopre than it did - good fun though but not the best idea. I've been talking to my local small tyre place which is usually good on price and they advise either Bridgestone ER300 or Firestone TZ200 and want £61 per tyre for either fitted incl valve/VAT so not too bad for the 205/60Vr15. I think from earlier posts that the Firestone would edge it but any other thoughts??
Jim

Gerald-TVR

Original Poster:

4,896 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th March 2008
quotequote all
Done a bit of research using tyretest.com and have found the following, the lower the reading the better
Dry Dry Wet Wet
Grip Braking Grip Braking
Goodyear HydraGrip 2.50 2.50 1.90 2.10
Bridgestone Turanza ER 300 1.60 1.60 1.90 2.00
Vredestein SPORTRAC 2 2.40 2.30 2.50 2.50
Vredestein SPORTRAC 3 2.20 1.80 2.60 2.40
Firestone Firehawk TZ 200 2.00 2.10 2.60 2.80
Goodyear Excellence 2.20 2.00 2.40 2.40

Can anyone tell me how to create a table looks fine in preview. Ill email a copy to anyone who wants one

The bridgestone is the clear winner

BTW good prices through the Pistonheads Tyre finder