Suspension - Standard, Protech or Nitrons

[Basil Brush]

I'd second tyre sizes and type as first port of call. I like GY F1s in 225/40 & 255/35 sizes but have not tried MPSs yet.

After 20 years on Nitrons I've recently swapped to Core 1s from Race Shocks.

[s6boy]

Agreed with the sizes and also the Goodyears, the latest generation are superb.

What are your thoughts on the Core 1s?

[Basil Brush]

s6boy said:

Agreed with the sizes and also the Goodyears, the latest generation are superb.

What are your thoughts on the Core 1s?

I haven't had chance to use them yet as still putting the car back together.

[bertie]

So the concensus is Michelin Pilot 4s

225/40-18 Front
255/40 (or 35?) -18 Rear

That sound right?

Shame I have to change all 4 as they are new tyres but I guess they will always sell

[The Three D Mucketeer]

bertie said:

So the concensus is Michelin Pilot 4s

225/40-18 Front
255/40 (or 35?) -18 Rear

That sound right?

Shame I have to change all 4 as they are new tyres but I guess they will always sell

I'd try Michelin Pilot 225/40s on the front and keep the TOYO fronts for rears once the current set of TOYOs are worn.... if you're not happy then move to 255s on the rear by then the choice of tyres will have changed ... fronts will last for ages compared to rears... rather than throw good tyres away

[bertie]

The Three D Mucketeer said:

I'd try Michelin Pilot 225/40s on the front and keep the TOYO fronts for rears once the current set of TOYOs are worn.... if you're not happy then move to 255s on the rear by then the choice of tyres will have changed ... fronts will last for ages compared to rears... rather than throw good tyres away

You wouldnt worry about mixing Michelin fronts with Toyo rears?
The size matters more than the manufacturer?

I could get other Toyos in 225 such as Proxes TR1 or Comfort for the front so at least both axles have same brand?

As always all advice very gratefully recieved

[bertie]

Just found I can get Toyo Proxes Sport 2 to match the rears in 225/40-18

Unless the Michelins are a world better that seems like a good ide to just change fronts to right size but match rears, no?

[Basil Brush]

bertie said:

The Three D Mucketeer said:

I'd try Michelin Pilot 225/40s on the front and keep the TOYO fronts for rears once the current set of TOYOs are worn.... if you're not happy then move to 255s on the rear by then the choice of tyres will have changed ... fronts will last for ages compared to rears... rather than throw good tyres away

You wouldnt worry about mixing Michelin fronts with Toyo rears?
The size matters more than the manufacturer?

I could get other Toyos in 225 such as Proxes TR1 or Comfort for the front so at least both axles have same brand?

As always all advice very gratefully recieved

I wouldn't be mixing tyres on any car, definitely not a TVR when you're trying to make it less unpredictable.

[The Three D Mucketeer]

bertie said:

Just found I can get Toyo Proxes Sport 2 to match the rears in 225/40-18

Unless the Michelins are a world better that seems like a good ide to just change fronts to right size but match rears, no?

If you can get them go for it.
I know mixing front/rear tyres is not ideal , but without throwing away a lot of perfectly good fronts , I don't know how any TVR owner manages to do it.. My fronts last 3 times longer than rears (and usually time expire before they run out of tread). Tyre manufacturers change their tyre specifications quicker than I change tyres , so they are never going to fully match even if they are the same manufacturer unless I change all 4 at the same time.

[bertie]

Ordered Toyo Sport 2 from mytyres so will get them on and see how it feels.

Thanks for help.

One further question, what pressures do folks run?

[VetTVR]

If you go 225/40 18 front and 255/35 18 rear you can have the new Continental Sport Contact 7 ...which has won just about every award going and as i have them on my Camaro ZL1 i can tell you they are on a different level especially in the wet...that Black Chilli is amazing.

[ukkid35]

Protechs are a superb budget option, their customer service is awesome, and when I fitted a set to my Cerb they cost just over £100 per corner

However, Nitrons are really good, which you would hope because they cost x4 or x5 times as much

Sadly I havn't been able to extract as much gains on track as I hoped, but the car feels wonderfully stable

[Let off some steam Bennett]

When i purchased my tuscan around 13 years ago it had Nitrons fitted, i do not find them to firm and the car handles bang on. My chassis has had a chassis rebuild last year and i was going to have my Nitrons rebuilt, unfortunately they are to old now and the parts are no longer available for them. I decided to go for another set of Nitrons as i rate them highly.

[Modrich]

I noticed that Str8six had a fully restored low mileage one owner 2001 Tuscan for sale at £70k, and the advert said this about the suspension set-up;

'The latest specification Bilstein Sport dampers and progressive rate Eibach springs were installed. The original setup was devised by Lee Noble for the MK3 Tuscan S. However, slight improvements have been made over the years and the solution installed in 15 TVR is the best available for any road- based Tuscan. Str8Six’s revised suspension geometry has also been utilised during the rebuild.'

Looking at the pictures, it looks like the set-up is as follows:

Spec is the latest factory MK3 Tuscan S
Front
D0117 Dark Green 200 lb Eibach springs
C0968 Bilstein dampers

Rear
D0896 Dark Blue 285 lb Eibach springs
D0894 Bilstein dampers

What I can't understand is, Nitrons are double the spring rate at the front; 400 lb and 325 lb at the rear, you can spec your own rates, but this is what Nitron would give you off the shelf. That's a huge difference to the MK3 Tuscan S, both can't be a compliant fast road set-up...

So, I have a set of new Tuscan spec Nitrons without springs and I’m going to fit MK3 Tuscan spec springs to them, so I should have the best of both worlds with a bit of fettling…