Tyres for the Chimaera...
Discussion
Today replaced my two rears and went for Rainsport 3. 225/50 R16 92W
Previous tyres were Toyo T1 R's which I have found to be pretty good and haven't been anywhere near a track so road use only.
Not only reading this thread but doing searches on tyre forums they rate higher in every area against the Toyo's. On average they score 10% higher in all area's comparing the two and the only area they don't score in the 80-90% satisfied scores is wear at 68% and even this beats the Toyo's at 65%.
I realize these are only people's opinions and nothing is gospel truth reading reviews but I was sold by these figures.
Quite lucky that I have a friend(Really) who owns a tyre depot and he also confirmed I was making a good decision and he and his brother rate the Rainsports very highly.
Good price also at a total £150 fitted
I asked for 24 psi and will double check when next at a garage,is this correct?
EDITED..
The tyres that came off were 10 week of...... 2003
Previous tyres were Toyo T1 R's which I have found to be pretty good and haven't been anywhere near a track so road use only.
Not only reading this thread but doing searches on tyre forums they rate higher in every area against the Toyo's. On average they score 10% higher in all area's comparing the two and the only area they don't score in the 80-90% satisfied scores is wear at 68% and even this beats the Toyo's at 65%.
I realize these are only people's opinions and nothing is gospel truth reading reviews but I was sold by these figures.
Quite lucky that I have a friend(Really) who owns a tyre depot and he also confirmed I was making a good decision and he and his brother rate the Rainsports very highly.
Good price also at a total £150 fitted
I asked for 24 psi and will double check when next at a garage,is this correct?
EDITED..
The tyres that came off were 10 week of...... 2003
All of the track biased tyres are like that.
I have run R888s on the road and they are the same.
The Toyo R1Rs are better.
Due to the weight of our cars, we really don't stand a chance with standing water, no matter how deep it is.
Some years ago I hit some deepish water standing on the A3 when I was in my 2 1/2 ton Land Rover Discovery fitted with 1 inch deep tread mud terrain tyres. It's still aquaplaned!
I have run R888s on the road and they are the same.
The Toyo R1Rs are better.
Due to the weight of our cars, we really don't stand a chance with standing water, no matter how deep it is.
Some years ago I hit some deepish water standing on the A3 when I was in my 2 1/2 ton Land Rover Discovery fitted with 1 inch deep tread mud terrain tyres. It's still aquaplaned!
Beg to differ but in a friendly way. Rainsport 3 motorway 70-80 mph outside lane with standing water, knife through butter. Puddles only about 10-15 mm deep but dismissed them out and away with no discernible effect, felt quite odd really. Made the car seem heavier as the tyres never lifted at all, the steering didn't budge which was a surprise as normally it would pull if one wheel was in deeper water. Massively impressive in those conditions. Collecting the Diff Peter, I was cussing the weather then started enjoying it, I can't say I've ever felt quite so safe and in control. It made what would normally have my eyes out on stalks and hiding in the inside lane a one handed lazy drive at 80 if I wanted to. Usually you buy something and there's always a downside, not with Rainsport. On the roads in this warm weather, forget the actual suspension,,, go cart with shocks that work is how I'd best describe it, soft soft over cracks in the road. Zero tramlining so lovely at slower speeds. They make loads of noise when pushed, I induced understeer through a roundabout the other day and I heard noise just as it became gritty through the steering wheel and the tyre's were starting to slide and breakaway. Brilliant,, they even warn me I've gone to far 
love em.
Track based tyre's. Derr!
On a warm day all these track tyre's will hold on longer on track than Rainsport id guess but if your not a serious track abuser Rainsport can't be to far behind and offer all the extra benifits of very cheap tyre, so you can wreck them and far better in normal driving conditions than many of these semi slicks.
If my car was dry days only I'd go for AD08 as they last well and are proper grippy. My mate raced on both Toyo 888 and AD08 in a Caterham series, back to back one season to the next, his view was the AD08 were better at the start of races but your pace would drop off sooner than when on Toyo as in the last 3 laps, sliding and loosing time. He preferred the Toyo overall as he said he could push for longer and had more confidence in them, hescsuper fit so gets faster towards the end of races Although all of them are very easy to overheat and then it's over which he said took his advantage away, being really quick at the end is mote impressive than being fast at the start. The trick in racing is going really fast and keeping the tyre's in check, f1 is a prime example right now. One week a team is 6th then 16 th the next week. In our case it's simply overheating them by driving to fast
the cars dynamics would be more suited to full slicks and all these track based tyre's are going to take a beating as we have body roll and soft shocks compared with how fast the car could take a corner. 700 lb springs comes to mind. Without this rock solid body attitude we lean on the tyre's to much. Remember many race cars are employing 3degrees camber if not more to help this lean on the tyre's. We can't get anywhere near race speeds without these changes and simply destroy tyre's trying. A full race set up will probably knock 5 seconds off your time around a race track. You'll be going much much faster into and though corners for a start. Any amount of suspension saps power away coming off corners so you don't want that either. You need a rock hard car that can be chucked and stay stable, you grip using the tyre's and yes subtle body movements but they need to be minimal or the lateral forces push the pendulum to far from centre line and your left hanging on two overloaded outside tyre's.
Rainsport sort all that out too,,
I wish 
love em. Track based tyre's. Derr!
On a warm day all these track tyre's will hold on longer on track than Rainsport id guess but if your not a serious track abuser Rainsport can't be to far behind and offer all the extra benifits of very cheap tyre, so you can wreck them and far better in normal driving conditions than many of these semi slicks.
If my car was dry days only I'd go for AD08 as they last well and are proper grippy. My mate raced on both Toyo 888 and AD08 in a Caterham series, back to back one season to the next, his view was the AD08 were better at the start of races but your pace would drop off sooner than when on Toyo as in the last 3 laps, sliding and loosing time. He preferred the Toyo overall as he said he could push for longer and had more confidence in them, hescsuper fit so gets faster towards the end of races Although all of them are very easy to overheat and then it's over which he said took his advantage away, being really quick at the end is mote impressive than being fast at the start. The trick in racing is going really fast and keeping the tyre's in check, f1 is a prime example right now. One week a team is 6th then 16 th the next week. In our case it's simply overheating them by driving to fast
the cars dynamics would be more suited to full slicks and all these track based tyre's are going to take a beating as we have body roll and soft shocks compared with how fast the car could take a corner. 700 lb springs comes to mind. Without this rock solid body attitude we lean on the tyre's to much. Remember many race cars are employing 3degrees camber if not more to help this lean on the tyre's. We can't get anywhere near race speeds without these changes and simply destroy tyre's trying. A full race set up will probably knock 5 seconds off your time around a race track. You'll be going much much faster into and though corners for a start. Any amount of suspension saps power away coming off corners so you don't want that either. You need a rock hard car that can be chucked and stay stable, you grip using the tyre's and yes subtle body movements but they need to be minimal or the lateral forces push the pendulum to far from centre line and your left hanging on two overloaded outside tyre's. Rainsport sort all that out too,,
I wish Edited by Classic Chim on Wednesday 19th July 10:18
ou sont les biscuits said:
CHIMV8 500 said:
QBee said:
CHIMV8 500 said:
CHIMV8 500 said:
Sizes with PAS
Front 205 50 R15Rear 225 50 R16
????
225 50 16 rear
My tuppence:
Handbook says (non-PAS Chimaera 400 Mk1 from 1993 on standard Estorils):
F: 205/60 r15 92zr
R: 225/55 r16 92zr
Currently fitted:
F: 205/55 r15 Toyo Proxes T1R - ten years old
R: 225/50 r16 Toyo Proxes T1R - ten years old
About to be fitted:
F: 205/60 r15 91V Dunlop Sport BluResponse
R: 225/55 r16 95Y Dunlop SportMaxx RT
My thinking behind this:
Edited for readabilitiness
Handbook says (non-PAS Chimaera 400 Mk1 from 1993 on standard Estorils):
F: 205/60 r15 92zr
R: 225/55 r16 92zr
Currently fitted:
F: 205/55 r15 Toyo Proxes T1R - ten years old
R: 225/50 r16 Toyo Proxes T1R - ten years old
About to be fitted:
F: 205/60 r15 91V Dunlop Sport BluResponse
R: 225/55 r16 95Y Dunlop SportMaxx RT
My thinking behind this:
- I wanted to revert to standard sizes so that speedo etc are as accurate as they can be
- Ride comfort may be improved a teeny-tiny bit by larger aspect ratio
- The current tyres are soooooo old
- My OCD can just about cope with same make but different model tyres F/R - the tread pattern is the same but all sections are wider on the rears
- They don't make SportMaxx TT in the standard front size so I went with the BluResponse
- Both types of Dunlops are better rated than Uniroyal Rainsport 3s in terms of fuel consumption and noise - not that either matters - and same in terms of wet grip
- V speed-rating is applicable to 149mph and the book says that a 400 Chim will do 152mph. I may fall foul of an over-zealous MOT tester or insurance (only if I crash at between 149 and 152?!) I suppose.
Edited for readabilitiness
Edited by echazfraz on Monday 20th November 13:23
I've just bought a complete new set of Toyos.
The front ones are and 205/55/15 and are V rated. You were fortunate in getting any W rated (unless they were old stock) because there are none available in that size anywhere. If it came to anything with an insurance company if they quote the owners manual at me; there are no 'Z' rated tyres on 15" to buy so I fitted the highest speed rating I could.
The front ones are and 205/55/15 and are V rated. You were fortunate in getting any W rated (unless they were old stock) because there are none available in that size anywhere. If it came to anything with an insurance company if they quote the owners manual at me; there are no 'Z' rated tyres on 15" to buy so I fitted the highest speed rating I could.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
These are what's on mine but they are 10 years old. As Ian says below I can't find the correct size (for mine) anywhere in the same Toyos.I know that the EC tyre ratings are to be taken with a pinch of salt but the Dunlops were better in every respect than the T1R although I will admit that the tread pattern does not look as cool as the T1R
They are being fitted early morning on 2nd December so will post my thoughts after my first (careful) drive out on them.
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