Suspension and Tyres

[Night Rider]

Hello all Mk1 owners,

After years of reading threads then absorbing the information then thinking and trying different combos of tyres, ride heights, suspension, tyre pressures and spacers, I’ve finally reached a happy medium where I can drive the Tuscan on all types of asphalt conditions without the car trying to spear me into a bloody tree or the car beside me.

The last change was getting rid of the Goodyear F1’s (early ones) and fitted Continental ContiSportContact 3. I can’t believe the difference a tyre can make. There was a particular section of road where I had to hold on with both hands to avoid the car from changing one complete lane in the blink of an eye. But with the new ContiSportContact 3 it was like a normal car. The new Continentals look great and fill the wheel arches well not like the crappy 225 tyres stretched across a 8 inch rim.

The traction to the rear has increased as well. The F1’s used to break traction around the 4500rpm mark and just spin until you short change. With a recent complete rebuild I’m around 390hp at the fly.

My final set-up is;

• Standard spiders
• Standard ride height
• Protech shocks
• Continental ContiSportContact 3 - 255x45x18 Rear 245x40x18 Front
• 27psi all four corners
• Standard wheel alignment
• 3mm front spacers
• Mk2 style front grille

I could play with the rack height but really at this stage I’m struggling to justify the hassle and heartache.

Hopefully my experience helps the TVR community sort some of their problems with their own cars or at least provide a good start. Oh, mines a Mk1 Sep 2000 model.

Cheers

[Walford]

Spring rates ?

[glow worm]

Not suprised they fill your rear wheel arch, your ride height must have been high...you've increased the diameter by 5 cm ... hope you've changed your speedo to match . ( 255/45's compared with /35's)

I quite like Contact 3s have them on my Chimaera.

[Night Rider]

Nup, the indicated speed is still 2kph faster than actual.