Tyres for my Cerb?
Discussion
Very soon i will need new tyres for my car, have got SO3's at the moment, & they have been great, but now that they need replacing, i'm thinking it's an opportunity to go for something a little more 'track-day' focused. I need them to have some tread on ( dont want to get caught out in the wet),but i like the idea of a little more stickiness in the dry. I'm sure i've seen some tyres somewhere that have a slick type portion on the outside, & then standard type tread on the inner 2/3rds ( or have i got that completely wrong?) Anyone got any thoughts or been down this route? 
cirvy - I've tried Dunlop Super Sport Race and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup so far. The Dunlops are a better allrounder and a lot cheaper than the Michelin. The Michelin is better on track but tram lines badly on the road. I'm running the Mich's at the moment and will be trying some new alignment in a few weeks so I'll see if this improves things. At the moment though my choice would be the Dunlop and I will switch back to Dunlops if my alignment tweaks don't sort the tram lining I'm experiencing at the moment. I think you'll find size wise that 225/40/18 front and 245/35/18 are the available option for Dunlop. Steve Gugliemi can supply them.
Washy
Washy
Zippee said:
Have you tried blackcircles.com?
Put in your size and it'll bring up a good choice, usually of both road and track tyres..
Have just sent in my enquiry, cheers.
Avon do a ZZR which looks like it might be interesting, i'm awaiting further info on that one.
I cant seem to find the tyre that i originally thought of, must have dreamt it!
cirvy - my only further advice would be to check the absolute dimensions. A Toyo 255 is an inch narrower than a Pirelli 255 Corsa. The Pirelli as a consequence wouldn't fit. I choose the 245 Dunlop over the 255 for the same reason. The 255 won't go under the arch and was actually physically as wide as the 255 Toyo. Very confusing. Also, the 225/40 fronts vary quite a bit. The Mich is a bigger tyre than the Dunlop. Not by much but when space is tight it's noticeable.
washy said:
cirvy - my only further advice would be to check the absolute dimensions. A Toyo 255 is an inch narrower than a Pirelli 255 Corsa. The Pirelli as a consequence wouldn't fit. I choose the 245 Dunlop over the 255 for the same reason. The 255 won't go under the arch and was actually physically as wide as the 255 Toyo. Very confusing. Also, the 225/40 fronts vary quite a bit. The Mich is a bigger tyre than the Dunlop. Not by much but when space is tight it's noticeable.
I shall double check this, thankyou.
I think the tyre i was originally thinking of was a Michelin Pilot Sport Cup....., any thoughts chaps?
Cirvy - see my other post further down thread re Michelin Cup tyre. Be very careful they tram line like hell (on my car at least)!! I'm running Nitrons and non standard geo which I'm going to tweak at the end of the month. Still the geo I've set at the mo was fine for Dunop SSR tyre and the Toyo standard fit tyre. I get the feeling that the Michelin is a lot stiffer tyre even compared to the Dunlop and as a consequence is a bit of a handful on anything less than perfect surfaces. If you want the tyre just for trackdays though then it's awesome. Superior to the Dunlop SSR without a doubt.
Cheers for the above. From my research thus far, the Pirelli P Zero Nero looks the best option, its affordable (relatively!), quite sticky (apparently), & its the closest thing Pirelli make to a track tyre, plus its got proper road tread, 'cus i'm bound to get caught out in the wet 
Edited to add:
Mind you, those Dunlop SSR look very good, awaiting a call back from Mr Guglielmi
>> Edited by cirvy on Tuesday 15th February 13:48
Edited to add:
Mind you, those Dunlop SSR look very good, awaiting a call back from Mr Guglielmi
>> Edited by cirvy on Tuesday 15th February 13:48
pirrell p zero neros are great and grip like a bad habit (had em on both my scoobies)but they last about 3 minutes. i know the scoob is a 4wd but even still, they seemed to be made of cheese, albeit very grippy cheese.
i had goodyear venturas on my audis (both s2 and s3) and they were awesome in the wet and just never seemed to wear out. actually sold both cars after 1 1/2 usage and hadnt got near to replacing them.
id echo whats been said about the mich pilots, they tramline like hell, especially on anything other than a perfect surface (ie england). they are super grippy though, especially on a clio cup. im not sure the super stiff wall/ soft compound would be good for a car as radically different as a cerb, the seem to suit the pocket rocket variety better, in my experience anyway.
i had continentals on a porsche 911 and they were kick ass, absolutley unstopable (in the good way) in both wet and dry. good life in them too, even if you drove like a tit. which i do. sometimes, m'lud.
and i had bridgestone rft's on my Z4 (insert shouts of hairdresser here please) and they were great in the dry, great on the track, godawful in the wet and tramlined like a tram.
and finally, cos im not sure im helping, i had avon's on my audi 2.2E track car bucket of bolts and they were great, but really chewed up quick. still, they were cheap enough. or at least cheap-er.
hope this helps, fairly sure it doesnt.
matt.
ps. my 40 year old land rover has grabbers on it, does that help? they seem to be very grippy in all conditions. might have issues getting them under the arches though...
i had goodyear venturas on my audis (both s2 and s3) and they were awesome in the wet and just never seemed to wear out. actually sold both cars after 1 1/2 usage and hadnt got near to replacing them.
id echo whats been said about the mich pilots, they tramline like hell, especially on anything other than a perfect surface (ie england). they are super grippy though, especially on a clio cup. im not sure the super stiff wall/ soft compound would be good for a car as radically different as a cerb, the seem to suit the pocket rocket variety better, in my experience anyway.
i had continentals on a porsche 911 and they were kick ass, absolutley unstopable (in the good way) in both wet and dry. good life in them too, even if you drove like a tit. which i do. sometimes, m'lud.
and i had bridgestone rft's on my Z4 (insert shouts of hairdresser here please) and they were great in the dry, great on the track, godawful in the wet and tramlined like a tram.
and finally, cos im not sure im helping, i had avon's on my audi 2.2E track car bucket of bolts and they were great, but really chewed up quick. still, they were cheap enough. or at least cheap-er.
hope this helps, fairly sure it doesnt.
matt.
ps. my 40 year old land rover has grabbers on it, does that help? they seem to be very grippy in all conditions. might have issues getting them under the arches though...
sorry to seem like a bleeding know it all, but my first wrx came with falkens on it, and even though they were pretty well run in, they were still really ace, plenty of grip in both wet and dry and lasted for ever (only changed them cos i bought new, bigger, non-crap-gold wheels). gave the old wheels and tryes to a bloke on scoobynet and he used them at track days for about 3 months before they finally gave up. theyre supposed to be a really nice price too.
mjb (tyre guru to the stars)(of stars in their eyes)
mjb (tyre guru to the stars)(of stars in their eyes)
shell said:
Anyone got any views on Falken FK451, obviously cheaper end of the market, but for day to day stuff, rarely over 60mph, got to be worth a look for the saving?
Falken FK451's rock big time and I won't be putting anything else on the Cerbera
. They really are an amazingly good tyre.
Duncan
Now that you've narrowed it down to the Dunlops can i throw a spanner in the works. The 245's on the rear are on 7.5 rims which means that when you corner very hard the side wall stiffness suffers actually meaning that the tyres do not grip as well as a narrower tyre - strange but true. The sp6 cerbies have 225's all round for example.
I sprint my 4.2 with some success and have just scrapped my so3's cos they were crap and fitted 225 R888's all round. Im saving the so3's to destroy on a track day. The stright line grip from the R888's in the dry is huge- dropping the clutch at 3000 and then flooring it produces almost no wheelspin and very quick times. The only danger is of snapping your half shafts which happened to Andy farrell last season when he used R888's. The grip round corners is excellent-far better than any other tyre I have tried(and I have tried alot of different tyres).
They are fine in damp and wet conditions until you hit standing water when you become a passenger. So if you're into sprinting, track days and dry weather hooning around R888's are brilliant-but I would not recommend them for every day use.
Oh and the wear rating is fun. The so2 was 180. The so3 is 220. The R888 is 100. This gives you a feel for how soft and sticky they are- and how long they will last-which is not very long if you are enthusiastic.
jellie
i hope this is helpful.
I sprint my 4.2 with some success and have just scrapped my so3's cos they were crap and fitted 225 R888's all round. Im saving the so3's to destroy on a track day. The stright line grip from the R888's in the dry is huge- dropping the clutch at 3000 and then flooring it produces almost no wheelspin and very quick times. The only danger is of snapping your half shafts which happened to Andy farrell last season when he used R888's. The grip round corners is excellent-far better than any other tyre I have tried(and I have tried alot of different tyres).
They are fine in damp and wet conditions until you hit standing water when you become a passenger. So if you're into sprinting, track days and dry weather hooning around R888's are brilliant-but I would not recommend them for every day use.
Oh and the wear rating is fun. The so2 was 180. The so3 is 220. The R888 is 100. This gives you a feel for how soft and sticky they are- and how long they will last-which is not very long if you are enthusiastic.
jellie
i hope this is helpful.
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