TVR Chimaera 5.0

[Scottmmurray]

Hi all - I am new to this forum and TVR ownership, so sorry if I am asking a question that has been asked probably many times, but with all the searching I am still not 100% my next purchase of tyres is the correct one, so thought I would share for further advice - I am looking at Yokohama tyres. I would like to run the car original, so looking at original setup (it doesn’t appear that I am able to get Bridgestone’s in any sizes)

Yokohama Advan Fleva V701
205 X 55 X 15 88V

Yokohama A008P -
245 X 45 X ZR16 94W

I am aware of Toyo’s and Uniroyal’s but they seem to have mixed reviews, etc. I am mainly using for entertaining road use, dry mainly but with the British weather I don’t want to have to consider being ‘ultra careful’ with a few spots of rain. No real winter driving, just a few runs out a month over winter, but more in the Spring summer months and maybe a European trip and a track day or two next year, but only from a standard aspect, so looking to keep as standard poss. Hopefully this helps give an indication of their intended use
All thoughts welcome . . .

[QBee]

I use Uniroyal Rainsport 3s. I use them on my Saab too. Tremendous grip, especially if you get caught in the rain. But you may struggle to find them in the right sizes for standard wheels.

[sixor8]

TVR themselves put various size tyres on the same wheel size throughout production.

The original rear tyre size would have been 225/55 x 16 in the early years. From about 1995 onwards, it was 225/50 x 16. On the Griffith (with the same Estoril wheel), they latterly fitted 245/45 x 16 when it became hard to find a supplier for 225/50 x 16 in the correct speed rating.

Early Chimaera fronts were 205/60 x 15. Maybe the fact that this left a very small gap (if any on some cars!) between tyre and chassis rail on full lock or perhaps the same supply issue in 'Z' ratings promoted the switch to 205/55 x 15. On Chimaera 500 models with power steering, the fronts were 225/50 x 15.

To sum up, a combination that maintains the approximate rolling circumference would be fine. Also, some manufacturer guidelines suggest that 245 is actually too wide for a 7.5" wheel! For a turning wheel I would tend to agree but on the rears it is fine.

https://m.roadkillcustoms.com/tire-width-minimum-m...

[EllipticSwerve]

Hi

I have a tvr chim 500 also, it came with 15 year old tr-1s so I replaced these with Yokohama ad08rs in the following sizes:

205/50/15
225/50/16

I used Yokohama as I used to have a lotus and they are (were) oem on that. I actually use the fleva 701 on my bmw daily driver. I think you should think about using ad08s, the models you’ve selected above are different tyres with different tread patterns which is a bit of a no no to my mind.

Some people, probably with much more driving capability than me, don’t like the new compound on the ad08s, but I’ve been happy with them for spirited road driving.

https://www.yokohama-online.com/en/tyres/pcr-tyres...

Expect to pay about 460quid fitted

[Mbwa-kali]

Really interesting question and one I've recently pondered on (with the benefit of reading the many previous posts on tyres on this and other forums). The Steve Heath manual lists the common tyre combinations; the fronts vary depending on whether the car has power steering or not. Without power steering a 500 combo could be 245/45/R16 on the rear and 205/50/R15 on the front but switches up to 225/50 for power steering. The next big issue talked about has been speed rating which, in short, nowadays means either settling for the more common V rating or hunting out the rarer W ratings. Easier with 16 inch but much less so with 15 inch. I opted for the Yokohama 245/45/R16 W on the rear but searched out some Hanook 205/50/R15 W rated Ventura tyres for the front. So kept the max speed rating I could get plus both are good brands and wet performance is meant to be decent.

[AKA PABS]

I have been looking at trying to get ultra high performance tyres in original PAS chimaera 500 sizes - 225/50 r15’s and 245/45 r16’s.
I nearly gave up the search thinking I’d have to do for 17’s, but found out that the Yokohama A052 is available in the correct sizes and e-marked. OP might be worth getting a set?

[QBee]

Only if you have no intention of ever driving in the rain,. The AO52 is a road legal track tyre and not designed for wet weather.

[AKA PABS]

They are a track tyre yes, but perform well in the wet apparently. But would love to here any real world feedback on the road.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay....

Yokohama ADVAN A052 (Extreme Performance Summer, 245/40R18 97Y)
What We Liked: The grip in the dry and the wet are monumental.
What We'd Improve: The steering is a little vague and unnatural.
Conclusion: Still leads the category on the track.

Lifted the above from the tirerack.com group test. I personally wouldn’t head out in my Chim if it was raining and the cars never going to see a cold salted road. Just need a tyre that if I do get caught out in the rain will see me home. I may run a set of these next time I’m due rubber.

[Scottmmurray]

Hi all thanks for your feedback and comments. I have tried to source some of the tyres and patterns mentioned but to date I haven’t had much luck! I have settled for the following brands of tyres and wanted to know if any one had these/used these and their thoughts;

Continental EcoContact 6
205 X 55 X R15 88V

Yokohama A008P -
245 X 45 X ZR16 94W

👍

[5.0ltr]

Scottmmurray said:

Hi all thanks for your feedback and comments. I have tried to source some of the tyres and patterns mentioned but to date I haven’t had much luck! I have settled for the following brands of tyres and wanted to know if any one had these/used these and their thoughts;

Continental EcoContact 6
205 X 55 X R15 88V

Yokohama A008P -
245 X 45 X ZR16 94W

??

I suspect it may handle like a wet sponge. They do not appreciate mixed tyres on different axles to my knowledge.

[Scottmmurray]

I’m really struggling to get the same brand and tyre pattern in the sizes I need, if I go Yokohama I’ll have directional up front and asymmetrical on the rears. People have said Uniroyal but again struggling for the rear, Toyo’s I can’t seem to find (in stock) and I’ve messaged Avon twice and no response
It’s a challenge!

[5.0ltr]

Without checking this but I was told this week Camskill are supplying Toyos in correct sizes.

[Scottmmurray]

Ok, I’ll nip on tomorrow and have a look

[sixor8]

I've looked on the Camskill website and the 205/55 x 15 tyres are all only V-rated apart from Triangle and Vredestein (£119 each) both W rated.

There's a huge choice in 225/50 x 16 if you want original size, but no Toyo on either size. If you want 245/45 x 16, they have only one tyre, Nankang at £68.25.

https://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php

[QBee]

I have a problem with speed ratings and TVR's habitual exaggeration.

V rating is for cars whose maximum speed is up to 149 mph
W for cars ditto ditto 168mph

Try as I might, I have never got a Chimaera to over 149 mph. I usually run out or airfield.
Perhaps I am not tying hard enough? Or haven't taken it to Germany?
Or just maybe TVR exaggerated, as per usual?
(340 bhp from a standard 5 litre Griff? Who are they kidding? 275 if you are lucky, and then at the flywheel, not the road wheels)

Also, that speed rating has to deal with cars at 149mph + that weigh 2 tonnes plus.
Our cars weigh just over 1 tonne.

I have cornered at well over 100 mph in my Chimaera, and braked hard from 135 mph, both on track days, and never had a tyre problem.
As far as I am concerned, I have not the slightest hesitation in driving a Chimaera on V rated tyres.
Any accident I have certainly won't the the fault of a high speed tyre failure.

[Mbwa-kali]

I haven't seen any compelling reason to not have different brand/make tyres between front and rear. Tyre manufacturers typically recommend matching all four corners but this isn't mandatory in the way that not mixing radial with cross-ply is or not having different spec tyres on the same axle is....a MOT fail in the UK. We all know there are relatively few R15 tyres to choose from and when you add brand and speed rating considerations that shrinks to not much. There's been numerous comments on speed ratings over the years and IMHO it boils down to personal pref if you go with a V rating or search out a W rating or better. Just to illustrate the point from experience; my Chim came with 245/45 R16 W spec Toyos on the rear and Dunlop Blue Response 205/60 R15 91 H on the front. Firstly this size combo doesn't fit with the list in the Steve Heath manual, second the speed rating on the fronts is arguably too low/wrong and third, the tread on the Toyos was nice and deep but starting to show signs of perishing. The patchy service history of the car did not suggest the suspension set up would have been altered to suit the tyres. But it handled absolutely fine on twisty B roads and sat rock still at high motorway speeds. I changed out the Toyos for W rated Yokohama 245/45 R16 and it still ran fine. Next step is to fit the 205/59 R15 W spec Hankooks on the front. Did a body off resto a few months ago so will do another suspension set up as things have settled down and that's more important IMHO than worrying about having decent quality but not matching front/ rear tyres.

[DangerousDerek]

QBee said:

Try as I might, I have never got a Chimaera to over 149 mph.

I took mine to Elvington standing mile when i had a genuine 330bhp at the fly NA and a 3.08:1 diff.
I hit 164 hardly trying and later in the day 176.5 with a bit of sniff.
It was completely stable and quite undramatic due to having nothing nearby to reference off.

In the car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy32MM0P2rQ

From out the car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUMkZ3vr2_I

[Mbwa-kali]

Epic sound track Dangerous Derek! Typo on my last post; should read Hankook 205/50 not 205/59!

[QBee]

DangerousDerek said:

QBee said:

Try as I might, I have never got a Chimaera to over 149 mph.

I took mine to Elvington standing mile when i had a genuine 330bhp at the fly NA and a 3.08:1 diff.
I hit 164 hardly trying and later in the day 176.5 with a bit of sniff.
It was completely stable and quite undramatic due to having nothing nearby to reference off.

In the car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy32MM0P2rQ

From out the car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUMkZ3vr2_I

Well done, I am duly impressed, but your car is somewhat special and you have a lot of experience of handling it at speed.

Mine would hit the 6200 rpm rev limiter at 165 mph if it ever got to that speed.
It hits it at 125mph in 4th, for reference.

I think mine is on the standard diff, which I suspect is 3.45:1?
At close to 6200 rpm mine is running out of puff, with the power and torque curves both diving steeply for cover.

The average road user TVR owner is not going to trouble the top speed, so I am not clear why he would want to buy tyres with that speed rating?