Rubber on the Front - the Revenge...

[M@H]

Without opening old wounds, on the last round of tyre discussions we all came back to the S02 and S03 as the tyres to have, as there were no others with the correct speed rating (please lets not go into the rating vs. insurance debate again )

Anyway.. having done some investigations myself via my local tyre dealer, he has an option I'd like to run by you all; opinions please on the:

Uniroyal Rallye 540

to quote some blurb:

Directionally-orientated double arrow-shaped tread pattern for high aquaplaning safety

Modern silica compound and angled tread lugs for optimum grip in the wet

Uniroyal Belt System for a longer service life

Continuous central ribs for precise steering response and good driving comfort

to quote some meaningless test results:

ADAC Motorwelt (D) 03/2002

ADAC Motorwelt tested the size 195/60 R 15 H:
Overall Rating: "Very Recommendable"
"very balanced tire, likewise with best note on wetness"

ÖAMTC (A) 03/2002

The ÖAMTC tested the size 195/65 R 15 H:
Overall Rating: Very Recommendable
Uniroyal rallye 540: good results across all test categories, at the same time the best marks in wet performance

Auto Express (GB) 08/2001

Auto Express tested the size 185/60 R 14 H:
The overall winner of our largest-ever tyre test is Uniroyal. It even topped our reigning 14-inch champion Goodyear.


Readily available in a range of sizes at W rating

(W rating is above V, rated to 169MPH (270kph))
(ZR rating is over 150MPH (240kph)

>>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 22 October 13:12

[davidy]

M@H

What weight cars were these tested on, ie weight per sq in of tyre footprint on the road, some tyres work better on heavier cars and others on lighter cars (ie the Pirelli PZero seems to be out of favour on the Elise (see another thread) but was absolutely stunning on my Impreza Turbo.

Now given the fact that the Bridgestones are a tried and tested tyre on the Chimaera, most people seem to like them (the Sprinters love them), then I think you are mad to consider anything else.

I suggest that your Tyre dealer has put these forward as :-

a) he has them in stock (probably got hundreds of the things)
b) he doesn't have the Bridgestones in stock
c) he makes more money on a Uniroyal than a Bridgestone
d) he feels he can offer you a cheaper tyre (I'm guessing here that it is cheaper) and make more money on the deal
e) any or all of the above

Also I bet no-one on this forum has experience of running Uniroyals on the front and Bridgestones on the rear, supposing they just don't grip very well, you'll be in understeer city.

Only my 2p, but I best there a cost issue in here and wouldn't want to accuse you (again) of being tight!!!!!

davidy

PS another point to consider if you want to get shot of the car quickly in the near future (you never know whats around the corner) and a punter has seen yours and another identical car on Bridgestones, which one may he favour.

[griff2be]

EdT has Uniroyals (don't know which ones) on his Griff 500 and is not particularly happy with them - just waiting for them to wear out.. To be fair I don't think they are the optimum size/profile.

Just because 'everyone' has SO2/3s doesn't mean that there aren't other perfectly good tyres out there. If we all had this attitude then no-one would ever do anything new...

[squirrelz]

The first penguin into the sea is the one the killer whale eats.

[19560]

Last year it seemed so simple for wet and dry compromise tyres - everyone liked the SO2PP. (I have them myself.) Now the Goodyear F1 GS-D2 has been replaced by the F1 GS-D3 and the SO2PP has been replaced by the SO3 and I don't think that there is a clear winner.

>> Edited by 19560 on Tuesday 22 October 14:08

[jeremyc]

griff2be said:Just because 'everyone' has SO2/3s doesn't mean that there aren't other perfectly good tyres out there. If we all had this attitude then no-one would ever do anything new...

But in many cases the manufacturer (and I obviously can't speak for TVR here) will have tuned the suspension setup to match the characteristics of the tyres they ship/recommend for the car.

Valuable though the experiences and expertise on PH is, I think I'd always tend to trust the manufacturer and dealer recommendations. Tyres are such a safety-critical item on a car they should not be messed with lightly.

[M@H]

davidy said: M@H

What weight cars were these tested on, ie weight per sq in of tyre footprint on the road, some tyres work better on heavier cars and others on lighter cars (ie the Pirelli PZero seems to be out of favour on the Elise (see another thread) but was absolutely stunning on my Impreza Turbo.

good point

Now given the fact that the Bridgestones are a tried and tested tyre on the Chimaera, most people seem to like them (the Sprinters love them), then I think you are mad to consider anything else.

I suggest that your Tyre dealer has put these forward as :-

a) he has them in stock (probably got hundreds of the things)

nope

b) he doesn't have the Bridgestones in stock

true,but he gets tyres to order, ie has no stock.

c) he makes more money on a Uniroyal than a Bridgestone

can't comment, although he would chrge me the same margin either way

d) he feels he can offer you a cheaper tyre (I'm guessing here that it is cheaper) and make more money on the deal

nope although the tyre is a little cheaper

e) any or all of the above

Not really.. we've been drinking together for years and he's a mate.

Also I bet no-one on this forum has experience of running Uniroyals on the front and Bridgestones on the rear, supposing they just don't grip very well, you'll be in understeer city.

good point again.. the car currently has RE71s on the front though !!

Only my 2p, but I best there a cost issue in here and wouldn't want to accuse you (again) of being tight!!!!!
davidy

.. I'm not bothered about cost.. I can get S02's at £100 each anyway, just exploring the market for the benefit of everyone !

PS another point to consider if you want to get shot of the car quickly in the near future (you never know whats around the corner) and a punter has seen yours and another identical car on Bridgestones, which one may he favour.

umm.. not really a consideration at this point, but a valid comment

Cheers
Matt

[davidy]

OK now you've let slip that he's a mate of yours

1) Would you trust him to recommend the tyre thats the cats pyjamas or

2) Go with the majority of PHers (including shpub)

????

davidy

PS glad you were not being tight

[M@H]

He would not stitch me up thats for sure.. he just did some digging on what was the right size and speed rating and what he's heard good stories about.. He has these tyres himself on his sports saloon (some japanese tweaked thing)too..

..however he is the first to admit that he doesn't fit tyres to TVR's much therefore I told him I'd find out what everyone else on here thought about them.

Which is what I'm trying to do...! he'd be as pleased to have an opinion from here, even if its "don't use them on a TVR" cos at least then he'd know for next time..

Cheers,
Matt.

[M@H]

griff2be said: EdT has Uniroyals (don't know which ones) on his Griff 500 and is not particularly happy with them - just waiting for them to wear out.. To be fair I don't think they are the optimum size/profile.

could be the RTT's or the 540's I guess ??

Cheers
Matt.



>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 22 October 15:29

[trefor]

M&H - you try 'em and report back in a few miles.

The advice of those with some experience is to stick with the known good tyres. When was the last time you saw a real sports car on Uniroyals?

Trefor/.

[M@H]

Blimey.. you try and broaden horizons a bit round here and get seen as some sort of heretic... jeez



Cheers, Matt

[chimburt]

witches!

burn 'em!

[chuckh]

m@h sr tyres at upton have two s02 s in stock for your car they got them in for me when i owned your precent car before i sold it to dex i think they were around £80 a piece let me know if u want thier phone n0 cheers chuck h

[19560]

There are tyres other than Bridgestones with the correct speed rating but I have not seen any comparative reports for Uniroyals with a Z rating.

Given the wide variety of suspension set ups on TVRs they cannot all be tuned for the SO3 - a tyre not even in production when most Chimaeras were built.

No tyre manufacturer leads the field for ever.

[tantivy]

squirrelz said: The first penguin into the sea is the one the killer whale eats.

(tearful) "off to get my (sniff) uniroyals then..."

[19560]

Nobody wanted to stop using Goodyear when TVR switched to Bridgestone although I'm not keen on Uniroyals myself. Nice penguin though.

[qube]

I agree with M@H, why not try different tyres to see if other manufacturers are upto scratch, it's nice to see different opinions about tyres rather than the stereotyped bridgestone s0's series, there are a lot of other sports car out there ,i wonder if they are restricted to bridgestones as well.

[Griff2be]

jeremyc said:

griff2be said:Just because 'everyone' has SO2/3s doesn't mean that there aren't other perfectly good tyres out there. If we all had this attitude then no-one would ever do anything new...

But in many cases the manufacturer (and I obviously can't speak for TVR here) will have tuned the suspension setup to match the characteristics of the tyres they ship/recommend for the car.

Valuable though the experiences and expertise on PH is, I think I'd always tend to trust the manufacturer and dealer recommendations. Tyres are such a safety-critical item on a car they should not be messed with lightly.

Well TVR fitted the SO2's, which are no longer available - so that's us all shafted then. Oh, we're ok - TVR now fit Toyos - hurrah, we're saved! Bugger, we're shafted again, Toyo don't do the right speed rating for the front wheel aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.......

Personally I wouldn't trust 'my' dealer's recommendation. They fitted new tyres to mine - V rated Toyos. I made them pay for me to fit Z rated tyres.

Personally I think any decent branded Z rated tyre will do the job in 99% of situations. In those 1% of situations the likliehood is the driver was pushing it too far, and frankly, the tiny difference a different tyre would have made would not have helped.

Those sprinting or doing motorsport will undoubtedly have different views and be able to tell the difference between different batches of the same tyre. The rest of us should drive sufficiently within our limits on the road that the last 5% of grip offered by tyre 'x' is unecessary.

As an aside - everyone (well nearly everyone) bangs on about SO2's being the best. How many people atcually check their tyre pressures regularly. Or check the whole of the tyre for wear or damage? It would be interesting to see how many people run the 'optimum' tyre but never check their pressures and would actually be better off with correctly inflated Avons/Goodyears/Kuhmos/Toyos or whatever.

P.S. I've had several galsses of wine and I still don't like that T350C's rear end....