Why are Latest tyres only available in 18 or bigger
Discussion
Been running fwd with 17 wheels for 20 years, but now it seems like what should be a standard fitment is far too small for the latest bunch of tyres I d like to run on a performance hot hatch.
I understand the general drift for new cars to run bigger rim s, but there still must be a massive aftermarket of cars 5-15 years old with drivers who are prepared to spend a little extra for good tyres.
All started with Yokohama AD09 ( lots of 17 choice in America ) here a tiny choice of 2 random sizes, the EU HQ said just run A052 as it s not worth them getting EU approvals ( Ad08rs are rubbish read the reviews)
Seems like a lot of the newer interesting performance car rubber is not available for 17
Recently got all excited About Pirelli P Zero PZ5 as fancy a change from the Goodyear asymmetric 6 but again only 18 ,
And latest is the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport, which I thought would be a better UK winter performance tyre since days of deep snow lingering over any significant period seems to be a thing from over 10years ago. But no only 18 again.
Too many deep potholes to be running around on a 35 profile 18 rim this time of year.
Why can the Japanese and Americans have far more choice 17 roads are roads and weather is weather
Cars need to stop and go whichever continent they are sold in.
I would consider importing if it wasn’t a problem for the insurance industry…
I understand the general drift for new cars to run bigger rim s, but there still must be a massive aftermarket of cars 5-15 years old with drivers who are prepared to spend a little extra for good tyres.
All started with Yokohama AD09 ( lots of 17 choice in America ) here a tiny choice of 2 random sizes, the EU HQ said just run A052 as it s not worth them getting EU approvals ( Ad08rs are rubbish read the reviews)
Seems like a lot of the newer interesting performance car rubber is not available for 17
Recently got all excited About Pirelli P Zero PZ5 as fancy a change from the Goodyear asymmetric 6 but again only 18 ,
And latest is the Michelin CrossClimate 3 Sport, which I thought would be a better UK winter performance tyre since days of deep snow lingering over any significant period seems to be a thing from over 10years ago. But no only 18 again.
Too many deep potholes to be running around on a 35 profile 18 rim this time of year.
Why can the Japanese and Americans have far more choice 17 roads are roads and weather is weather
Cars need to stop and go whichever continent they are sold in.
I would consider importing if it wasn’t a problem for the insurance industry…
Edited by blue al on Saturday 13th December 06:28
You don't specify what the application is, road, track, wet, dry, cold, other ?
For not cold dry sunny days, A052's are a very good tyre. But then indeed are the likes of a PS4, PS5, Assy 6 like you already mentioned. They are all very good tyres. So you do seem to have lots of choice already
On a recent sprint I was back to using my bog standard Continentals' after flat spotting my A052's with a big front lockup. And on a cool, but sunny dry day I was only 1 second of the time set on a warmer sunny dry day with the A052's
And under hard straight line braking the Conty's actually felt better ( no big lock up and flat spotting ! lol ). Although there was one area of hard braking into a hairpin sorta bend where I did spin with the Conty's. That did happen last year too. So the A052's did win for grip there as it was more stable under those conditions, but seems oddly seemed less able under straight line braking.
And they were just bog standard premium contact 6/7 in 16" and 17" resp.
You can get worked up about tyres and reading too much online etc...Most modern big name tyres seem to be pretty good. Longer duration track sessions may well yield different results though, mine are only short duration lap, lap and a half sort of thing, usually 2 min run max.
For not cold dry sunny days, A052's are a very good tyre. But then indeed are the likes of a PS4, PS5, Assy 6 like you already mentioned. They are all very good tyres. So you do seem to have lots of choice already
On a recent sprint I was back to using my bog standard Continentals' after flat spotting my A052's with a big front lockup. And on a cool, but sunny dry day I was only 1 second of the time set on a warmer sunny dry day with the A052's
And under hard straight line braking the Conty's actually felt better ( no big lock up and flat spotting ! lol ). Although there was one area of hard braking into a hairpin sorta bend where I did spin with the Conty's. That did happen last year too. So the A052's did win for grip there as it was more stable under those conditions, but seems oddly seemed less able under straight line braking.
And they were just bog standard premium contact 6/7 in 16" and 17" resp.
You can get worked up about tyres and reading too much online etc...Most modern big name tyres seem to be pretty good. Longer duration track sessions may well yield different results though, mine are only short duration lap, lap and a half sort of thing, usually 2 min run max.
I have this problem with 25 year old Porsches. Most people want to use 18 but I try to stick to 17. I've not checked recently what is available but you mentioned premium contact and I have these in 18 on one of my cars [a 12 year old Porsche] and I think they're great. If you can get them in 17 they should be fine. I think it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of the new technology in tyre design is to get these large sizes to work well and still be complaint. That just isn't a problem that needs fixing with moderately sized tyres.
It's not a new issue, I have spent most of my life driving 10-20 year old cars.
I remember in the 90's finding premium performance tyres in 13" was getting tricky.
Then in the 2000's 15" tyres in high profile / wide width was difficult.
Now 17" are getting difficult.
As cars get bigger so do wheels, as wheels get bigger so the tyre manufacturers try to appeal to the largest market.
I remember in the 90's finding premium performance tyres in 13" was getting tricky.
Then in the 2000's 15" tyres in high profile / wide width was difficult.
Now 17" are getting difficult.
As cars get bigger so do wheels, as wheels get bigger so the tyre manufacturers try to appeal to the largest market.
ATM]I have this problem with 25 year old Porsches. Most people want to use 18 but I try to stick to 17. I've not checked recently what is available but you mentioned premium contact and I have these in 18 on one of my cars [a 12 year old Porsche said:
and I think they're great. If you can get them in 17 they should be fine. I think it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of the new technology in tyre design is to get these large sizes to work well and still be complaint. That just isn't a problem that needs fixing with moderately sized tyres.
I used Premium Contact 7 on the rear of one. No Sport Contact in that size, but figured they might be similar.Although I se the Michelin PS5 is now available. I'd like to try that, although as the current tyres still have lots of life, not sure it's worth the money for me to try. ( Likewise the Goodyear Assy 6 )
I see even my 16" front's are available in PS5 too... Not buying 4 new tyres to replace 4 almost new tyres though lol )
Interestingly too, at the same November sprint there's a guy with a Fiesta who ran his first few runs on Assy 6's, then switched to 888's and there really was no difference in times for him either.
Two quickest cars in our class, me and him, times set on 1A road tyres, the rest were on 1B, 888 etc.
Although I do think 888's were always over-rated, and it seems modern high performance proper road tyres perhaps under-rated. And in the wet, I'm sure they'd excel over the track types.
stevieturbo said:
You don't specify what the application is, road, track, wet, dry, cold, other ?
For not cold dry sunny days, A052's are a very good tyre. But then indeed are the likes of a PS4, PS5, Assy 6 like you already mentioned. They are all very good tyres. So you do seem to have lots of choice already
On a recent sprint I was back to using my bog standard Continentals' after flat spotting my A052's with a big front lockup. And on a cool, but sunny dry day I was only 1 second of the time set on a warmer sunny dry day with the A052's
And under hard straight line braking the Conty's actually felt better ( no big lock up and flat spotting ! lol ). Although there was one area of hard braking into a hairpin sorta bend where I did spin with the Conty's. That did happen last year too. So the A052's did win for grip there as it was more stable under those conditions, but seems oddly seemed less able under straight line braking.
I have A052 in 17 on my fundays and Sundays car and very happy with them, but they are not suitable for a daily that commutes over 10k per year at 3 times the price and 20% of the mileage, I used to run the Ad08r for 9-ish months a year, then swap to either a full winter or a “ normal summer tyre” pre COVID when I was driving over 20 K per year, For not cold dry sunny days, A052's are a very good tyre. But then indeed are the likes of a PS4, PS5, Assy 6 like you already mentioned. They are all very good tyres. So you do seem to have lots of choice already
On a recent sprint I was back to using my bog standard Continentals' after flat spotting my A052's with a big front lockup. And on a cool, but sunny dry day I was only 1 second of the time set on a warmer sunny dry day with the A052's
And under hard straight line braking the Conty's actually felt better ( no big lock up and flat spotting ! lol ). Although there was one area of hard braking into a hairpin sorta bend where I did spin with the Conty's. That did happen last year too. So the A052's did win for grip there as it was more stable under those conditions, but seems oddly seemed less able under straight line braking.
The current daily has 330hp fwd
blue al said:
I have A052 in 17 on my fundays and Sundays car and very happy with them, but they are not suitable for a daily that commutes over 10k per year at 3 times the price and 20% of the mileage, I used to run the Ad08r for 9-ish months a year, then swap to either a full winter or a normal summer tyre pre COVID when I was driving over 20 K per year,
The current daily has 330hp fwd
I found https://www.rosssport.com/Brands/YOKOHAMA-TYRES/YO... to be the cheapest for them. MYTyres sometimes had decent prices, but you need to keep checking them as they vary all the time.The current daily has 330hp fwd
Demon Tweeks etc....their prices are crazy. I bought my first pair off them. So far the rears have done a full years of as many sprints and hills as I could, plus a few hundred road miles and they're hanging in well. Might get another season out of them, or a good chunk anyway
So I'd say they're near double the price of a good road tyre, but yes less miles survival. And as alluded, especially for road use I doubt anyone would ever push a car hard enough on a public road for them to be a benefit over the likes of a good high performance road tyre. And if they did, they'd be driving like a maniac on a public road.
And in colder wetter conditions, I've little doubt the likes of a PS5, Assy6 etc would be better than the 52's
IMO, a track focused tyre makes almost no sense at all for a primarily road driven car.
stevieturbo said:
I found https://www.rosssport.com/Brands/YOKOHAMA-TYRES/YO... to be the cheapest for them. MYTyres sometimes had decent prices, but you need to keep checking them as they vary all the time.
Demon Tweeks etc....their prices are crazy. I bought my first pair off them. So far the rears have done a full years of as many sprints and hills as I could, plus a few hundred road miles and they're hanging in well. Might get another season out of them, or a good chunk anyway
Good shout Demon Tweeks etc....their prices are crazy. I bought my first pair off them. So far the rears have done a full years of as many sprints and hills as I could, plus a few hundred road miles and they're hanging in well. Might get another season out of them, or a good chunk anyway
also the company in high Wycombe who’s name escapes me occasionally have good pricesGassing Station | Suspension, Brakes & Tyres | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff