Best current choice of tyres ?

[rbryant]

Hi guys, time for a new set of tyres so I wonder if some of you will give me the benefit of your experience.

I have the standard 15" fronts with 205/55 and 16" rears with 225/50s on a 1999 Chim 450 (with power steering)

Had a set of Bridgestone SO2s on when I bought it and I changed them for SO3s which I have liked and have lasted pretty well, good wet grip.

Choice now seems to be Toyos, but not available in the right speed rating, or Dunlop SP9000 which seem to be the only Z rated tyre for the fronts.

I don't want to change sizes, drive the car everyday so I am inclined to go for the Dunlops. Any comments or alternative suggestions?

Thanks

[tuna8]

hey richard,

i recently changed the fronts, same as you...205/55/ZR15 and i had the dunlops sp9000 put on. might as well mention that event tyres did the job, came to me at work and the whole job was very simple! www.event-tyres.co.uk
very happy with their performance and i'll use them again when the rears need doing ooeerrrr

[theaxe]

In anticipation of questions like this I've created a tyres info page on TVR Chimaera Pages. At the moment the information is just what I've extracted from PH but if you have any more details / experiences to share please let me know.

I'll add a link to Event Tyres...

[Al Up North]

rbryant said:

Hi guys, time for a new set of tyres so I wonder if some of you will give me the benefit of your experience.

I have the standard 15" fronts with 205/55 and 16" rears with 225/50s on a 1999 Chim 450 (with power steering)

Had a set of Bridgestone SO2s on when I bought it and I changed them for SO3s which I have liked and have lasted pretty well, good wet grip.

Choice now seems to be Toyos, but not available in the right speed rating, or Dunlop SP9000 which seem to be the only Z rated tyre for the fronts.

I don't want to change sizes, drive the car everyday so I am inclined to go for the Dunlops. Any comments or alternative suggestions?

The Dunlops are excelent! Some folks rekon the compound is too hard for the light weight of the chim! Boooolshit!! I've had so3s nd eagle f1s....the sp9000s are the muts nuts!!

Thanks

[gavstar]

What are the opinions on tyre width? Mine has 225/45 on the front and 245/45 on the rear, yet my mate has 205/50 and 225/50 - both on 15"/16". His is a 98R 450 and mine is a 96P 400. How will our respective tyre sizes affect handling etc?

[zippee]

If you can still find them the Eagle F1 GSD2s are a very good tyre for the front. O manageged to pick 2 up last month for £50 each from valuetyres.co.uk
On the rear I'm running Falken FK451s which are a fantastic tyre, they just don't make them in the 15".

[chim666]

Toyos: have a word with your insurer to see if they're happy with you fitting V-rated tyres...I did (Mannings) and now have Proxes T1-Rs all round.

[argoose]

I have just completed 1500 miles on my new set of Bridgestone Potenza RE050 Z rated Tyres Front 17 inch 215/40 Back 17 inch 245/40.

They are sitting on new Revolution Millenium wheels Front 7.5x17 and Back 8.0x17.

I don’t get any tram lining and the car handles so much better than before.

Have not push the car to the limit but have been close on a couple of occasion and was surprised at how well it handled.

Decided on Bridgestone because of durability of the tyres and its all round performance couple of friends have gone for Toyo and loved the performance but didn’t love the speed in which tyre need to be replaced and I simple can’t afford to replace tyres every year.

[IM]

argoose said:

Have not push the car to the limit but have been close on a couple of occasion

Er...How close???

Would I ?

[cossie.]

A few more responses here:

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=276877&f=8&h=0

[shorty123]

I have just bought new wheels, i have spec'ed Bridgestone RE 040 (front) and RE 050 (rear)
Had to have different models due to wheel choice
(16" compomotive MO 6 spoke on the front and 17" Compomotive MO 6 spoke on the rear)
Will let you know, the tread is very similar on each.

[SpudMurphy]

I had the SO3's on my Chimp since I bought it 9 months ago and was never really happy with the handling/grip in the dry (felt very average) and found that it was horribly unpredictable in the wet - limited experience but small changes in road surface (mostly dry/slightly damp/wet/raining) produced quite unexpected, sudden and very variable changes in grip at either end. Even a simple lane change on a dual carriageway could invoke an unexpected, palpitation-inducing response.

The tyres were only half worn but I chucked them in favour of Dunlop SP9000 all round - what an improvement!!

Dry grip, feel and handling response much better. Wet grip, once I had about 500 miles on them, is now much more predictable and I now feel back in control again - quite a nice feeling in a Chimp. Don't have experience with TOYO's, Eagle's etc but I am happy with the Dunlops.

[Nick_Chim]

gavstar said:

What are the opinions on tyre width? Mine has 225/45 on the front and 245/45 on the rear, yet my mate has 205/50 and 225/50 - both on 15"/16". His is a 98R 450 and mine is a 96P 400. How will our respective tyre sizes affect handling etc?

There were a number of different profiles fitted during the production life, seemingly depending on PAS fit, engine size, wheels fitted (5-spoke or 7-spoke), but mostly on what was available from suppliers / at the factory at the time...

Having surveyed 100 chims at BNG last year, most are:
Front 205/55 R15 + Rear 225/50 R16

My '99 450 (on 500 wheels), together with many later 500s has
Front 225/50 R15 + Rear 245/45 R16

Some have 16s all around, some non-PAS have a different front, and some earlier cars had
Front 205/60 R15 + Rear 225/55 R16

Have also heard of early cars:
4 litre Front 205/60 + Rear 225/50
5 litre non-PAS with 205/55 and 235/50
5 litre PAS 215/50 and 235/50

Pays your money and takes your chance - I just know that the 225/245 combo on 7-spoke estorils (and W-rated Toyo rubber) works for me....

[mackempete]

Nick_Chim said:

Have also heard of early cars:
4 litre Front 205/60 + Rear 225/50

Yeah mine has 205/60's fitted to the front. I assumed that they had been fitted in error. I ordered some new tyres yesterday but i ordered 205/55's. Will this make a difference or cause any problems?

[jason1788]

No problem with the profile reduction. My 93 should have 60 front 55 rear according to the handbook, but later cars all use 55/50. I've just fitted 55/50 and have no problems. In theory you get approx 10mm lowering (which is nice), but this has a small effect on final drive gearing and speedo reading but no more than 1 or 2 mph at 70 according to my GPS. I guess my 50 profile rears with tread are close enough to bald 55's!

[jason1788]

On this subject, I promised to plug etyres.com who fitted my new tyres on my drive a few weeks ago. The bloke was a Top Chap who took more care of my refurbed rims than I would have, with soft covered tools etc. We chatted about cars for an hour after he finished and probably would have broken some beers out if he hadn't got another job to go to. Use etyres, demand Oliver!

[mackempete]

Yeah I've heard good things about etyres from a mate in manchester.

So the smaller profile wont affect the suspension geo thats just been setup?

[ratbane]

My Chimy 400 has Bridgestone Potenza 225/50/16 ZR SO2 Pole Positions on the back, which need replacing. The 202/55/15's on the front have loads of life left.

Several outlets are advertising Bridgestone Potenza 225/50/16 ZR SO2 N3 at good rates (£90 to £105 fitted). Are they the same tyres? as I understood they were no longer available!

[Simple]

I had exactly the same question regarding the S02s, so if anyone knows the answer?

[Nick_Chim]

IIRC the N3 is a Porsche-specific tyre and is not the same/suitable. Anyone able to confirm?