Help with MR2 Tyres

[johnnyboy666]

Hi guys, I'm asking for a bit of help on behalf of my Mum. So be Nice!

My Mum has a mk3 MR2 and we need some help on what tyres to get. The standard fit Bridgestone Potenza RE040s are no longer made in the right size so we need to look at something else. The 2 tyres we are torn between are the Toyo T1R and the Kuhmo Ecsta KU31. Both seem to get great reviews from what we have seen so far but has anyone here had any expereince of them on an MR2 mk3 or at least on a similar car?

Thanks in Advance!

John

[RobCrezz]

Falken 452s if you can get them in the right size. Well priced and have good grip. Better than Toyo T1Rs on the back of my mr2.

Try camskill.co.uk

Edited by RobCrezz on Monday 20th July 12:19

[johnnyboy666]

Unfortunately they don't come in the right sizes. They are the original 15" wheels.

[Wadeski]

I've got the Toyos on a mk2 turbo and they are very good.

[Marf]

Yep the T1R's are a pretty good tire in both dry and wet conditions, they do wear a bit quickly though.

Wadeski, good to meet you on Saturday

[MikeyMike]

RobCrezz said:

Falken 452s if you can get them in the right size. Well priced and have good grip. Better than Toyo T1Rs on the back of my mr2.

Try camskill.co.uk

Edited by RobCrezz on Monday 20th July 12:19

Sorry to hijack the thread but Rob how are you finding the wear on your 452s? I've got a set on the rear of my tubby and I reckon they've only lasted about 8,000 miles of mostly motorway and A-Road driving.

[RobCrezz]

MikeyMike said:

RobCrezz said:

Falken 452s if you can get them in the right size. Well priced and have good grip. Better than Toyo T1Rs on the back of my mr2.

Try camskill.co.uk

Edited by RobCrezz on Monday 20th July 12:19

Sorry to hijack the thread but Rob how are you finding the wear on your 452s? I've got a set on the rear of my tubby and I reckon they've only lasted about 8,000 miles of mostly motorway and A-Road driving.

Not doing too bad, but I dont drive it every day, but I sometimes do run what you brung days, so they get some abuse then. And the T1Rs were already half worn when I bought the car, so I dont know if the wear is any better - However they feel like they have much more grip and traction than the Toyos. On really cold days I could spin them at 60mph in 3rd (at 1.2bar)!

8000 on motorway and A road driving isnt great though, and would suggest that your geometry is out. Wearing out on the inside? or middle and outside? The inside should wear out first due to the negative camber, but maybe it isnt set right.

[Lotus Nick]

Hi Mate

My wife has an MR2 Mk3, we searched for tyres available in the standard sizes 185/55/15 & 205/50/15) with the original alloys and could not find anything suitable. We therefore decided to increase the alloys to 16" all round and fit 195/45/16 front and 215/40/16 rear Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres. The rolling radius isn't significantly changed and the wider tyres provide additional grip, I've always been a fan of the Eagle F1s and find that they work well on the MR2 Mk3 - their party piece is wet weather driving at which they excel. The original alloys were corroding so that also influenced the decision - the alloys we chose we Dezent A.

Hope this helps.

[Red Devil]

Lotus Nick said:

Hi Mate

My wife has an MR2 Mk3, we searched for tyres available in the standard sizes 185/55/15 & 205/50/15) with the original alloys and could not find anything suitable. We therefore decided to increase the alloys to 16" all round and fit 195/45/16 front and 215/40/16 rear Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres. The rolling radius isn't significantly changed and the wider tyres provide additional grip, I've always been a fan of the Eagle F1s and find that they work well on the MR2 Mk3 - their party piece is wet weather driving at which they excel. The original alloys were corroding so that also influenced the decision - the alloys we chose we Dezent A.

Hope this helps.

+1
And not just on Mk3s. I have F1s on my Mk2 Rev 3 turbo. Easily the best wet weather tyre out there which is when it really matters.
You have to be driving like a complete to exceed the performance envelope of most tyres when it's dry.

[bossman23780]

johnnyboy666 said:

Unfortunately they don't come in the right sizes. They are the original 15" wheels.

I was going to say if you can get a pair of the 16" alloys for the rear then the RE 040'S are still an option for you.
But if you stick with 15's alround then i would get the T1-R's, they seem to be a favourite with MK3 owners ... but from memory i think for the first couple of hundred miles i think you need to take it easy as they have an agent of some kind of the rubber that gets scrubbed off after x amount of miles, so the grip may not be great to start with.

[johnnyboy666]

Well Thanks for all of the replies guys. I think we will give the T1Rs ago. I had them on the front of a rover 216 and they were pretty good but obviously an MR2 is a different animal altogether. Thanks for your help!

[johnnyboy666]

Hi guys, need some further advice I'm afraid! After having put some new Toyos on the rear of car they appear to have turned it into a death trap. The back of the car (regardless of pressures) seems to roll all over the place. I can't really describe it much better than that. On any sharp lane changes the back snakes about in a rather scary manner, not unlike towing a caravan!

My mum went to the mr2roc forum for some help only to be met by some pretty nasty people wishing that she finds herself in a ditch soon! Seems to be a pretty unsavoury place where a group of what appear to be 13 year old bullies just find excuses to be nasty to people. Through out this unpleasentness it was suggested that we had to change all the tyres at the same time. Surely changing the front tyres to match with the back wont make the rear tyres better? I can't see how having the same tyres all round can be vital as lots of my previous cars have had good quality, yet different tyres front and back with out issue. Of course if we change, what could we change to? As you can see I myself an slightly confused so any MR2 owners out there have any ideas?


John

[Marf]

Like the Falkens they do take a couple of hundred miles to be at their best. Also what tyre pressures are you running?

[johnnyboy666]

Hi Marf,

They have had about 350 miles in them giving them a chance to bed in. We tried them at stock 32psi all the way up to 40psi. The higher pressure was fractionally better but still pretty bad.


John

[bossman23780]

The Toyo's do seem to need breaking in as i mentioned previously although i've never used them personally. I believe aswell that the sidewalls can be a bit soft from memory so that wont help and thats probably why the car felt more stable with the extra PSI but i do believe it is down to the mixture of tyres that are just working different to the fronts, so basically giving different types and amount of grip combined with the RWD effest and back end weight, so going round corners i bet is making the car feel twitchy ... i know its going to mean spending more and giving the fronts abit of time the break in but it will be worth it ..

[GravelBen]

T1Rs do have a reputation for soft sidewalls, as do the Chinese-made Eagle F1 to a lesser degree (but apparently German-made F1 are better). I've recently replaced a couple of the Eagle F1s on the GTB with Bridgestone RE001 and been quite impressed.

PS if the rear feels that bad I expect putting the same tyres on the front even things out will just make both ends feel bad.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 10th August 01:49

[sherman]

I use T1-r's all round on my rx8 and the rears seem to be quite quick wearing but apart from that they are a lot less twitchy than the bridgestones that were on it previously . I do run 225/45/18 at 32psi so the side walls are not that large in comparison to the rest of the tyre.

[BIGYIN1314]

Like most have said the Toyo's need a 'bedding in time'. I've got them on my Rev 3 Turbo, and the first 300 miles or so were a bit hairy, but now they are fantastic, lots of MR2 owners swear by them. My mate has a MK3, and he runs 452's and loves them, so if you really cant get on with the toyos's, they may be an option for you, that being said, you'll still need that 'bedding in' period. Just stick with it mate, you wont be dissapointed

As for the MR2OC, i'm surprised that they would treat anyone like that, i've been a member for a while and found them to be a great bunch of ppl.

[johnnyboy666]

I can see the merit in having both front and rear tyres the same, yet I can't really see it transforming the car from being currently awful to being great. GravelBen, my thoughts exactly. Surely I would just be making the front as bad as the back? Just to clarify, the tyres are not lacking in grip levels at all, they just feel like you are driving on flat tyres. It wasn't the mr2oc forum, it was the mr2roc.org forum.

[Marf]

I think unless you have semi slicks on the rear and ditch finders on the front, any effect from having different tires front and rear will be negligible.

I have Advan Neova AD78 on the rear(treadwear rating 180) and Falken 452 on the front (treadwear rating 300) and there are no negative effects on my MR2