Tyres- What do we do now?
Discussion
Hi All
Having done a search online, it seems that the tyre choices for us Griff drivers are drying up.
The only options seems to be:
- R888
- Toyo T1-R (still available?)
- Nexen 94W
- Kumho V70A
- Hankook RS2
Are there no premium brand tyres left?
Is the only option to get bigger wheels...I hope not!
PS- I'm on Estorils
Having done a search online, it seems that the tyre choices for us Griff drivers are drying up.
The only options seems to be:
- R888
- Toyo T1-R (still available?)
- Nexen 94W
- Kumho V70A
- Hankook RS2
Are there no premium brand tyres left?
Is the only option to get bigger wheels...I hope not!
PS- I'm on Estorils
Edited by SamPet on Monday 14th September 15:28
Have SP9000s on the front (still available here) and Vredestein Ultracs (just discontinued) on the rear (225/55/16; early Chim) - the most suitable replacement for the rears at the moment seems to be Dunlop Sport Maxx TT - which is the route I'll be taking.
888s? Methinks there's enough Tivs being written off when hitting standing water on motorways as it is...
888s? Methinks there's enough Tivs being written off when hitting standing water on motorways as it is...
Edited by 900T-R on Wednesday 16th September 18:13
900T-R said:
Have SP9000s on the front (still available here) and Vredestein Ultracs (just discontinued) on the rear (225/55/16; early Chim) - the most suitable replacement for the rears at the moment seems to be Dunlop Sport Maxx TT - which is the route I'll be taking.
888s? Methinks there's enough Tivs being written off when hitting standing water on motorways as it is...
I would bet that the majority of TVR's that have aquaplaned are due to not backing off the speed and tread depth less than 4mm. 888's fine in heavy rain if respected. Although the legal limit is around 1.6? mm tread, tyres on light weight cars should be changed at <4mm if they are used in the wet IMO. It took me 4 years to pluck up the courage to fit 888's. Would now only change back to T1-R's for the cold winter.888s? Methinks there's enough Tivs being written off when hitting standing water on motorways as it is...
Edited by 900T-R on Wednesday 16th September 18:13
I don't think tread depth has that much effect on the standing water problem, speed, changes of momentum &or direction seem to be the main contributions to the calamity? You can still get into trouble with 10mm winter tyres in the stuff I reckon. On the other side of the coin something like R888's may get you out of a lot of scary circumstances in other road conditions, as grip & braking distances are greatly improved?
spend said:
I don't think tread depth has that much effect on the standing water problem, speed, changes of momentum &or direction seem to be the main contributions to the calamity? You can still get into trouble with 10mm winter tyres in the stuff I reckon.
Dont disagree, but if you are driving sensibly and you have good tread on the tyres and one side of the car hits 5-10mm of puddle then all will be well with good tyres. T1R's hardly casue a twitch. With 888's you have to be ready! spend said:
On the other side of the coin something like R888's may get you out of a lot of scary circumstances in other road conditions, as grip & braking distances are greatly improved?
Definately. Braking especially.5.0ltr said:
From the 888 area of Toyos website.
Caution: Careful attention is required in wet conditions due to limited aquaplaning capabilities. As this tyre is designed and produced with competition compounds, no warranty is implied or given.
Disclaimers Caution: Careful attention is required in wet conditions due to limited aquaplaning capabilities. As this tyre is designed and produced with competition compounds, no warranty is implied or given.
888's are amazing in the wet. Keep heat in the tyres and the grip is amazing. If you see spray comming off the tyres on the car in front then reduce your speed. Just been to Wales and it was raining all the way along the M4. Did 50mph when lots of surface water and 60-70 when just wet.
At the end of the day the decision comes down to how serious you are about wanting extra grip. Slowing down in bad conditions is just a minor inconvenience to me when the tyres aid the cars ability to lap a slow twisty race circuit as quick as a supercharged Exige
I just think you need to try and take these things in context, TVR's are light weight with fat tyres and huge contact patches.. Reproducing warnings for generic car fitment is all well & good, but IMHO they actually apply to absolutely any tyre on the TVR.
I would hope that most TVR drivers know by now to take much more care in heavy wet conditions, rather than the Beemer style 'I am invincible' can't care less attitude
Hell I can even feel standing water in my LR, but it certainly doesn't scare me like the TVR
Whatever the conditions and capabilities of your car (+driver) sets how quickly you can progress.. but I stand by my original statement hitting a river of water across the motorway at night (within legal speeds) is capable of giving you a sphincter moment whatever tyres you have on.. This is certainly an area where as much warning to the uninitiated is never enough, and even with the most observant you can occasionally hit these situations with not enough warning..
I would hope that most TVR drivers know by now to take much more care in heavy wet conditions, rather than the Beemer style 'I am invincible' can't care less attitude
Hell I can even feel standing water in my LR, but it certainly doesn't scare me like the TVR Whatever the conditions and capabilities of your car (+driver) sets how quickly you can progress.. but I stand by my original statement hitting a river of water across the motorway at night (within legal speeds) is capable of giving you a sphincter moment whatever tyres you have on.. This is certainly an area where as much warning to the uninitiated is never enough, and even with the most observant you can occasionally hit these situations with not enough warning..
Chimjunkie said:
888's are amazing in the wet. Keep heat in the tyres and the grip is amazing.
Yeah, that's what I'm going to do next time I'm on the motorway to catch a Eurotunnel crossing in Calais around 3 am in November and it's pissing it down - keep heat in the tyres instead of pootling around and hoping not to go too quickly when I hit that puddle. 
Seriously - the R1Rs, which are vastly better in this regard, very noticably aquaplaned in these conditions and while I found that acceptably easy to handle in a middleweight, FWD saloon car on 205s it could prove a bit of a b*gg*r in a lightweight front engined RWD car on 225 or wider rubber...
That bit of macho posturing still doesn't explain how the heck you are going to keep heat in the tyres under the sort of conditions that is the most likely to aquaplane off the road.
Or do you mean 'sunny Sunday afternoon posers' instead of 'hardcore drivers' (and in the latter case wouldn't you be better off in an R500 to start with)?
Or do you mean 'sunny Sunday afternoon posers' instead of 'hardcore drivers' (and in the latter case wouldn't you be better off in an R500 to start with)?
Chimjunkie said:
Would now only change back to T1-R's for the cold winter.
Chimjunkie said:
888's are amazing in the wet. Keep heat in the tyres and the grip is amazing. If you see spray comming off the tyres on the car in front then reduce your speed. Just been to Wales and it was raining all the way along the M4. Did 50mph when lots of surface water and 60-70 when just wet.
At the end of the day the decision comes down to how serious you are about wanting extra grip. Slowing down in bad conditions is just a minor inconvenience to me when the tyres aid the cars ability to lap a slow twisty race circuit as quick as a supercharged Exige
Reposted above.At the end of the day the decision comes down to how serious you are about wanting extra grip. Slowing down in bad conditions is just a minor inconvenience to me when the tyres aid the cars ability to lap a slow twisty race circuit as quick as a supercharged Exige
Cant see where you are coming from 900T-R?
Why would you speed up to get extra heat in the tyres if there is surface water and i have already suggested above you would slow down? they are very good in the wet. Not in the very wet where water is standing on the surface and the tyres need to clear it out of the way. But if the road is just wet, i.e no spray coming off tyres of cars in front then all is ok.
IMO
Chimjunkie said:
Pistonheads just crashed. Cant be arsed to retype my long reply.
Summary:
Hardcore drivers buy 888's you will never go back.
Fair weather drivers stick to the safe options
I'm sure you meant that with tongue firmly in cheek ?Summary:
Hardcore drivers buy 888's you will never go back.
Fair weather drivers stick to the safe options
I do 10k miles a yr in all weather conditions and have 130k miles under my belt in 2 TVR's. I've just come back from 15 days and 3740 miles throughout the Alps in all conditions and have done plenty of track days. Perhaps I'm not the hardcore driver you suggest, but I wouldn't put 888's on my car for road use ever.
Last year with over 5mm of tread on my Toyo T1's I hit standing water on the M4 doing 50mph in torrential rain. The Griffith aquaplaned and i only just managed to keep it from spinning completely and ended up at 9:15am in heavy traffic stuck against the central reservation pointing the wrong way with the passenger side fecked having slid along it. The very next day I left for 2800 miles hooning through France, in the same car.
My point being that 888's in standing water are not as capable as other tread pattern tyres of shifting that water. I have done thousands of miles in torrential rain in both my TVR's with no issue and yet I was still caught out completely and I think i know what I'm doing with it. I had slowed approriate to the conditions and once it went there was pretty much nothing I could do. I had no chance to avoid the water, I had no where to go and once it's sliding and you're already pointing the wrong direction and wheels aren't touching the floor your going to be better than good to get it back. Once I hit the reservation I managed to keep it there rather than rolling into the fast lane which I'd just slid across. Scary, you better believe it.
As for hardcore TVR drivers, as I said, I believe it must have been said tongue in cheek as ascending Gavia and Stelvio 10 days ago in pouring rain and low cloud cover I'd consider that a little more adventurous than your average 3k dry summer miles a year TVR driver. The Griffith is currently averaging 10k a yr for the 6yrs I've had it and I would not have 888's on it for road use.
On this years tour I took 3mm+ of tread off the rears of my Toyo's and I doubt very much that 888's would have got all the way round. So in compelte deference to your point, hardcore TVR drivers are those that do enough miles to know that they don't want to have to be changing their tyres every 3k miles and avoiding puddles cos they actually drive their cars througout the year and whatever conditions they're greeted with.
Those that drive them regularly, in a bit of wet, and feel confident enough in their abilities may wish to try 888's, I wouldn't, even as confident in my abilities as I am, which took a huge knock when I could have been involved in a motorway pile up. As although i was doing 50mph, those around me were certainly not and I was nearly wiped twice as I sat there wondering what the feck I was going to do as Audi's appeared out of the gloom in front of me doing 80+mph and dodging me at the last second.
One of the many reason I love my Griffith so much is that when I asked it to start, and get me the f
k off the reservation and across to the hard shoulder without complaint or incident she did just that. She then carried my ass safely around the hoon the next 7 days very very quickly (video's on the Griffith Pages) . . . what a car 
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