Tyres on TVR's
Discussion
Just fitted my second set. I used SO2pp's originally and didn't like the messages I was getting about SO3pp's so I took the plunge and changed to Toyo. They are ridiculously cheap considering their performance. I found that there were two issues.
Firstly they suffer from tread contamination during manufacture. There is a slip agent used to help them out of the mould, this lubricant stays in the surface of the tyre for a while causing the tyres to perform poorly in the wet for the first 500 - 1000 miles. There is a way around this. The problem is made worse by the wrappings the manufacturers put on them. If you purchase them before you need them you can take the wrappings off and leave them to bake in the sun or in a warm room or greenhouse (This is advice given to me by Toyo). After a month it is expected that the lubricant will have evaporated. Some have suggested driving them hard to heat them up but Toyo advised me that this might drive the lubricant in to the tread rather than out of it. I suggest you buy and bake to get past this or just fit them and drive with care for the first 500 miles.
The second issue is that they have less rigidity in the sidewalls. This can be compensated for by increasing the tyre pressure. Anything from 2 to 5 PSI more depending on how the car feels to you.
This done IMO they are better all round than the SO2pp
Firstly they suffer from tread contamination during manufacture. There is a slip agent used to help them out of the mould, this lubricant stays in the surface of the tyre for a while causing the tyres to perform poorly in the wet for the first 500 - 1000 miles. There is a way around this. The problem is made worse by the wrappings the manufacturers put on them. If you purchase them before you need them you can take the wrappings off and leave them to bake in the sun or in a warm room or greenhouse (This is advice given to me by Toyo). After a month it is expected that the lubricant will have evaporated. Some have suggested driving them hard to heat them up but Toyo advised me that this might drive the lubricant in to the tread rather than out of it. I suggest you buy and bake to get past this or just fit them and drive with care for the first 500 miles.
The second issue is that they have less rigidity in the sidewalls. This can be compensated for by increasing the tyre pressure. Anything from 2 to 5 PSI more depending on how the car feels to you.
This done IMO they are better all round than the SO2pp
I have SO2's on my Cerbera and they are fine.
However, they are ready for a change soon, and I have been reliably informed by those in the know that it is somewhat pointless to get some of the well known, more expensive tyres on TVRs, because they are light cars and as such do not need tyres which can go on heavy motors such as BMW's etc etc. Lesser known but equally good quality tyres are apparently just as good if not better, and cheaper
However, they are ready for a change soon, and I have been reliably informed by those in the know that it is somewhat pointless to get some of the well known, more expensive tyres on TVRs, because they are light cars and as such do not need tyres which can go on heavy motors such as BMW's etc etc. Lesser known but equally good quality tyres are apparently just as good if not better, and cheaper
gbbird said:
Lesser known but equally good quality tyres are apparently just as good if not better, and cheaper
I've just been loaned a set of wheels for my chim with Kumho's on and they are miles better than my SO3's. I'm seriously considering these,I don't do track days so don't know what they would perform like there but for me they could be the answer
Falken 451 seem to be excellent VFM, and handle well on track, but my findings have been that they get hot very quickly and as a consequence 'go off' after just a few laps. Born out by a day at Brands that saw a noticable lack of grip after just 6 laps of the short circuit. But for the money you can't complain.
Tim
Tim
cerby4.5 said:
I recently had Goodyear Eagle F1's fitted on the Cerbera. Much better all round tyres in the wet and dry, good compromise between grip and wear rate, and also better value than Bridgestones/Toyos etc. Highly recommended!
Cerby4.5
Cerby4.5
That's interesting. I switched from Goodyear F1s to T1-Rs and noticed quite a bit of difference to traction. I had no real complaints about the F1s (I got a lot of mileage out of them too).
The T1-Rs kind of defy belief on every level. I always dismissed them as not a proper tyre (price snob
). I was amazed by the dry performance so figured they MUST surely be sh1t in the wet. Far from it! I then figured they must be fast-wearing but despite repeated smokey donuts, rolling burnouts, airfield trackdays and (so far) 6000 miles the damned things are STILL in good condition. The comment above about the release agent (or whatever) is absolutely the case - tread (sic) carefully to begin with! Also, the soft tyre wall, as mentioned, helps ride on 18"-shod cars too, so anyone comtemplating a 16 or 17 conversions to 18s, T1-Rs are good choice to retain the kind of ride you're used to (worked on my 4.5!).
Im probably going to put dunlop d01j or do2j's on the chim when its back on the road... Just have to be very carefull in the wet, as dont like standing water...
they are a road legal race tyre but should be ok for the miles it does these days... I wouldnt have run them when it was a company car !!!
they are a road legal race tyre but should be ok for the miles it does these days... I wouldnt have run them when it was a company car !!!
BossCerbera said:
cerby4.5 said:
I recently had Goodyear Eagle F1's fitted on the Cerbera. Much better all round tyres in the wet and dry, good compromise between grip and wear rate, and also better value than Bridgestones/Toyos etc. Highly recommended!
Cerby4.5
Cerby4.5
That's interesting. I switched from Goodyear F1s to T1-Rs and noticed quite a bit of difference to traction. I had no real complaints about the F1s (I got a lot of mileage out of them too).
The T1-Rs kind of defy belief on every level. I always dismissed them as not a proper tyre (price snob
). I was amazed by the dry performance so figured they MUST surely be sh1t in the wet. Far from it! I then figured they must be fast-wearing but despite repeated smokey donuts, rolling burnouts, airfield trackdays and (so far) 6000 miles the damned things are STILL in good condition. The comment above about the release agent (or whatever) is absolutely the case - tread (sic) carefully to begin with! Also, the soft tyre wall, as mentioned, helps ride on 18"-shod cars too, so anyone comtemplating a 16 or 17 conversions to 18s, T1-Rs are good choice to retain the kind of ride you're used to (worked on my 4.5!).
I'm with Phil on this one, always went for the best tyres (or best name) in the past, I stuck some Toyos on my 500 and for the first 1,000 miles I thought no, these really are shite then all of a sudden they went off and I have to say they are just about the best tyre I have ever driven on in anger - superb!
tvrbob said:
some sensible stuff IMHO
In another thread someone is advocating driving the car hard to continue curing the tyres. I had a word with someone who worked in the rubber industry for 40 odd years and he claims that the advice from Toyo is spot on and he is not at all convinced by this 'continuing the curing' mularkey. however any body know better?
Maybe should have posted this on the other thread DOH!!
Edited by ray_von on Thursday 14th September 09:22
i have the T-1r's and there great, cant compare coz iv always had the toyo's s range before though, a few weeks back at knockhill there was nothing coming close, amasing grip in wet, people asking what tyres i was using because they couldnt keep up in there 4wd cars or cough cough supercharged chimeras, lotus's etc
the couple of times iv been there in the dry iv spun it twice both times, that time in the wet i didnt even go sideways once! and was giving it some i have to admit.
the couple of times iv been there in the dry iv spun it twice both times, that time in the wet i didnt even go sideways once! and was giving it some i have to admit.
yep, new toyo's all round and they do seem good, not really had any negative issues in the wet either...
went for those initially on recommendation and the fact i couldnt find a set of anything else that fitted in the right sizes.
cheaper than the alternatives and seem to be performing very well...
good grip, fairly quiet, seem to have marginally helped with tramlining, definitely a thumbs up...
went for those initially on recommendation and the fact i couldnt find a set of anything else that fitted in the right sizes.
cheaper than the alternatives and seem to be performing very well...
good grip, fairly quiet, seem to have marginally helped with tramlining, definitely a thumbs up...
TT Tim said:
Falken 451 seem to be excellent VFM, and handle well on track, but my findings have been that they get hot very quickly and as a consequence 'go off' after just a few laps. Born out by a day at Brands that saw a noticable lack of grip after just 6 laps of the short circuit. But for the money you can't complain.
Tim
Tim
Chris063 had Falkens on his until they went off and he ended up with one well bent car. Before that he did say they where good???
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