Track tyres

[theboyfold]

I'm sure there will be a few groans when they see a thread about track tyres, but I am looking for something a little different...
I'm in need of 195x15's and they need to be cheap!! I'm looking at about £40-£50 per corner and ideally they would be off the shelf and not too hard to get hold off.
Also, should you run tyres in a little before you head out on to the track or are they best fresh?

Cheers as ever!

[mmm-five]

If you want new competition tyres then both Colway and Maxsport do moulded slicks in your size for about £50 a corner.

Alternatively there are usually some part-worn competition tyres available on ebay or www.rallyusedparts.co.uk (i.e. 6 Silverstone tyres at £20 each).

If you just want some cheap road-legal tyres that you can abuse then there are plenty of cheap ones around.

[corsa kid]

the corsa does come with 8mm thats one advantage it has over the michelin cup which has between 5mm - 2 mm from new.
corsa works better in the wet but does have its limits.
because the Cup has a block type pattern it has a reduced tread depth to prevent block squirm.

[mmm-five]

corsa kid said:

the corsa does come with 8mm thats one advantage it has over the michelin cup which has between 5mm - 2 mm from new. corsa works better in the wet but does have its limits. because the Cup has a block type pattern it has a reduced tread depth to prevent block squirm.

Corsa Kid: I understand you are the motorsport 'expert' here, but according to everything I've found out from Pirelli Motorsport, the Corsa comes in two depths...6/32" (4.5mm) or shaved at about 3/32" (2.5mm).

Also I don't believe the Corsas are available at £40-50 a corner.

I'd be glad to be proven wrong, and will take 8 x 235/40/17 at £50 each if I am!

[chillidog]

corsa kid said:

the corsa does come with 8mm thats one advantage it has over the michelin cup which has between 5mm - 2 mm from new. corsa works better in the wet but does have its limits.

Er the Corsas basically aquaplane in standing water!

5mm is what I've had on the last 3 sets - Are you *really* sure 8mm is available? I'm talking about this spec:- http://gto3.com/faq/index.php?p=default&cat=28

Regards
--
Richard

[theboyfold]

HAs anybody here used Colway tyres www.colwaytyres.co.uk/ I've never heard of them but have had somebody flag them up for me.
They are retreads whatever that means?

[canam-tt]

try Ears Motorsport

Ive bought 2nd hand tyres from them before. A set of dunlop slicks cut into a good year pattern!

They were great and only £20 each

[heebeegeetee]

theboyfold said:

HAs anybody here used Colway tyres www.colwaytyres.co.uk/ I've never heard of them but have had somebody flag them up for me. They are retreads whatever that means?

Long post alert!

Yes, I've got wide experience of these tyres, and on the whole I think they're bloody brilliant. I buy them from an excellent chap called Les Twigg who operates from a village called Elton, in the heart of the Peak District. I have to travel 40 miles each way, which is a pain, but at least when I go there it is so nice in comparison to the normal tyre buying experience, where you have tp deal with such knuckle draggers. Plus its a really nice drive.

To save time, here is something I posted a year or so ago. Sorry it waffles on a bit, but it says what I think:

>>I've been using Colway remould tyres for some time now. I’ve been told in the past that I should be shot for using remould tyres. Fine, but what I would say, is that when I started historic road rallying, I suffered three sidewall punctures in the Dunlops I was using in a fairly short time.

That was about four years ago, and I’ve been using Colways since. Colway make a lot of tyres for the rally world, and for other forms of motorsport. It is the control tyre for the Porsche 924 championship and the Mazda MX5 championship. Colways are also the compulsory tyre to be used in the new endurance rally championship. ( www.siteset.co.uk/endurance/ )

Historic road rallying in the UK consists mainly of ‘regularity’ events, ie navigating your way about the countryside to an accurate average speed. The organisers then liven things up by running special tests throughout the day. These almost always involve a good thrash, through quarrys, private tracks, forestry roads, farm tracks etc., and this was how I trashed three Dunlops. Since, I’ve only ever used Colway road tyres; the rally ones have reinforced sidewalls, but also have very aggressive treads, perhaps not totally suitable for the road, I suspect. The road tyres I’ve used have been absolutely brilliant. I think the Colway remould tyres I’ve bought have been the best automotive product I’ve ever bought, in 25 years driving, and I’d have to think hard about what is the second best. I’ve done a few track days in my MGB on the Colways, and again, the tyres have been brilliant. At a poorly supported classic day at Castle Combe last year, I did 118 miles on the track. Absolutely flat out, and no, my car was by no means the slowest there!

They’re responsive too. I’ve found I can clearly tell when I’ve got differing tread depths on the front or rear pairs, which pair is where. When I did my first track day at Anglesey a couple of years ago, I found that putting the worn tyres on the front gave more front end grip over the rear, and hey presto! I had all the tail slide that I wanted. Put the deep treads on the front and you get the natural mild understeer which is best for the public roads. Probably be the opposite effect in the wet. They’re very responsive to tyre pressures as well - I can literally alter the hanling of my B by changing tyre pressures.

Where I really came to fall in love with my Colways was when I decided to give the modern night rallying a go. I bought a cheap MG Maestro 2.0 efi, (always a popular rally car in its day) tweaked it up a bit and fitted a brand new set of Colways in the standard size. £28 each, much dearer than the 70 profiles on the B.
There isn’t room here to tell you how good they’ve been. They’ve been on all year. They have been absolutely fan-bloody-tastic.

We did an event last February, in Derbyshire. When we got up onto the moors, we found this winter wonderland, all covered in deep snow. Now, c’mon guys, in honesty, when was the last time you had a damn good thrash in proper snow? I mean, for all night? Me? About 1977, when I put me dads brand new Cortina straight through a fence, trying to emulate Roger Clark after a few pints of lager. (You did things like that back then.)
The car, and the tyres, were brilliant. At one point, I’d passed three cars who had started at minute intervals in front of me, but two cars in between us had gone off, so the third car I passed had started 5 minutes before me. We had a great night. As novices, we start at the back, so all we had to do was follow the tracks in the snow. We were flying! We had one ‘moment’ on a downhill twisty bit, as I was struggling to discipline myself to keep all feet off the pedals (I de-clutched, and felt the grip go from under me. We went off the road, but as the road turned we got straight back on again. Amazing.)

We’ve done another half-a-dozen events since. We’ve driven on ice, mud, slurry, rain, you name it. We’ve clocked up a good few miles hammering down rough horrible farm tracks, where enormous pot holes suddenly loom up and BANG! You hit them before you can react. You wince, and think Jeeez! The rims must be bent. Then we find they are. Yep, we’ve had rims buckle, but no tyres burst as such. (Read on) Sometimes its like hitting a kerb, at 50mph.I don’t know how we’ve only had one puncture.

And that puncture was at 90 mph, on the way home from our last event two weeks ago, late at night on a deserted A38. We had been doing 110, but as we picked up a vibration, I started to slow down, and as we passed 90, a front let go. No problems, no dramas, the car remained absolutely straight, we just let it cruise to a halt, and changed it. In future, we’ll check the tyres before coming home. I must stress that the puncture was only due to the torture we’d put the tyres through.

I think Colway tyres are absolutely brilliant.<<

Since posting that, we’ve been doing a lot less tearing about, for various reasons, not least my navigator got a detached retina. That’s allowed us to find out more on longevity. On the B we reckon we won’t get 20k mikes from the fronts, about 25k miles from the rears. I guess there has to be a trade off against the price.

The best place to get them from, if you’re anywhere near Derbyshire, is www.cars.u-net.com/colway.htm their published prices are up to date.

And I've now had further experience of Colways. I put a set on for my trip to the nurburgring in the MX5 I now own. Discovered the Mazda had no grip in the wet, and was blaming the tyres. After all, I'd only paid £70 for a full set. (!) So I had to take much pisstaking 'cos I was the guy who bought remould tyres for the 'Ring, then found I had no wet grip. Must say though, that they were great in the dry.

Since then, I replaced the tyres with the Avon ZZ1's that my car came with. Ye Gods, its taught me that actually the Colways had a lot of grip, 'cos these Avons are absolutely atrocious. The wet grip on Colways was never an issue on the public road, just at the 'Ring. But these Avons have no grip anywhere. The wheel spin and do-nuts I can do in my standard car you wouldn't believe. If I keep my foot in, I can wheel spin in the wet in third!

However, the Colways had one other major issue on the MX5. Because they're a stiff tyre, they destroyed the ride quality of the Mazda. It might not be an issue on any other car, but I've discovered that the weight of the road wheels, and what tyre I'm using, makes a major difference to the MX5. That's why I've taken the Colways off and put the Avons back on. When they wear out I shall try Goodyear Eagle F1s.

But I do wholeheartedly recommend Colway tyres for track, rally or any competition use. They're as cheap as chips - too cheap, actually, I wish they'd put their prices up!

Can also add I know an experienced and wealthy car man who is currently succesful in road rallies. He is running his 400bhp Imprezza on Colways.

Thoroughly recommend them!

[theboyfold]

Thanks for the post, really useful. I'm now struggling to find anything that actually fits the wheel I have brought!!
Is it possible to put a 205 width tyre onto a wheel designed for 195 tyres?

www.tyresdirectuk.co.uk/xcar...3&cat=24&page=1

This is the tyre that has been flagged up for me.

[corsa kid]

mmm-five said:

corsa kid said: the corsa does come with 8mm thats one advantage it has over the michelin cup which has between 5mm - 2 mm from new. corsa works better in the wet but does have its limits. because the Cup has a block type pattern it has a reduced tread depth to prevent block squirm. Corsa Kid: I understand you are the motorsport 'expert' here, but according to everything I've found out from Pirelli Motorsport, the Corsa comes in two depths...6/32" (4.5mm) or shaved at about 3/32" (2.5mm). Also I don't believe the Corsas are available at £40-50 a corner. I'd be glad to be proven wrong, and will take 8 x 235/40/17 at £50 each if I am!

i wouldnt class my self as an expert
will check at work on monday regarding the tread depth but im 99.9% sure.
they have more tread then the michelin cup and that comes with 5mm as new thats why a lot of the guys with GT3 RS's have bought them
have never seen one thats been shaved
you guess right though they do cost slightly more then £50 a corner otherwise i would run them

[iguana]

theboyfold said:

Is it possible to put a 205 width tyre onto a wheel designed for 195 tyres?

What width is the wheel tho?

Ive run 205/50/15 on 6.5J with no probs tho 7j better, I don't think it would be a great idea to run 205 on 6j tho.

The tyre manufacturer should be able to advise tho.

>> Edited by iguana on Sunday 2nd October 21:31

[theboyfold]

iguana said:

theboyfold said: Is it possible to put a 205 width tyre onto a wheel designed for 195 tyres? What width is the wheel tho? Ive run 205/50/15 on 6.5J with no probs tho 7j better, I don't think it would be a great idea to run 205 on 6j tho. The tyre manufacturer should be able to advise tho. >> Edited by iguana on Sunday 2nd October 21:31

Have to check that one out, they are all wrapped up at the moment...

[Shaun_E]

Cheap tyre of the moment seems to be the Stunner Scudo - these are available in 195/50 15".
www.stunner.it/conf/pro_scheda.asp?L=3&sito=44&CPR_ID=132&CCA_ID=61&idmen=348

[corsa kid]

Shaun_E said:

Cheap tyre of the moment seems to be the Stunner Scudo - these are available in 195/50 15". www.stunner.it/conf/pro_scheda.asp?L=3&sito=44&CPR_ID=132&CCA_ID=61&idmen=348

drop me a line if interested in these

[theboyfold]

Anybody had any experience of Dunlop SP Sport 2000, I can get a set for £110 that are part worn. But they are 205's on a 6J wheel...


They I was thinking this was going to be easy!

[corsa kid]

theboyfold said:

Anybody had any experience of Dunlop SP Sport 2000, I can get a set for £110 that are part worn. But they are 205's on a 6J wheel... They I was thinking this was going to be easy!

good all round road tyre but as they are quite blocky in design you may suffer from blocksquirm if used on track which will make the car fell very twitchy.
6j a bit thin go for a 6.5j minimum.they will
fit on a 6j but they may look stretched and may cause prolems when cornering hard on a track i.e too much flex and rolling

[Joni_s]

corsa kid can you let me know what price you can do on the stunners? 195/50/15 or similar. cheers.

Also what are peoples experiences of these tyres in the wet? I've read good reviews about the tyres in general but a few dodgy ones about there performance in the wet.

Has anyone tryed the Marangoni Zeta Linea?

Edited by Joni_s on Tuesday 3rd July 09:20