MK3 tyres 205 to 215

[piston_pan]

Hi fellas,

Just acquired a 2.0 MK3 as my first car few weeks ago, thoroughly enjoying it until the other day I drove it on M8 and the rear end slightly drifted to one side whenever going across puddles (aquaplaning?). Checked the tyres and they are some unknown brands (one is "sunny" and the other i can't spell), so i'm in the market for some new tyres.

Live in Scotland and love visiting those ski ranges in the winter I've set my eyes on Michelin Crossclimate plus, but the closest size available is 215/45/17. A few forum posts suggest that they will fit perfectly fine, but can anyone share their view on how it changes the driving characteristics? And also would that void the insurance, as changing tyre profile might be considered a mod?

Thanks in advance and enjoy your wee car in the mean time

[Emmons]

I have 215/45/17 on mine, pilot sport 4’s. Far more grip and nope, you won’t void you’re insurance, but do let them know if you are the worrying type.

Might be worth an alignment check too, these cars can be very sensitive to the wrong set up.

[SmilerFTM]

Speedo is more accurate with the bigger tyres as well

[piston_pan]

thanks guys, I'll go ahead and order the new tyres

[Bertrum]

Miss matched tyres on the back of a Mk3 will give some 'odd' handling.

Mine would go left when I accelerated and right when I lifted off, new tyres cured it.

[piston_pan]

guys

Had a night time b-road driving few days ago, hit a pothole which broke my front left tyre. Got a road side tyre change service and now a cheap China made tyre (talent UHP? not much information on google) is on the front wheel.

I'm thinking about fitting a pair of quality tyres to the rear as planned, but for the front axial move one of the other unknown chinese branded tyre (relatively new) to my front right, any thought?

[SmilerFTM]

piston_pan said:

guys

Had a night time b-road driving few days ago, hit a pothole which broke my front left tyre. Got a road side tyre change service and now a cheap China made tyre (talent UHP? not much information on google) is on the front wheel.

I'm thinking about fitting a pair of quality tyres to the rear as planned, but for the front axial move one of the other unknown chinese branded tyre (relatively new) to my front right, any thought?

So what would you put on the front left? These are sensitive to tyres, you need matching pairs at the very least front and back. I wouldn't have mismatched tyres at the front or on the rear personally.

[piston_pan]

SmilerFTM said:

So what would you put on the front left? These are sensitive to tyres, you need matching pairs at the very least front and back. I wouldn't have mismatched tyres at the front or on the rear personally.

I mean, i kinda want to keep the newly fitted front left tyre, because it is perfectly fine for normal driving, it has a B rating for wet grip and i've driven it across puddles and didn't notice any sudden severe grip loss. Being stingy I don't want to dump this virtually new tyre!
The plan is picking one of the other tyres currenly on my MX5 to match this mysterious entity.