New tyre recommendations

[Rob13]

Ive used a pair of T1Rs on the front in about 11k miles which is pretty poor. They wear heavily on the outside of the tyre (nothing to do with alignment as it been done twice and approved by Tony at WIM).

I guess I must use the outside edge pretty heavily, so need to get a new pair for the front. Anyone got any experience with a good mid-range tyre? I dont want to pay F1 prices.

Anyone had experience with Maxxis or Avon?

[MX-5 Lazza]

F1 are only about £40 each and T1R are even less. You won't get better for the price and personally I wouldn't get worse. Why spend £100+ on alignment then scrimp on tyres?

What do you have on the rear?
What pressures were you running?

Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Tuesday 24th February 21:15

[Planet Claire]

MX-5 Lazza said:

F1 are only about £40 each and T1R are even less. You won't get better for the price and personally I wouldn't get worse. Why spend £100+ on alignment then scrimp on tyres?

What pressures were you running?

I've just paid £44 each for T1Rs (fitted), at Bracknell Tyre, so where do you know that sells them for less than that?! It seems that some garages are not stocking F1s and some of the online tyre companies were charging nearer to £60 (fitted) from the ones I found, which is why I've ended up with the Toyos.

I started off with the Mazda supplied Michelin Pilot Exaltos on mine and found them really good, probably be around the same price as the Toyos, but not sure if they still do them though.

[Rob13]

its on a Mk2.5 Sport so theyre 205/45 16W. The Toyo's are about £75 a corner. There are some real cheapos which Im not interested in but was looking more at the £50 a corner range. When I bought the car it had Federal 595s (Which I think are similar to Wanli's and are bloody noisy) so the Toyos have been the only tyre Ive tested.

I think I run about 26/27 psi (without checking manual).

Maxxis have a good rep in the off road and are up and coming in the bike scene. I just wondered if anyone had any experience with them.


Considering the amount of people with MX5s on here, there should be a host of information available!

[MX-5 Lazza]

T1R from Camskill in 195/50/15 - £29.31 each. I have to say it's very unusual for Bracknell Tyre & Battery not to be at least as cheap as Camskill but it is a special offer...

Camskill isn't listing F1 GSD3 in 195/50/15 so maybe they are being discontinued. I paid £38 each fitted at Bracknell T&B for 195/50/15 last time (probably about 8-10 months ago).

26/27 psi is possibly too low for Toyos. They are known for having fairly soft sidewalls. I'd run them between 28 & 30 psi.

Edited:

Sorry - T1R from Camskill in 205/45/16 - £55.49 each.

Paying for fit & balance should be about £20 or so.

Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Tuesday 24th February 22:33

[Matt Cyclone]

I've got a 2002 Sport, and about 3 months ago I got some Kumho's fitted, on the recommendation of the bloke who ran the tyre shop, to try and save some cash compared to F1's.

They seem good, progressive breakaway (on a private road of course!) and not too noisy. From memory they were about £70 a corner fitted and balanced. Not near the paper work so not sure of which model at the moment but it wouldn't be too hard to find out.

HTH

[snotrag]

Is 11k really that bad? I wouldnt say so, and certainly wouldnt be too upset by it.

Fuelsavers or Eco-tyres, then yes maybe, but for a relatively soft compound tyre that is know to work bloody well (about as good as you'll get without going to R888's etc) for general road use, I dont think 11k is too bad.

Certainly on a car that likely sees some 'spirited' driving.

[Howard-]

If I get 11k out of my F1s the way it gets driven, that suits me

[Rob13]

I wouldnt mind if all my driving was spirited on country roads, but I would say that 90% of it was dual carriageway monotony. I guess im probably driving the wrong car for the daily grind but that 10% is actually good fun.

I just dont like the T1Rs. They always feel under inflated when cornering. I have tried them from 26psi right up to top end of the 30s and have never found them any better.

[hornetrider]

Whatever you do don't buy Avon ZV3s - they are shockingly bad. Driving in the wet its like taking your life in your hands. Avoid!

[GravelBen]

Bought a second-hand set of 15" wheels, 2 of the tyres are kingstars and seem to be somewhat slippery when wet...so I put them on the back

[MX-5 Lazza]

GravelBen said:

Bought a second-hand set of 15" wheels, 2 of the tyres are kingstars and seem to be somewhat slippery when wet...so I put them on the back

That's fine for driving gods who know how to handle an oversteering monster but 99.99% of drivers should have the best tyres at the rear.

[Munter]

I went to Dunlop "SP Sport Fast Response". They seem to be pretty good. But I'll know more after tomorrow when they hit the track...

[MX-5 Lazza]

I haven't heard anything about them so it'll be interesting to see what you think of them.
For fairness reasons, what do you have to compare them to?

[Munter]

MX-5 Lazza said:

I haven't heard anything about them so it'll be interesting to see what you think of them.
For fairness reasons, what do you have to compare them to?

Last year in March I did the same track (Bedford GT) on F1 GSD2. BUT the car has had significant changes to suspention since then so it's not 100% fair test. But it'll be interesting to see what my changes (and the tyres) have made to my experiance.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Are you on 14" wheels?

[Munter]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Are you on 14" wheels?

Yep. 185/60/14. Nice and light.... err... possibly.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Munter said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

Are you on 14" wheels?

Yep. 185/60/14. Nice and light.... err... possibly.

Ah, so you are a little more limited in your choice of rubber. A move to 15" gives a much bigger choice and very little difference in weight if you choose carefully. You can get R888 in 14" though

[Munter]

Just got back from abusing the Dunlops. We are impressed with the dry grip. I'd say they were just as good as the Goodyears (GSD2) I had last year. Breaking points all the same, and I was going faster through the high speed corners but I'm putting that down to more experiance and improved suspention.

[skinny]

the dunny's get the highest ratings on mytyres