Tyres

[Craig]

Right, looking to get some new tyres for the winter to change the runflats off the S Spokes I have. i would keep the runflats, but when I got the car, it veered all over the road under acceleration, however with my 18's on and std tyres, no such problem.:confused: So std tyres it is now... ;)

Having looked at the t'internet there seems to be about £10 per tyre difference between 205/45/17 and 215/45/17 (the latter being cheaper). Has anyone got the 215's on their car and does it have a detrimental effect on the handling?

I have still to make my mind up on make and model of tyre, but I really don't want to spend more than about £75 per tyre. I did think about the snowprox tyres, but they are over £100 per tyre :rolleyes:

Thoughts required as always, including what to put on for the winter that will give good grip and now cost a fortune. I have heard great things about Uniroyal Rainsports and can get them for about £85 per tyre, but I can also get Khumo Ecsta Sports for about £55 per tyre - is the difference worth it?

[doogz__]

I'm personally a bit of a tyre snob. I recently paid upwards of £150/corner for 18's for the Audi.

Having said that, in my experience, kumho's are decent enough tyres, not amazing in the wet though. I had them on the 182, and in the dry, they were as good as T1-R's, but in the wet, they were much less handy.

Rainsports are good in the wet, which i suppose is what you're after, but they get hot, quickly in the dry.

You looked at Bridgestones? Turanza's? And Vredestein is another make i'd definetely look into if i was you, they're very good, but relatively unknown.

[Forbes]

I have 2x 205/40 Uniroyal Rainsports in the Garage. Little bit of tread let on them. Yours for a small fee:D

[Big Gordy]

Your best bet is to speak to 'The Dogfather' as he did a very in-depth study of this very issue:Whistle: No doupt he'll be along soon:yes nod: I'm sure he gave the rainsports a :thumbs up: Remember the tyres are the bits keeping you on terra firma and to use a well known saying...'you only get what you pay for':rolleyes: I had Nangkang once....they were truly awful....got shot of them after 2 weeks:frown:

[Big Gordy]

Did Burple not have 215's on his mini at one time:confused: What about Federals..?? (I don't find them as bad in the wet as some folk say)

[GCA3N]

I have dunlop sp sports usual for the R56, and they quite good, certainly the best run flats I have used. When I had my company car we had a budget of 150 per corner for our tyres (approx) and It was great to try a few different ones. The best I found were bridgestones. can remember type etc but they used to cost around the £100 mark and I thought they were amazing in dry and wet, with reasonable wear and tear qualities. Most of the garages I tried seemed to recommend them (maybe they were on commission) I think the principle of you get what you pay for with tyres never really is too far from the mark.

[Forbes]

I had Nangkang once....they were truly awful....got shot of them after 2 weeks:frown:

They gave me a few scary moments when I had them. Were good in the dry but in the wet:frown:

[ianking]

I wouldnt go any where near the federals. The road noise from them is unreal.
Also dont think they cope with anything more than Cooper power.

[Craig]

I have 2x 205/40 Uniroyal Rainsports in the Garage. Little bit of tread let on them. Yours for a small fee:D

thanks Ben, but I'm going for 4 brand new ones... ;)

[Craig]

Your best bet is to speak to 'The Dogfather' as he did a very in-depth study of this very issue:Whistle: No doupt he'll be along soon:yes nod: I'm sure he gave the rainsports a :thumbs up: Remember the tyres are the bits keeping you on terra firma and to use a well known saying...'you only get what you pay for':rolleyes: I had Nangkang once....they were truly awful....got shot of them after 2 weeks:frown:

yeah, I would never buy the really cheap tyres as I have had issues before with some crap tyres... :argh:

I think my budget is good enough to get decent grip in the wet and cold conditions of our winters... :thumbs up:

[RyanK]

Are winter tyres advisable? Been thinking about them for this winter after my last ONE was hellish in the snow

[doogz__]

I believe it's compulsory in Germany?

I've never really bothered, i have decent quality tyres and 4WD, so snow's never really an issue.

Was more of an issue in the Clio back in Feb when we had that crazy snow though.

I know a couple of people that have different wheels and tyres for winter, but that's mostly to protect their polished wheels from the excess grit, salt, and general muck on our roads in the winter.

[The Dogfather]

Depends how much snow you encounter, mind you they are better in cold conditions than summer tyres.

I fit Nokian WRG2s they are great tyres, well suited to our climate.

Its not just about keeping going as 4wd can do that, its the steering and braking that have the biggest boost

[Forbes]

Wonder if I should stick some on the steelies?

Is that your winter recommendation Paul?

[The Dogfather]

I like them, but never had any others to compare. Not much penalty in fuel consumption, noise or grip so I'm happy.

[The Dogfather]

Had them on my MX5 and MINI, I overtook a snow plough with them on :D

[Craig]

so anybody used 215 rather than 205 on their MINI?

If I was going to spend about £100 per tyre, would I be better going for "good" normal tyres or winter tyres? Bear in mind that these wheels will only get used from Oct to Mar. ;)

[The Dogfather]

Mytyres stock the Nokians in that size for about £100, its what I had on both my MINI and Mx5.

If you are buying tyres for use in winter then I would definitely go for proper sports winter tyres. Its was quite funny watching the guy in his vitara struggling up the slight hill, when I was having no trouble in a Mx5.

[Craig]

cheers Paul - I am leaning more to the winter tyres due to them being used only in those months and it can get rather cold up here. ;)

[Scottie]

Up the road I never bothered with winter tyres. Came down the road and bought some last year.:confused::confused: Got to say on the times we got caught out going back up the road through the drummochter my eagle F1 tyres behaved fine on the snow packed roads but then I was driving accordingly.

I do wonder if I wasted my money as the roads I drive are all bus routes and are cleared when we have snow.

As for ice well no tyre is good unless your over in Norway and the ice is deep enough to run with studs in the tyre.

For the rain then well we get that all year round.

[The Dogfather]

They do say the rubber compound is softer so better suited to colder temps. We get a lot of snow here as we are at nearly 900ft and the gritting can't be hit and miss. Wished I'd had them when we lived in Turriff, got quite a few days of snow there.

[Craig]

snow is not really my issue, it's more the cold and wet conditions. With the avg temp in the winter months lower than 7 degrees, the winter tyres do seem to make sense..;)

[bry_mini]

sure i seen somwhere thinner tyres are better in snow and wet so i'd go with the 205s.

i have federals. . . . . will be replaced with winter tyres!!
(although i noticed a big improvement from my 215/35/18 to 205/45/17s)

rainsports and continental sport contact 3s have been recomended to me

[Big Gordy]

continental sport contact 3s have been recomended to me

I've found the contact 3's to be very poor on smaller cars:frown: We had them on the MG ZR and they were terrible:eek: I've got them on the TDi A4 and there great:rolleyes:

[Sheilz]

I've found the contact 3's to be very poor on smaller cars:frown: We had them on the MG ZR and they were terrible:eek: I've got them on the TDi A4 and there great:rolleyes:

Ive got these on Dougall and also had them on specy. Pricey but a huge improvement in road handling compared to the Pirelli's and Dunlop's I'd always used before. Dont know if the contact 3's are the usual for clubman's.
In my quest for improvement in handling I've also considered changing to non-runflats though keep thinking that's tempting fate. The Vredestein's are very popular in Europe as a quality winter tyre though not cheap at about £122. Can you put non-runflats on pace alloys?

[Big Gordy]

Ive got these on Dougall and also had them on specy. Pricey but a huge improvement in road handling compared to the Pirelli's and Dunlop's I'd always used before. Dont know if the contact 3's are the usual for clubman's

Mmmmmm...strange that as there not runflats (or can you get them runflat..!!) Is it only the bigger alloys that come with runflats as standard..?? I know the steelies I got were standard tyres.



Can you put non-runflats on pace alloys?

Yes:thumbs up:
Runflats are just like normal tyres but have much stiffer sidewalls so when you have a puncture the harder sidewalls hold the tyre up:idea:

[Burple]

so anybody used 215 rather than 205 on their MINI?

If I was going to spend about £100 per tyre, would I be better going for "good" normal tyres or winter tyres? Bear in mind that these wheels will only get used from Oct to Mar. ;)


Yip.. that's what I got on just now. bearing in mind that it's on the One with Sports suspension.. any harsh (big) bumps on the road (or airborne moments.. ;):hand:) the rear wheels rub on the bottom of the plastic trim on the back of the arch. The same generally applies to having 3 people in the car (especially if the other two are 'larger' than me ;))
My next set (of whatever they might be) will be back to 205s without a doubt. The 215s are just one profile 'too big' to fit under the arches under more extreme road conditions sometimes...

Handling-wise, I have absolutely no complaints, as displayed on the last borders run.. keeping up with the big boys except on the straight bits :p;):thumbs up:

[Craig]

Yip.. that's what I got on just now. bearing in mind that it's on the One with Sports suspension.. any harsh (big) bumps on the road (or airborne moments.. ;):hand:) the rear wheels rub on the bottom of the plastic trim on the back of the arch. The same generally applies to having 3 people in the car (especially if the other two are 'larger' than me ;))
My next set (of whatever they might be) will be back to 205s without a doubt. The 215s are just one profile 'too big' to fit under the arches under more extreme road conditions sometimes...

Handling-wise, I have absolutely no complaints, as displayed on the last borders run.. keeping up with the big boys except on the straight bits :p;):thumbs up:

thanks wee man thats what I wanted to know. :thumbs up:

looks like I need to pay more for the 205's then. :rolleyes::yes nod:

[Sheilz]

[QUOTE=Big Gordy;222636]Mmmmmm...strange that as there not runflats (or can you get them runflat..!!) Is it only the bigger alloys that come with runflats as standard..?? I know the steelies I got were standard tyres.


Thought I must have made a mistake but I think we're talking about the same tyres - Conti sport contact 3SSR - I think they're the same just done as a runflat.

[Big Gordy]

Thought I must have made a mistake but I think we're talking about the same tyres - Conti sport contact 3SSR - I think they're the same just done as a runflat.

Think your right Sheilz:thumbs up:
I've just dug out my invoice for them and they're Continental SP Contact 3's. Think I'll try something different next time tho as I'm only getting about 16k out of the fronts on the Audi which doesn't seem like a lot:frown: Unless its because of the muckle big diesel engine sitting between them:rolleyes:

[Scooter]

Yip.. that's what I got on just now. bearing in mind that it's on the One with Sports suspension.. any harsh (big) bumps on the road (or airborne moments.. ;):hand:) the rear wheels rub on the bottom of the plastic trim on the back of the arch. The same generally applies to having 3 people in the car (especially if the other two are 'larger' than me ;))
My next set (of whatever they might be) will be back to 205s without a doubt. The 215s are just one profile 'too big' to fit under the arches under more extreme road conditions sometimes...

Handling-wise, I have absolutely no complaints, as displayed on the last borders run.. keeping up with the big boys except on the straight bits :p;):thumbs up:

I fitted a set of uniroyal rainsport to my last mini 215/45r17 and as above they rubbed with people in the back or spirited driving, this time I opted for another set of uniroyals but went for 215/40r17 and so far I've had no issue with the rears rubbing

This is my third set of uniroyals and I can't fault them

[L13ARG]

Garage i work at is Toyo dealer fitted quite a few snowprox last year great tyres but if you plan on keeping them on for that a mount of time dont expect them to last long. Have just fitted t1r to my cooper and chucked away the run flats what a different car. Anybody wanting tyres or tyres fitted give me a shout

[ianking]

Garage i work at is Toyo dealer fitted quite a few snowprox last year great tyres but if you plan on keeping them on for that a mount of time dont expect them to last long. Have just fitted t1r to my cooper and chucked away the run flats what a different car. Anybody wanting tyres or tyres fitted give me a shout

Alan

going to change my tyres again after the new year and will prob go for Toyos so I will give you a shout.

Ian

[L13ARG]

Not a problem Ian just let me know

[Craig]

Garage i work at is Toyo dealer fitted quite a few snowprox last year great tyres but if you plan on keeping them on for that a mount of time dont expect them to last long. Have just fitted t1r to my cooper and chucked away the run flats what a different car. Anybody wanting tyres or tyres fitted give me a shout

always good to know... :thumbs up: Got toyos on 2 sets of my wheels.. ;)

[Big Gordy]

I've gone for a set of Michelin Pilot Sports for the Audi:popcorn: Hope they last a bit longer than 16k:rolleyes: Getting them fitted on Monday:thumbs up: I'll let you know what there like:idea: