I'm running Falken FK452's in the standard 205/50 size.

I thought 205 55 R16 was standard?

I thought 205 55 R16 was standard?

Lordrobs has a VRS so 205/50 17 is standard

I thought 205 55 R16 was standard?

205 55 16 was standard on the vrs estate and the elegance wheels

Lordrobs has a VRS so 205/50 17 is standard

In that case I stand corrected :-)

And what no-one's yet said I think - you can go up to a 225 section without clearance or excess tyre - rim width issues on any of the cars with 16 or 17 inch wheels. You'll need to go down 2 sizes (55 to 45 or 50 to 40 section depending on model) to do it.

Oh and I'm another one who runs Toyos. I don;t find they have a bad breakaway in the damp either; in fact that's the only place I've ever actually pushed them to the point where they were giving up. The issue (if it is one) is that they're exceptional in dry or wet conditions, and merely good in damp!

I have increased in size on my VRS with standard VRS wheels using Kumho's 225/45/17. Thes have made a substantial and suprising improvement in roadholding, steering feel and grip.

I would definately recommend this size without any clearance issues etc and better drivability. The tyre brand I can also recommend too! If you shop around you can get these for £300 for 4! Yes you can proberbly get better but these are good value for money in my opinion.

I have Vredestein Ultrac's at the moment which replaced Toyo Proxes T1-R. Out of the two I would recommend the Toyo.

What's the negatives fror the Vredesteins ?

Also worth pointing out that you will get more drag with the 225's and slightly less mpg.

Also worth pointing out that you will get more drag with the 225's and slightly less mpg.

This is true, I have noticed it about 1mpg less economical but a price worth paying in my opinion - and could be worse if you have softer stickier tyres.

On another note the circumfrence of the 225/45 is almost the same as the 205/50 (well a fraction less!) so wont effect the gearing on the speedo etc.

Well that's nearly every tyre manufacturer covered.

Just for completeness then...

I currently have GT Champiros on mine, anyone else in the universe got them? The only other car I have seen running these is SWMBOs :P

As an average, going from 205/55 P7's to 225/45 Eagle F1's, I have lost approx 3mpg on a long motorway run...quite a drop, especially as I do about 30K p.a. With the wider tyres, you also get a noticeable increase in tramlining.

Eagle F1 GSD3- good but lose grip noticeably when below 3mm and have a soft sidewall. To compensate, you ideally need to increase tyre pressure by 2-3psi but this has the downside of wearing the centre of the tyre unevenly (although it reduces edge shred). With stock suspension, the 225 effectively creates too much rear end grip IMO without the addition of a rear sway bar and as a result, when really pushing, unless you get aggressive on turn in, the car has a tendency to understeer.

Pirelli P7 - Yup, it's a low grip motorway tyre but you know what? They were more fun that the F1's as the car can be more easily provoked into oversteer/4 wheel drift through corners without the transition into understeer that can plague the chassis with stickier tyres. You still needed to be sharp on initial turn in to square off the corner but you could get a very nice attitude via these through turns once you'd got used to their idiosyncrasies. Hell, with 4 of these on, I was able to embarass a new Audi S3 on a 30 mile stretch of back road, mainly because of their ability to get the back end turned in. Obviously with an ARB and a pair of sticky tyres you'll effectively getting the same attitude through the turns but with the greater speed that more grip allows. Downsides? Load transfer udner accelaration highlighted thir lack of grip and so getting power down is an issue, especially on greasy roads, but then that can be a criticism levelled at the vRS in general, only exacerbated by these tyres.

Toyo T1-R. Slightly lower grip level than the Eagle F1, more resistant to overheating when pushed hard due to a harder compound on the edge bands of the tyre although when cold, this can mean that the tyre lacks grip on greasy roads. It doesn't take much for the heat to build up in the tyre enough to overcome this though. In the past, I have found a combination of these on the rear and GSD3's on thr front provide a very provokable yet neutral handling car.

Yokohoma's - In general, I have never been impressed by any of Yokohoma's offerings. Low grip in the wet, overly soft (squirmy) carcass and a high wear rate mean I wouldn't consider buying any of their tyres.

Michelin - Stiff carcass on their PS2's means that feedback is good and they seem pretty resistant to squirm. I'd generally still like to run a rear ARB to help the car's chassis as, like other sticky tyres, these do help push the car into understeer when really pushing hard. Good wear rates for a high performance tyre and Michelin have the best QC of any tyre manufacturer I have seen. Unlike the German offerings, these also continue to grip below 3mm (in Germany, the wear limit is 3mm and so they bolster the stiffness of the tread by using a tougher, harder rubber below the surface coating of soft rubber and so below 3mm have a noticeable reduction in traction).

Also worth pointing out that you will get more drag with the 225's and slightly less mpg.

and I've noticed increased tyre roar aswell (but this can be tyre specific)

stuff.....

re the understeer on grippier tyres you saying that has made me think that yes this is true as i used to be able to provoke the rear end on Sport contacts 205 ( which caused a few interesting moments) but now not very easily at all on the wider 225 eagle f1 assys.

Edited 24 February, 200917 yr by RichB86

and I've noticed increased tyre roar aswell (but this can be tyre specific)

Agreed; theoretically you'd get tyre roar from the extra width, but a different make or model is likely to make several times more or less than the extra width will make more. ISTR a different make can make 5dB (about 50%) different noise levels, but a 10% change in width would make about 1dB (10%).