Replacement Tyres for VRS?

[Sparkly]

Not uncommon from speaking to friends for tyres to need as much run in as that.

 

It is such a particular little car though about it's shoes and what combo of steering assist it requires to go with that. 

[Ally_bassman]

Never nice seeing wheel damage :-(

I put Maxxis ZR-1's on the front of my VRS to replace the worn out conti's that were on the car from new. Having put near enough 1000 miles on them I can report that for the money (£117 for 2) they were a bit of a bargain! Dry grip is awesome and in the wet they clear water well and grip good right until the limit giving a nice controlled warning that "you are running out of grip here son"

They are rather noisy and my MPG has gone down by 2-3 on my usual journeys but I feel that is a fair trade off.

I use Maxxis on my bikes so it is nice to use them on my car too. :-)

[multiskoda]

 

But after me bad mouthing the Pirelli Nero i bad mouthed last week, i drove that car this morning, and its done 500 miles with the Pirellis on

& the Steering changed from Factory Setting to less assistance.

Tyres set at 2.5 BAR Front and 2.4 BAR rear.

 

The car felt really really good, so i thought these tyres can stay on.  

 

 

Interesting. I've been unimpressed with my Neros too - traction control kicks in under hard acceleration, even in a lowly 1.6 diesel, on a dry road. Will have to try playing with the pressures (have done way more than 500 miles in them already, so not a running in thing).

[Ootohere]

TC Light shows all to easy with a bit of damp on the road.

 

I just did some hard acceleration there in the dry/warm.

& got the Dreaded,  Bang, Bang ,Bang ,that i seldom get on other tyres.

 

Its from lots of Grip as you accelarate hard , and then some wheel spin, & you are getting off the mark just a bit too sharpish for the XDS, DSG

 and then some slip?

TC will be going Off as Default when it is dry while i try the Pirellis out for a little while.

[vehdyn]

To George with 215 section front tyres and 205 section rear:

 

not a great idea pal, especially if the 215s are "extra strength", as they are likely to have greater cornering stiffness and this will tend to make the car less understeering, or even oversteering (the reason it is illegal to fit radial ply tyres front and cross ply rear).

 

Also, if you are running 215s at the same pressure as you were the 205s, the contact patches will have the same area; this means the 215s contact patch, being wider, will also be shorter than that of the 205s and give them a greater propensity to aquaplane in the wet.

 

Potentially you may be able to address both issues by running the 215s at lower pressure.

 

Vehdyn

[MartynVRS]

I put the new Uniroyals on mine. Grip wise they are OK but the car rolls more now. Also with the way I drive the fronts won't last long. I'll be changing all 4 again shortly, probably for the new Goodyear Eagle but still debating whether I should bother to go 215 40 17. If I can't find Goodyears I'll go back to Michelin. Those were awesome

Edited 20 April, 2014 by MartynVRS

[Ootohere]

Which Michelin,

& were they what the car came fitted with from the Factory?

[MartynVRS]

Tyre from factory were Conti's which were crap after 3mm. I had Michelin PS3's last time and were an almost perfect tyre.

[icemanmjm]

Mitchs pp3 sports all the way best tyres I've ever had

[RazeVRS]

Argh! Choices, choices , choices!

 

The car is  approaching 22k they are 2+mm on the front, & 7mm on the rear

My VRS came with Dunlop Sport Maxxs from new & I always thought they were noisy ,especially on concrete motorways

Having read a few tyre reviews, these tyres always come out quietest at 67db , so it must be due to the lack of sound deadening material fitted under the VRS carpets!

 

I've usually fitted Contis or Michelins to my previous cars, but with 70db being twice as loud as 67db, I'm loathed to make the cabin any louder!

Any thoughts welcome!

[sharkrider]

anything but the dunlops.... trust me, you will suddenly find grip

[the mad monk]

i have the contis and dont find them all that noisy, i tend to find the noise i have more reassuring than anything else but maybe thats just me

im thinking of going for the pp3 myself although im impressed with the mileage you got raze off the dunlops, im at 22k but ive had winters on 3 times now so my contis will be lucky to have done half the mileage my car has

[MartynVRS]

I'll be going back to Michelins. Can't get the Goodyear in the size. Could go to 215 but wary of losing adjustability in corners.

[wrightcnc2009]

I'll be going back to Michelins. Can't get the Goodyear in the size. Could go to 215 but wary of losing adjustability in corners.

Curious, what is adjustability in corners?

[lol-lol]

I alternate between summer and winter Nexens which are almost as good as Michelins IMO.

 

Summers just ordered.....

 

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/nexen-n-fera-su4-205-40-r17-84-w-zr-xl#56049717

 

£54 delivered.  B rating for wet grip and C for economy.

[vxh26]

I alternate between summer and winter Nexens which are almost as good as Michelins IMO.

 

<snip>

Do you really feel that you NEED to use Winter tyres in most of the UK?  I have for a long while rather suspected that this is just a money-making scam by the tyre companies.

[sharkrider]

I'll be going back to Michelins. Can't get the Goodyear in the size. Could go to 215 but wary of losing adjustability in corners.

I now have 215's with the RSR's, and apart from extra grip, and looking like they fill the arches better, there is no loss in handling

 

Do you really feel that you NEED to use Winter tyres in most of the UK?  I have for a long while rather suspected that this is just a money-making scam by the tyre companies.

I live in the lakes, we do. Maybe not if you live in devon/cornwall ect .... remember they are not "snow tyres" but winter tyres, anything below 7C they work better, MUCH better , (and nearly ALL of the UK has average temps below 7C between November and March) reduced stopping distances, better wet grip ect ect .. all the youtube vids that comapir 2DW with winter tyres and 4WD with summer tyres on similar cars (like yetis) are quite funny, because the 2WD car wins every time, by some margin! when I had mine fitted last year, i hear a woman who came in cancel her order for winter tyres, saying they "bought a 4x4 instead" - I remembered all the vids, thinking (idiot) she will go in with a false sense of security and end up crashing with MUCH less grip than her old car wearing winters (with the exception of a tiny bit of traction!) I was always sceptical until I researched it, and after using them, will NEVER go back to just summers! some tyre makers (conti for example) say "DO NOT use below 0C" on some of their tyres!

 

here , the 4wd only wins on traction

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l2cMlNRX_A (35 % more cornering grip than the 4WD car!)  

 

edit: money making scam? people have poor misconceptions.... think about the maths... you are doing the SAME mileage on ONE set of rubber (remember the guy saying his summers have done HALF the cars mileage?) so the cost is NO more AT ALL ! 

 

I do internet marketing, and sell allot around the world, EXCEPT the UK.... because people shout "pyramid scheme!" and "scam!" but even when faced with hard facts to prove otherwise, they still dont change their tune, because they are brainwashed to believe blindly what the masses think they should....

 

sorry. rant over. nothing personal .

[the mad monk]

hey sharky, where did you get the rsr's from? camskill havent had stock in a while which is why im thinking the pp3's

[sharkrider]

hey sharky, where did you get the rsr's from? camskill havent had stock in a while which is why im thinking the pp3's

got 2 from mytyres in the middle of winter, because they were on sale at £74 each! and the other two from oponeo... (like the link above) and they were £100 delivered (each) 

[MartynVRS]

Curious, what is adjustability in corners?

 

What I mean is when you go through a series of left and right hand bends for example, you come of throttle as you turn, weight transfers and you go round the corner, throttle on a bit, turn throttle off ,etc. I was thinking if I had wider rubber the feel maybe reduced and it would end up being more prone to understeer. Not that a vRS has much feel through the steering but I'm used to the way it is now.   

[Ootohere]

205/40 R 17 & 215/40 R 17 is a tyre width, Side Wall to side wall. width, Includes the Rim Protector/Side wall thickness

 

a 215 may mean more rubber on the road surface, but not always.

The tread pattern, design and brand can have more tread on a 205 from one tyre, more than a 215 on another tyre.

So you really need to look at tyres side by side.

 

A Pirelli Zero Nero 205/40 R might have a greater Total Diameter than another 205/40 R 17 by another manufacturer.

Even physically taller than another makers 215/40 R 17

a Pirreli Zero Nero 205/40 R might have less tread on the road surface than other makers 205/40 R 17

 

You can fit a sticky good traction 205 or 215 tyre and then adjust and reduce the steering assistance if required.  or fit a 215 tyre and find it is more squirmy than a sticky 205 tyre.

Then you have tyre pressures that could maybe benefit from adjusting for car weight and type of use, road or track, seasons etc.

 

http://kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator

[RazeVRS]

Do any of these tyres come with rim protection? like the Dunlops ,which have saved my lacquer a couple of times

[XK140]

What I mean is when you go through a series of left and right hand bends for example, you come of throttle as you turn, weight transfers and you go round the corner, throttle on a bit, turn throttle off ,etc. I was thinking if I had wider rubber the feel maybe reduced and it would end up being more prone to understeer. Not that a vRS has much feel through the steering but I'm used to the way it is now.

As far as I'm aware it means being able to adjust the behaviour of the car in the course of a corner by being able to make it move from understeer to neutral to oversteer,or vice versa.

In a fwd car you can change from understeer by lifting the throttle....sometimes....the vRS is a steady understeerer and even with a rarb mine still understeers but to a lesser degree.I don't explore the outer limits of its handling on the public road,what happens at hooligan Tiff Needell speeds on the track I haven't a clue

[vxh26]

<snip>

I live in the lakes, we do. Maybe not if you live in Devon/Cornwall etc .... remember they are not "snow tyres" but winter tyres, anything below 7C they work better, MUCH better , (and nearly ALL of the UK has average temps below 7C between November and March) reduced stopping distances, better wet grip etc.,

<snip>

Money making scam? people have poor misconceptions.... think about the maths... you are doing the SAME mileage on ONE set of rubber (remember the guy saying his summers have done HALF the cars mileage?) so the cost is NO more AT ALL !

<snip>

sorry. rant over. nothing personal .

No offence taken, I am well aware of the vagaries of the Cumbrian climate!

 

I have a few points that concern me:

• Are tyre manufacturers REALLY incapable of making a tyre that is suitable for both winter and summer use in the UK?
• Why 7°C? Why not 8°, 6°, 4° or Zero°C?
• Why now? Is this all due to climate change? Have the roads suddenly got so much worse? (Yes, I know that they have as it happens)
• Why should anyone in (most of) the UK have to faff around with getting tyres changed in November and March and storing them when not in use?

Incidentally, I 100% agree about the need for better wet grip but I am sure that you would be the first to acknowledge that it rains in the Summer as well in the UK - even in The Lakes

[Ootohere]

This weekend the sun was splitting the pavement during the days, and it was below freezing over night

in various areas of Scotland,

-4*0c here.

No need for winter tyres, but last year roads were blocked at this time in parts of Scotland and the North of England.

 

This happens to have been the mildest Winter in Scotland for many years,

& the best Winter for Skiing for a couple of decades.

There were Icy nights and mornings back in October, November.

Thats when the Winter Grade Diesel & Petrol gets distributed until February.

 

Why 7*0C.  ?

well look at the tyres, & the Silca, its nothing new, People have used Winter Tyres for decades in the UK

& look at why the Roads get Salted or Treated at around 6*0C before Frosts.

Air Temp & Ground temps (Grass Frost) are not the same.

 

You go Skiing to France, and you must have an idea about tyre requirements for Cold Roads.