Tires / tyres

[ClanFever]

If you don't understand how all those dynamics Charlie are talking about work, best to spend that $$ or don't drive it until you do. If you do drive it, take it slow, but if you're taking it slow, what's the point in the mr2? Maybe the Targa's off on a sunny day, apart from that...

Cheap rubber with tread isn't that much better than good rubber without tread - both are going to be rubbish in the wet. Again, you'll have to take it slow, you're much better spending more on the tyres, this is better than any performance mod, as you are able to use what power you do have, and keep the speed you do get to up through the corners.

[GDII]

What 215/40R17 and 235/40R17 have people purchased recently?
Seems the paired setup is now becoming harder to get and going 245/40R17 with the 215 is a better option.

[ClanFever]

Seems 215 and 245 is more common, not sure on brands. I ended up with 235 45 17s for the rear as these are common tyres for cars like the Holden Commodore, they do gear up the car a little but doesn't seem to overly affect it. It would still be ideal to keep the ratio the same.

https://www.hyperdrive.co.nz/products/landing/227/tyres is a good way to do some checking of what you should be able to get

[GDII]

Seems 215 and 245 is more common, not sure on brands. I ended up with 235 45 17s for the rear as these are common tyres for cars like the Holden Commodore, they do gear up the car a little but doesn't seem to overly affect it. It would still be ideal to keep the ratio the same.

https://www.hyperdrive.co.nz/products/landing/227/tyres is a good way to do some checking of what you should be able to get

235/45 is taller than a 245/40 so makes it even slower.
There is what seems available online and what is actually available. Hence the reason for asking about real world purchases in the last few months.

[ClanFever]

Seems 215 and 245 is more common, not sure on brands. I ended up with 235 45 17s for the rear as these are common tyres for cars like the Holden Commodore, they do gear up the car a little but doesn't seem to overly affect it. It would still be ideal to keep the ratio the same.

https://www.hyperdrive.co.nz/products/landing/227/tyres is a good way to do some checking of what you should be able to get

235/45 is taller than a 245/40 so makes it even slower.
There is what seems available online and what is actually available. Hence the reason for asking about real world purchases in the last few months.

I can check with my tyre guy and see what 215/40R17 and 235/40R17s they can get, if you want?

[GDII]

Just checking for a friend.

[GlanzaAtHeart]

I have that exact setup on mine. Nankang NS20's. Not the worst, but not the best either. Dry grip is good, really good. Not too much noise, but the wet grip is horrible. Unsure if this is an SW20 Turbo trait or not though. Moving in to summer it's good for these tyres, but personally not a huge fan of them, even with a damp road on a sunny day, they're suspect at best.

I've looked hard into upgrading them, RE003s come in some good sizes, but not 235/40/R17, same with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s - ONly 235/45/R17. 245/40/R17 will have more grip though.

I've heard good things about Laufen tyres from a couple of MR2 guys, but they seem to be another chinese mystery.

[GDII]

Awesome, thanks.

[Swampy]

Laufenn G Fit As

Made for nz with a name like that

[GDII]

Laufenn G Fit As

Made for nz with a name like that

They don't have 235/40R17.

[GlanzaAtHeart]

Laufenn G Fit As

Made for nz with a name like that

They don't have 235/40R17.

Found another decent tyre - Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5. Good reviews and come in 235/40/R17. Some places like HyperDrive don't carry that specific size, but a lot of smaller shops I found on Trademe do. About $240 I found per corner incl. fitting.

[rajkumar]

My two UHP tyre's of choice are Yokohama AD08R and Dunlop Z3 Star spec. Amazing tyres - excellent grip in the dry, not too greasy with high speed cornering, reasonable grip in the wet (specifically the Z3 over the AD08R here), and not too bad in terms of price. Availability is not great though, I had to order the Yokos direct from Japan last time I wanted some for my DC2. I think nocams does both for okay prices, but again the availability and size selection isn't amazing. It would probably pay to ask for a special order of a particular size, as these tyre's are well worth it.

[GlanzaAtHeart]

Hey everyone,

Looking at reviving this thread for one more discussion.

235/40/R17 are pretty much unachieveable - The only tyres I can now find are $500 a tyre for anything other than Nankangs.

I've settled with going 235/45/R17 - My rim is 7.5" wide so 235 profile is the widest that can fit. I do not want to step down in width, as a long term plan would be to up the power in my car. 235/45R17 leaves my in RE003 category. $189 a corner for 235/45/R17 RE003 fitted is my current deal which I'm happy with.

Now the fronts I'm currently running 215/40/R17. RE003s I'm going with to match. They have 215s in both a 40 and 45 profile. Would I notice much of a difference excluding the speedo difference? I'm not too fussed about the speedometer difference as I have a cyclist cousin who I can borrow his bicycle speedometer to adjsut the speedo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQjN-exCJrQ

This link will help anyone with larger profile tyres.

My real question is - Is there a significant performance difference in moving from 215/40/R17 to 215/45/R17 in order to save $50 a tyre on RE003s, or am I better off spending the money.

I'm currently sitting at $792 for a set of 215/45/R17 and 235/45/R17 RE003s.

Cheers for the input everyone.

[GDII]

I paid $850 for 215/40 and 245/40 4 years ago. Your pricing is decent for a very good tyre. The 45 up front can have rubbing issues on stock struts so be careful if you are switching back to them from your coilovers.

Also, your car has a mechanical speedo where that video has an electronic speedo. You can't do that unless you change a lot of stuff. Another one of those 'your car isn't a 92' problems.

[GlanzaAtHeart]

I paid $850 for 215/40 and 245/40 4 years ago. Your pricing is decent for a very good tyre. The 45 up front can have rubbing issues on stock struts so be careful if you are switching back to them from your coilovers.

Also, your car has a mechanical speedo where that video has an electronic speedo. You can't do that unless you change a lot of stuff. Another one of those 'your car isn't a 92' problems.

Ahh thanks for that, didn't realise you can only do that on an electronic speedo. The "Rev 2 Hardtop" battle continues haha.

Hmm that's a good point about the stock struts point - Thanks for that.

I'll probably end up the 45 profile for the fronts as it's not 'Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price' on the 40 profile - So it's $200 more to a get a pair of 45 profile.

I'll risk the 45 profile and update when I eventually get it sorted