Hi all.

It's time for some new shoes for the car; Haynes Roadster so 15" only I'm afraid.

What I'm looking for. Summer Road Tyres - Not track day tyres. All of my miles are on the road and I get through expensive track day tyres too fast to justify the cost. I also seem to get caught in the rain from time to time. So no R888 etc please. I've had them, they are good but not what I need right now.

The sizes I would like to try are 185/60 R15 and 205/60 R15. This should give me a little more ground clearance which were I now live would be valuable and also a bit more compliance. I'm happy to loose a bit of overall grip compared to the likes of the R888's in exchange for these criteria. Would prefer the same pattern front and rear but they can be different. Still want a decent amount of grip though so no ditch finders either.

So anyone know any suitable tyres that fit the brief?

I read that the Uniroyal rain experts were getting good reviews a few years ago but they are now on iteration 5 so they are not the same tyre that everyone was talking about back then.

Edit: Also considering 175/65 R15 with 195/65 R15 Much larger selection within these sizes.

Cheers

[Edited on 9/5/22 by tilly819]

The problem with most car tyres is they are aimed at cars over 1000kg and whilst they will be very hard wearing on a 7 style car they will never feel that good IMHO. I have tried Yoko A539 in the past in the road and a wet track and went back to the old R888 which were so much more comfortable and gave more grip that the A539 even on the road in the rain.

Tyres are your only point of contact (obviously). If they wear a little quicker then that is the cost of safety.

To get any good tyre on a 7 I think you really need to still look at 'track day' compounds but maybe with a more traditional tread pattern. What about the Yoko AD08RS? Some reviews say they are on the 'hard' side of a track day compound. They are available in 15" sizes although not the profile you wanted to try but then not many 185/205 15" tyres are in 60 profile.

Edit to add I have Rainsports on a Campervan with a max weight of 3200kg which are very good but thats a little different

[Edited on 9/5/22 by peter030371]

I've used the Uniroyals and currently have them fitted to my tin top as Rainsport 3 and on my wifes as Rainsport 5's. My current kit isn't on the road yet but that is having 5's fitted. I don't see any other choices in conventional tyres being better, wish they would bring back the Toyo T1R tyres though

I would say you might struggle to fit those sizes under your arches, the increase in profile will make the tyre a lot taller, i found this out when i used some a021r's that were an f2 stock car control tyre that i got for next to nothing, only 70 instead of 60 profile - they wouldn't fit under the front wings at all, and rubbed at the rear under cornering load.

You might want to get to a local hillclimb and see which current list 1a tyres are being used, i know scudo stunner and marangoni zeta linea were well rated but i don't know if either are still available, or have been replaced by something better.

There was someone on here selling pilot sport 2 15" ex race tyres (iirc they were used as control wets) that were generally in the 5mm range with scrubbed tread, might be worth a search.

Dave

[Edited on 9/5/22 by obfripper]

https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=197898

Dave

I have Toyo TR1's fitted, they seem quite good, 55 quid each back in 2020. I wanted same thing....good grippy road tyres, and capable in the wet, also not as expensive as track tires. I did some research and came up with the TR1's.

I think they replaced the Toyo T1R's that I used to have, might be wrong on that though.

Quick update for anyone who is interested.

I went with the unroyal rain expert 5
205 60 R15 & 18PSI cold on the back & 185 60 R15 @ 17PSI cold on the front. Both on 6.5J rims. I must say after the first 100 miles or so I'm am very happy with them. Very progressive and plenty of grip for the road. You can feel them moving around a bit as the side walls are very soft. Ride comfort is significantly improved which is significant on the roads round here. All that and and a full set of 4 cost less than 2 new 888s for the back axle. I'd say the gamble has payed off. Certainly not as grippy as the 888s etc but that's fine for me they are only being used for the road.

Only slight downside is that I need to raise the rear arches as they are rubbing under bump conditions due to the increase in diameter. I did wonder about putting cycle wings on the back and making them go up and down with the wheels. Have to recalibrate the Speedo as well but that just a setting in the dash menu.

Next step is to fit some softer springs as the ride frequency is a tad over 2 Hz at the moment and that's a bit hard for my local roads especially with such soft sidewalls. The tyres are doing a lot of the suspensions work without the benefit of much effective damping. So it's a bit bouncy at points. Softer springs should fix that nicely. Thankfully this was anticipated and I already have a set of softer springs ready to go on.

FYI Previous tyres were 205 50 R15 Toyo R888GG on the back and 195 45 R15 Toyo T1R on the front.

Hope that is of some help to someone as I haven't seen much info on the Rain expert 5 fitted to a 'seven' style car yet.

Cheers,

Tilly