BrianHorn Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I want to replace the ageing Pirelli Cinturato P7's on my seven. Any suggestions? Size is: 195 VR50 15 Prisoner wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmar Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 avon cr500's in that size are what they fit to the r300 I think and from what I have heard they are supposed to be very good , I suspect quite pricey tho on my previous car with 15" wheels I used yoko 539's and these where fine on the road, excellent int he wet, however where not that good on track days. rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Woods Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 It will probably be nearly as cheap to buy some 13" KN Minators and 185/70 A021R's from George Polley - I was quoted £100 a corner last autumn , compared to £85 per corner just for Goodyear Eagles in 195/50/15. 185/70's will have the same diameter and ride height as your current tyres, but 13" wheels should make the car much better to drive. Nick P8MRA - Red and Black 1.6K supersport, back on the road at last. See pictures of it being rebuilt here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianHorn Posted February 28, 2003 Author Share Posted February 28, 2003 Who makes AO21R's and why is a 13" wheel a better drive than a 15"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Yokohama make the A021R's, there are LOTS of reasons to switch to 13" wheels one of which is weight saving. I think it can improve the suspension geometry as well?? maybe.. I'm sure there are others. Bottom line is that in most cases a Caterham on 13" wheels seems to be handle better than one on 15" wheels. As always there are exceptions to this rule! Cheers Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Just a thought but has anybody tryed normal run of the mill car tyres for normal road use . My reason for asking is we are all programmed in thinking it has to be, CR500 +ACB10+YOKO this is fine for track, and we need them for this but there is a lot of caterham owners who just drive normally. not that i have met any i feel you might be surprised .you would get five times the life out of the tyres ect AM i talking pants 🙆🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fred I used to have Yoko 509's on my Caterham when I first got it, yes it was still fun to drive and yes thy did last a LONG time. BUT the difference fitting 021R's made was amazing, normal road tyres are just too hard for a Seven. I think light weight means you aren't able to get any heat into the tyre so it never really works properly, with 021r's fitted suddenly the car became much much friendlier at and above the limit along with the improved overall level of grip. In fact I'd goes as far as saying with normal road tyres it's actually quite a bit trickier to drive the car as when it does reach the limit it snaps away instead of breaking away smoothly. I think this is due to the increased slip angles that are possible with the softer compound tyres. Having said that as a daily driver if you ran 539's or something similar they probably would be fine as long as you were well aware of the limits of the car. It's just a lot more fun on something a bit stickier! Cheers Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fred - I too have sometimes wondered along these lines. Last year I upgraded from the pre-historic P600(0?) on my car to A021Rs. The difference was significant. On the track the grip was great and I know I would have been swearing at the old rubber. On the road I felt things were less clear. The extra grip makes oversteering around a roundabout require higher speed and therefore a more dangerous occupation. As the owner of a live axle X-flow, I have rather less in the way on modern chassis design than some. The extra grip seems to show flaws in the handling of the car that I had never previously noticed. Prior to the new tyres I never felt the need for an LSD. After fitting Yokos the inside rear wheel had a habit of spinning out the excess power, rather than causing a tail slide. Ultimately I guess I wouldn't go back to the inferior grip, but sometimes I think the content blatchat gets very focused on speed and going faster. If your not racing, arguably having fun is the more important. Speaking personally, going sideways is the best fun of all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Sounds like the perfect plan to me Jimbo! I now run CR500's which aren't as grippy as the 032r's but are still soft enough that they slide gently and progressively. Whilst they are grippier than normal road tyres they aren't anywhere near as mad as the 032r's so it's still possible to have lots of fun at vaguely sensible speeds. The added bonus that they are fantastic in the wet isn't a bad thing either! Cheers Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-B Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 i must say that at Miraz's recommendation we recently put Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's on our M5 to replace the Potenza SO2's that are no longer made. the make a manic, or is that maniAc street car behave a fair old bit like our 7. i'm considering getting a set to replace the 21r's when I get new tyres shortly. they warm up well and seem almost as sticky, if not more.... Steve 210Bhp SV-VHPD click here to see our pictures.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Hmmmm, F1 GS-D3? these tyre boys sure come up with a catchy name. Basically I'm still a firestone wide oval man at heart - so hard, sure to outlast the battered heap they were usually attached to. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acbateman Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I think that Yokohama A021Rs are excellent for the road and seem to last fairly well too. We have 13" wheels on our Seven and this is supposed to improve the steering feel etc. It certainly feels good to me! The big wheels may look 'cool' but aren't as good, as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I use F1-Eagle GS-D2's on my tintop, they are great tyres but I have a feeling the GS-D3's are only available in larger sizes. Certainly I couldn't get them in 205/60R15 for the 406... Cheers Rob G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianHorn Posted March 3, 2003 Author Share Posted March 3, 2003 Thanks to all who took the time to reply. I've found a set of 13" Minator wheels with 185/60 R13 AOR21's. Will this size be okay? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_H Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Yep, they're the ones to get Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheds Moderator Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Perfect, I should think. I have just worn out a set of A032Rs - they were OK 1000 road miles ago and now they are goosed. I don't even drive that fast! I have today received 4xRE720s in the same size, heh heh. These look a bit more conventional than the Yoko's and should last better. £38 each too, cheap enough. THere is still enough meat on the 32s for a track day on my spare wheels 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Used to run AvonCR322 (I think) - the fuel saving, Academy spec ones. I would class these as normal road-going tyres. Didn't like them, they had a tendency to be rather binary ie. Grip or no grip, rather than letting go gently. Caused some hairy moments on greasy roundabouts. Personally I think normal road-tyres are much too hard for a 7. I am now on AO21Rs and consider them to be a lot safer even just for road-use, they give so much more warning about the fact they are letting go... (touch wood etc...!) Charlie'n'Kermit The plan is: there is no plan S5EVN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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