Cr500 to Cr322

[M1chaelw]

Afternoon Everyone 

Just after a bit of advice in making my 7 feel more lively on the rear at lower speeds, probably going against the grain with question but anyhow.

My current set up is a R400D with titan LSD on 175/55/R13 cr500 front , 205/55/R13 cr500 rear . 

Whats people's opinion on switching out the rears to CR322s ? Daft question but what rim width should I be looking for on this tyre. 

Lastly out of interest , anyone know the setup used on the caterham drift days ? 

My car truthfully gets a really easy life , never tracked etc.. I just miss the tail happy happiness that I had in my previous cars.

thanks in advance for any advice

Mike

 

 

Sent from my iPad

[shn7]

322's have much less grip the 500's so would certainly make it tail happy but with R400 power I'm not sure I'd want to try it on the road.

 

I'd suggest adjustments to suspension/steering geometry targeted at what you want to achieve would be a better option.

 

Increasing the rake will make the rear more lively for a start.

[Tony Whitley]

Daft question but what rim width should I be looking for on this tyre. 

I should think about 24" should give you reasonable balance with the CR500s on the front...

[M1chaelw]

Thanks for the replies , will look in to the geo adjustments .

I take it I’ve fallen for the daft question daft answer on the rim width  6” looks like it will do me fine if I go down the 322 route . 

I’m hoping to get a progressive set up rather than something snappy. 

[Strangely]

Mike, I'm on a similar quest. I've "only" got 170 bhp (which I'm very happy with), and did have ZZS tyres in 185/55R13 on the front, and 215/55R13 on the back. The car felt dead.

I've changed (back) to 175/55R13 CR500s all around, and have raised the rear ride hight to reduce the understeer. It's now quite nicely balanced, still not unruly, but it can be provoked at will around slow-ish slow corners. I'm not (yet) daft enough to try on the quicker ones. (I don't have an LSD.)

I ran "ordinary" tyres for a few years before I switched to the stickier stuff, and I'm trying to resist going back -- they really are terrible. CR500s are the sweet spot for me: good grip, but not too much, excellent in the wet, they wear well, and very comfortable (probably down to other tyres' sidewalls being to stiff for a Seven).

Jason.

[M1chaelw]

Jason 

175 all round might be the happy compromise that I'm after , just out of interest what your 7 like on the ordinary tyres, I take it the slightest prod of the throttle had you snaking down the road ? .

After doing the caterham drift day in their sigmas and watching some auto test at a local club it made me realise how grippy my car actually is , not that that's a bad thing I suppose.

Mike

[John Vine]

CR500s are the sweet spot for me: good grip, but not too much, excellent in the wet, they wear well, and very comfortable (probably down to other tyres' sidewalls being to stiff for a Seven).

I agree, but they also have a tendency to crack sidewalls.  That nasty little habit cost me two new tyres at MOT time, even though the originals were less than 1/3 worn.

JV 

[Strangely]

> just out of interest what your 7 like on the ordinary tyres, I take it the slightest prod of the throttle had you snaking down the road ?

It was a standard 1.6K SuperSport at that time, so not really. Grip on the road, in the dry seemed fine. The steering was lighter. In the wet I felt like I had to tiptoe everywhere. The main benefits of moving to stickier tyres more suited to a Seven were: better braking, much better grip in the wet (perhaps surprising considering their lack of tread), and better grip on trackdays. They do grip better on the road, but most of the time my speed is limited by visibility, not grip, so that wasn't the most noticeable change.