SLR & tyres - *very* urgent query

[Jas]

I am in the middle of trying to decide which of two SLR's to go for.

 

One is the one on the Caterham website. The downside with this car (aside from lack of dry sump) is that it has narrower tyres than the other one I am considering.

 

The Caterham dealer car has (if I remember correctly) CR500 tyres that are 205/55 at rear and 175/50 at the front.

 

The other SLR (older, not as good condition but with a dry sump) has ACB10 tyres that are 245/45 and 195/50.

 

The dealer says they make the cars & know best, and assure me that the narrower CR500 tyres are now standard fit and are better as they are not crossply like ACB10, so don't tramline. He said they also use the same tyre & size on the top of the line R500 car.

 

Has anyone any advice please? I need to decide very quickly.

 

Thanks,

 

Jas

[Alex Wong1697456877]

The above is correct.

 

The ACB's are better in the dry, especially on the track. The CR500's are better all round tyres and last longer.

 

If it's a dry track day car, go for ACB's. If it's for road use mainly, go for CR500's

 

Alex

[Jas]

Thanks Alex,

 

I've decided on the ACB10. Although it will be driven 75% road and 25% track, it will be 100% dry road driving.

 

Jas

[simonpa]

Hi Jas,

If you can, try both cars first..

 

I have a SLR-spec car, which I bought with CR500s. They drive very nicely, but are not quite as grippy in the dry as ACB10s.

 

I've just swapped with another SLR owner so that I can try the ACB10s and he can try the CR500s.

They are very different to drive, being VERY noisy and they skip around pretty wildly on uneven surfaces.

As far as grip goes, you need to be pretty silly on a public road to notice a great deal of difference, but the ACB10s are noticeably grippier when they get warm. I think on-track they would be even better.

 

If this is your first Caterham, you may find the tramlining off-putting.

 

I wouldn't let the tyre type put you off as they are easily changeable. I know that either tyre isn't cheap, but neither last very long, so it shouldn't be an issue...

The CR500s are more expensive, but last a lot longer (8k miles so far and there's still tread on the rears - I think I'd be lucky to get 3k from ACB10s blush.gif).

 

Make your decision based on the car/condition.

 

Did the dealer car have the R500 wheels as well? They're lighter (and more expensive) than the SLR rims.

 

Simon

[Jas]

Simon,

 

I only got to drive the dealer car (CR500's), and it drove very well.

 

I'm not sure which wheels the dealer car had, but they looked the same as the other cars'. I mean that all the Caterhams looked the same to me!

 

The curious thing is that the ACB10's looked much wider (the size was bigger, but people have said ACB10 measurements are wrong). Could it be that the owner had switched to wider wheels/tyres?

 

Jas