fastlady Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 HI all, I'm looking for some new rear tyres to replace my 48s (medium 205/60) which are almost down to the wear bars. However it seems there is a global shortage of 48s in Medium compound at the moment (all those pesky racers have grabbed them! ) so I have been offered a pair in Soft compound at a good price instead. I currently have 185/60 Medium on the front (all on 13" wheels), so what does the collected wisdom of Blatchat think to having softs on the rear instead of mediums? What will it do to the car's handling? Is it advisable? I do a mixture of road and track driving, probably about 50:50 at the moment, and will need new rears to make it road legal (or go back to 21s which I don't really want to do for the summer). FWIW I also have an adjustable Freestyle ARB front set to full soft and the rear one one 'hole' from full hard - would changing either of these compensate for the differences in compound instead? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Someone is bound to have done this but I would suggest its asking for understeer where the nose will run wide when on the limit. It might be possible to tune this out to some extent but that would need trial and error with the ARB's and rear ride height. Someone will know for sure. Edited by - Graham Perry on 12 Apr 2006 12:15:53 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Hi FL Softs on the rear may well wear out a little more quickly - if I were you I would put the new softs on the front (helps qwell understeer a bit) and the ones mediums that you have on the front currently, on the back. Reserve some new medium tyres, and then when they arrive, pop them on the back. Hopefully the already worn ones you will have put there will last long enough.... Its quite normal to have soft at the front and medium at the rear. www.mycaterham.com here 91,000 miles -1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Ignore everything I just said - just noticed they are different sizes!!!! DOH!! 😳 😬 www.mycaterham.com here 91,000 miles -1st 1.6k Supersport, '95 Motor Show car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 FL I would buy a pair of 185/60 in soft and put them on the front and run the 185/60 in medium on the rear. This will give good turn in and a nice balance although the rears will wear out a little quicker than the 205's. I would then look to replace the rears with 205's in the medium compound. Mark D Comp Sec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted April 12, 2006 Support Team Share Posted April 12, 2006 What is the bhp of your car? Unless you are running 200bhp+ then 205s are probably overkill. I fitted 205s to give more traction with my new engine but it has indeed made the car understeer more. I have softened the front ARB but still haven't quelled the understeer - next plan is to increase the rake of the car but failing that I will have to stiffen the back of the car which isn't ideal. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastlady Posted April 12, 2006 Author Share Posted April 12, 2006 It's 160-165bhp-ish since upgrades but I have 7 inch rear rims and am told that 205s were the smallest width that would comfortably fit. The car seems perfectly fine with them at that size and actually at the moment feels really nice and balanced - it's that which I don't really want to disrupt. I also have a set of 14" rims with 185/55 A021s all round and actually it doesn't seem to feel as good with those - not sure whether that's the tyres, widths, rim sizes or anything else though! HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted April 12, 2006 Support Team Share Posted April 12, 2006 Sounds like the car is well setup for you then. If you put soft on the rears it will increase the grip at that end and probably induce some understeer. Is there something you can do to counteract that e.g. softer front ARB? How about going soft all round and saving the medium fronts until matching rears are available? Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old captain slow Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 I suspect you will have to go soft all round to maintain the balance, but soft means really soft and I suspect they won't last 5 minutes especially at the height of summer on the road. Have you tried Dartford Tyres on 01322274498? They are pretty good and very competitively priced - in fact I was thinking of bulk buying from them to sell on track days. C7 CDW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 You couldn't really put 185's on 7 inch rims as they would look stretched. I know others have done it but depending on the tyre they don't look great. New softs all round sounds more sensible. Just convince yourself its an upgrade 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Durrant Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 FL What width of rear wheel do you use 🤔 Mark D Comp Sec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Caroline I have a pair of 185/60 13 48's Medium with about 4 to 5mm of tread, you are welcome them, might keep you going untill the 205's become available. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrigsby Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Normal practice would be to put the softs on the front and the mediums on the rear, due to the size differences it sounds like that's not possible this time. I would have thought you will wear soft rears out pretty quickly plus it will lead to understeer. One of the guys on the se7ens list had soft fronts and medium rears on his car and had the reverse problem, he forgot about the difference compounds once and got the fronts warmed up but not the rears, at the next corner he had a HUGE oversteer moment!! Rob G www.SpeedySeven.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Or look for some 205 soft 32's, Paul Deslandes was selling some recently Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horizontal Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Not intended to add insult to injury, but George Polley supplied me with a pair of 48's 205 medium compound last week. Have you asked them? Sylvia Silverstone on 45's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Sorry but the new 032s have gone to Nifty and the old ones to Kevsta. I've just had the same issue and have put (205 all round) 048 medium on the back and soft on the front. As the brakes are in bits at the moment I haven't tried them out yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k.russell Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 also had a pair of medium 48's off polleys last week, sorry. kevin R black-ali HPC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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