Need more grip!!!!

[DarrenSV650S]

I need some advice on car tyres. :P
Ive got a clio and the grip I get from the standard tyres is abysmal!! just the slightest sign of dampness on the road and there all over the place :shock:
I was thinking of getting those extra wide wheels you see on boyracers which I heard give you a hell of a lot of grip. But today someone mentioned that these are only good in dry, and in the wet, because they have such a large surface area in contact with the road, they tend to loose grip easier and aquaplane. I do push the car quite hard, especially around the corners :oops: so I need something with more traction.
Any would-be-boy-racers willing to give me some advice :?: :wink:

[jim@55]

stick with something like oem sizes and just get btr tyres :wink: clios handle quite well with good tyres

[northwind]

Yep, get rid of bobbins standard tyres.

[fizzwheel]

What the others said, don't buy cheap tyres. Make sure the thread depth is OK and that the pressures are correct and if that fails slow down a bit.

[Viney]

I had this problem with an old car. Shod it with cheap kwik fit specials and it was all over the place...much fun as it was rear wheel drive, but not good all the same. I phoned the dealer to find out waht was fitted as std out of the factory, and fitted them. Much improvement was to be had.

Try, Continental PremiumContact 2 or Michelin Pilot EXALTO PE2

Not cheap but then i have found over the years, you get what you pay for.

If funds are limited then Dunlop Sport Sp01. i have these on my car and found them to be very good in the dry and not bad in the wet.

[Marshall]

If you can get a set of Toyo Proxes in the size for your car, i used to swear by them, damn great tyres

[tricky]

Got Yokohama AVS Sport's on my car, sticks to the road like a limpit to a ****ty blanket.

I've always rated the Pirelli P6000 as a less sporty good all round tire as well.

[TSM]

Having wide tryes in the rain on the motorway/fast roads can came it easier to aquaplane, smaller car tryes and bikes dont suffer this as easly.

[JediGoat]

....sticks to the road like a limpit to a sh*tty blanket.

Best not to ask.......... :?

[tricky]

....sticks to the road like a limpit to a sh*tty blanket.

Best not to ask.......... :?

Or is that ****ty limpit to a sticky blanket ? I talk so much ******** its hard to tell really

What I meant was "The 225/45 ZR17 Yokohama AVS sport tyres fitted to my car offer a high level of grip in both wet and dry conditions"

Sorry for any confusion

:D :wink:

[Ed]

Radical suggestion :idea:

Slow down and drive appropriately to the weather conditions and your car's capabilities.

[Viney]

If you can get a set of Toyo Proxes in the size for your car, i used to swear by them, damn great tyresSee there you go. I had these on my ashtray and thought they where a bag of smelly stuff.

I think its all down to the car, same with the P6000. Still the Toyos lasted longer and where cheap £100 a pair in RSR tyres.
Radical suggestion :idea:

Slow down and drive appropriately to the weather conditions and your car's capabilities.

ah the voice of reason :D

[Luckypants]

Got Yokohama AVS Sport's on my car, sticks to the road like a limpit to a sh*tty blanket.

I've always rated the Pirelli P6000 as a less sporty good all round tire as well.Yokos + wet = :shock:
P6000 old hat.

Best all round sports tyre on the market is the Goodyear Eagle F1, no question. Check out the tyre tests from Autocar or AutoBild. (unless you can find some old stock Bridgestone S0-2 in your size, they were amazing!! New SO-3 are pants compared) I have had both, but the Bridgestones wore out too quick so stuck with the Goodyear Eagle F1.

For something less sporty try the new Goodyear Hydragrip. Just fitted these to my missus' car, grip well and really clear the water making them superb in the wet. She does so many miles, we tend to get a new set for winter and summer!

Whatever you do, do not fit el cheapo specials - all tyres are NOT the same, despite what some tyre dealers will tell you.

[northwind]

Slow down and drive appropriately to the weather conditions and your car's capabilities.

Well, you can improve your car's capacities as well, so there's 2 ways of achieving the same...

[gettin2dizzy]

....sticks to the road like a limpit to a sh*tty blanket.

Best not to ask.......... :?

Or is that sh*tty limpit to a sticky blanket ? I talk so much ******** its hard to tell really

What I meant was "The 225/45 ZR17 Yokohama AVS sport tyres fitted to my car offer a high level of grip in both wet and dry conditions"

Sorry for any confusion

:D :wink:
225s?! what the hell do you drive? an M3 has only 235s (a fact i'm not proud of knowing :oops: )

[MavUK]

I run Michelen Pilot Exalto (or something like that anyway) on my Turbo Brick and they are great. Last reasonably well, and stick very well.

Stu

[tricky]

Yokos + wet = :shock:

I was suspicious at first, but I've had no problems.

P6000 old hat

They where on an old car so it was a good match :wink:

225s?! what the hell do you drive?

2.0 Honda Accord Sport, perhaps a touch overtyred with only 155PS :D :wink:

[kwak zzr]

your always going to spin up a clio cup no matter what tyres you put on :roll:

[DarrenSV650S]

Thanks for all your help everyone :P
Been looking around for the brands you suggested but can't seem to find them in my car's size :roll:
width 165
profile 65
size 14
rating t
Mind you I'd probably be better looking in tyre centres than on the net :lol:
I don't really want to spend much more than £50 a tyre because I will have to replace all 4 before the MOT at the end of this month :cry:

[fizzwheel]

I had a 1.4 Nova SR with those sort of size tyres. I had some Michellin's on it but it was years ago they always seemed to work OK and they were about £60 quid a tyre.

Not much help am I :oops:

[rob13]

Ive got p6000 on my Mx5 and theyre good in the dry and wet, however if you're pushing it, they will slip out in the wet, however i dont imagine many tyres will be that good in the wet.

Eagles are good but cost more - nearly £100 a corner compared to P6000 at around £75

[fizzwheel]

I had Goodyear Eagle F1's on my Golf, they were bl**dry brilliant, wet or dry. Not cheap though, they were nearly £120 a corner. I didnt pay full retail for them though. I'd definately buy them again.

[northwind]

Not cheap though, they were nearly £120 a corner.

That'd cost me £2640 to get to work and back!

[fizzwheel]

Not cheap though, they were nearly £120 a corner.

That'd cost me £2640 to get to work and back!

:lol: Have we purchance discovered the next new fangled government road charging scheme :lol:

[suicidesam]

width 165
profile 65
size 14
rating t
I don't really want to spend much more than £50 a tyre because I will have to replace all 4 :

Tyre shopper on the web (random one on a google search) does Michelin's in that size for 49 quid each, or Barum tyres for 36 quid. Barum's come from the same factory as Pirelli's, had them on a few cars.. not bad in the wet.
Could be worth getting the tracking checked.

HTH

[DarrenSV650S]

width 165
profile 65
size 14
rating t
I don't really want to spend much more than £50 a tyre because I will have to replace all 4 :

Tyre shopper on the web (random one on a google search) does Michelin's in that size for 49 quid each, or Barum tyres for 36 quid. Barum's come from the same factory as Pirelli's, had them on a few cars.. not bad in the wet.
Could be worth getting the tracking checked.

HTH
Cheers mate, I'll look into those tyres. The tracking is another thing that needs sorted, veers to the left slightly when I let go of the wheel. I'd also like to get the wheels balanced, but its just more stuff that needs more money :roll: And its just at the wrong time of year, what with the MOT, tax and insurance all running out in the same month, plus the bike's tax :( ........oh yeh and xmas too :wink:

[suicidesam]

:lol: Know the feeling.. looking for 4x 17" tyres at the mo, and a downpipe for my other car.. never rains...... :cry:

[muffles]

Eagle F1s are definitely one of the best tyres available. Toyos are also well rated, both T1-S and T1-R iirc.

the stuff about wider tyres having a larger contact patch is sometimes true but it's really not a well understood reason. essentially people think that the wider the tyre, the more rubber touches the ground, but actually if you take 2 tyres that are identical except one is wider (i.e. exact same construction), and inflate them to the same pressure, the contact area has the same size. It's all about the air pressure, essentially! i did say that it's sometimes true that it's got a larger contact patch - but that's to do with either the tyre design OR running a lower pressure.

i also haven't seen any evidence that wider tyres aquaplane more and i can't see why they would. again not having seen anything on these, i'd suggest the biggest factor in aquaplaning is the water dispersal effect of the tyre, since it is a lack of ability to disperse water that leads to aquaplaning. I'm a firm believer that tread pattern is the most important thing for preventing water build up, but that's just my opinion and not based on any fact! I did consider the fact that a narrower tyre may cut through the water better, but the tread pattern should cope with that and essentially divide the tyre up into narrower tyres...
i've had a car with 245 section tyres (on the rear) and that didn't aquaplane more than other cars i've had.

p.s. what m3 has 235 section? e30 = 205/50/15 or 225/40/16, e36 = 225/45/17 & 255/40/17, e46 = 225/45/18 & 255/40/18 or 225/40/19 & 255/35/19. Don't know about M3's after that though...but as you can tell i am partial to the odd bmw :lol:

[Luckypants]

Thanks for all your help everyone :P
Been looking around for the brands you suggested but can't seem to find them in my car's size :roll:
width 165
profile 65
size 14
rating t
Mind you I'd probably be better looking in tyre centres than on the net :lol:
I don't really want to spend much more than £50 a tyre because I will have to replace all 4 before the MOT at the end of this month :cry:My bruv has a fiesta Zetec and had Goodyear Eagle F1 fitted (how I laughed!) so they must be available in smaller sizes. 165/65R14 are a hard size to get sticky tyres for since i had that on my Suzuki Cappuccino ( :D ) The problem is there is nothing sporty at that size. If you can go up a size to 175/60, there is a lot more choice. I'm pretty sure that the Goodyear Eagle F1 do not go down that small.

Try looking at the Falken ZE-512 in a 175/60R14, worked well on the Cappuccino.

[DarrenSV650S]

Ok well I'm thinking about getting bigger wheels and then getting sporty tyres. But how do you know if wheels fit your car? Is there set sizes or numbers of wheel nuts for each type of wheel? :roll:
Because on ebay some wheel listings say things like "will fit vauxhalls" etc
Mine is a 1998 Clio if anyone happens to know that size? :roll:
Cheers

[fizzwheel]

Different Manufactures use different hubs, also the offset is different so a wheel designed for a vauxhall for example isnt going to fit your Clio. If you dont get the hub spacing / offset right your wheels will rub your bodywork or foul your steering arms / suspension. Also you might need to get your tracking checked again, also you might need to get your camber checked so that all of the wheel is flat on the ground. Otherwise its just going to handle even worse than it does now and also you'll get uneven tyre wear.

If your going to do it go to your local Halfrauds, waste the time of the morons in the Ripspeed bling alloy tat department, get them to tell you what size wheels are going to fit your car. Say that you are going to think about it, then go back home and go through ebay.

Remember even cheap tyres in a larger size are still going to be sh*t. If you want your car to handle properly. get Renault wheels designed for your Clio and spend some money and put decent tyres on it.

Personally I still think its a waste of time putting bigger wheels on your car. I still think it'll handle better if you stick to standard size wheels and speed some money on good tyres. Rememeber the suspension etc on your Clio was designed to work with the wheel sizes it has on there now.

Why not see if theres a Renault Clio owners forum or website, bound to be more info on there about what will or won't work.

My fiesta handles sh*t, its utterly cack compared to my Golf GTI, which again was sh*t compared to the Porsche 911 that I've driven. You've got a Clio its never going to handle like a sportscar. If you want better handling buy a better car.

Edit, theres loads of Clio wheels on ebay..

Ebay Linky (http://motors.search.ebay.co.uk/renault-clio_Car-Wheels-Tyres-Trims_W0QQfromZR34QQsacatZ14770URL)

[DarrenSV650S]

Thanks fizzwheel
Another question though :oops:
I searched for my tyre size here and it came up with these results:
http://www.tyresite.com/tyres.asp?width=165&profile=65&size=14
Does anyone have any opinions on the makes listed or is it basically a case of the more expensive the better :roll:

[fizzwheel]

Most expensive, doesnt necessarily mean better... IMHO stay away from brands of tyre that you don't recognise. Out of that list any of these are probably going to be OK

Firestone
Goodyear
Pirelli
Dunlop
Continental
Michellin

Stay away from the specific purpose Winter / Ice tyres though. Oh and anything with "ECO" in the title isnt going to grip very well, but it wil probably last ages.

If it were me it would either be Goodyears, or Michellins as I've had god experiences in the past with those on other cars I've owned.

[embee]

165/65R14 are a hard size to get sticky tyres for since i had that on my Suzuki Cappuccino ( :D ) The problem is there is nothing sporty at that size. If you can go up a size to 175/60, there is a lot more choice. I'm pretty sure that the Goodyear Eagle F1 do not go down that small.

Try looking at the Falken ZE-512 in a 175/60R14, worked well on the Cappuccino.

I've a Cappuccino too. :lol:

A lot of owners put 185/60-14 Eagle F1 on their Cappo's, the rolling radius is very close to 165/65 and they're the max width for a 5J rim. Not sure what Insurance co.'s have to say about it, if anything :?

I decided to keep the stock size, but as said there's not much in that size. The OE Bridgestone RE96 are a sporty tyre, but not good in the wet.

I chose Michelin E3A, considered Conti Ecocontact3 too.

The Mich E3A isn't a sports tyre, a bit too flexible, but they are soooooo comfy and quiet especially compared to the Bridgy RE96, and seem fine in the wet. The reviews rated them very well in most respects, I think the newer rubber technology has caught up in car tyres as well as bikes.
These do a reasonable deal, you can buy online and pick a local fitting station.
http://www.blackcircles.com/

This gives great info on tyres, and there's a couple of calculators for rolling radius and rim/tyre width
http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

[Biker Biggles]

Apart from all that's been said,I reckon you are wasting your money buying better tyres if other things like the tracking are out of kilter.You need that and shocks and bearings all sorted before you can make an informed choice on tyres.