Tyre choice

[748]

But you won't really know if it doesn't rain :lol:

 

[gingerdave]

[post]351640[/post] But you won't really know if it doesn't rain :lol:

Where I'm going it will rain(hard)At some point :lol: .Often rains about 9pm with spectacular thunder and lightning :-(

 

[YOG]

Even the Michelin PS3 are slightly different, left to right hand sides:

PS3 02

• YOG
• May 7, 2016

PS3 01

• YOG
• May 7, 2016

 

[Frank]

Had a couple of Rainsport 3's fitted to the front last week. Having researched them, I was not surprised by their grip (they stick to the road like a couple of sink plungers) and low road noise. However, I was surprised by the marked improvement on the suspension side! Car (I don't give them names, like Wummy Pummy, like many people) was far less jarring and comfortable on rough, uneven roads. As every road is like that in East Sussex, then this most welcome.

I thought it was my imagination, but passengers have said the same. I can vaguely understand this if maybe you had a couple of totally bald tyres on before, but the old ones were fine. Even then, I can't see a few mm's of extra tread making that much difference to ride comfort and the improvement I'm getting in quite striking.

Anyone else come across this with these tyres? Obviously I've had new tyres of various types fitted to cars in the past, but I've never seen an improvement in ride comfort/suspension like this before.

 

[YOG]

Depends how old you replaced tyres were. The rubber hardens over time (stiffens the sidewalls, etc), so I would not expect your new tyres to be so good, if you still have them on, in 5 years time.

 

[Frank]

[post]355380[/post] Depends how old you replaced tyres were. The rubber hardens over time (stiffens the sidewalls, etc), so I would not expect your new tyres to be so good, if you still have them on, in 5 years time.

So you reckon it's all to do with the condition of the old tyres, rather than anything special with the new ones?

 

[YOG]

Probably not all to do with it, but all tyre rubber, including the tread, loses some of it's "give" and elasticity over time.
As well as wearing out in use, tyres degrade naturally through exposure to heat, sunlight (Ultraviolet/UV) and rain. The amount of damage depends on the exposure and the severity of the weather.

All tyres are marked with a manufacturing date. If you want to check how old they are:
Date of production is given in a frame on the tyre wall, and consists of four digits, for example, [1114]:
First two digits signify the week of the year, i.e. it's the 11th week.
Last two digits is the short version of the year, i.e.14 means 2014.

 

[Frank]

Thanks, very interesting. I've always known that rubber degrades over time, but I was thinking more from the cracking or bulging side. What I didn't realise was that the sidewalls had much of a functional purpose (acting like miniature shock absorbers) so what you wrote makes perfect sense.

Date tip is useful as well. Those old tyres have gone now but were at least 4 years+. I'm doing less miles these days, so in the past they would have been changed by tread wear far more often and I wouldn't have seen this problem. Lesson learnt.

 

[Mrfluffy]

I put 4 new rainsports onto my Millie, to replace the 4 mismatched budget tyres that made the car wallow like a drunken hippo, and I was quite impressed. My Thunder has got 4 Potenza tyres less than a year old, and the Rainsports give a much quieter, more controlled drive. Not tried any real wet weather driving yet, the British summer isnt cooperating at the moment.

 

[Lord B]

Tyres go through a lot of heat cycles, especially if driven hard, that continual heating and cooling of tyres will cause them to reduce in flexibility and reduce grip and increase road noise.

You find it more pronounced with track orientated tyres where they will 'Go off' often before they wear down to wear limit

 

[gingerdave]

[post]355414[/post] I put 4 new rainsports onto my Millie, to replace the 4 mismatched budget tyres that made the car wallow like a drunken hippo, and I was quite impressed. My Thunder has got 4 Potenza tyres less than a year old, and the Rainsports give a much quieter, more controlled drive. Not tried any real wet weather driving yet, the British summer isnt cooperating at the moment.

Matey in the rain the Uniroyal's are a revelation.Have them on both Pumas and when it's wet they are more fun than any other tyre I have tried.Also fitted them to my Exige which for the last 10 years I've run it on AO8s or 888.T hey were fine on track but always arse clenching on wet roads.With Uniroyal's you can throw it around like an Escort mk 1 and know exactly where it's going,I know a fella who races a Vauxhall VX and he has won 2 races in the rain on them.

 

[Frank]

I've got a pair of asymmetrical Rainsport 3s (very good tyres) on the front, but I want directionals on the rear. What is a good choice for reasonable directionals these day?

Got a pair from General Tojo on the back at the moment (yeah, I know it's Toyo )

 

[chilipalmer]

I've got Dunlops Sport BluResponse and they are the dog's bollox. I drive my car in mountain roads at high speed and the car feels really grippy and controllable. The only problem with these tyres is that they seem to wear too quickly.

 

[gingerdave]

[post]359455[/post] I've got a pair of asymmetrical Rainsport 3s (very good tyres) on the front, but I want directionals on the rear. What is a good choice for reasonable directionals these day?

Got a pair from General Tojo on the back at the moment (yeah, I know it's Toyo )

What is the benefit of fitting directional tyres on the back?. I've been running Rainsport 3 on 4 corners for about a year now and the car feels more planted wet or dry compared to my son's Puma which has Rainsport front and directional on rear(may not be very scientific research though because his rear tyres are quite old and the rear end is polybushed).

 

[Frank]

[post]359474[/post] I've got Dunlops Sport BluResponse

Thanks, but I seem to recall that those are asymmetrical tyres.

[post]359475[/post] What is the benefit of fitting directional tyres on the back?

The tread pattern looks so much nicer than the others.