Wheel/tyre advice

[Gebbly]

Hi All,
Up until now I have kept the puma stock with no modifications. I need to replace the tyres due to wear and over the years trying different tyres the best I found were Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s so I am quite keen to fit these once more. Currently I have Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2s and have found them quite disappointing. There have been a lot more wheel spins when pulling away and absolutely no grip in snowy conditions, unlike other tyres I have tried.

However I cant seem to find any GSD3s anywhere in the standard puma size of 195/50/R15. They are available in 195/50/R16, 195/45/R15 and various sizes for other wheel sizes.

So I'm after suggestions for my dilemma. A few ideas that I havent thought through yet :

1. Can you fit a slightly different profile to a wheel? For example what affect what there be fitting the 195/45/R15 tyres to the standard 15" alloys?

2. There seem a lot more sizes available for 16" wheels. If I replaced the wheels with 16" wheels and fitted the 195/50/R16s would there need to be other modifications to get them to fit the arches and brakes?

3. Did Goodyear replace the GSD3s with some similar model that people have had good experience with?f

Has anyone got any other suggestions for places to get GSD3s, good alternatives to GSD3s other sizes I could fit or any other sage advice please?

thanks
Gebbly

 

[Noobrider]

Goodyear replaced them with the asymetric design. They are pretty good but not quite as good as the originals.

If you drop to 45's on the 15 inch wheels your speedo will be slightly out and you may experience a bit of wheelspin as the gearing is altered to a slightly lower ratio.

If you fit 16s with the 50 profile tyres you will have the opposite affect, you need to drop the profile to 45's to maintain the gearing etc, although with standard suspension you shouldn't have any clearance issues.

I have heard good reports about Uniroyal rainsports being very similar to the old F1's and I run a highly controversial tyre that works brilliantly for me but I risk being slated as opinions run high on them...Toyo T1R's. I run these on trackdays as well as normal day to day driving and they are amazing both in the dry and the wet. I took an experienced Puma track driver out and he couldn't tell the difference between my Toyo's and his semi slicks. However, I run coilovers and polybushes all round and the handling is set up for track - I don't know what they are like with standard suspension.

Hope that helps as no one else replied

 

[Gebbly]

Hi Noobrider,
Thats very helpful indeed. I hadn't thought about profile change affecting gearing ratio but the speedo being out makes sense now that you explain it. I think I'll avoid the 45s on 15" wheels as I dont want to make any mods and wheelspins are something I am trying to get rid of from my current tyres. Sounds like 16 inch wheels with 45s are a no go for the same reasons. Also the thought occurs that changing wheel size just for a tyre is not the best idea.

Your mention of Toyo T1Rs reminds me that I have previously tried those as well and found them pretty good. I think I may switch back to them as they are still available in the correct size.

Thanks very much.

 

[gingerdave]

Yep got Uniroyal Rainsport 3 on both cars.Wet weather braking and turn in is excellent and dry weather grip is as good as it gets for a road tyre...and they are cheap.Find 26 psi all round works good for me.

 

[Gebbly]

The Uniroyal Rainsport 3s get an interesting write up. I'll have to consider those as well as something new to try.

gingerdave you set them to a lower PSI than the suggested in the users manual? (29 front, 28 rear)

Having already given the T1-Rs a try I'm tempted by something new to see if I can find an improvement.

At the moment reviews for the Uniroyal Rainsport 3s have caught my eye as have Falken Eurowinter HS449. I've not heard of Falken before. Does anyone have any further experience or thoughts on these tyres on Pumas?