Hi all,
Just thought I'd give some feedback on my recent experience going from 14" to 15". Had some wheels I thought I'd throw on, don't have time to do bushes or shocks at the moment so thought I'd see what new unsprung would do.
Went from Goodyear NCT's in great condition, about 4mm or more to the wear bars on them. They were 185/60R14. Mounted on factory 45p hollowspokes, 14x6.
To GT Radial Champiro's in front and Kingstar K106 rear, both about 2mm from wear bars. They're both 195/50R15's. Mounted on 15x7 ROH Reflex's, about 40p.
The 15"s are about a kg heavier than the 14"s.
I was expecting the car's road manners to go out the window with the heavier unsprung, less grippy, more worn tyres. But turn in was sharper, car was more settled mid corner and on corner exit, and everything was more predictable
I was mostly impressed by the turn in - very similar to my race car (which has had a lot development for corner entry)
Unfortunately, I think I need the wheels to be balanced and possibly need to purchase hub-rings as the wheels aren't hubcentric at the moment. Had a severe case of the 65mph shimmy.
Will report again once I get lighter 15"s and better rubber. (And the ROH's and hollowspokes will be up for sale as soon as I find something.)
P.S. Kingstars are atrocious tyres, and I would not recommend them at all, they're loud, have very low limits and are completely silent when they let go. This was in the dry too
Going from 185/60R14 to 195/50R15
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- I have stars and not afraid to use them
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Exact same tyre combination that was on my 15" Enkeis when I bought them ($200 trademe bargain), tyre/wheel combination feels slightly lighter over all (to the arm scales) than the original 14".
I found the GT radials worse than the Kingstars, at least the kingstars are progressive and predictable where the GT radials made it mostly guesswork as to whether they'd grip or slip. The kingstars aren't too bad in the dry but turn to teflon in the wet - still have them on the back, with firestone TZ100 now on the front. Its a most amusing combination, TZ100s are nothing too amazing grip-wise... until you compare them to kingstars. Frequently on the lockstops keeps life interesting.
I won't be buying more kingstars when I wear these ones out, but until then they provide cheap entertainment.
Cheap entertainment indeed! I was surprised by how much grip the MX5 offered in the wet actually, even with the crappy mix of tyres. Had to be really silly for anything to happen.
Have some genuine Racing Hart CP035's wrapped in Advan AD07's (my favourite fast road tyre) to go on but really have not had the time to get round to it.
Have some genuine Racing Hart CP035's wrapped in Advan AD07's (my favourite fast road tyre) to go on but really have not had the time to get round to it.
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- I have stars and not afraid to use them
- Posts: 257
- Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:37 pm
- Location: Southland
JiB wrote:Cheap entertainment indeed! I was surprised by how much grip the MX5 offered in the wet actually, even with the crappy mix of tyres. Had to be really silly for anything to happen.
Yep they still handle great and respond how you ask them to - keep it smooth they stick, give a bit of extra right foot a bit earlier than you should and easily controlled opposite lock is there for the asking And if you're really keen theres always the Scandinavion Flick
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