Michael Price Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Having just spun off the road in the wet, I am now looking for some expert advice on upgrading my wheels and tyres for better grip on the road. I have a 1985, 1700 Super Sprint with the Ital axle and fitted with 13" Minator wheels. I would like to fit wider rims on the rear, Is it possible to fit 8" rims to the rear or is 7" the maximum? What offset would be needed for the rear rims? I would prefer to keep to the minator style. Can anyone advise on the best tyre and wheel options? Many thanks Mike Price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Plato Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 if you fit wider tyres you will actually have less grip in the wet - the weight will be spread across a larger surface area. Hence why snow and ice racers / rally cars have really skinny studded snow tyres ... I would suggest 185/60/13 A21 R for a reasonable all rounder and wet specialist tyre. Or fit R888's and be gentle with the right foot here is my Duratec R .... C7 TOP Taffia joint AO with Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Whitley Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 What tyres do you have? No need for anything wider than what you have on a Xflow but tyres will make a massive difference. Yohohama AO21rs are best for wet conditions, Toyo R888s are OK in the wet and give more grip in the dry or you can go for the "best of all possible worlds but expensive" option and fit Avon CR500s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Russell Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 No need for staggered fitment, put more strain on the half shafts and wheel bearings... stick to 185's but get better quality or maybe higher profile for a less sudden breakaway. What did you have on at the time? (tyres, I'm not interested in what you were wearing 😔) Get used to driving very gently in the wet. Losing traction is easily done, and in the wet I have to be prepared to be overtaken by (what seems like) the world and his dog. Its been said before, on public roads in the wet, a warm hatch can get past most Caterhams . I'm prety sure it wasn't the tyre's fault! 1999 VX 8v (Q41 ACF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Price Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 Many thanks for the info. The tyres currently fitted (and came with the 7 when I bought it) are Avon CR322's I can normaly handle the car but this realy caught me out. I have suspected the tyres are not up to it for a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Definitely time to ditch them for wet road use. See similar recent thread ... started by Chris Todd (may have been in ChitChat). Here you are ... see here Edited by - Stationary M25 Traveller on 10 Aug 2009 21:31:38 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alextangent Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I run on A021R 70 profiles, and they are pretty good in the wet unless you really welly it. Haven't had any more than a couple of twitches. I reckon I'll get around 8000-10000 out of a set, and they were pretty cheap; I got 4 tyres from George Polley for 195 including delivery, but that was 2 years ago. Alex McDonald Loud, louder, loudest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windy Corner Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Apologies for hijacking, but it is related.......... I have a set of fairly new A539's which I intended to use for touring as I always thought that they would shift standing water better than the CR500's I also have. I am in no doubt that the CR500 is the better tyre for the dry but what about standing water ??? those little grooves compared to the gutters on the A539's just don't seem like they will ever work in the wet ??? Or am I just plain wrong... suppose I'll have to play with both in the wet to see... Any thoughts ???? Roadsport SV 1.6 Sigma 150 in Viper Blue here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Have driven the CR500s in some very wet conditions (like 200 miles of heavy rain with standing water on the roads on the way home from the IOM a year or so ago, and all day in rain coming home from Poole last Saturday !), and never had any big problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flaps7 Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 A021 on 185s Daughter did a track day at Bedford and after nearly 90 minutes of tuition took me round as a passenger in the pouring rain, and I mean pouring. She scared me sick with late braking and the speed she came out of corners in such terrible conditions. We did not spin once. She did spin with instructor but self induced by too much throttle and just the wrong time. Should add that son did track day in sun and Brands and after tuition took me out....etc etc. So (to me) seem a pretty good alround tyre. Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Bill Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 About a539's. I had them on for 18000 miles on the last car and they were OK but not as good as the current A021's that I have on the latest one. Even after all those miles, and most of them were hard charging, they were not anywhere near worn, let alone worn out! Definitely not the weapon of choice for a flyweight 7. Just my 2p. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Russell Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 My car is still fitted with CR322's . The fact they simply don't wear is a good indication they aren't generating any meaningful friction on the road. I plan to ditch them once I can find the extra 10mm ride height a change to A539's would lose. I think they are at their worst on a greasy road; I went out on them yesterday after a very fine 'mist' of precipitation had been deposited on the road. I was looking for a bit of fun, but at the first roundabout I was pointing about 30 degrees inside of my direction of travel! It was low speed so I recovered it. I've always thought they were very predictable in 'proper' rain Prior advice is good, keep tyre width at 185 all round and just get a better compound tyre. -James 1999 VX 8v (Q41 ACF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigmamark Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I have 195 CR500's on 15" rims all round on my Superlight SV. Having only driven it once in torrential rain (seriously torrential), I think if I ever get caught out in similar conditions, I will stop until the weather calms down. I have driven lots of things including 250 National karts on slicks in the rain, but I have never felt so vulnerable as the car was aquaplaning and spinning up almost constantly. To keep it in perspective, I was on the A38 in Gloucestershire and never got above about 50 mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonym Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 what cold tyre pressures were you using? how old are the tyres? Rubber goes hard with age - a durometer will measure it. A021s do seem to be the wet tyre of choice (the ones with lots of tread). I had a couple of acceleration induced mini slides the other day in atrocious conditions on new, though now suitably used) CR500s - so anything will slide in the wet, even super soft lightweight for Sevens tyres. Having tried the same conditions with ACB10s (awful awful awful for road use!) it's all about the lack of throttle really, appropriate tyre pressures, rubber that's not too old, and wheels not too wide. Which tyre it is, for me, isn't the biggest factor - now I have CR500s ... also, oil on road, rubber on road.. this last builds up. Also of course (for sake of completness now) rain on previously hot tarmac. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard R Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Windy Corner I have used A539's and CR500's in the wet. I found the A539's did not work at all in the wet - wheel spin in all the gears and very scary on changes in tarmac/grip. They are designed for cars of approx. 1ton in weight - stick with the CR500's or get some A021R's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Price Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Many thanks for the info and links. I suspect that the tyres are a good few years old and the rubber is now harder than it should be. It would seem that the general consensus would be to stick with the 13 x 6 wheels all round and go for 185/70/13, CR500 or A021R for all weather road use. I would like to purchase them on four new Minator rims (Ital axle), any suggestions? Many thanks Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonym Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 try George Polley 01354 6888 111 Cambridgeshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now