CR500 In the wet?

[finmac]

Have a set of good tread CR500 on my CSR which are older age wise.

Dry grip is fine but wet is interesting at best and scary at worst. Interested in people’s opinion as to why - I thought Cr500 was meant to be OK in the wet or  is it a tyre age thing maybe? 

[SM25T]

Age won't help. I recall CR500 are only born with about 5.5mm of tread. For my 15" wheels, I gave up with them and changed to Toyo T1R ... I only drive on the road, and found the tread pattern and greater depth shifts water well, even in summer European downpours.

[John Vine]

Ian's right.  Age tends to lead to harder, less compliant rubber.  A youthful CR500 should be fine in the wet.  Is your tracking ok?

Perhaps consider ZZS?  I swapped to those on my R400D when the CR500 became difficult to source, and have found them very good in both dry and wet.

JV

[SteWi]

CR500s were okay in the wet but much more confident with ZZS, both on track and road.

Steve

[rgrigsby]

Agreed CR500 are good in the wet but age is a problem, slightly embarrassingly the CR500's on my car are now 5 years old! I really need to use the car more!

It's noticeable how much less grip they have both in the wet and dry.

Interesting to hear the ZZS works well, I suspect that is what I'll replace mine with.

[David aka Blue7]

The problem is that the ZZS replacements for the front is a wider diameter, they are 195x50 compared to the CR500 195x45 so they will not fit under the front cycle wings unless you modify the cycle wing to raise the height.

[John Vine]

Re #6:

That's what I feared when I bought my ZZS (195/50-15).  As it turned out, I had no trouble height-wise.  Width-wise, they just fitted as the shoulders of the ZZS were more rounded than the squarer profile of the CR500.

JV

[David aka Blue7]

That's interesting, if you have a photo I would appreciate a look?  I have re-cycled a pair of old carbon wing protectors as mudflaps so I have even less room at the rear of each wing.

Interestingly, the CR500's have better ratings than the ZZS

CR500: Fuel efficiency F, Wet Grip A, Noise 70db

ZZS: Fuel efficiency F, Wet Grip C, Noise 72db

[ScottR400D]

I haven’t had a problem fitting ZZRs to my car, built with CR500s. They are a little bigger in diameter and width but fit fine. 

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the wet ratings. The ZZR is also a ‘C’ rating, even with a lot less tread than the ZZS. 

In any case, I understand the wet rating is based purely on stopping distance. 

[John Vine]

Re #8:

The tyre is certainly a tight fit but there's just enough clearance: 

 

JV

[TomB]

Hi John, please can you me more about your mudguards? How did you make them, what are they made from, how are they attached? I’ve just fitted new rear wings and wonder if it’s something I should consider. 

[John Vine]

Hi Tom,

I bought a pair of these (500x300x4 mm), trimmed them to fit, and fixed them with a couple of stainless socket button screws, rubber washers and nylocs each side:

They work reasonably well (especially in rural Dorset where there seem to be more horses than people), but could do with some stiffening along the sides to hold them more vertical.

JV

[David aka Blue7]

mine were originally attached with 2" wide velcro but I eventually used button head bolts and a treat care of demon graphics

[David Brown]

My ZZS fitted ok on the offside but had to “modify” the mounting on the nearside. Very tight fit but works ok. 

[nutty7]

You can also Sikaflex or Tiger seal them on. (mudguards)