Technical Tyre Recommendations

[B3NNETT]

Well if anybody bothered to look at this website http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

This Wheel and Tyre calculator says that the equivalent tyre size for the STANDARD 195/65R15 is 215/45R17 but when you put in 225/45R17 its a far better match for the standard tyre and is only 1 revs/mile out so the speedo is near as damit spot on.

Now if you put 215/45R17 the difference is 12 revs/mile out which eqates to when your speedo reads 60mph your actual speed is 59.1.

Therefore the 225/45R17 is a better match for the 195/65R15 than the 215/45R17.

But No speedo is 100% acurate anyway.

but surely if your car came with 17" alloys on as standard like mine then the speedo will be calculated to them, therefore matching your tyres to 195/65R15 would just be stupid, i find it is always better to stick to the original tyres size that the car came out of the factory with

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

And I thought spending £80 per tyre was excessive! I opted for the 225/45/17 94Y Vredestein Sessanta's over the slightly smaller 215 Ultracs as they were exactly the same price. Funnily enough, I bought it from that same company that lil miss saund posted the link from. I'm not sure when they'll arrive though, the snow is everywhere...

Its only lowered 30mm but i'm sure she'd make a reasonable snow plough... I feel sorry for all the low riders!

 

[B3NNETT]

Its only lowered 30mm but i'm sure she'd make a reasonable snow plough... I feel sorry for all the low riders!

mines only 30mm too and it does make a good plow


that was yesterday, looks more like a plow now as i just been out but too dark for pics

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

Completely off topic but your car really needs a clean! I washed mine the other day and then all the soapy water turned to ice on our driveway...

Good for handbrake turn parking lol!

Back to the tyres though, my brother lives up quite a hill and he's had to drive his wifes car, Merc C class because his nissan skyline just won't go at all on the snow! If he did drive it, he would have to park it at the bottom of the hill afterwards then walk home lol. The merc cant get up that hill either and has to park at the bottom, along with nearly everyone else who lives nears the top of that hill. One exception though, his neighbour drives a suziki baleno with skinny tyres and has no problem whatsoever going up and down that hill! A kia picanto managed to get up too. I've tried going up that hill in the stilo but she doesnt stand a chance. I guess it doesn't help that my tyres are very near the legal limit...

 

[B3NNETT]

Completely off topic but your car really needs a clean! I washed mine the other day and then all the soapy water turned to ice on our driveway...

Good for handbrake turn parking lol!

Back to the tyres though, my brother lives up quite a hill and he's had to drive his wifes car, Merc C class because his nissan skyline just won't go at all on the snow! If he did drive it, he would have to park it at the bottom of the hill afterwards then walk home lol. The merc cant get up that hill either and has to park at the bottom, along with nearly everyone else who lives nears the top of that hill. One exception though, his neighbour drives a suziki baleno with skinny tyres and has no problem whatsoever going up and down that hill! A kia picanto managed to get up too. I've tried going up that hill in the stilo but she doesnt stand a chance. I guess it doesn't help that my tyres are very near the legal limit...

i know it does not been able to since before xmas, have to go to mums to do it and then the neighbours shout for getting water and ice everywhere so i gave up lol.

on the tyres generally skinny tyres are better in the snow as they cut through it better,
however i am really surprised with mine as not had any trouble at all anywhere ive been tbh

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

I got stuck one time near the bottom of the road at my bro's house. The people had cleared the snow and stuck it all to the side, somehow I reversed into it and got stuck completely! After 10 minutes of pushing and shoving, it got me nowhere. So i remembered back to the top gear polar special, i lowered the air in my tyres and rocked the car back and forth... A few minutes later and with the smell of some burnt rubber... I was free! Its quite surprising how it burns rubber in the snow lol. I wish i had a winch...

 

[B3NNETT]

I got stuck one time near the bottom of the road at my bro's house. The people had cleared the snow and stuck it all to the side, somehow I reversed into it and got stuck completely! After 10 minutes of pushing and shoving, it got me nowhere. So i remembered back to the top gear polar special, i lowered the air in my tyres and rocked the car back and forth... A few minutes later and with the smell of some burnt rubber... I was free! Its quite surprising how it burns rubber in the snow lol. I wish i had a winch...

yep had to do that with a couple of our fork lifts yesterday
but if your not carefull you can end up ruining a set of perfectly good tyres


EDIT: on a side not, chicken did you paint your bumpstrips yourself or get them like that? quite fancy doing mine

 

[Muppet1]

I doubt very much if any car has been calibrated with alloy wheels on at the factory, Suspect it would be with steel ones on and the the alloys put on at the dealers and besides as i have said makes little or no difference to the speedo reading anyway and as chicken has already posted he has 225/45R17's coming so he must think it dont make any difference either.

Ps them cars aint dirty!!!! lol

 

[B3NNETT]

personnaly i still think your wrong on that front, the dealer wont fit the alloys fiat will when they make the car.

ps they are dirty to us as we take pride in the apperance of our cars more than others i guess

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

At normal city driving speeds, i doubt it will make a huge difference on the speedo. Motorway speeds probably more so but according to my gps, my actual speed is always lower than the speedometer. I only opted for the slightly wider tyre so it could give my alloys better protection if i went too close to the kerb.

As for the color coded trims, i paid £130 to get them done which seemed reasonable enough to me. Personally, i think it makes the whole car look miles better.

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

So i've had the 225/45/17 sessanta's for about a week now and so far so good. The tyres are still new so performance wise, i'm gonna let them run in a bit more before any spirited driving.

There's been no problem with scrubbing and comfort wise, it feels slightly better through bumps and is also quieter than my old falken 452's. Only one thing is the tyre tread pattern and the debate its cause on numerous other forums... Here's how they look fitted:

The tyres are listed as asymetric so they can all be swapped around. However, the left side of the car is different to the right side. The left tread appears to channel water away from the car while the right side tread channels water towards the car... Or so it seems! However thats how they're supposed to be fitted. It does look odd but tyre tests have really rated these tyres so i guess they must know something we don't!

 

[Muppet1]

That is odd, i would have thought the one on the right is wrong. I thought all tyres channelled water to the outside of the track.

Be interesting how they perform and how long they last.

 

[B3NNETT]

that tread pattern does look really odd, would of expected the water to be channeled in same direction each side like both dispersing water outwards or inwards.

i have just had a set of pirreli p zero nero's fitted on saturday, stuck to the original 215/45R17 though, and already i have noticed a dramatic increase in grip and a much more planted ride and also much less road noise in the 300 miles ive done so far.

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

The tyre on the right does look like its fitted wrong but weirdly its correctly fitted. They're still new but they do feel very grippy so far. I think with the 225/45/17 profile, the tyre sidewall is slightly higher so it doesnt look as low profile.

The treadwear rating for these are 280 and traction rating AA. Should be pretty good. The FK452's were also AA but treadwear 300. Still, i'm happy with my tyres and i do like the design of them.

 

[Oakley28]

Are you noticing much difference with the wider tyre then?

 

[chicken_chau_mein]

Sorry for the late reply, to be hionest, it feels a bit smoother through the bumps because its got a slightly higher profile. Grip wise, they're excellent and have never let me down in the dry or the wet. They get the thumbs up from me.