When I bought my new model Doblo last year I wrote on here about my first impressions. One thing I said I wasn't sure about was the understeer in some roundabouts even at sensible speeds. I live in a town with about 50 roundabouts and it was starting to niggle me. The problem went away over winter as I had winter tyres on the car which behave differently.
Three weeks ago I refitted the Goodyear Marathons that came new with the car and the problem came back straight away and they seemed so much more noisy than even the winter tyres and that was also starting to irritate me (Yes I am fussy with cars). So I looked into changing them even though they had only done 5000 miles.
My Dobby is a 7 seater which means that it has to have Cargo 'C' rated tyres with the higher load index. The 'C' thing really limits choice and pretty much all of the tyres available in 195/60 x 16C looked the same in appearance as the Marathons so I knew they would be similar to drive, Except one, the Toyo Proxes CF1. This is a modern asymmetric 5 rib design (like they fit as original equipment on hatchbacks) and importantly it is available in a few sizes with the Cargo load rating.
I took a punt, dobbed out £400 and my car now has a set fitted. It's now VASTLY better, the understeer has gone and the new tyres are much, much quieter. The car really can corner now at pace and with confidence. It now feels more like a hatchback in corners rather than a van and importantly the nose no longer runs wide with understeer. The ride seems slightly more compliant as well. I occasionally do a little motorsport and I have a rubber compound gauge to measure the softness of race tyres. I compared the two and the Toyo are about 15-20% softer than the Marathons which explains why I now have decent cornering grip. Obviously that will mean they last slightly fewer miles. Don't get me wrong they are not as good as a modern roadsport low profile tyre like you might get on a Golf GTi, but they are far better than the van tyres the car came with from the factory.
Anyway if you get a new Doblo and it comes with the Cargo rated Marathons, don't expect too much and there is an alternative available. :worship:
Toyo CF1
http://www.toyo.co.uk/tire/pattern/proxes-cf1
Three weeks ago I refitted the Goodyear Marathons that came new with the car and the problem came back straight away and they seemed so much more noisy than even the winter tyres and that was also starting to irritate me (Yes I am fussy with cars). So I looked into changing them even though they had only done 5000 miles.
My Dobby is a 7 seater which means that it has to have Cargo 'C' rated tyres with the higher load index. The 'C' thing really limits choice and pretty much all of the tyres available in 195/60 x 16C looked the same in appearance as the Marathons so I knew they would be similar to drive, Except one, the Toyo Proxes CF1. This is a modern asymmetric 5 rib design (like they fit as original equipment on hatchbacks) and importantly it is available in a few sizes with the Cargo load rating.
I took a punt, dobbed out £400 and my car now has a set fitted. It's now VASTLY better, the understeer has gone and the new tyres are much, much quieter. The car really can corner now at pace and with confidence. It now feels more like a hatchback in corners rather than a van and importantly the nose no longer runs wide with understeer. The ride seems slightly more compliant as well. I occasionally do a little motorsport and I have a rubber compound gauge to measure the softness of race tyres. I compared the two and the Toyo are about 15-20% softer than the Marathons which explains why I now have decent cornering grip. Obviously that will mean they last slightly fewer miles. Don't get me wrong they are not as good as a modern roadsport low profile tyre like you might get on a Golf GTi, but they are far better than the van tyres the car came with from the factory.
Anyway if you get a new Doblo and it comes with the Cargo rated Marathons, don't expect too much and there is an alternative available. :worship:
Toyo CF1
http://www.toyo.co.uk/tire/pattern/proxes-cf1
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