E30 Zone

Right then, time for me to get my 16" schnitzers sorted and ready to go on the car!!

I'm assuming 205/50/16 is the correct/best size to fit, as that's what's on them at the mo.

Anyone recommend any tyres for fast road use (daily, all weathers!) and some track use??
Obviousely want them as grippy as poss!!!!

Had a quick peek on blackcircles.com but they list loads!!!
Dunlop SP9000 @ £85 each?
Toyo's, Pirellis, Michelin's, Yoko's?!?!!?!?
Decent brands seem to range from about £80 to about £125.

I'm sure everyone will come up with a different tyre they think is best, but just want to know people's opinions!!

Help!!!

Rob.

I've had michelin pilot sports, the dunlops and goodyear F1's. I liked the goodyears best then michelin. I've yet to try toyo proxies but will at some point!

F1's would be my choice

16's are expensive as hardly any cars have them fitted standard, it's all 15's and 17's

wrong actually simon, alot of newer ford's and ford varients now use 16" wheels

I have the Goodyears on the front of my IS. 205/50/16. I am really happy with them, unfortunately I have crappy Avon's on the rear so they let go way before the front does no matter how hard I seem to drive.

Mick

They are still much more than 15s and 17s though aren't they so he's hardly wrong.

miniblob - 205/50/16s look like tractor tyres, get some 205/40/16s at least

Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s every time for me - they have superb grip wet or dry, even when worn right down beyond the wear-bars. And they lasted 20k miles on our Japanese AWD 'rally' car.

ste wrote: miniblob - 205/50/16s look like tractor tyres, get some 205/40/16s at least

they don't look like tractor tyres to me (any excuse to show my refurbed Hartges

for gawd's sake DON'T get Toyo T1-S; a friend has these on his Lotus and they are lethal in the wet. Apparently the T1-R is much better, but I don't actually KNOW anyone who has any........

Mr curry, abit off topic but who refurbed ur rims??

orangecurry wrote:for gawd's sake DON'T get Toyo T1-S; a friend has these on his Lotus and they are lethal in the wet. Apparently the T1-R is much better, but I don't actually KNOW anyone who has any........

I've heard the opposite

got t1-S on the touring-no probs up hear driving on our rivers, i mean roads

DOH! everyone has a different story on tyres

Mr Babe... I went to Wicked Wheels in Crawley, on recommendation of an excellent dent-removal bloke - they are used by all the BMW/Merc Main Dealers etc on the south coast apparently.

http://www.wickedwheels.co.uk/

I took 8 wheels to them, and picked them up, and paid cash

I am a perfectionist b'stard, and I only found one tiny piece of grit in the lacquer on one of the wheels. 40 GBP for 16", and 45 GBP for 17" in anthracite; includes tyres off/on balanced.

orangecurry wrote:DOH! everyone has a different story on tyres

Mr Babe... I went to Wicked Wheels in Crawley, on recommendation of an excellent dent-removal bloke - they are used by all the BMW/Merc etc on the south coast apparently.

http://www.wickedwheels.co.uk/

I took 8 wheels to them, and picked them up, and paid cash

I am a perfectionist b'stard, and I only found one tiny piece of grit in the lacquer on one of the wheels. 40 GBP for 16", and 45 GBP for 17" in anthracite; includes tyres off/on balanced.

not disagreeing at all mate- just a comment on what I feel

as for the wheels, can I buy one hang on my wall?

Please!

Goodyear F1's seem like a popular choice so far then!!

Anyone got a pic of a car on 205/50/16 and a car on 205/40/16???

Which is the size nearest to the original rolling diameter?? (15" BBS at the mo!)
And which size is best for handling??

Only tyres on blackcircles in 205/40/16 are:


Nexen N 3000 205/40 R16 W £59.68
Cooper Zeon 2XS 205/40 R16 W £95.37


Never heard of either myself!!

so many questions!

205/50/16 is the correct rolling diameter = 611mm, vs 205/55/15 = 606.5mm and 195/65/14 = 609mm

205/40/16 would only be 570mm

320touring I was going DOH at life, not at you; I meant everyone genuinely has different experiences with the same tyres

You want one of my wheels?

No.

Cheers for that.

41mm sounds like quite a big difference.
Presume it will make the ride a bit harsher.

I was going to say it would prob make the handling worse, but i suppose it depends on the tyres and the rest of the setup!!

It's already on H&R Coilovers, so i'm thinking maybe go with the 205/50/16's!!!!!

Anyone driven on both sizes and experienced the difference??

my sig pic has the tyres in question on 205/50/16, the rears are 225/45/16 for the 8j rim

205/50/16 don't look that bad really then!!

Thinking i'll prob stick with that for now then!!

Would still like to see a pic of a car on 205/40/16's though, just so i know what i'm missing!!

I think Gareth uses 215/40/16 on his white M30 touring, I use 225/45/16 on the rear and 205/45/16 on the front -



Most 'side on' pic I have. I always have to have my tyres ordered in, so you cant say they are a popular size.
An "80's performance tyre" is what most places refer to them as.

Just going to collect my newly refurbed wheels

Hmmm, 205/45/16 could be a good compromise, if i can get them!!

Can anyone work out the rolling diameter of those for me please? (orangecurry?)

225's wider?? 8J on the back i presume??

If anyone wants to send me or post an email address i have an EXCELLENT tyre comparison programme on excel which when you put the sizes in overlays the profiles and give you the resulting figures

try this site for the choice

http://www.tyresite.com/tyres.asp?width ... 50&size=16


and the Hankook 105s got an excellent write up in http://www.tyretest.com/index.html

320Touring wrote:

orangecurry wrote:for gawd's sake DON'T get Toyo T1-S; a friend has these on his Lotus and they are lethal in the wet. Apparently the T1-R is much better, but I don't actually KNOW anyone who has any........

I've heard the opposite

got t1-S on the touring-no probs up hear driving on our rivers, i mean roads

Same neil. Usually Mr curry is always spot on with anything wheel/pcd/offset and tyre related but in my experience not so here With the t1-s on a track with lots of standing water the braking grip was phenomenal from 110 mph down to 30 in a straight line. I lost my bottle before the wheels locked up. The budget tyres on the rear were far more entertaining.

The best thing was that they cost £22+vat each, but thats slightly off topic.

miniblob wrote:Hmmm, 205/45/16 could be a good compromise, if i can get them!!

Can anyone work out the rolling diameter of those for me please? (orangecurry?)

225's wider?? 8J on the back i presume??

Mine are 7J all round, 225/45/16 gives a rolling diameter of 608.9 mm

The fronts which are 205/45/16 give a rolling diameter of 590.9 mm, not being the driven wheels, this wont have any effect on your speedo and will look nicer than 50's

Aaagghh, that's thrown me into (even more) confusion!!!!! Now i don't even know what size to get, let alone what tyres to pick!!

Does it not affect the handling having 225 rears and 205 fronts?

So do i go with 205/40, 225/45 or 205/50??? Which should handle better (if any)?

If i go for 225/45, Toyo R888's are available!! Bit steep at £142 per corner though!!
Anyone know if the 888's are ok for all weather use??

Maybe Toyo T1R's would be more sensible at just under £100 each!!

Anyone know for sure which size schnitzer/BMW fitted on these wheels from new?? Maybe that would be the best to go with?!?!?

Go for 205-50-16 on the front and 225-45-16 on the back. This is what Alpina used (7J front 8J rear) and Hartge (7.5J all round).

Jon_Bmw wrote:

320Touring wrote:

orangecurry wrote:for gawd's sake DON'T get Toyo T1-S; a friend has these on his Lotus and they are lethal in the wet. Apparently the T1-R is much better, but I don't actually KNOW anyone who has any........

I've heard the opposite

got t1-S on the touring-no probs up hear driving on our rivers, i mean roads

Same neil. Usually Mr curry is always spot on with anything wheel/pcd/offset and tyre related but in my experience not so here With the t1-s on a track with lots of standing water the braking grip was phenomenal from 110 mph down to 30 in a straight line. I lost my bottle before the wheels locked up. The budget tyres on the rear were far more entertaining.

The best thing was that they cost £22+vat each, but thats slightly off topic.

but I'm Mr Perfect I can't be wrong....

it's 2nd hand information, and my friend said this just after buying them - perhaps they hadn't been scrubbed off? But I'm sure I've heard it 2nd hand from other people/forums.

Moral of the story - if someone asks for advice, only give them your OWN experiences.

205/45/16=591
215/40/16=578
225/45/16=609 (Alpina got it right, but on 8J rims remember)

Theo325 wrote:Go for 205-50-16 on the front and 225-45-16 on the back. This is what Alpina used (7J front 8J rear) and Hartge (7.5J all round).

is 205 and 225 mix what Hartge put on? That's handy info - thanks

rob, i've got 205/45 16's all round. the fronts are Goodyear Eagle F1's and they're probably the best tyres i've ever had, and the rears ar Kingstar K106's which are the Hancook copy of Goodyear Eagle F1's

both tyres stick lick sh!t to a blanket in the dry, but the rears are a bit slippier in the wet

I currently have Continental Contact Sport 2's (205/50/16) on mine, and have found them excellent in the wet and dry. Not cheap, but quite reasonably priced compared with equivalent tyres (here in Australia anyway). I also have Schnitzer wheels with H & R coilovers, and they rubbed a little bit, but have had no problems since getting the front arches rolled.

Well im doing the same thing as you at this very moment ! lol. 16x7.5 ACS alloys .And ive opted for 225/45/16s all round on mine. Toyo t1rs.. ive had 3 sets of these and they are a bloody good tire. i do i bit of autox as well and im really happy with them on the track. Get the toyos! also the benifit of having the same size tire all around is you can rotate the tires to even out tire were

For what it's worth I used to have Toyo Proxes T1-S's on my Golf G60 and I rated them highly.
They were brilliant in the wet and dry and wore well.

I had Vredestein Sport Contact 2's on my Saab T16S which were also very good but I had trouble tracking them down and it still seems to be the case. I guess they aren't catching on over here. Shame...

My Touring will need a new set of rubber soon and I'll be going for T1-R's with no question due to performance, ease of availability and price.

Cheers,
Nick