I'm trying to find some places online to get some prices for tyres to suit 10 and 12" wide rims.

The wheels are 16".

Ideally I need some wets or trackday tyres as a backup if the weather turns nasty.

The question is from experience what is a good tyre and compound to use ? I don't want anything soft thats going to tear itself to bits in a few laps, they need to last.

Avon and Hoosier seem to supply slicks but I can't find anything suitable for wet weather.

Thanks in advance.

 

They are about the only solution in 16" , i can assist with wide 18" tyres in slick and wets upto 11" wide but you are going to struggle at 16" .

 

Glynn said the same Tony, were going to see if we can squeeze some 18's on there but its looking unlikely that they will fit, pisser as the tyres are as you say widely available.

Who would you advise to go through to get some wets for the 16's ?

 

Widest 16" trackday type tyres Ive seen are the Kuhmo 265/45x16.

I had a pair on my car, but in terms of road use, they will be illegal in no time due to tread design.

They'd look ridiculous on a 12" rim though.

But another question...why would you want such a wide tyre ( ie 10-12" ) for wet weather ?

 

The wheels are 12.5 x 16 rears and 10.5 x 16 fronts.

Even the spare rims are the same width.

Being that both sets of wheels are split rims I was condsidering speaking to Compomotive and changing the inner section of the wheels so I can run a narrower tyre so I can use a more widely available tyre like the Kumho V70 for wet use.

I don't really know a great deal about tyres, I obviously have a rough idea but then thats more road/track based and whats a happy medium but in this case I need something specific for wet track use.

The car is non road legal so not a issue about the tyres being road legal in anyway, just don't fancy trying to pedal a powerful car round a wet circuit on slicks as it would be no fun whatsoever and frankly dangerous.

 

Dont really think the widest possible tyre would be great on a wet track either ? Bound to want to aquaplane quite easily unless it really was a properly cut wet tyre. What sort of car, weight etc ?

The Kumho's I had would be virtually bald in 1000 miles, so absolutely useless for the wet, again unless they were heavily re-cut.

Would 15's be a better option ? ( or get 13's and old F1 tyres lol )

 

Hoosier do some wets. Well in 15x 10 anyway so I imagine they do some in 16.

Problem is, they profile is fucking huge on the ones I have seen. (ASCAR)

 

You see this is honestly where I need advice on the matter, I can see why wide tyres would be a issue in the rain, but then people do run wide tyres like that so I'm sure there is a good combination to use.

As Tony Ryan has run a Sierra with some serious width I was hoping he would have a idea or two but swapping to 18's is possibly out of the question due to clearance and dropping the wheel size isn't possible due to the brakes.

The car is a ex thundersaloon, weighs in at I'll guess around 1250kgs possibly, could well be less, 500hp YB so I know it doesn't need that sort of rubber to lay the power down but it would also look bloody stupid on a 205/40/17 !

Tyres are really the only issue with the car, the rest of it is no more expensive to look after than any well sorted track car, I don't really want to have to fork out a grand everytime it needs new tyres so looking at other options.

 

So what tyres are on it at present ?

 

Wide ones ! lol

Its on Hoosier rears and Avon on the fronts, I don't know the exact widths but the rears were Ł600 for the pair and the fronts were Ł500 so understandably I'm looking to find a cheaper alternative !

 

Ideally for wet use you want something a touch narrower, rod birley uses 10inch wide for dry and drops to 8s iirc for wet use, possibly 9s can't remember now.

 

Cheers Jim, thats some good info, 8's would ofcourse be cheap as chips in comparison.

 

I think a lot of the time teams will use the same width tyre as dropping to a narrower tyre will change geometry settings, something that isn't quick and easy to do just before a race when it pisses it down!

 

That ofcourse is another issue !

 

Sadly tyres are a consumable , you HAVE to buy them so set the car up on the most widely available ones you can find even if it means changing wheels to suit .
Im in the same boat , the 17" tyres ive used ( when i used my car ) are no longer available in good enough compounds and quantities to warrant looking for them , ive already ordered 18" front rims for mine to make use of the commonly available tyres and will be doing the same for the rears when a suitable alternative comes along .
What car is this then ,Paul Mcmillans old peugeot ?

 

Yes its that car Tony.

I had a brief chat with Glynn about it and he bascially said the same thing, I don't want to keep badgering him so just looking for other options.

The 18's I believe come off the GT Cars and I guess being that they use so many and no one else can its why they are cheap second hand, typically though according to Rick who has run the car for a long time fitting any bigger wheels is out of the question, certainly more so on the front than the rear which is a PITA. As you say they are consumbables which doesn't bother me but finding something more readily available without costing Ł1000 a time would be far more ideal

I'm looking to get out on track with it asap but with the weather being so unpredictable I don't want to roll up on slicks and it piss it down all day as thats not going to help my confidence in driving the car at all.

 

I guess if you have full slicks already, get someone to cut a load of grooves into them for wet use.

Not perfect, but certainly cheaper than new tyres.

 

Tyres don't last forever though so I'd rather have the option of the 2, its a fair point though and apparently all I would of had to of done if I started using the 18's you can get on the cheap.

 

er, Nope , lol.
Wets are made out of a way softer material that actually heats up when agitated even when cooled by water, a Slick Compound tyre in anything other than super soft Hill climb type compounds will not get any temperature into it at all in damp or very cold conditions .
you have to buy the right thing for the job ,simple .

 

Well there you go !

Cheers Tony, so were back to the original plan then.

Do you just go direct to Avon and Hoosier or do you know of anyone thats sensibly priced that supplies either ?

 

Last two pairs of Hoosiers I bought, just got them direct from Hoosier UK.

And they cost a god damn fortune !!!! No discount either. Can't say I was overly impressed by that

But given exchange rate, it wouldnt have been any cheaper to buy from the US anyway, so had little choice.

 

I have a contact for Hoosier drag tyres, I'll ask what they can do on some track tyres.

Probably nothing but worth asking !

 

Last pair of 255/50x16's cost me the guts of Ł500 !!!!

Postage however wasnt too bad ( included in that price ), just the tyres were expensive. Made worse by the fact I destroyed them in one day doing burnouts lol

Very good tyres though

 

Well I can imagine your car would kill some tyres if you don't respect the throttle pedal lol

I'd be a bit dissapointed if I killed a set in a day but then I guess thats down to how you use them !

 

TBF, the Hoosier drag radials are very soft, and as I found out subsequently, dont really need a burnout.....nevermind 200-300ft long rolling 85mph burnouts

Werent allowed any static burnouts as it was an active runway we were using here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Egt-Bn4P4

 

Thats one way to destroy a set of tyres

Love the incar video as well, nice soundtrack !

Your car is so fucking cool, just not what anyone would expect from a old Granada !

 

It deed seem like a good idea at the time lol Really didnt think it would be doing so much damage, as the old Mickey T's took a fair bit of abuse no problem.

And thanks

I wish I'd taken some footage of the 200mph run, just couldnt be arsed putting the camera in ! lol
Those runs would have made interesting footage !

 

My mate who ran a 9 sec Corvette also has massive respect for your car, a real shame you never got to race each other as you were both hunting that nine at similar times.

Its just the fact your car IS a road car in every way that makes it that much cooler than most things, sadly I expect its quite a well known car by people now so its lost a bit of its stealthness ( if there is such a word lol )

Either way I'll take note and not start doing burnouts for a few hundred yards if I need to warm my tyres up

 

hey tony,

im going to be running

front 18x10
rear 18x12

can you get cheap slicks to fit on these, thinking maybe off porsche cup cars or something similar, dont mind if they have had heavy use as its for track use.

Had a look at a porsche at demon tweeks and that was running 31 wide on the rear and 27 on the front, maybe something like that?

 

As iN Ricky Hutch's yellow one?

Nice purchase!

 

Paul Maccers old car
I race with his nethew Joe in my championship and his son used to race in our championship but moved to a short stint in BTCC and then the seat championship abroad if i think correctly.
local guys to me aswell.
weapon of a car

 

Thanks

Is that Maccer or Mcmillan ? I thought the owner was Paul Mcmillan from the history I've found out about the car.

 

just a knickname its mcmiilan
his son was in btcc for a short stint
http://www.liammcmillaninstructing.com/

anything you need to know about the car let me know i speak to them often and a mate is a good friend of family

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Li...oledo_BTCC.jpg

 

Cheers mate, I popped into SHP last week who built the car and they gave me Pauls number, cars not being dropped off for a few weeks so was going to wait till its here as he might want to pop over and take a look.

SHP have hopefully got some build pics which would be really cool, in time it will go back to its original colours.

 

Jonny you got any pics of the car?

 

Plenty on the net if you look about

Just google Paul Mcmillan 309 thundersaloon and click images

 

Thats a pretty cool looking car. Spaceframed?

 

Not fully as from what I'm aware that wasn't allowed in the rules.

Saying that the Fast Car 309 was definitely a spaceframe as such as I found some cool build pics of that on a Pug forum last night

 

Hi ,

sure ,shoudnt be an issue . I currently have loads of wide tyres in stock that would suit theses , 270/710s in Dunlops but more noramlly 27/68 Michelins from the rear of Porsche cup cars .
The Holy Grail is the 265/660 x 18" Dunlops that everybody wants for their 10" rims ,i struggle to keep up with supply on those but we do occasionally get them .