Tyre Upgrade

[GTAm]

I am about to upgrade the wheels on my car from 15" to 16" and so would need a new set of rubber. Been shopping around and getting lots of shocks with the prices.

I don't want to go too low profile as we all know the condition of our road surface and how lowpros ruin ride comfort and in the end you pace as well.

I'm thinking 205/60/16 or something close.

Not fond of Bridgstone Potenzas as I fitted these to my Merc and I feel the car lost it's supple ride and grip reduced as well. They seem too hard (strange but it's the same thing happening in F1 won't you agree?)

I'm thinking of GoodYear Eagle NCTs as they seem to offer reasonable value if you can call 13k a piece value!

Pirellis, Yokos and Michelenes are priced out of my league.

Any other brands I should look at?

[Elvis_Pil]

Nankang NSII's best bang for buck if you can get them in the size you want.. whats the car anyway?

[The Don]

Try Dunlop SP Sports at SP Munasinghe, pretty decent balance in grip and ride quality. Make sure you get the jap ones.

Can also try the turanza's if you didnt like the Potenza's too much cos Turanza's are semi pro and thus give a softer ride in my opinion

OHTSU Falkens are supposed to be a bit hard as well though on certain forums they are highly rated.

  Pilawoos said:

Nankang NSII's best bang for buck if you can get them in the size you want.. whats the car anyway?

Pila where can you get Nankang NSII in SL ? are they semi pro tyres, I am just not familiar with the brand, and what are the prices like ?

Have you tried them yourself and what were your opinion ?

Regards,

The Don

[Elvis_Pil]

  The Don said:

Pila where can you get Nankang NSII in SL ? are they semi pro tyres, I am just not familiar with the brand, and what are the prices like ?

Have you tried them yourself and what were your opinion ?

Regards,

The Don

Yes I use them and will vouch for them. Soft compared to the brands in the lower segment of the market like roadstone, Eagle F1's(crap), Riken, etc. But not as comfortable as ES100 or Potenza. (de best)

Grip is superb nice and sticky.. wet emmm good but but depends on how much you push it! Fine for basic wet driving much better than Eagle for sure.

Noise- a bit loud but ok to most

Cant comment on tyre life as yet but seems ok.. I'm using 195/15/55 The tread's v-shape like Yoko's.

semi pro? Rated H I think- need to check the. whole name goes as 'ultra sport NSII'

Oh they smoke abnormally on burns.. dont know why...

[The Don]

Where can you get these Pila ? any other Korean branded performance tyres in the market ? especially Kumho

how much did you get your pair for yours ?

it also seems you disaggree with GATM on the fact that potenza's are hard I think on an earlier thread Guant mentioned that he liked the turanza's nice and soft but also seemed to wear off a bit, if i remember correctly,

The Don

[Elvis_Pil]

Dude nothing to beat Potenza's alround lol.. Of course comfort levels are nothing like the Turanza and since it has a decent grip Waruna preferred them at the time I think.. Anyway you need to think 55 profile upwards on any tyre to suit our roads.. I ran 50 for 2 years and it was terrible so even Potenza 50 maybe bad..

I looked all over for Kumho no luck though.. The nsii's cost about 7 1/2k from k*ndy t*re ho*se.

[fuzzo]

i had ohtsu falcons on my mazda before i changed over to turanza's. i can feel the difference in the ride. the turanza is much better for a daily driver in my opinion

[GTAm]

  Pilawoos said:

Nankang NSII's best bang for buck if you can get them in the size you want.. whats the car anyway?

Car - Alfa 156. How much are the Nankangs (Are they Korean?)? Any idea who the agents are? I'd go for a 60 profile.

The Potenzas on my Mercedes really hardened the ride compared with the wasted Michelins that were on them. And Mercs are supposed to have great ride.

The Michelin Energy does not give proper grip on my Alfa right now. I found them poor on my dad's 206 as well. Though they're fantastic in the wet on the Alfa (not sure if it's just the car).

I'm not satisfied with the grip and tyre roar on the brand new Dunlop Le mans that I put on one of our company Mazda Familia Hatches.

Am I being too choosy ?

[The Don]

  GTAm said:

Car - Alfa 156. How much are the Nankangs (Are they Korean?)? Any idea who the agents are? I'd go for a 60 profile.

The Potenzas on my Mercedes really hardened the ride compared with the wasted Michelins that were on them. And Mercs are supposed to have great ride.

The Michelin Energy does not give proper grip on my Alfa right now. I found them poor on my dad's 206 as well. Though they're fantastic in the wet on the Alfa (not sure if it's just the car).

I'm not satisfied with the grip and tyre roar on the brand new Dunlop Le mans that I put on one of our company Mazda Familia Hatches.

Am I being too choosy ?

Dont know dude, but I can vouch for Dunlop SP Sports if you can get them in the profile you want. I think maybe certain tyres perform better in certain vehicles, and Nankang's are Korean

Regards,

The Don

[Hola]

GT 15" low profile is 7500/= and thats Chinease

[RACERSEDGE]

  GTAm said:

I am about to upgrade the wheels on my car from 15" to 16" and so would need a new set of rubber. Been shopping around and getting lots of shocks with the prices.

I don't want to go too low profile as we all know the condition of our road surface and how lowpros ruin ride comfort and in the end you pace as well.

I'm thinking 205/60/16 or something close.

Not fond of Bridgstone Potenzas as I fitted these to my Merc and I feel the car lost it's supple ride and grip reduced as well. They seem too hard (strange but it's the same thing happening in F1 won't you agree?)

I'm thinking of GoodYear Eagle NCTs as they seem to offer reasonable value if you can call 13k a piece value!

Pirellis, Yokos and Michelenes are priced out of my league.

Any other brands I should look at?

im runing on 205/45/16 on my crx n 195/55/15 on vtec..i recon that nankang is good n under our budget,

[Elvis_Pil]

  The Don said:

Dont know dude, but I can vouch for Dunlop SP Sports if you can get them in the profile you want. I think maybe certain tyres perform better in certain vehicles, and Nankang's are Korean

Regards,

The Don

Taiwan dude..

[GTAm]

Thanks guys..........................but I'm still quite confused . I'm going tyre shopping tomorrow. Will let you know the out come.

[Blazin]

Get some Pirelli PZeros. You can't beat them for grip. But they do wear out pretty fast.

[Hola]

  Blazin said:

Get some Pirelli PZeros. You can't beat them for grip. But they do wear out pretty fast.

its too expensive here. Last time i checked a 15" low profile it was 10k

[dhp]

if ur trying to figure out OD or stay close to OE OD for speedometeer accuracy and clearance, try this calculator

remember the bigger the OD, the harder it is to get off the line, ur wasting ur torque but it gives better gas mileage @ high speeds

[fuzzo]

  Pilawoos said:

Oh they smoke abnormally on burns.. dont know why...

OT

hmmm... so you've been doing burn outs eh...

[The Don]

  dhp said:

if ur trying to figure out OD or stay close to OE OD for speedometeer accuracy and clearance, try this calculator

remember the bigger the OD, the harder it is to get off the line, ur wasting ur torque but it gives better gas mileage @ high speeds

Call me dumb dhp, but what are you referring to as OD and OE ?

Regards,

The Don

[Blazin]

  Hola said:

its too expensive here. Last time i checked a 15" low profile it was 10k

Yea they are pretty expensive in most places.

Bridgestone potenzas are good for handling but has poor grip. And very noisy. I I think Dunlop SP 9000 is a pretty good allround tyre.

[dhp]

  The Don said:

Call me dumb dhp, but what are you referring to as OD and OE ?

Regards,

Abeetha

sorry; my bad..

OE - Original Equipment / OD - Outer Diameter of the tire. Its ok to increase the wheel size for looks but you will have to re-callibrate the gears on ur speedometer if you increase the OD too much. Another issue is clearence, the tires could start rubbing against the fenders (unless ur willing to roll back the fenders).

another issue is with bigger wheels u often increase the rotating mass (unless they're super light weight alloys). so, when u hit the brakes u have to stop the innertia of the entire car plus the additional rotating mass u just added on.

IMHO biggest issue is the torque loss: torque by defn. decreases the further away u go from the rotating axis (remember "goornaya" - O/L science). So if u add 2inches to a 20 inch tire u just increased ur distace by 10% hence the decrease in ur torque put down to the road. Which means a HUGE diff if ur into getting off the line fast. But when u hit high speeds, ur car travels farther per revolution, so u save gas...its a choice u make depending on ur driving style

ok, I'll get off the soap box now...fyi;just so u know all the facts, I went from 15-17" wheels so I dont have much right to speak. Also, bigger wheels only show off ur tiny brakes. Its ur car, ur choice on how big u wanna go..

[GTAm]

  dhp said:

sorry; my bad..

OE - Original Equipment / OD - Outer Diameter of the tire. Its ok to increase the wheel size for looks but you will have to re-callibrate the gears on ur speedometer if you increase the OD too much. Another issue is clearence, the tires could start rubbing against the fenders (unless ur willing to roll back the fenders).

another issue is with bigger wheels u often increase the rotating mass (unless they're super light weight alloys). so, when u hit the brakes u have to stop the innertia of the entire car plus the additional rotating mass u just added on.

IMHO biggest issue is the torque loss: torque by defn. decreases the further away u go from the rotating axis (remember "goornaya" - O/L science). So if u add 2inches to a 20 inch tire u just increased ur distace by 10% hence the decrease in ur torque put down to the road. Which means a HUGE diff if ur into getting off the line fast. But when u hit high speeds, ur car travels farther per revolution, so u save gas...its a choice u make depending on ur driving style

ok, I'll get off the soap box now...fyi;just so u know all the facts, I went from 15-17" wheels so I dont have much right to speak. Also, bigger wheels only show off ur tiny brakes. Its ur car, ur choice on how big u wanna go..

Dhp I'm impressed with your tech knowledge. I knew some of the repurcussions in my head vaguely but I could have never expressed it so clearly.

I'm upgrading from regular non alloy steel wheels to light alloys. from 15" to 16". The alloys do make a huge difference for the looks.

I will be doing subtle tweaks but not big mods on the car to increase performance.

I feel a Brakes upgrade is a must on a 156 and the stopping power could be a lot better. Thinking of Tarox.

I don't think much of low-pro tyres on our awful roads. You'll be slower if the road is not super smooth which it never is in SL. So I'd go for an average profile of 55. And it's my everyday car.

[Elvis_Pil]

  Blazin said:

Yea they are pretty expensive in most places.

Bridgestone potenzas are good for handling but has poor grip. And very noisy. I I think Dunlop SP 9000 is a pretty good allround tyre.

Actually 10k for a set of Pirelli's is ok.. Yoko and Poten is close to 14k only worry for me was our road conditions and the internet reviews I read on 'em said they tend to be hard.. anyways I dont think your get the genuine stuff here..

lol All the Potenza owners I know of say exactly the opposite of that! I have to agree with 'em!

[dhp]

GTAm - Thanks for the comps... its just the stuff that I had to look into when I went thru the same process. There's just no substitute to doing your research..

I see ur point about not going too low on SL roads...Good luck with the mods (I've gone with Yokohamas and kumho ecstas and they've been good to me)

[gunat]

Well, Pila...here's that review you were waiting to hear...

I just upgraded from Turanza 14"s (195/60) on my Carina GT to 16" Yoko C-drives (205/45)- i was originally going for ES100s, but apart from them being phazed out of production (replacement: S-drive), i could not find the right size. (Note: I used the "Tyre Bible" website to make sure i was maintaining the correct rolling radius)....So C-drive it had to be.

This is Yoko's high performance asymmetric tire (not directional)- excellent Handling complemented by low noise and comfort.

So, here's the shocker.....after going from 14" to 16", i expected a rock hard ride (45 profile, at that)....but the ride actually IMPROVED!

I'm still checking myself time and again, but the Yoko's have been a fantastic upgrade....

Add bulletproof wet and dry traction, i'm totally happy.

I'm a convert! BG might be good, but there's no doubting that the Yokos are better...

So there's my 10 cents: Yokos!

Good luck....

[The Don]

  gunat said:

Well, Pila...here's that review you were waiting to hear...

I just upgraded from Turanza 14"s (195/60) on my Carina GT to 16" Yoko C-drives (205/45)- i was originally going for ES100s, but apart from them being phazed out of production (replacement: S-drive), i could not find the right size. (Note: I used the "Tyre Bible" website to make sure i was maintaining the correct rolling radius)....So C-drive it had to be.

This is Yoko's high performance asymmetric tire (not directional)- excellent Handling complemented by low noise and comfort.

So, here's the shocker.....after going from 14" to 16", i expected a rock hard ride (45 profile, at that)....but the ride actually IMPROVED!

I'm still checking myself time and again, but the Yoko's have been a fantastic upgrade....

Add bulletproof wet and dry traction, i'm totally happy.

I'm a convert! BG might be good, but there's no doubting that the Yokos are better...

So there's my 10 cents: Yokos!

Good luck....

Hi Gunat,

how much were the yokos ?

Regards,

The Don

[gunat]

Sorry...forgot to tell you how much...

I got a good deal, but i guess the going market price is 12.75K-13k...so not exactly cheap, but worth every rupee...the price was just a few hundred off from the ES100s

I did look around- BG, Dunlop, Pirelli....non of which came in this size.

Have to admit that if i found the Potenza's in my size before the Yokos, i would have got them straight away....

For those of you looking to go to profiles lower than 55 a word of caution- it would be worthwhile to invest in a mechanical tyre pressure gauge (more accurate), and check every other day. With our roads and conditions, the tyres must be kept in check more often than higher profiles- else you end up wrecking the radial wires by riding on low pressure!