I'm on the lookout for some rather large tires - 305/35r19 - but struggling to find any sensible options. I know the Yanks get Nitto tyres in that size for around $250 and they appear to be UK legal but can't find any here. Camskill have stuff at around £360 but wondered if anyone knew of anywhere cheaper?
Camskill were the cheapest when I bought some last week.
but not much between them to be honest.
And calling local tyre fitters has worked for me in the past.
So what you got?
A Lamborghini or a Corvette, whichever it’s a nice problem to have !
Big fat tyres come with a big fat price. At least car tyres are cheaper than pedal bike tyres, gram per pound.
Might be one of our North American friends? In which case “tires” is appropriate - and probably a better way to spel it!
Any scope to change tyre size by one step to be in a more popular size such as 305 30 r19?
Normally we go up a profile for more arch fill and compliance for grip (and potholes). Have also gone down to sharpen things and changed widths for rim protection.
Asda tyres have been cheapest for me the last could times and that's for decent Michelin stuff.
They don't fit them at Asda. You just buy them online and book the fitting for your closest tyre place.
So what you got?
A Lamborghini or a Corvette, whichever it’s a nice problem to have !
Nothing quite as fancy as that, just a tuned car that's struggling for traction. Hoping that wider tyres will help with that.
I looked at going down to 30 profile but it's a -5.4% circumference difference from OEM and a) I'm not comfortable with such a large drop, and b) would probably negate at least some of the friction benefits the wider tyres might give.
315/35r19 would be perfect but they're even harder to come by than the 305s.
May not be the cheapest but have you looked at Demon Tweeks?
nothing exotic, but i just ordered my budgets from ATS euromaster and worked out about 30% cheaper than the companies id usually use for mobile fitting
incidentally, wider tyres are only better for traction in the dry, not sure a few mm makes much difference when you are dealing with that kind of width....
anecdotally. back in the day, a mate of mine had an Esprit v8 TT as a second car, on his escort insurance... (at 18/19) he decided to sell it when he needed to buy a pair of rear tyres for that thing, some stupid wide things
I've struggled for all sorts of tyres recently - for both the giulia and the van. Even have had issues getting pretty standard tyres for my mate's leon cupra. There seems to be a shortage of stuff coming into the UK. If I use Reiffen.de or opopneo.ie I can get pretty much anything shipped to my mums in Ireland.
Quick search on mytyres.co.uk suggests they have stock, but you're gonna be made to pay for it.
Oponeo.co.uk have the same tyres but cheaper. but not by much.
Looks like Camskill is still top of the pile for mail order tyres, can't find much anywhere else under £400 and I'm not keen on gambling on some part-worn from eBay.
Ta for the suggestions.
Asda tyres were (surprisingly) very good for me. They were delivered to the garage of my choice for fitting, no issues at all.
Both sets for my car most recently were from National: ordered online, fitted by them on my driveway. Mobile fitter in Halfords-liveried va. No issues.
Think yourself lucky with that amount of rubber. My Monaro was 400bhp/530Nm and only 245/35r19s with very basic traction control. Lively.
You have got your geometry sorted ?
I’d prefer a lively car to one that sticks, then gives way when your not expecting it
Geometry will come after the traction I think. 720bhp isn't easy to tame, and no point setting the car up for standard wheels/tires if they're not going to be used. Probably looking at new half-shafts as well if I'm honest I was warned it would be a money pit...
720bhp isn't easy to tame, and no point setting the car up for standard wheels/tires if they're not going to be used.
what car is it ? Is it a ‘normal’ car that quite frankly is always going to be useless with that amount of power ie the chassis can’t cope?
With that kind of power I’d be happy paying £500 a corner to get decent rubber
It's a Mustang so it'll take the power. Already got a few things done to tighten the chassis but the traction control just can't cope at the mo. I know more suspension modification is coming but wheels/tyres seem like an easy fix right now.
Hmm there’s an element of if it worked in the summer, then it isn’t going to make much difference in the winter no matter how big you go.
Combination of no heat in tyres, ‘sports’ suspension, rwd means you just have to be very careful with your right foot
And buy a boring car
"buys a 720hp modified Mustang"
"surprised at cost"
"asks internet bicycle forum where to mail order cheap tyres"
Thank you for delivering this mornings dose of STW comedy.
A) to borrow a phrase from the US tuning community - "built, not bought"
B) the only thing surprising is how cheap it is to run
C) asking people is one way to find out things we don't know
Why would I pay £360 for something if someone knows where I can get it for £300?
Thank you for delivering this morning's dose of STW grabbing-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick
What tyres are you using at the moment out of interest?
At the moment it has the stock wheels with 275/40r19 Kumho Ecsta
At the moment it has the stock wheels with 275/40r19 Kumho Ecsta
Presume 295 is not a big enough step up from the 275s to make the change worthwhile? There are a lot of cheap options at that size, e.g. Giga have Conti Sport 7s for £150/ea in 295/40 zr19
More importantly though, can we please have a picture of the Mustang? 🙂
It's a Mustang so it'll take the power. Already got a few things done to tighten the chassis but the traction control just can't cope at the mo. I know more suspension modification is coming but wheels/tyres seem like an easy fix right now.
I think you've talked yourself into setting up a new thread about this Mustang - (some of us) want to know more!
ok boss
Not sure why you're so grumpy, but "running" and "modifying" are two separate things. As a day to day car it's surprisingly practical and not as thirsty as you might expect. It'll touch 30mpg on a motorway run. Major service is £280 cos despite all the lipstick and glitter it's still just a mass-produced Ford, VED is less than £200/year and insurance just over £500. I've paid way more for lesser vehicles.
I've looked at 295 width but not convinced it's worth it £/μN. Not sure it warrants a thread of its own either. I'm aware it's an extravagance that some might see as tasteless/insensitive given "the current economic climate". I'll stick a couple of photos up on this thread later though, just about to go collect it after having a much quieter exhaust fitted.
eBay part worn are fine if you pick recently made (check the date code) and still with 5-7mm of tread left on a decent brand.
It does sound an interesting project
However they are know for being lively at the back end + any half decent sports car becomes more fun once it gets colder / wetter
All the rwd sports cars I’ve had became more fun once it got colder
Just adopt your driving in the winter conditions and use less right foot 😜
Just adopt your driving in the winter conditions and use less right foot
Maybe fit cross climates… 😉
I miss the good old days when you could buy a pair af good tyres for £160.
This is an invoice from the before times, 2012 lol!
Maybe fit cross climates…
But where does OP live , will they get more than 1 days snow a year to make CC’s worth while 😉
To be fair if they did make a big enough size it would be interesting to see how they would behave. I’d imagine they would trigger the traction even more despite possibly having more grip, and make the handling all squidgy and wallowly
Even if Cross Climates went that big the last thing I'll be doing if there's snow on the roads is driving this car, the margin for error takes a massive hit just with a bit of rain. And I'm not hooning about the public highways testing the limits of grip every time I get in the thing either - I've got Crail dragstrip and Knockhill on my doorstep. E.g. for Crail the weight/power suggests I could be 3.x seconds 0-60 and possibly pushing into the high 10s for the quarter mile, but it's not even close because it just spins/traction controls up to about 80mph. Drag radials would be perfect for this but then it's not road legal and not much cop for Knockhill. I'm just looking for a happy medium that'll give me more in those situations and still be ok for the roads.
but it's not even close because it just spins/traction controls up to about 80mph
No it doesn’t , your that foot is making it do that.
Ive had 650kg sports cars in the past. Braking in a straight line to traffic lights , completely locked up and not stopping
Coming off a motorway slip road, 5th gear and a full on slide
Plenty of grip in the summer, probably 60% less in the winter.
You get it wrong until you learn.
STWVhas been missing good car threads 🤣
I'm not sure what your point is but I'm happy you're having fun in your car 😆
700+ bhp is a lot to control for anyone, regardless of how finely tuned their right foot is. If I was the type of person who could control it perfectly every time, on any surface condition, I wouldn't be knocking my pan in doing the job I do right now. But I'm not so I'm looking for something to help and in this case it's a wider contact patch.
Am i not right in thinking, without a wider rim, wider tyres have negligible effect on car tyre contact patches?
There's a wider rim too. It's going to 11" rear, 10" front, up from 9.5"/9"
I miss the good old days when you could buy a pair af good tyres for £160.
Two Michelin Alpin 7 today: 201euro including fitting so very similar price. So now I can challenge our OP to a race on an icy lake whatever the road-legal non-studded tyres he fits on the Mustang even with 1/7th of the power. 😜
I'd be a 100% DNF in that race. This was back when it had "only" 420 bhp:
I was killing time looking around for you this morning, for whatever reason that 35 profile really limits your options.
If you can go down to 30 profile, you can get quite a few track day options cheaply.
https://tirestreets.co.uk/products/accelera-651-sport-305-30-r19-102w-xl?_pos=2&_sid=cb7ae412f&_ss=r
Even decent options like Pilot Sport 4S and Toyo Proxes are available under £300
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/toyo-r888r-tyre-778085/
I'm not sure what effect the reduced sidewall would have on handling, might make it a bit more snappy?
I know nothing about tyres, but could we have some photos of the car? Sounds fab!
I will but it's absolutely filthy at the moment. Will clean it tomorrow and grab a couple of pics.
I've had AD09s on a ~480ish rwd car, they were brilliant when warm and on track. However, on anything other than a clean, dry road, they're an absolute bloody handful. 1 particular example was me foolishly braking relatively hard with the wheel about a bold 30 degrees off centre on a slightly damp morning. Next thing I knew the car was sideways across an a road and oncoming traffic was looking at me funny. No ABS and having road tyres on the front probably didn't help! But I'd think really carefully about whether you needed those characteristics. I now have a set of track wheels and one of road wheels!