Tyres

Post by **Ronnie** » 19 Jun 2008 11:42 am

I've been running Yokohama C-Drives for the last couple of years. Yesterday got Toyo Proxes for the rears (Only £49 a corner fitted from Protyre). Had a really horrible drive out to Reading before they got scrubbed in. Car was crabbing, losing traction, rain and wind didn't help.

Then coming back, they decided to close the M4. Diversion was horrendous, so I struck out onto the country lanes guided by dead reckoning and a Sat Nav to get me back on course. Tyres were amazing. Loads of grip, very sure footed and my confidence on late braking went through the ceiling. Once back on the motorway though car still felt a bit twitchy, something it never did with the C-drives.

Not sure what's going on here...

Post by **jtbo** » 19 Jun 2008 11:52 am

Does it feel like you would have different car at front and rear? Then it would be different tires at front and back, sometimes tire's handling differs so much that handling can be compromised.

Swapping Toyos to front could reveal something perhaps?

Post by **Jason B** » 19 Jun 2008 05:14 pm

are those proxes cf-1? as I'm am about to buy tyres for my car and can't decide whether to get new proxes all round or find good spec part-worns.

Post by **SteveP** » 19 Jun 2008 05:21 pm

Two words, Jason - Bridgestone Potenza's

Post by **Ronnie** » 19 Jun 2008 05:33 pm

Yeah, Jason - CF1's - the consumer Proxey. Give me a couple of days to run them in properly and I'll let you know how they're fairing.

So far for tight twisty work they are awesome, very predictable, quite hard to get the tail out, much less likely to lock up on hard braking, but do have issues on high speed straight line stuff.

Jani might well be right about mismatched front and rear. I was going to swap the fronts out next month. I'l see how it goes.

Post by **jtbo** » 19 Jun 2008 06:28 pm

I have heard that those consumer level Proxes tyres are quite far from those better versions so there is perhaps not much similarity that a name, but I certainly don't have any experience from them.

Tire to look up is Hankook Z 212, outperforms almost any street legal tires on track conditions, even Proxes semi slicks could not match them and still they don't wear too quick and this I have heard from race driver that drives on track 24 hour races and he was taken by performance and long life of these tires.
http://www.ityre.com/en/tyres/catalog/h ... del/20285/

195/60 R14 being bit off from standard size, however difference is not too large, imo.

Don't know price and availability in UK, but should not be too expensive for what they are.

Post by **Jason B** » 19 Jun 2008 06:32 pm

sadly the roads I compete on are far from track conditions, well.... actually, farm "track" condition is right

I need tyres that aren't afraid of wet and greasy roads. However I also need them to be cheap enough that I won't cry about a bad puncture (which is pretty likely to happen)

Post by **jtbo** » 19 Jun 2008 07:09 pm

Indeed, that is very different usage I had in my mind

Some m+s might work on wet conditions? Perhaps even winter tyre? But with limited budged one can't get another set for wet so pretty pointless then.

Will be interesting to hear how testing goes after you get current tires swapped.

Post by **Ronnie** » 19 Jun 2008 08:06 pm

Jason B wrote:sadly the roads I compete on are far from track conditions, well.... actually, farm "track" condition is right

These are the kind of roads i was caning it down this morning after my night shift. Country lanes with passing places, over hanging hedges/tree, plenty of loose stuff, standing water, bumps, the Proxeys CF1's coped amazingly well with it.

Post by **Carl** » 19 Jun 2008 08:55 pm

I had Toyo Poxies on my MR2 when I did a couple of events - they were good on tarmac (ie like the roads Ronnie is talking about) but horrendous on proper mud. The back end was all over the place and I even spun once in a big patch of mud (and had to get pulled out by a landie). Not a fun night.

I'm sure I've said it before, but I had Uniroyal Rallye 550s on my old black 360 and they were immesnly capable in all conditions - in fact I've never driven down white roads so fast as I did with them. Only problem is that they didn't have reinforced sidewalls.

Steve also got a good choice with the Bridgestones - in my day (so so long ago) a lot of very quick drivers swore by them!

Post by **petefarrell360** » 20 Jun 2008 03:30 am

I'm not sure what the CF1's are like, but I can honestly say the Toyo Proxes in T1S form are incredible. I have never had tyres that grip so well and are so predictable, I was amazed at how much extra speed you can carry through corners without any issues at all, when on my Pirellis it's squealling, understeering, then oversteering, Toyo's for the win in 15" form in T1S's. Are the CF1's directional tread at all Ronnie, as the T1S's are, which may account for some issues, as they may be unsettled at speed with the non directional tyres, just a though? You shouldn't mix them on the same axle, but as you got a pair on the rear it's not so bad, but I tend to try and keep all of one or the other on a car all round if I can.

Pete

Post by **Ronnie** » 30 Oct 2008 11:46 am

Tread resurrection:

Was driving down the M5 to Exeter last night in very heavy rain with standing water everywhere. At least traffic was light. With The Toyo Proxes front and rear, new shocks all round, and uprated headlights to show the way I actually enjoyed the drive. I've never had a 300 feel so stable in the wet before.

Post by **Figgy** » 30 Oct 2008 12:30 pm

I've had a similar problem to that, although the car in question was a FWD...the tyre place had actually over-inflated the new set, the car was actually skipping across the highway at 80 k's, I wasn't brave enough to go any faster.

Post by **Ronnie** » 30 Oct 2008 06:40 pm

My problem with the Toyos went away after 100 miles or so of scrubbing in - I was just being impatient!