Rehash - Redlines

[AngliaGT]

It's time to replace the tires on the TR6.
I'm happy with the Redlines,but these tires are
getting old (the spare is NOS - never used).
What are the options?I'm looking for a fair-
priced (probably have to use the Visa card),&
last a reasonable amount of time.
Help me out here!

- Doug

 

[NutmegCT]

Doug - I sure like my Kumho's. Kumho 758 (165/80-15).

Other folks will have their own suggestions, but I've driven these for 3+ years and find road feel and wear to be excellent. I think I paid around $50 each including mounting and balancing at my local tire shop.

Tom

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Tom,

The 165/80's work well on TR3 and 4s. I have a set on my TR3. Doug needs to go a little bigger on the TR6. Most common and easilest to find for the TR6 is 205/70's. You will find 205/65s as well but they look too low profile for my taste on a TR6.

Marv

 

[AngliaGT]

I forgot to mention - I'd prefer Red stripes.

- Doug

 

[TexasKnucklehead]

I have Yokohama P215 65 R15 and like them. I'm due to slide the front to the rear and put new ones up front. I recently had the car appraised at a triumph restoration shop, and when he looked at the car, one of his comments was "the tires fill up the wheel well nicely".

No red stripe, but it's got enough red already.

 

[TR3driver]

I forgot to mention - I'd prefer Red stripes.

Call around, many tire places can add stripes in whatever color you want.

 

[TR3driver]

The 165/80's work well on TR3 and 4s.

At the risk of sounding like Bill Clinton, that depends on your definition of "well". I tried going back to the skinny Kumhos when I started on my TR3, but it was like driving on snow compared to what I was used to. Now that I'm back to 205/55 Bridgestone Potenzas (on TR6 wheels), the car goes where I point it; and I'm back to thinking the club runs are kind of slow while others complain that they are too fast!

Even 185/65 on stock TR3 wheels worked a lot better for me (in terms of handling) than the skinny tires. Of course they fall short in other ways (pun intended).

 

[TR3driver]

I'm due to slide the front to the rear

Only slightly off-topic; the other day I took the wife's Toyota to Costco for a new pair of tires, and they insisted on mounting the new tires on the rear. Didn't charge me anything for rotating the rear tires to the front (it was the front tires that were worn out, as usual on a FWD car), but said they had to put the new ones on the rear.

Any idea what's up with that? I can't see where it would make any difference except in rain or snow; and even then I'd rather keep control with the front tires. They're more likely to hydroplane in the rain anyway (in my experience).

 

[Andrew Mace]

I also wonder if they "had to" do that, but I suppose it could be the the fact that rear wheels on a front-drive car don't have very much to do nor much of the car's weight to do it with, but they need to be as good as possible for those rain and/or snow conditions where the rear wheels are more likely to lock up or otherwise lose grip in braking or cornering or...uh...well...

Never mind; I can't really figure it out. Obviously you don't want bald tires on the back (or the front, or even in the trunk as spares), but....

 

[sabot]

my tire guy says by putting the new ones on the rear, they will last longer for the warranty.
tom

 

[TR4A_IRS]

The real reason is that understeer is safer than oversteer. Putting the new tires on the rear will make the car even more prone to understeer than it was already designed to be.

 

[DNK]

How about a 205 60 15 Yoka's in a redline?

 

[TR3driver]

Putting the new tires on the rear will make the car even more prone to understeer than it was already designed to be.

Actually, in general, that is not true. New tires actually don't grip as well as old tires on dry pavement (and it will only be dry around here for the next few months). This is why racers in "stock" classes always have their tires shaved to minimum tread depth.

 

[TR3driver]

I also wonder if they "had to" do that

We had a rather lengthy discussion ... basically he said the only other options were to buy my tires somewhere else, or not have Costco install the tires on the car. "Company policy".
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Obviously you don't want bald tires on the back (or the front, or even in the trunk as spares), but.... [/QUOTE]Agreed, but the rear tires had over 50% tread. Even the front tires being replaced were just barely down to the wear bars, plenty of tread for the dry season IMO. But we've had a couple of unseasonal storms this year, and I thought there might be another one.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

Putting the new tires on the rear will make the car even more prone to understeer than it was already designed to be.

Actually, in general, that is not true. New tires actually don't grip as well as old tires on dry pavement (and it will only be dry around here for the next few months). This is why racers in "stock" classes always have their tires shaved to minimum tread depth.

The lawyers that make companies like Costco do this are worried more about wet traction, where tread depth makes a considerable difference, in situations where traction is severely limited already.

Do you have any data that indicates that old tires grip better than new tires? I have never heard that before.

The racers that I know shave their tires because the tread blocks on DOT legal race tires are squirmy at the limit and reduce traction. Removing the tread and making the tire closer to a slick is what lowers their lap times.

 

[TR3driver]

The racers that I know shave their tires because the tread blocks on DOT legal race tires are squirmy at the limit and reduce traction. Removing the tread and making the tire closer to a slick is what lowers their lap times.

Same effect applies to all tires. Tread only helps in the wet, no tread works best on dry pavement. Basically "tread" is grooves between blocks of tire, which allows the blocks to flex and deform in hard corners, reducing contact with the road. Google for "shaving tread" and you'll find lots of sites that discuss this. Eg,
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=67&

My data is strictly seat of the pants, but I have noticed the effect. Rotating the tires with more tread onto the front will make the car push worse in hard corners; and a new set of tires (same brand and style) never work quite as good as the worn out ones that were just taken off.

But if you aren't taking 35 mph curves at 70 mph (which I do almost every day, traffic permitting), you probably won't notice the difference.

 

[TR3driver]

The lawyers that make companies like Costco do this are worried more about wet traction, where tread depth makes a considerable difference, in situations where traction is severely limited already.

You're probably right about that, but it still makes no sense in the real world, IMO. One of the biggest problems in the rain is having the front tires hydroplane (meaning the tread grooves aren't big enough to let the water get out from under the tire and you are suddenly piloting a boat with no rudder). But at least in a straight line, the rear tires almost never hydroplane first, because the front tires have already pushed most of the water out of the way. And that remains true even if the rear tires have considerably less tread on them.

You're also going to stop quicker in the rain with the tread in the front, since that is where most of the weight, and hence braking, is. Any modern car is going to have ABS to prevent the rear wheels from locking up anyway.

Oh well, easy enough to rotate them myself, if I care enough to do so. But I think in the future, I'll deal with a tire place that does what I ask, instead of telling me how I "must" take care of my car. Oddly enough, America's Tire Co has no trouble putting new tires on the front, when that's what I ask for. Maybe they don't have as many lawyers

 

[tr6nitjulius]

Redlines on a TR6 is like p-nut butter & jelly on a sandwich they just go together. The quickest improvement you can experience on a 6 is better quality rubber, with that said the factory issued, skinny, death defying 185/15 (5") lasted forever but proved to be horrible for handling, had 'em 21 years on my 6, 2003 went with coker classic 205/78/15 (5-1/2") vastly improved rubber compound, substantial improvement in handling, pret'ne'r same in height and 1/2" wider than 185's which enables more rubber on the road and could get 2 fingers between top of tire and fender, important for those off camber tight turns to insure no tire rubbing, the last 4 yrs been running the diamondback redline 205/70/15(6") thus far prove to be the best match, look great on the 6, Redline, 6" rubber on the ground, modern rubber improved handling, pass the 2 finger test and absolutely no tire rub under numerous driving conditions as well as not lowering my 6, oh, and did I mention that sour high pitched squeal us 6 owners became accustomed to with the 185's-GONE! as with the no grip, hard ride, the speedo does read 3-4 mph slower. Looking to get another set in the near future to do the replace the current fronts with rears, new on the back rotation

ps
one tire shop stated new tires on the back, in the case of a blowout you're more apt to loose control of vehicle with blowout on rear as opposed to front? so they're instructed to mount new tires on rear, obviously not understanding we're trying to extend tire life as various LBC suspension problems eats up rubber, owning our LBC for longer than some them have been on earth don't really think they grasp the scenario

 

[AngliaGT]

I'm getting confused here.I just wanted a simple answer
about a Red striped,decent priced,decent handling tire.What
I got is a hijack of this thread about a Toyota & Costco
tires,& another person with a confusing message about Coker
tires.
Could someone give a simple answer?Tell me what size/
company you are using,& why.

- Doug

 

[Got_All_4]

Love my Hankooks H714 on my TR250. Nice ride and quiet. Handling is more then I expected. I've been know to hang a few curves. probably every time I go out and have not yet put the car into a slide. However they are white walls. As tr3driver said you might be able to order them in red.

I put on new tires on the TR3 last year and replaced them with Vredestein Sprint +. Another super tire. Changed the entire ride of the car. Performance is excellent too. Don't like the side wall design or the black walls but beggars can't be choosers. White walls would have been $800.