Best tires for original alloys ??

[michaltalbot]

As an employee of Bridgestone company I maybe could say something about tires... The inner construction of the tire is of course very important and Continental are constructed to be comfortable as You can confirm. Very important is the hardness of sidewalls of the tire. There are big differences between speed index T, H, V and W, "faster" tire = harder construction. You can feel the difference between Bridgestone ER300 Turanza H and the same tire in V. I want to say that difference between comfort tire and sport tire is like heaven and hell - there is no compromise. If You want to use Your car "sporty" You have to forgot about comfort and long milleage and go for sport tires - like Bridgestone RE720 or for example Toyo T1. I know that finding a hard constructed tire for Murenas 14" rims is very difficult - that's why I (employee of Bridgestone) am using Toyo tires   because Bridgestone ER300 in 14" are only in speed index H which too soft for Murena and RE720 is not produced for more... Maybe that Yokohama could have something sporty in 14" but I think that ideal speed index for Murena is "V".

[Jon Weywadt]

Unfortunately it appears that the only sizes for the Toyo T1 are 195/55 195/45 and 225/40.

Not good fits for the Murena. The 195/55 is appx. 3.5% smaller than the original. Faster acceleration perhaps, but 3.5% worse fuel economy on an already marginal mpg.

How about the Toyo Proxes CF1 ? They are apparently available in both 185/60R14V and 195/60R14V. Anyone have experence with these?

[michaltalbot]

Toyo T1 was an example... but if You'll go to a tire service and You will take the sidewall into Your hand, You will feel the difference. When You press Your thumb into the sidewall of Bridgestone 205/55R16 91V and into the sidewall of, for example, Michelin in the same size, You will see that Michelin is softer and that is what lot of people say - Bridges are less comfortable than Michelins, but they works 

[Oetker]

Next weeks the car will be out its garage and make some miles with the Turanza's.
Also I have the feeling the car is a bit loose on high speeds, but my shockabsorbers are also at the end of life.
I realy don't want to dump the original wheels, but this is becoming difficult now.
If the Turanza's dont meet my expectations in the coming weeks, I start looking for some harder second hand tires fot the time beeing.

[JV]

I have the Turanza's at the rear wheels since a few weeks. I have the feeling that the car is loose at high speeds, indeed. It wobbles a bit from side to side. Especially in wide bends with speeds of 120 km/h or more it slightly remembered me of driving with a caravan.  So, I was a bit surprised and disappointed as I did not have this experience with my old (very old) tyres. This improved somewhat after increasing the tyre pressure up to 2.7, but it did not completely disappear. Perhaps I have to increase the tyre pressure even more.

[Oetker]

Further inspection of the tires I found out that they dilevered the wrong tires 
There is a small vignet on the sidewall with Ecopia in it.
I didn't order the tires with Ecopia technology but the normal ones wich cost 7 Euro more.
Sended a mail to correct the mistake.

[Jon Weywadt]

Further inspection of the tires I found out that they dilevered the wrong tires 
There is a small vignet on the sidewall with Ecopia in it.
I didn't order the tires with Ecopia technology but the normal ones wich cost 7 Euro more.
Sended a mail to correct the mistake.

Unfortunately the only way you can get them without the Ecopia rating, is if someone have the old ones still in stock. They only make the Ecopia rated ones now. 

If you check back through the thread you will see that this is what I found out.

[Oetker]

Yes I noticed that, but  then there advertisement is wrong and I am misleaded.
I did not get what I ordred.

[Oetker]

Here the difference in advertisement still online.

Not Ecopia.


Ecopia.


The testingresults are also very different.
I am f*cked.

[Jon Weywadt]

Here the difference in advertisement still online.
-----
I am f*cked.

Hi Oetker.

I had heard about the Ecopia tires and seen the test rapport, so I called these guys and specifically asked them to confirm that they could still deliver the non-Ecopia kind.
They could not, and could not find any in stock.

[michaltalbot]

Yes, that's what we call "f.u.cking ecoterrorism" - in the name of ecology, you have to spend more and more for new ecothings, and you're getting less and less - but eco, everything is "green" An on the opposite side of the world, big countries of Asia (for ex.China) produce huge amounts of pollution, in South America the rain forests are liquidated and every plane when starting produces 100 times more pollutions than 1 car for 100 km of drive, but in the sphere, where air is thinner and they are pissing us up with eco-duty from old cars, eco-stickers for entering centers of the cities, controling every gram of CO2, and at least - make us to buy eco-tyres which are worse than normal ones. Mad world today...

[brinkie]

I didn't notice this thread until today, but coincidentally I emailed Roy for advice on tyres. His suggestion is to use Uniroyal Rallye 550, which still seem to be available in 185/55HR14 and 195/60HR14 for a reasonable price (Delticom sells this set for 250 Euro delivered to my doorstep).

I am also having my original 14" alloys (who have been sitting in a dirty basement for 10 years) restored to new: sandblasting and coating and mounting of tyre for 100 Euro each. Currently there are 15" Stilauto alloys on the car with Pirelli P5000 Drago tyres (195/50VR15 front 205/50VR15 rear), who are 10 years old now and need replacing. The road holding is wobbly at high speeds and in long curves.

At 650 Euro this operation is not very cheap, but I hope this brings my Murena closer to original, both visual and in handling!

[Oetker]

The decission is made, the original wheels are off.
I found a set wheels with good tires in V-speed.


Front Michelin Pilot Primacy 195/15, and at the back Goodyear touring 205/55
They look good on the car.
The goodyears are not my choiche, but they came with the wheels.







First impression is good, but like to test a bit more.

[Oetker]

Nice wheelbadges added.



Thanks Anders

[Jon Weywadt]

Nice wheelbadges added.



Thanks Anders

Just back from my daughters wedding in USA. What a great trip.

Where did you get the wheel badges? Are they stick-on. I would like to get a set.