Downsized my tyres, at last !

[dave1]

Rob mate.
Get your tyres changed now! That cracking on the sidewall will result in your tyre departing from the wheel. When you get them changed inspect the sidewall corners and you will see that the tyre structure is split at the radius. It happened to me. read my 'some info for you'. I changed mine a month ago. My spare still had the 245 SP on it and that was narrower than the 225 by about 4-5 mm. The Audi dealer is wrong. I will give you my car if i am wrong.

[Rob20vurq]

Thanks Dave will do!!!!!

[afhgus]

I read your tyre debate with interest as I presently have dunlop 9000's 245's on the back and the size down 225's on the front. These 225's have been recommended as you know by dunlop as the correct tyre to now fit. I like the feedback from them but am debating to try some 235's (pirellis,michelins etc) as a compromise between those uber looks of fat tyres and the sensibe choice of smaller cheaper and safer tyres. But MCP told me unless you drive like a luny 245's are the right choice. Is anyone as muddled as me!?

[robo]

Hello afhgus
Get the tyres changed now if dont do it your dif will not last long.!!

[DAVIDP20V]

agree qith robo, do it asap ! rolling radius is wrong with all wheels being driven together. diff will say goodbye soon

[afhgus]

Don't worry about it boys. I have followed the advice of QST whom I trust. How about 235 size tyres as a comprimise though?

[AAH!]

The collected wisdom of most long term RS2 owners from most of the RS2 forums on the net is to use 225/45/ZR17 tyres.

A few years ago, after reading the experiences of many RS2 owners, I changed from 245/40/ZR17 Perelli P-Zero's after endless (dangerous) side wall problems to 225/45/ZR17 Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's and have not had a single side wall problem since, but have had substaintially improved and sharper cornering with much more feel.

The brand choice is up to you but going with 225/45/17's is a must.

Angus

[afhgus]

thanks for the advice. I think thats the sensible choice!

[Pete_RS2]

I need to get some new front tyres but have a dilemma as the rears are almost brand new 245/40 Dunlop SP9000's. I guess I will just have to get 245/40's for the front and downsize when all four need replacing together.

I guess it's also OK to use tyres which have W (not exceeding 168 mph) & Y (not exceeding 186 mph) ratings in addition to the Z rating ?

Has anybody ever used Yokohama S1-Z tyres ?

[scillyisles]

It's not OK to use the car with Dunlop SP9000 in 245/40ZR17 size - speak to Dunlop technical support - they'll be horrified that you've got these tyres fitted on a 7 inch rim. This tyre is heated up during the production process to 8.5 inches and as such you're putting tremendous strain on the sidewalls of the tyre by fitting it on a 7 inch rim. I also believe your insurance company would take a very dim view if you had an accident with these tyres fitted.
I had exactly the same issue with my car when my Audi dealer fitted 5 Dunlop SP9000 tyres on the car - after checking Audi dealer apologised profusely and fitted a replacement set of 225/45 ZR17 Bridgestone tyres.

Tyre markings are rather confusing - the old Z style marking merely means that the tyre is rated at speeds over 150mph but it does'nt really tell you how much. The newer W and Y ratings attempt to clarify this - W= rated up to 168mph Y= rated up to 186mph. The other thing about tyres that's relevant to the RS2 is the load index - because the RS2 is relatively heavy it needs a tyre capable of carrying this load at speed - I think you need to be looking at tyres that are rated at 91 or higher.

[Pete_RS2]

I did speak to Dunlop technical support today & they said it was unsafe to use 245/40ZR17 & strongly recommend that I ditch the virtually new SP9000's ASAP. So I'll probably eBay them & downsize in the next few days.

[scillyisles]

I did speak to Dunlop technical support today & they said it was unsafe to use 245/40ZR17 & strongly recommend that I ditch the virtually new SP9000's ASAP. So I'll probably eBay them & downsize in the next few days.

Yes this is exactly what happened to me - I had to ditch 5 SP9000 tyres that had only done 1000 miles - luckily in my case the tyres had been fitted by my Audi dealer so they stumped up the cost for five new Bridgestone tyres.

At the moment Kwikfit are doing an offer on Pirelli tyres - 3 for the price of 4 (I suppose they'll do the same percentage on 5) this is a great deal. Unfortunately, Pirelli's best performance tyre the Nero is'nt available in 225/45ZR17 but the Pirell Pzero Rosso is. If you don't like Pirelli then next month the offer from Kwik Fit is on Continental tyres. Hope this helps.

[Cobstar]

Hi Pete

I'm glad to hear that you've decided to downsize - although it's a pain having to take off nearly new tyres - safety has to come first.

Mine came with a virtually new set of tyres which I didn't realise till afterwards shouldn't have been fitted. Definitely been a steep learning curve with the RS2

Kim at QST pointed out that he wouldn't have used that tyre, in that size, on the car and suggested replacing them after 5,000 miles. I ran them longer but always had trouble keeping the pressures at the right level - had to have one resealed to rim. Then had a puncture - fortunately spotted as I opened the gate up to a farmyard - and when the nice guy from Ontime took the tyre off found the tread had split from the wall along the inside edge. Thank goodness I wasn't having a razz along the motorway when that happened.

[Pete_RS2]

I've just switched to Uniroyal Rainsport 225/45ZR17's. £368 for 4 from my local Just Tyres branch. I didn't realise the front wheels were 7J & the rears were 7.5J width though ???

[scillyisles]

I've just switched to Uniroyal Rainsport 225/45ZR17's. £368 for 4 from my local Just Tyres branch. I didn't realise the front wheels were 7J & the rears were 7.5J width though ???

RS2 has 7 inch rims front and rear.