Flat Spot Tyres

[Rally Pack 2000]

I noticed the other day the rear tyre on the MK2 looked like it was cracking and starting to de-laminate. They were old and well past their use by date. They had gone so hard I thought I was Fred Flinstone but I was just keeping them on till I finished the painting and body work I was very slowly doing. Just too dangerous though so I thought the Mk1 had a set of Yokohama 008R's on it that only had a few dozen kms on them so I thought I would swap them over to the Mk2 before they too started cracking from age. Trouble is they appear to have flat spotted from sitting idle on the Twincam for so long. At about 42kph the steering would shake violently. trying to isolate if all the tyres were at fault or just the fronts as the rears has been stored off car.  I tried rotating the fronts to rear. This did improve things quite noticeably and you can drive past the 42kph threshold to 60kph where things seem fine. You do notice a bit of a wobble at 42kph still but you can drive past it whereas before the rotation there was no way you could get the car past 42kph. The strange thing is that the worse pair now on the back you would think you would still feel them out of balance but you dont. Second strange thing is that with two completely different tyres on the front you would think if they were also out of balance due to flat spots that it would occur at a different speed to before. The shimmy, though not as bad still occurs at exactly the same speed. Would rebalancing the wheels help at all? Has changing the wheels amplified a faulty bush, control arm or tie rod end that I never noticed with the old wheels that were more inset than the ones I just put on off the Twincam. I have read conflicting things online about Flatspots, some say you have drive them off over time with the heat and expansion making them go away and others say that its terminal for the tyres. Your thoughts appreciated.

[colr6]

There the only thing between the road and your pride and joy any doubts bin them. Cheaper than replacing the car let alone yourself. If standing for a long time place car on stands.

[DT36]

I've just pulled my wheels off to get them powder coated and noticed that my sidewalls were starting to perish. Ordered some new tyres up ready for refiting later in the week. Got a Yokohama for the front, and ended up paying about £70 with delivery.

 

My rears were a 175/50/13, so decided to go with a 185/60/13 as my back end is really low. Ended up paying about £65 for a non branded pair including delivery. The sidewalls seem a little softer than the yokohama, but I don't see this as a bad thing.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=151827703768&alt=web

[Rally Pack 2000]

There the only thing between the road and your pride and joy any doubts bin them. Cheaper than replacing the car let alone yourself. If standing for a long time place car on stands.

 

Thats actually how the rears seem to be better than fronts as the rear of the Twincam has been up on stands and the wheels stored separately. A008R's were very expensive in their day it seemed a shame to throw them away too when they appear 100%. You can still see the find cross lines on the treat. Its just odd they wobble on the front but not on the back.

[Vista]

There the only thing between the road and your pride and joy any doubts bin them. Cheaper than replacing the car let alone yourself. If standing for a long time place car on stands.

 

This

[Rally Pack 2000]

Tyres are now toast. Not much decent stuff available in 205/60r13. All I could find are obscure Chinese brands or Falken Ze912s. So looks like its pretty much the Falkens

[Vista]

205/60/13 on a mk2? Do they not rub?

[Rally Pack 2000]

205/60/13 on a mk2? Do they not rub?

 

Nope and thats been a wide variety of different brands over the years. Keep in mind you will rarely see an Escort running 2 inches off the deck here like I see in a lot of cars on this forum. That size was also on the Twincam and only scrubbed if I took rear seat passengers over speed humps. Was a good excuse not to take passengers. On Mk2s however that size is very common.

[stephens_xpack]

I have a similar dilemma, the car has been on stands for a long time now, and the tyres 205/60/13 x2 and 235/60/13 x2 look virtually brand new even still have the little pimples on from new, but in reality are over ten years old and will need to be replaced.

[Rally Pack 2000]

I have a similar dilemma, the car has been on stands for a long time now, and the tyres 205/60/13 x2 and 235/60/13 x2 look virtually brand new even still have the little pimples on from new, but in reality are over ten years old and will need to be replaced.

 

It really does seem such a shame to throw away tyres that appear new. I went out and got them up to temp for half and an hour and came home. The cracks that now appeared within the groves and on the tread-block around the point where it sat sealed it for me.

[colr6]

Know what you mean I've got three sets all like new but with the dreaded cracks but will not use, you can gaurantee they wil pop at the wrong time. But it's cheaper than a car. And as my wife says there replaceable your not.

[Vista]

I removed an Avon CR500 245/40/15 from the van last summer as it had cracks in the side walls. I think I shed a tear at the amount of tread left as it came off. Must burn more rubber in future!

 

My mk1 RS2000 has the same tyres on it as it did when I bought it in late 2004. I do so little mileage in it now that I just can't bring myself to change them. They've gone a little bit hard though and are a bit scary in the wet.

[JP.]

I removed an Avon CR500 245/40/15 from the van last summer as it had cracks in the side walls.

 

Have those too and while the Avon CR500 is a great tire, its developed for competition meaning the compound is not long lasting. They age out after two years and if you're lucky the last tree years.  

They start to crack and dry out after two years, road use.

 

According to BMCR  Racing Tyres ( my supplier ) they are road legal, only for their racing class. They are not suppose to be long lasting as on track events they normally last just as long as it takes. They where surprised they lasted tree years on my road car. 

 

Have to say, the grip of the Avon CR500 is superb in all conditions even in the full wet conditions, Toyo T1R is not coming even close to what they bite to the tarmac on all conditions. So we take it for granted and bought again a set of four with the knowledge they will last probably tree years before they are unsafe to use by all the sidewall cracks.

Running the 245/50/13.

 

Well for those flat spot tyres, there's a solution...

http://www.cjautos.eu/TYRE_SAVERS_PAIR_p/oe02.htm

 

CJ is partner with the company I work for and is a great guy to deal with. 

[Vista]

 

Have to say, the grip of the Avon CR500 is superb in all conditions even in the full wet conditions, Toyo T1R is not coming even close to what they bite to the tarmac on all conditions. So we take it for granted and bought again a set of four with the knowledge they will last probably tree years before they are unsafe to use by all the sidewall cracks.

Running the 245/50/13.

 

Agreed re grip, they're superb! I also don't think there's much else out there that sits right on a 15" 9J rim

[Rally Pack 2000]

Have those too and while the Avon CR500 is a great tire, its developed for competition meaning the compound is not long lasting. They age out after two years and if you're lucky the last tree years.  

They start to crack and dry out after two years, road use.

 

According to BMCR  Racing Tyres ( my supplier ) they are road legal, only for their racing class. They are not suppose to be long lasting as on track events they normally last just as long as it takes. They where surprised they lasted tree years on my road car. 

 

Have to say, the grip of the Avon CR500 is superb in all conditions even in the full wet conditions, Toyo T1R is not coming even close to what they bite to the tarmac on all conditions. So we take it for granted and bought again a set of four with the knowledge they will last probably tree years before they are unsafe to use by all the sidewall cracks.

Running the 245/50/13.

 

Well for those flat spot tyres, there's a solution...

http://www.cjautos.eu/TYRE_SAVERS_PAIR_p/oe02.htm

 

CJ is partner with the company I work for and is a great guy to deal with. 

 

Thats quite interesting information that these road legal competition tyres dry out and crack after a few years. There doesnt seem to be anything decent in the size im looking for but you can get the Avon CR28 Sport. Its a wet weather comp tyre but I spoke to the distributor and that they could be used as a road tyre since a road car wouldnt generate the temps that would destroy them. Of course he said that you wouldnt get more than 20,000kms out of them which is fine as the car doesnt clock up many k's these days. But reading what you say they may well just crack even sooner than a regular road tyre wasting even more money in the long run. I just dont feel comfortable going with Falken Ze-912s as most claim they are only a mediocre tyre at best.

[JP.]

Well its what the tyre is, a road legal competition tire, So a competition tyre for road legal classes where only road legal tyres are mandatory. Competition tyres normally don't last long so Avon never developed the tyre to last forever on a road car.

 

As the demand was there Avon was working on a more road practical version of the CR500 meaning a better long lasting rubber compound for Classic Road Cars. Should be available end of 2015.

Thought it was Avon ZZS series but not sure.

[Vista]

 

As the demand was there Avon was working on a more road practical version of the CR500 meaning a better long lasting rubber compound for Classic Road Cars. Should be available end of 2015.

Thought it was Avon ZZS series but not sure.

 

Good news, shall follow this with interest. Thanks for the tip

 

http://www.avonmotorsport.com/road-legal/performance/zzs

 

Edit: Hmmm wet grip has dropped from A for the CR500 to C for the ZZS

[Rally Pack 2000]

Was curious those who run 185/60r13s is there much speedo error?

[jxke]

Was curious those who run 185/60r13s is there much speedo error?

I run that size on my Mk2 and the speedo error is very little, 62 is 60 for example. Although mine being an L, that change is from 155/80/13's

[colr6]

Would have thought there would be a calculator some where to find the difference in revs per mile along with other calculators on the net you would be able to find the exact difference and also find out if it could be cured by a simple speedo drive change in the gearbox. Think there is 3 or 4 different drives availiable. There is some mathematical people on turbosport forum or another good one is the Locost forum

[jxke]

^ willtheyfit.com shows speedo comparison for different tires

[DT36]

Nope and thats been a wide variety of different brands over the years. Keep in mind you will rarely see an Escort running 2 inches off the deck here like I see in a lot of cars on this forum. That size was also on the Twincam and only scrubbed if I took rear seat passengers over speed humps. Was a good excuse not to take passengers. On Mk2s however that size is very common.

 

This is good to hear.  I've just had my wheels powder coated this week and am about to get 185/60s put back on, instead of 175/50s.

My MK2 RS has had it's arches rolled, but I was still a bit doubtful as to whether they would rub.

 

Pleased with my new look wheels though:

[Rally Pack 2000]

This is good to hear.  I've just had my wheels powder coated this week and am about to get 185/60s put back on, instead of 175/50s.

My MK2 RS has had it's arches rolled, but I was still a bit doubtful as to whether they would rub.

 

Pleased with my new look wheels though:

 

Nice!!! I want those rims for my Twincam. One caveat I should have added to that statement is that I use 6in rims with only moderate offset.

[DT36]

I went with Gun Metal Grey. Looks nice against the yellow.  Just waiting on mu strut brace, rocker cover, bonnet catches and fuel cap to be done now. pick them up Friday.

 

Haha, now you tell me about the size of your rims...     never measured these ones, as they were already on the car when I bought it.  Fingers crossed though that they will be OK and the 185s will fit the rears without rubbing.

 

The tyres are noticeably bigger though.

 

 

[stephens_xpack]

New wheels look awesome, I like...