Tyre Types

[BetaSteve]

Have been interested to see the discussions on Beta tyre sizes, with most leaning back towards the original 175/70's.

I've tried 185/70's in the past and agree the steering is unpleasantly heavy at low speed, but how do people feel about 175/65's  ?  - there seems to be a much wider range of rubber available in that size.

I'm also wondering what brands people are buying for their beta coupes - Toyo, Yoko, Michelin, others - and if there is really much between them performance-wise ?

[HFStuart]

175/65 is OE fitment on a number of current 'shopping' cars so that explains the greater choice. The smaller size would reduce the gearing by about 3% (ie speedo would read high by 3%) otherwise I'm sure they'd be fine.

Between well known brands the performance differential isn't that great (certainly not in these sizes anyway) some will last longer, some will grip a bit better. Where the real difference is is with the cheapo tyres.  A tyre test by Autocar magazine last year showed a 28 foot difference in stopping distance from 50mph between branded and cheap tyres. That's a sobering 2 1/2 car lengths.

[rossocorsa]

(ie speedo would read high by 3%)

plus the 10% that it over read as standard!! reason why I think undersize is not good