Tyre Types

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

I've noticed my C240 (W203) has 225x50x16 ZR tyres on it (contact sports) but they are W's on the back and N1's on the front. Anyone know what the difference is?

I took them in to a local tyre place to see how legal the slicks, er, I mean, tyres on the front are as I have an MOT coming up. The tyre guy has ordered W's (£117 each). Is this correct or should I be getting N1's. Must admit, I've never seen N1's before.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

A bit if digging and I seem to have answered my own question. Seems N1's are specific to Porche's. I assume that the tyres on the front of my car were swapped-out then rather than put on by a proper tyre place (unless the tyre place just happened to have some in stock and didn't tell the previous owner).

 

[Blobcat]

Porsche ones are usually more ££'s. W rated tend to be fitted to the estates due to the higher loads. Although different tyre manufactures use W ratings for different things, some for speed others for load.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

225x50 ZR16 W's should be ok then? Like I say, that's what's on the back (and on the spare I believe).

 

[Rory]

Apparently you can get M0 (not sure it it's an o or zero) which are Mercedes specific.
I've never actually seen one, and there isn't an M0 marking my original fitment tyres.

 

[Rory]

ZR looks a bit odd in the tyre tables - it seems to mean 'greater than 149MPH'.

But V = 149MPH and W = 168MPH. So I wonder why ZR exisits?

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Apparently my car will do 147mph ... but not with me in it!

 

[carabind]

A quick flick around shows that there is a range N1-3 - the N rating (by porshe) depicts the composition of the rubber compound. Are they Conti's Sports that they getting you for £117 ? Blackcircle are quoting £101 each (inclusive).

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

yep. Contact Sport 2's. It's actually part of a ford garage and does all their tyres. Always found them to be a lot cheaper than anywhere else, even nasty little back street places. They have quite a posh setup too.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

W and ZR are speed ratings. N's are specific manufacturer types which I have no idea about but by the sound of it are porsche rated for some reason or other.

As rory says. MO on your tyres would indicate the Mercedes approved tyre and would, no doubt be sourced by MB dealers at higher prices.

W and Z rated tyres will happily drive upto 168mph. as your car will not be capable of this, any speed rated ttyre with the above markings on will be okay.

your load rating will be a number like 82Y or 91Y or 101Y. that is an indication of its maximum weight loading. so you could buy tyres that are W speed rated but 82,88,92 or so on load rated. Some higher speed tyres are not designed for higher wieght loadings, so you may find a W speed rated tyre with loads of manufacture load rated options and only 1 ZR rated load tyre if you see what I am getting at.

I dont like Conti sports. they have no grip in cold and wet conditions. Hankooks are a cheaper and better all round tyre unless you are planning on a track day! Plus they will do more mileage!

thats my 2p anyway.


do a search on goodl for tyre speed ratings and load ratings. it should help clarify what I am going on about. And check out www.mytyres.co.uk. they may well have a comparison test of your selected tyres against others or you can check to see the test ratings of your choosen tyre and see whats its good at or not so good at.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

now that's what I call a comprehensive answer! Thanks Slinky.

 

[Blobcat]

Hi SLinKyjoe, what tyres did your new battle bus come shod with?

 

[shj]

I remember back in the mid 50's when 4x4's were farm vehicals (series 2 Landys) but not tractors,Dunlop launched a Town and Country tyre, my uncle who had a very tweeked Ford Zephr convertable had them on his back wheels, were did he live ? Chelsea!!

 

[SLinKyjoe]

Hi SLinKyjoe, what tyres did your new battle bus come shod with?

them Yanks call them 3 season tyres as in Spring Summer and Fall.

Goodyear F1 Eagle supercars.
Front: 245 45 20 ZR
Rear: 255 45 20 ZR

We had 5 up and a boot full on Saturday and, shall we say, pressed on. It did 100mph and did not appear to struggle too much to get to it. To give some context to that. An Aston Martin V8 Vantage with its owner and I had a go. it just made the 100 on the same bit. He was also unable to get away from me on the M4 even tho he was in it himself and I had a passenger and bootful.

To add further to it. An Elise 2 111R with the Toyota engine upped to 197bhp did not manage the 100 on the same bit. Altho it felt like it was doing 1000. And then we spun the Lotus. ahem! so we went for tea while the owner looked at the front lower bumper and 2 new wheels he needs. We also had to break into it to get his keys out, that he had locked in the boot. This was a suprisingly simple car to get into.

Next chance i get to go to Bruntingthorpe I will post up the Hemi's results. Then i shall worry about the tyres!

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Well the car is having it's new shoes fitted as I type (garage is just around the corner). It seems they were unable to get any continental 225x50 16VR W's so guess what they are putting on? That's right, the Porche ones again. I wonder if the previous owner had similar problems which is why it has N1 tyres on it.

They are the same price. The garage says they wouldn't be able to get any of the regular tyres in my size until the end of the year. Probably a line but it doesn't really matter.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

it may well be true. They make tyres in batches for anticpated buying and it may just be that those tyres are now in demand and the next batch isnt yet in production.

We buy a specific Michelin tyre which the MOD also use, and when any conflict starts, we have to make do until Michelin can get production going as the MOD get first crack of the whip on them. They do a 3 month production then go on to aircraft tyres for however many months they do that for and then back again.

Bit of the old supply and demand. Altho it may be just laziness on your garages part but as they are the same price i guess it doesn't make much difference.

 

[47p2]

Try this link for tyre info. It gives explanations on tyre traction, temperature and wear for the most popular makes.
http://www.etyres.co.uk/tyres-ratings-nhtsa/tyre-ratings-michelin.htm

 

[television]

Try this link for tyre info. It gives explanations on tyre traction, temperature and wear for the most popular makes.
http://www.etyres.co.uk/tyres-ratings-nhtsa/tyre-ratings-michelin.htm

Wow, what a difference between the tyres, if you couple the wear rate to noise (the better the wearing the lower the noise) it makes interesting reading.

malcolm