What are the widest running tyres?

Robotsan

Club Member
Please don't say 375 ;)

I'm at my wit's end trying to make a decision on the wheel & tyre combo for my '76 280z - yep, that old chestnut. It will be lowered on BCs, but just enough to have a consistent gap around the whole arch - nothing silly.

I had settled on 15" 8J Rota RKR with 205/55/15 tyres, but then I've seen some photos where the tyre looks too stretched for my liking. I really want the tyre wall to be as flush with the wheel as possible.

215mm tyres would be a nice balance, but they don't seem to exist anymore. And if I go 225, I gather I'm definitely going to have to have the arch lips rolled flat.

But I do know that some brands or 'models' of tyres tend to run wider than their claimed widths (e.g. a 205 might be more like a 215), so I'm thinking I can maybe find a happy medium by running a wider than most 205 tyre.

So far I've found that the following usually run wider - but they're really aimed at track use so I've heard they might tramline a bit?

Toyo R888
Yokohama Advan AD08RS


Are there any more people know about?
 

Robotsan

Club Member
I suppose conversely, fitting a narrower-than-most 225/50/15 tyre might be an alternative option?!
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
do your BCs have camber adjustment in the top plate? you might just clear the arch lip with the top mount in a bit.
 

Robotsan

Club Member
do your BCs have camber adjustment in the top plate? you might just clear the arch lip with the top mount in a bit.

They're not on the car yet, but yes the BR series have adjustable front camber plates. Not totally sure what you mean though - do you mean I might just clear it with 225/50/15 on if the camber was suitably adjusted?
 

AshTheScaff

Club Member
They're not on the car yet, but yes the BR series have adjustable front camber plates. Not totally sure what you mean though - do you mean I might just clear it with 225/50/15 on if the camber was suitably adjusted?
Yeah be that, in basic terms you’d pull the top of the coilover towards the centre of the car to create negative camber! This picture should give you an idea mate 👍🏼
But you’d need all four to be adjusted ideally.
 

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arcdef

Club Member
My car has 225 50 16 fitted with 0 offset. Arches are rolled in the back though. You can probably go with a minor negative offset without rolling if you are fitting coilovers though, Main limitation otherwise is hitting stock struts.
 

Robotsan

Club Member
Remember profile affects it all also

Agreed. I'm only looking at either 205/55/15 and 225/50/15 though.

Both are pretty much the same diameter (606mm ish vs 628 for stock wheels & tyres I think?). I just prefer the squarer look of the 225s..

Screenshot_20230110-200617~2.png

Screenshot_20230110-200624.png


Both are significantly bigger than stock but I'm hoping the slightly reduced diameter will allow the 225s with a bit of camber adjustment and possibly arch lip rolling...

Screenshot_20230110-200547~2.png

Screenshot_20230110-200540.png
 

Robotsan

Club Member
My car has 225 50 16 fitted with 0 offset. Arches are rolled in the back though. You can probably go with a minor negative offset without rolling if you are fitting coilovers though, Main limitation otherwise is hitting stock struts.

Wheels will be 8J Rota RKR with 0 offset. Common set up isn't it, so hopefully will be fine.

The infamous Petrolicious car has this exact setup - 8J (but Watanabes) with 225/50/15s.

IMG-20230110-WA0004.jpg

And again this car on Instagram which is based on the Petrolicious car:

IMG-20230110-WA0005.jpg

Definitely the look I'm going for 👍🏻
 

atomman

Club Member
I think a standard 240z tyre was 175 R14 ? which is about 634 mm diameter that's what's on my original steel rims and my spare,

I run Rota 15 x 8 with ET0 and a 225/50-15 Toyo T1R (the R888's I used to run were a little wider in the same size)

I do run offset bump steer spacers on the front and did roll my rear arches slightly, Just after I had welded new ones on, its sitting on Tokico lowering springs , but my car is a US import so the lower spring perch is lower.

I prefer the look of 225/50-15's , 205/50-15's look a little small on these car and don't fill the arch's enough for me.

tyre choice is the other factor I'd look at , 225's there isn't much choice for a decent fast road tyre and they get expensive , 205's -50's are cheap and loads of choice as many things run them not so much in 55 profile though ,

I would like to run a 215/60 15 really but again its choice and price,

hope that helps
 

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Robotsan

Club Member
I think a standard 240z tyre was 175 R14 ? which is about 634 mm diameter that's what's on my original steel rims and my spare,

I run Rota 15 x 8 with ET0 and a 225/50-15 Toyo T1R (the R888's I used to run were a little wider in the same size)

I do run offset bump steer spacers on the front and did roll my rear arches slightly, Just after I had welded new ones on, its sitting on Tokico lowering springs , but my car is a US import so the lower spring perch is lower.

I prefer the look of 225/50-15's , 205/50-15's look a little small on these car and don't fill the arch's enough for me.

tyre choice is the other factor I'd look at , 225's there isn't much choice for a decent fast road tyre and they get expensive , 205's -50's are cheap and loads of choice as many things run them not so much in 55 profile though ,

I would like to run a 215/60 15 really but again its choice and price,

hope that helps

Thanks!

Yeah I wanted 215/60 too but the tyres just don't exist do they.

Agreed, 205/50/15 just doesn't fill the arches enough for me either. Horses for courses obviously.

And yeah, not much choice for 225/50 either. Best seem to be either Toyo T1-R or Toyo TR1 (why they named them so similarly I don't know!) but I gather the former is what you have and its the more expensive and I think a little more performance orientated? I can only find them on sale at Halfords now as I believe they're kind of an older model now?:
1673435580479.png


And the TR1 is available from Demon Tweeks for only £90. I reckon I'd probably go with these as they're likely to be a bit narrower if they're more of a medium-grade road tyre?

1673435675880.png
 

atomman

Club Member
Oh.. just found out the TR1 is apparently the successor to the T1-R.

Very mixed reviews online! https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=135&t=1800029

I like some of there reviews lol ,

'Have to agree they were awful so had them taken off after a couple of thousand miles'


I had T1-R all round but now have TR1 on the back as couldn't get any more of the T1-R's , To be honest i was a bit concerned as my last Z had R888's and they were very grippy but the T1-R haven't disappointed me ,


I usually go through 1 set of front to 2 sets of rears, must be the LSD and/or my right foot :)

I do like these to



 

Robotsan

Club Member
I'm running TR1s, great grip in wet and dry however the first few hundred miles felt like driving on glass!

That does seem to be a running theme in the reviews I've read. They must have a weird, harder top layer or something?!
 

Robotsan

Club Member
I like some of there reviews lol ,

'Have to agree they were awful so had them taken off after a couple of thousand miles'


I had T1-R all round but now have TR1 on the back as couldn't get any more of the T1-R's , To be honest i was a bit concerned as my last Z had R888's and they were very grippy but the T1-R haven't disappointed me ,


I usually go through 1 set of front to 2 sets of rears, must be the LSD and/or my right foot :)

I do like these to




Ok well that's good enough for me! I don't think I'll be driving my Z hard any time soon anyway. Would just like to be able to stop as quickly as possible seeing as there's no ABS ..

Ps those are some fancy Pirellis!
 

arcdef

Club Member
That does seem to be a running theme in the reviews I've read. They must have a weird, harder top layer or something?!
Apparently it's the chemical they use to release it from the moulds? Either way I was scared after reading the reviews and then experiencing the glassy sensation. Either it wore off or I got used to it as they feel great these days!
 
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