44 replies to this topic

[Da11yn]

Has anyone had any experience of the maxxis vs yoko a539 performance wise?

I know maxxis have a very good reputation in the bike and offroad scenes, but I have only used a539 before and am in need of some new road tyres soon.

So any comparative experience would be appreciated.

Thanks

[beanboy450]

Thank you for your replies I might Change from 13 to 12 now!

[Cooperman]

When you do you will be amazed at how much better the car feels on normal roads. The 165/60 x 12 is an absolutely ideal tyre for road use.

[lawrie124]

I'm a big fan of the Falken ZE912's and I've used them on 12's on the race car, the Audi A6 daily grind and several TVR's.

[Cooperman]

I'm a big fan of the Falken ZE912's and I've used them on 12's on the race car, the Audi A6 daily grind and several TVR's.

Yes, I'm a Falken fan and have used them in the 10" size to win several rallies where the surfaces have been anything but smooth tarmac.
Wear rate seems higher than Yokos in the 12" size, however, although in 10" it is similar to the A008. I have found that the Falkens do like a slightly higher tyre pressure all round.

[maieth]

Damn you all. This is why forums are a bad place. I have my mpi in bits in the garage, waiting for the rebuild after 4 long months of repairs. I can only just afford to get him back on the road at all, and I'm sitting reading thinking,
"hmm, maybe I'd get more fun out of dropping to 12" wheels, I wonder how much a set of minilites would be...?"
Evil place ;)

[ian2000t]

I find Yoko A539 to be awful in the wet. The old set I had 4+ years ago (even nearly worn out) were much better - maybe they changed the compound, but this set have been plain awful, and not great in the dry either.

I recently tried (borrowed) a set of Pirelli P5000's and they were LOADS better than the Yoko's (wet grip, dry grip, general stability over bumps)....however, they aren't available anymore! And neither are Continentals, or Fuldas, or Kuhmos, or Dunlop SP9000 195/45/13.

So, my only options seem to be:
- Yoko A539 - don't want
- Dunlop SP2000 - never heard good reviews of
- Nankang - don't want, seen bad reviews
- Maxxis MAZ-1 - not heard any reviews until this one:

Newish Maxxis with tread a bit like the old Toyo T1-S are very good in wet. Don't seem be wearing very fast either. Much better than the Yokos in the wet too.

Anyone else tried Maxxis?

[cal844]

my yoko's 165/60/12 are really good in the wet, even brand new

[Midas Mk1]

Got to love tmf sometimes, someone asks what tyres are best for 13's, they never asked to change to 12's....

[Cooperman]

13's to raise the suspension height a bit and use slightly softer damper settings so that the suspension can still work on bumps.

Why would you want softer damper settings with a heavier wheel/tyre ???????

Quite simply because a lot of the suspension work is done by the tyre sidewall on a short-travel suspension design like the Mini. When you use a very low-profile sidewall it is necessary to increase the amount of normal suspension travel by raising tghe suspension height a bit. But, to use this the damping needs to be not too hard, and a lot of cars are set too hard.
Why do you need 7 question marks when you ask a question to which you wish to know the answer?

[iwatkins]

As Cooperman says, we run 13" wheels and the ride is awful on lowered shocks (forget normal shocks, not enough travel) when they are set hard and running low.

The ride, and much more so, grip is very much better on a much softer setting (7 clicks in our case on Spax) and a one inch crank upwards on the HiLos. Still crashy over potholes but OK. Bear in mind a 7" tire in 50 profile doesn't have much give, so your suspension performance is critical.

Do the opposite on track though, nothing beats a hard and low Mini on slicks (Avons in our case). Grip is excellent with progressive breakaway.

Cheers

Ian

[Cooperman]

As Cooperman says, we run 13" wheels and the ride is awful on lowered shocks (forget normal shocks, not enough travel) when they are set hard and running low.

The ride, and much more so, grip is very much better on a much softer setting (7 clicks in our case on Spax) and a one inch crank upwards on the HiLos. Still crashy over potholes but OK. Bear in mind a 7" tire in 50 profile doesn't have much give, so your suspension performance is critical.

Do the opposite on track though, nothing beats a hard and low Mini on slicks (Avons in our case). Grip is excellent with progressive breakaway.

Cheers

Ian

13" with wide very low-profile tyres are excellent on a track, especially the sticky slicks in the dry. The bigger wheel is also heavier, as stated above, so the higher un-sprung weight makes it all even worse on normal roads. Raising and softening will help, of course, but for the road there can be no doubt that the 13" wheels will not perform as well as a 12" or 10" with the higher tyre wall, lower un-sprung weight and better tyre-to-road contact pressure.

Edited by Cooperman, 18 April 2013 - 11:22 PM.

[iwatkins]

Indeed.

We are actually considering going with 12" or even 10" and higher profile tyre for the road as long as we can push them outwards, on spacers, to maintain the "look" (her thing).

That would allow us to buy a set of lightweight 13" wheels for track usage and handle the unsprung weight.

Cheers

Ian

[iwatkins]

Dilligaf, the miserable one....

Why not go and get laid, or something (even a tug should sort you out). That way you might just be able to contribute to threads in a constructive manner instead of your constant spout of crap/confusion/disinformation.

[Cooperman]

Quite simply because a lot of the suspension work is done by the tyre sidewall on a short-travel suspension design like the Mini. When you use a very low-profile sidewall it is necessary to increase the amount of normal suspension travel by raising tghe suspension height a bit. But, to use this the damping needs to be not too hard, and a lot of cars are set too hard.
Why do you need 7 question marks when you ask a question to which you wish to know the answer?

Heavier wheels require stronger dampers to control the bounce, the seven question marks where because you had made a incorrect statement.........

I have not made an incorrect statement. You are simply wrong. And 7 question marks do not indicate an incorrect answer, they are asking for an answer to a question 7 times
What I have posted is absolutely correct as any ride, handling and vehicle dynamics engineer will know.
A heavier wheel has greater vertical inertia and, if too stiffly damped will not retain contact with the road surface as well as one which is less stiffly damped. A light weight vehicle like a Mini must have enough overall suspension compliance. 50 profile tyres reduce that compliance so stiff damping will result in the tyre surface having less contact pressure on a bumpy road. Softer damping will allow tyre contact to be optimised in view of the increased vertical wheel inertia.

Edited by Cooperman, 19 April 2013 - 09:34 AM.