Good evening,
I have a 2004 1.8 Sport which could do with four new tyres. At the moment it has four Bridgestone Turanza ER30s but, given the current economic climate, I can’t really afford to replace like with like.
Please could you give me some advice on some affordable 205 45 R 16 83 W tyres.
Many thanks
Hannah
To be honest, you probably won’t get a reasonable tyre for less than an ER30, which is a pretty good tyre, especially for the price, and especially with a bit of heat in them, and I’ll probably replace like for like when mine need done.
Your best bet would be to do a bit of shopping around (and online)- what sort of price are you getting quoted? As a rough guide, my previous car also had ER30s, but in a slightly different size, and it was £50 to replace one when I got a nail next to the side wall.
I know that you can pick up cheaper tyres, but tyres are such an important part of an MX5 - more so than on a lot of cars, and you could easily end up with a pretty dangerous/scary ride.
Toyo T1R’s will be cheaper than Bridgestone and will handle better too! [;)]
There are others, but they are unlikely to be of similar quality and pricing
Evening,
From experience I’d really urge you not to compromise on the tyres you fit to your MX5. When I bought my car, the dealer had fitted some budget tyres, they were truly awful and borderline dangerous. On anything other than dry roads they turned my car into a tail happy hedge finder.
I don’t know where you’re located but I’ve found this website the cheapest tyres fitted locally.
http://www.bestbuytyres.co.uk/
Or try:
205 45 16s, they are an expensive size tyre… I am looking for some tyres for my 02 sport… Toyo T1Rs are good, I have them on my Mk1 on 15inch wheels but they will cost more than twice as much on the 16s… coming out out about £70-80 If you shop around online.
The alternative is the goodyear F1 GRD3. Nice patterned tyre, drive well, a lot of 5 owners rate them, but a bit more money than the Toyos. Nothing wrong with the ER30s but I think the others will be better and probably a bit cheaper. I replaced 1 ER30, about 5 years ago when I had a puncture, £80.00!!! so not bothering to look at them now…
At mytyres.com, bought from them before, usually one of the cheapest;
ER30 £78.10
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Goodyear F1 £84.90
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Toyo T1R £77.30
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for comparison on a 15 inch wheel (195 50 15) the Toyo is only £37.10!!!
Does anyone know if higher profile tyres can be fitted to a mk2.5 1.8 sport on the original wheels?
The 205/45R16 tyres are a bit thin and on mine give quite a harsh ride.
Also there seems to be plenty of space between the tyres and the wheel arches.
I see from some web sites that there are 205/50 and 205/55 profiles available in the Toyos.
It’s something I am considering on my Mk2 with 15" wheels, but I’m not due new tyres just yet so it will not happen for a while. I’ll be interested in your experiences.
Alan
You can fit higher profiles but they will change your gearing and speedo reading.
205/50R16 will give you 3.5% higher gearing and a 10.25mm increase in ride height, 205/55R16 will give you 7% higher gearing and a 20.5mm increase in ride height.
If you’re looking for good, but cheap tyres in 205/45R16 I can recommend Marangoni Zetas - very grippy (as good as the T1R I have on my other car) and dirt cheap. I use them on the front of my drift MX5 and also in 205/45R16 on my old MR2 - transformed it from scary to utterly trustworthy even in the wet.
I bought Toyos for my Sport now, make sure you check prices at Camskill, best on the web I could find. Ordered Wednesday night, delivered this morning… [:D] Thats good service in my book, now to get them fitted.!
on my 2004 1.8i I have got Runway Enduro 205/40/ZR17 's lovely tyre and seems to stick like the proverbial to the road