Tyres for 185 60 R14 for road and some track

Technical Area Wheels, Tyres & Brakes
2

Dear All,

I need to replace tyres on my MK2.5. I have been using Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD2s. The last time I bought them, they were hard to come by. I cannot find them at all now.

Do you have some recommendations? I followed the thread about tyre reviews online, and the options appear to be:

Toyo CF1

Yokohama A460

Turanza ER300

Michelin Exalto PE2

I need these for general all-year day-to-day driving, and potentially some track days. Last year I did a season of hillclimbing with the F1s, but would get a dedicated set of tyres (and new wheels) for that, if I were to do more in the future. I can see that in general the options with 15" wheels are a lot better. For now, I need tyres for my 14" wheels for day-to-day driving, fast road driving, and potentially the odd track day here and there.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIM

3

I have the Michelins, they are very good and they last for ages.

4

Thanks, zpat, for your response. TIM

5

In much the same situation, however I will not be taking my MK1 onto the track!  Whilst there is some fun blatting around lanes at speed, I also use my mx for quite long journeys (London-Glasgow/Leeds/Penzance) so need a good road tyre with decent abilities in the wet - the aged Toyos on there right now can get a bit alarming in the wet to be honest.

I have read a lot of good things here about the Toyo CF1, however are there any other decent inexpensive tyres like it?  Camskill (recommended elsewhere) do not have any, you see…

6

go to 15" a much better range of cheap tyres

7

Well, aside from the expense of buying new wheels (!), what are the other implications of just whacking on a set of 15" wheels?  

8

I just did that, and weighed the old wheel/tyres against the new - almost identical (14.2 kg).

So I imagine there are no major implications (assumed both are Mazda MX5 wheels).

I did let my insurer know.

9

I’m in a similar position. Are the michelens worth the extra £40 compared to the Toyo?

On a slight tangant, I have Firestone TZ300s on the front and back currently, the front ones are still fine though, is there any need to maintain 4 of the same tyre? 

Toyo CF1


Michelin Exalto PE2

10

You can get a toyo t1r if you up to a 195 tyre, but i’m running yoko A048R’s in the size you want… They are nothing but awesome… even wet.

 

11

Well, enough time has passed and I had a thousand miles left on my old tyres and slightly over a thousand to drive.  So I got a set of Toyo CF1s fitted at my local place here in SE London, who happens to be a Toyo dealer, all done for £50 a corner.

What an incredible difference it has made to the car compared with the mix of old toyos (no idea what type) on the back and bridgestones on the front.

Drove back to London from Leeds yesterday in the rain, and the car was solid as a rock.  Not only that, but once I was back in town and on the quieter roas I threw it around a bit to see how grippy it was and I am pleased to report that I am not even slightly dead.  The car was on the ground like glue.

Chalk and cheese with how it was before, when it was like a dog on wet lino in even the lightest of showers.

Thumbs up for those tyres from me then!  (I ought to add that the tyre bloke was moved to say that the CF1s were excellent tyres…)

12

One other thing occurs to me - they are a bit quieter than the last set. So road noise is down a bit too!