I just bought a 92' 240sx FB about a month ago. My first upgrade was the Tein S-tech springs and the car already came with KYB GR2 shocks; which are still decent. After driving on the highway with the new springs I can feel how crappy the tires that came with the 240 are. They're Kumho Ecsta HP4 tires. Is there any type of tires that you guys would suggest to me? I'm more into the grip driving, and will be running the tires on 195/50/15 because I'm on a budget. So far I'm contemplating between 4 different types.
Kumho Ecsta 711Kumho Ecsta 712Kumho Ecsta KH11Yokohama AVS ES100
Any help would suffice. Thanks!
Need Help w/ Tires
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InsanityInc
- Posts: 2521
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 7:43 am
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Re: (InsanityInc)
Here's a n00b question for you guys, what's the difference when you're running either on 195/XX/XX or 205/XX/XX? Could you give me an example when running on streets or tracks? Sorry if I'm asking for too much, but for one thing I'm leaning towards the Yokohama AVS ES100.
wider are usually better
this is from exar-kunQuote »Why do people recommend wider tires? Don't wider tires mean more grip?
In a short version, no. Don't go e-mailing me about how wrong I am yet, either. Think about your tire as a balloon (more accurate than most people think) holding the weight of your car up. Now, if you place a balloon on the ground, it has a certain area that contacts the ground, this is the 'contact patch', now you can make the patch wider(wider balloon) but the total rear remains the same, because the pressure on the balloon is the same.
Now, what does this mean to YOU? It means that since the same amount of tread is in the contact patch area between either tire, 'grip' should be the same. Thusly, the only things affecting grip(since the area of potential contact is the same) are tread design and friction(tread compound) and finally how well the suspension does a job of keeping the tire in optimum contact with the road surface.
Unfortunately it is not that simple. A wider tire does have some benefits over it narrower counterparts, with a wider contact patch comes a bit better lateral stability(to a point, lateral stress doesn’t vary THAT much between narrow and wide tires), but sacrifices some ride comfort, and less noise cancellation(in theory).
Something else to consider:
Think of a gap in the road surface, typically these run perpendicular to the tires contact patch. On a narrow tire, with a long contact patch, the gap in the road surface would take up more (percentage wise) of its contact patch than a wider tire. Make sense?
...so wider tires do provide some benefit, to a point. Wider tires usually come in stickier compounds, too. Yet, the compound and tread design has far more to do with tire grip than the size.
Now quit asking me how wide of a tire you can fit on something. [/quote]
this is from exar-kunQuote »Why do people recommend wider tires? Don't wider tires mean more grip?
In a short version, no. Don't go e-mailing me about how wrong I am yet, either. Think about your tire as a balloon (more accurate than most people think) holding the weight of your car up. Now, if you place a balloon on the ground, it has a certain area that contacts the ground, this is the 'contact patch', now you can make the patch wider(wider balloon) but the total rear remains the same, because the pressure on the balloon is the same.
Now, what does this mean to YOU? It means that since the same amount of tread is in the contact patch area between either tire, 'grip' should be the same. Thusly, the only things affecting grip(since the area of potential contact is the same) are tread design and friction(tread compound) and finally how well the suspension does a job of keeping the tire in optimum contact with the road surface.
Unfortunately it is not that simple. A wider tire does have some benefits over it narrower counterparts, with a wider contact patch comes a bit better lateral stability(to a point, lateral stress doesn’t vary THAT much between narrow and wide tires), but sacrifices some ride comfort, and less noise cancellation(in theory).
Something else to consider:
Think of a gap in the road surface, typically these run perpendicular to the tires contact patch. On a narrow tire, with a long contact patch, the gap in the road surface would take up more (percentage wise) of its contact patch than a wider tire. Make sense?
...so wider tires do provide some benefit, to a point. Wider tires usually come in stickier compounds, too. Yet, the compound and tread design has far more to do with tire grip than the size.
Now quit asking me how wide of a tire you can fit on something. [/quote]
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1991S13
- Posts: 1230
- Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:59 pm
- Car: '91 240sx Coupe, '00 QX4 4x4, '02 Sentra Spec V
- Contact:
Those numbers are the sizes of the wheel/tire. For example - 225/45/17...jdmitus wrote:Here's a n00b question for you guys, what's the difference when you're running either on 195/XX/XX or 205/XX/XX? Could you give me an example when running on streets or tracks? Sorry if I'm asking for too much, but for one thing I'm leaning towards the Yokohama AVS ES100.
225 is the width of the tire (in millimeters) from sidewall to sidewall.45 is the aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is a ratio of sidewall height to width.17 is the diameter of the wheel (in inches.)
jdmitus, out of the four tires you are looking at I would recomend the ES100s. I have had 2 sets of 712s and 1 set of ES100s. The ES100s are worth the few extra dollars over the 712s. I now have ZE-512s, and they are a better bang for the buck than the 712s and they cost about the same. The ES100s are still one of my favorites of the cheaper performance tires.