Buying tyres, my least favourite activity

[JB21]

It was staring me in the face this whole time. According to the original brochure...

Grand Prix 7j x 16 for tyre size 205/45 R16 or 195/45 R16 front and 205/45 R16 rear axel


No idea why I went for the Toyo sizes I've got currently...
Guess I'm going with 195 and 205. I wonder how the car will respond going from 225 rear to 205.

I have 195/205 set up with Rainsport 5's, albeit FL wheels so 15 front 16 rear. Handles fine, obviously not as much outright grip vs my 205/225 set up but for the road perfectly acceptable and if anything the car feel more nimble at low speeds. I also run a 3rd set of wheels with 205 square and these handle great to.

[Gaz mr-s]

It was staring me in the face this whole time. According to the original brochure...

Grand Prix 7j x 16 for tyre size 205/45 R16 or 195/45 R16 front and 205/45 R16 rear axel


No idea why I went for the Toyo sizes I've got currently...
Guess I'm going with 195 and 205. I wonder how the car will respond going from 225 rear to 205.

I've never seen that ad' before. Toyota advocating a 205 all-square set-up...!   Whereas unless for track use, most advice has been stick with width-stagger as it's safer.

Note though that that is a pfl advert, prior to the use of 215/45 rears on FL's as standard.  Maybe the tyre size wasn't made in 1999/2000?

[SuperArt]

That's a very good point!
Another interesting point to consider is if those recommended sizes take into account the added performance from the TTE turbo pack or if they're just recommendation based on available tyre sizes at the time of publishing and PFL architecture before the engineering caught up to justify FL changes...

[s12vea]

Availability of tyre size I reckon. At the end of day if tte reckon that set up there is no reason it won't be perfect for the car.

[1979scotte]

Smaller tyres = more fun

[105e]

I would probably agree, but bigger tyres look more manly and they need all the help they can get in the masculinity stakes..

[Gaz mr-s]

That's a very good point!
Another interesting point to consider is if those recommended sizes take into account the added performance from the TTE turbo pack

No. Aesthetics pure & simple.
The car was built to a weight target of 1000kg. I think the o/e wheels are boring to look at, but at least they're light....very light for an o/e wheel. Anyone know the weight of the TTE 16's?

[SuperArt]

Tyre sizes can't be for aesthetics alone. I don't think they would recommend anything which compromises safety, but it is so strange to me they would recommend a square setup for turbo application.
Anyhow, not sure how much aesthetically different a 205 compared to a 215 or 225 width tyre can be, minimal I imagine so it can't be that.

[JB21]

Tyre sizes can't be for aesthetics alone. I don't think they would recommend anything which compromises safety, but it is so strange to me they would recommend a square setup for turbo application.
Anyhow, not sure how much aesthetically different a 205 compared to a 215 or 225 width tyre can be, minimal I imagine so it can't be that.

Any size tyre they all look shite with 45 offset of the OE wheels.

[1979scotte]

Tyre sizes can't be for aesthetics alone. I don't think they would recommend anything which compromises safety, but it is so strange to me they would recommend a square setup for turbo application.
Anyhow, not sure how much aesthetically different a 205 compared to a 215 or 225 width tyre can be, minimal I imagine so it can't be that.

The best handling 2 I've ever driven was on 205.

@tommyzoom99 @hachiroku

[Beachbum957]

The car was built to a weight target of 1000kg. I think the o/e wheels are boring to look at, but at least they're light....very light for an o/e wheel. Anyone know the weight of the TTE 16's?

Apparently TTE wheels were made by both Borbet and Artec, but specs are nearly impossible to find.  I did find a listing from 2006 showing some wheel weights in the period, and none of the Borbet were very light.

Wheel Weights

The 15" OEM wheels weights have always been listed at (front/rear) 14.6lb/15.2lb, and the FL OEM rear 16x7 has been weighted at 18.1 lbs. There are lightweight 16x7 wheels like Enkei at under 14lb, but most aftermarket 16x7 available today are closer to 18-20lbs.

Research did find an interesting claim in a Toyota forum from 2003 concerning the MR2.

"TRD recommends using 7x16J+45 all round with 205/45 & 215/45 for use with their Sportivo kit"

[1979scotte]

The car was built to a weight target of 1000kg. I think the o/e wheels are boring to look at, but at least they're light....very light for an o/e wheel. Anyone know the weight of the TTE 16's?

Apparently TTE wheels were made by both Borbet and Artec, but specs are nearly impossible to find.  I did find a listing from 2006 showing some wheel weights in the period, and none of the Borbet were very light.

Wheel Weights

The 15" OEM wheels weights have always been listed at (front/rear) 14.6lb/15.2lb, and the FL OEM rear 16x7 has been weighted at 18.1 lbs. There are lightweight 16x7 wheels like Enkei at under 14lb, but most aftermarket 16x7 available today are closer to 18-20lbs.

Research did find an interesting claim in a Toyota forum from 2003 concerning the MR2.

"TRD recommends using 7x16J+45 all round with 205/45 & 215/45 for use with their Sportivo kit"

The tte weigh more than me ridding an elephant. Total style over substance.

[Gaz mr-s]

Tyre sizes can't be for aesthetics alone. I don't think they would recommend anything which compromises safety, but it is so strange to me they would recommend a square setup for turbo application.
Anyhow, not sure how much aesthetically different a 205 compared to a 215 or 225 width tyre can be, minimal I imagine so it can't be that.

Not tyre aesthetics, - wheels.  The tyre width has little to do with on-road driving and power. The relatively modest power output of a turbo mk3 isn't going to overwhelm a decent 205 tyre.
The front-rear stagger is about lateral grip. Toyota used 2 sizes wider with pfl & 3 sizes with the FL.

But the Marketing departments can have a say. Porsche's did when the 911SC used 16" wheels up from 15" previously, I've read.

Cars nowadays with 20" wheels....that's marketing for sure.

[Joesson]

@Gaz mr-s said :

Cars nowadays with 20" wheels....that's marketing for sure.

Chelsea tractors, tractor wheels!

[Dev]

It use to be that larger wheels were the necessary evil to fit larger calipers for an advantage and then it became a looks thing for esthetics that got out of hand but is now the new norm.

[Zspeed]

Has anyone used 205 on fl rear 16s with any success?

[Beachbum957]

We have been running Yokohama Fleva V701 in 195/45-16 front and 205/45-16 rear for a few months.  They work very well and have no handling surprises.  We had been running S-Drives with the same front and 215/40-16 rear, but the narrower 205 actually seems to stick better.