Anyone fitted 205/50/15 to the front?

[Stevie_P]

Just waying up the options as these appear to be slightly less expensive than the standard 185/55 size.

Overall diameter is comparable (205mm as opposed to 203.5mm).

I'd imagine you get a slightly harsher ride / perhaps slightly harder turn-in / with the car tending to oversteer? On standard wheels by the way.

Any comments / experiences welcome before I commit.

Cheers
Steve

[Jrichards20]

Meeerkkkk has 205s fitted to the front I believe.

Turn in response would be less, the car will gain a bit of "weight" when steering the front end.

As regards to oversteer, that will depend on your current geo. But in basics a wider front could potentially increase grip at the front to reduce understeer.

If your going wider at the back then sure go ahead. But if your sticking to stock sizes on the back, I wouldn't go past 195.

[shnazzle]

205 on front seems really wide. A lot of added rolling resistance at the front, wind resistance and understeer will appear suddenly when it's wet.
With it being RWD and being tail-happy by nature, I'd want the front nimble to do any quick corrections if the back goes.

[Topdownman]

Possibly more chance of aquaplaning going wider?

[jonty]

I used 195 all round on stock wheels and that was spot on... no noticeable increase in tramlining, no more noise etc, just felt a bit less understeery. If you were fitting 205s I would probably only do that fitting rear wheels, as otherwise the sidewall will move around a lot and make the front end feel a bit baggy..

[Anonymous]

I run 205/45/16 and 225/45/16 ad08 and like the set up - personally

[Stevie_P]

I was looking at running 205 front and back but this seems to be not a good idea.
Looks like I may be best just running the standard sizes. After all, I'm sure Toyota did a bit of testing and figured it would work.

[Anonymous]

Yes but they built in some understeer!....

[jonty]

With square 195 setup the car felt much more neutral to me.

The only times I've had the rear step on me unexpectedly was when accelerating on a road covered in some sort of agricultural chemical that turned it into an icerink, and the other was when I came around a corner and found a load of run off water from a field frozen, turning half the road into an actual icerink... in neither situation would 10mm more rear tread have helped!

Yes but they built in some understeer!....

I wish people would understand this... but given that most people are just looking to preserve the car in original condition I guess it's understandable.

[Stevie_P]

I wish people would understand this... but given that most people are just looking to preserve the car in original condition I guess it's understandable.

I guess this is because understeer is much easier for joe average to deal with so the majority of maufacturers do this I believe.

This is partly why I was thinking of the square setup to take this out..

[jonty]

Exactly, they compromise it down for the lowest common denominator.

The problem is that anyone wanting to sharpen up their handling has typically been scared away from doing it because most MR2 owners are very conservative and very strongly recommend not going away from stock sizes.

[Stevie_P]

But 205s all round? I think they're actually slightly cheaper than 185s but don't want to compromise the car for the sake of a few quid.

My car actually has 195/45/15 all round at the moment on replacement alloys.
Not really convinced of the look on the MR2 if I'm honest.
These are going on my MK Indy R hence the reason I was after some standard alloys.

[jonty]

Square is square, doesn't matter if you bring fronts to 205, rears down to 185, or halfway between with 195 F&R; the balance should be the same, just the overall grip limit will change.

Did you get on OK with contacting the other guy for a set of wheels? Personally I think 16" front 17" rear will look best of all on an MR2... I have 17" all round now (on 205s) and really the nose could do with being a bit lower to give it a nice rake.

[Stevie_P]

Hi Jonty

Yes. Thanks. Forgot to say. The other guy came up trumps. Ideally the wheels could do with a refurb to make mint but they're pretty good as is and the chap had a set of wheel nuts and locking wheel nuts he didn't want so they're all good.
There's another chap who has a set of gunmetal wheels which have been refurbed but he bought them like that so no idea if it was a professional job or not.
Happy with what I've got for the moment.

What profile were the 195s you were using?

[Sadlebag]

I'm on 205/50/16, admittedly my arches do need rolling to clear but I do have 16 x 7j wheels with at 25 offset so they stick out a fair bit compared to stock.

[Stevie_P]

Hi Sadlebag
Notice you're in Portsmouth. Would be good to meet and see your setup though I'm going to stick with standard wheels / offset.
Do you have any problems with your setup?
Cheers
Steve

[Sadlebag]

Oh your in whitely, I'm in lee on the Solent! Happy to meet up! Yeah it works fine for now as I'm on standard suspension but when I lower it, it won't clear!

[Stevie_P]

Great. Will PM you my number and we can meet and have a natter.

[M.R.]

I have 205/50-15 with 15x7" ET35 wheels all around. Handles great. Haven´t experienced aquaplaning so far. Gets bit hesitant on heavy downpour if you are going faster than 120. In some cases still have slight understeer, but happily that is rare.

[Stevie_P]

I have 205/50-15 with 15x7" ET35 wheels all around. Handles great. Haven´t experienced aquaplaning so far. Gets bit hesitant on heavy downpour if you are going faster than 120. In some cases still have slight understeer, but happily that is rare.

Thanks for the comments MR. All feedback is welcome.

[Stevie_P]

I used 195 all round on stock wheels and that was spot on... no noticeable increase in tramlining, no more noise etc, just felt a bit less understeery. If you were fitting 205s I would probably only do that fitting rear wheels, as otherwise the sidewall will move around a lot and make the front end feel a bit baggy..

Okay then. Are there any standard Pre-FL rear wheels for sale?
The cleaner the better.

Cheers
Steve

[PET77]

Got 4x 205/50R15 AD08R and the rear feels a bit loose (on the track). Will try to sort it with more camber rear, but guess 225 wide rubber would do the trick as well. The only issue with AD08R is, that their smallest 225 size is 225/45R16, which has 7% larger diameter than 205/50R15 and I want to have as tall gearing ratio as possible. Also 205/50R15 front and 225/45R16 rear would look strange i guess anyway...

[Anonymous]

I kept the stagger so run 205 45 16 front and 225 45 16 rear.

AD08r all round, balance is just right for me, in my opinion

[Anonymous]

It doesn't look strange either

[Swan_Connery]

I have 205/50-15 with 15x7" ET35 wheels all around. Handles great. Haven´t experienced aquaplaning so far. Gets bit hesitant on heavy downpour if you are going faster than 120. In some cases still have slight understeer, but happily that is rare.

Is that 120 mph or kph?