13" to 14" OEM wheels swap

[MMamdouh]

hummm... i always knew that Pirelli was excelent on the wet but i expected that the GT will be better than this as it is wider and unidirectional... anyways it only rains here 2 or 3 times a year so i'll just be a bit mopre careful during the rain and enjoy the grip when it is dry... the GT grips tons better than the P3000 in the dry.

MMamdouh

[SickDrift]

I should know this for sure, but i dont.

I believe that the main strength in a uni-directional tire is the stability it provides. Because the tread blocks can be much more continuous, it should have less squirm at higher speeds.

The reason you feel this tire has more traction then your old one however is probably because the new tire, because of it's design, puts more contact patch on the road. Also, the tires wider shoulder will give less, keeping more tire on the road in turns. I would still be of the opinion however that the pirelli probably has a better rubber compound.

[MMamdouh]

on the past couple of days it was raning in here so it was time for a good wet test for them GT radials... the esults are not so great i am afraid

the tire got tendance to lose its grip when pushed... i mena compared to my older, slimmer P3000 it is not that good, i was able to spin my tires in 2nd gear till i hit the rev limiter (should have been going at 80 km/h or so at then) while the car doing 40 km/h... this is a 1.5 SOHC we are talking about so it is not that powerful to do such thing, the tires are not that grippy when pushed under acceleration.

also i felt a little break away of grip in 3rd where the tires lose the grip momenterly under hrd acceleration and regains it back... felt like popping the clutch during acceleration.

sudden flicks to the steering makes the front lose grip then regains it back... kinda like having a lag in the steering responce... it wa not scary but surly didn't feel great.

tendancy for locking is high under braking... i brake hard so it just might be my driving, also if braking is combined with steering then it turns into a mess.

yesterday i went easy on the tires and things were much better handling wise... it seems that those tires doesn't like to be pushed on the wet... or in other words they are good on the wet as long as you are not crazy.

overall i am not that happy with the wet performance of those tires when you try to go fast... you got to be a sensable driver to be on the safe side, i got to say that in Cairo we got loads of dust and no dranage system whatsoever so when it rains you are practically driving on muddy roads rather than just wet roads so i guess i got to cut the tire some slack here.

also on an overall comparison to the P3000 i say the big superiority of the GT over the P3000 on the dry rules out any lost performance on the wet... also it only rains here a couple of times every year so i just got to STFU and drive sensably when it is raining i guess

MMamdouh

[cpd]

195/50 R15s!

WHEEE!

[MMamdouh]

those are my next upgrade... got to rais the finance though which is currently at zero level.

MMamdouh

[MMamdouh]

got those three notes while i was reading this very long post:

Just go for it, the handling benefits will out weigh the extra weight. The only time you really have to worry about rotating mass is on acceleration from a dead stop, and bringing the car to a stop again. Once it's rolling, you won't really notice a difference, except up a steep hill.

i guess this could be added to the slow acceleration i am facing against a stock lanos... 1.25 kgm extra rim/tire setup + 0.5 kgm extra on the brembo rotors per front wheel, got to make a difference even if it is little... right??

i was after better grip indeed but i guess the body roll issues will be little as the Lanos already come with 185/60/14 tires on the 1.6 engine versions and no one complained about body roll... the suspension on the 1.5 SOHC is the same as the one on the 1.6 DOHC, right?

no sir the front suspension on a 1.6 DOHC is different from the 1.5 SOHC as far as springs and shock absorber case however the shock absorber itself is the same on both cars... did a comparison using my parts manual to make sure of this.

I would presume your new tires and rims will make your handling feel a lit tighter. As you stated already, the tires seem to grip much better, and because of the lower profile of the tires, you will get much less tire rollover.

you are right indeed ... now the steering is more precise and responsive and the rear is a bit more nervous but not to the extent to be dangerous... lots of fun.

MMamdouh

[MMamdouh]

tires discarded after 62k kms of service... they were totally out of round... they felt like hey were square shaped not round (most of that happened when i insanely rubbed the tires on the asphalt during the brakes upgrade... tire smoke didn't clear out since then lol - also thread was very low

tried to buy them GTs again but found that the guy has them GTs with manufacturing date on 2004... hell my discarded tires were manufactured on 2005, now i got a set of them Nankangs' NS-1



MMamdouh

[MMamdouh]

20k kms i have got an opportunity to swap in the 185/60/14 Nankang NS-1 tires and 14" steel rims with 15" sport rims and 195/50/15 Kumho Ecsta MX tires... and i took the offer without thinking twice

initially i was not happy with them Nankangs... they are not as grippe as the GT radials specially in corners, squeal at each and every corner and braking so i felt like i lost alot of performance with that tire compared to the GT i used to have

also i was longing to get a set of 15" but the finance was always a problem... i have sealed a car sale deal and my commission was a beefy discount on the set of rims and tires...





after installation i felt the car got more tendency to follow road imperfections... my friend Zorex told me this is normal with wider tires, car felt more composed and stable... much more pointy and my God it is way better in corners... with the old tires it seemed that their is a point beyond which the car won't go any sharper into the curve and will just under-steer... now this point much further than it used to be... i haven't found it yet but so far the feedback is very good.

i only got a couple of pics on my mobile but i promise i will get more better pics soon.

MMamdouh

[lovely09]

A heavy wheel stores more kinetic energy than a lighter one.It takes longer to spin it up and longer to spin it down that's why cars with heavy wheels are slower getting to the bottom of the ramp.

[benzino]

A heavy wheel stores more kinetic energy than a lighter one.It takes longer to spin it up and longer to spin it down that's why cars with heavy wheels are slower getting to the bottom of the ramp.

the best example i've heard... and the best reason to change to smaller wheels (even though i love my 17"s...)

is

swinging a bowling bowl
and
swinging a bowling bowl by a piece of rope

even though the weight is the same, the energy needed to swing the ball by a rope (larger wheels) is far greater

[MMamdouh]

i was on 14" steel rims and those were not light to begin with

i am willing to sacrifice a bit acceleration time in order to gain more cornering grip, steering response and better braking (wider and AA traction rating supersedes rim weight)

actually the cornering grip i have now is some 60% better than i used to have... one third of that is due to the shitty Nankangs i used to have the other two thirds is due to the lower profile, wider tire contact patch and the AA traction rating

i will make a separate post with my feedback after the swap and more pics for the rims... i just wanted to conclude my feedback on the nankags

MMamdouh

[MMamdouh]

15" rims report

http://daewootech.efrainarias.com/forum ... =4&t=12734

MMamdouh