Le Mans recreation

[stephendell]

Don't get too hung up on the profile.

The side wall height of a 285/35 or 295/35 is only about 1cm less than a 225/50

Here you go, have at it....

https://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

Well from my limited research no one seems to make tires in the main stream larger than 255 for 17" rims for the rear, if you go 18" then it gets a lot better but down to 35 profiles, on talking to folk some say the ride would hardly change as you could run lower pressures. A lot of money to find out, but it would look pretty awesome from the back 295/35/18

[mettersl]

But what's that going to do for unsprung weight, that's got to add 5-8 kg a wheel...great on smooth roads, but on rough roads that's going to do, wheels off the ground, lousy handling...?
Hmm

I am running 255/45-17 on AZEV wheels the rear
They are much heavier that the std 15 inh wheels.

[mettersl]

Simon...does that have any handling or ride impacts?
Lee

I drive for speed & sound, or should that be speed of sound.
Its pretty good, but then again the daily driver is hardly a classy car, just an oil burner, litteraly!

Well I got hold of an old 295/30/18 tire and put it in the arch it fits but it's rolling diameter is a lot larger and that is not inflated, it looks good from the rear but to me it looks to big from the side. So I think I will go with the 17s on the rear and 16s on the front as per the original factory setup, the car looks balanced and Renault would have been through all this when they were developing it.

[stephendell]

Well I got hold of an old 295/30/18 tire and put it in the arch it fits but it's rolling diameter is a lot larger and that is not inflated, it looks good from the rear but to me it looks to big from the side. So I think I will go with the 17s on the rear and 16s on the front as per the original factory setup, the car looks balanced and Renault would have been through all this when they were developing it.

Couple of points. Renault wouldn't have though about it too much as they didn't develop the kit. It was an aftermarket presentation that they adopted.

Plus the 17" wheels were literally huge at that time when a 15" on a sierra cosworth was considered a large wheel. If they had done it now it would no doubt have had larger wheels.

Also having spent some time with John yesterday helping John choose tyres for one of his customers OEM Le Mans you will be restricted to 4 or 5 decent tyres if you want to run the same pattern front and rear. so take a look at the tyre pricing and make sure you are happy with availability if you have a specific type preference before you make the final decision.

John's customer went for R888R in the OEM sizes.

Hi all,

If it helps I have 265/40/17 tyres on the rear of my A610 and these are on 10" rims. The front are 215/40/17 tyres on 7" wide rims.
Previously I had 275/40/17 tyres on the rear but it was getting tight around the rear wheel arch!

I believe that the Le Mans had BBS style wheels, the rears being 10" wide with a 255/40/17 tyre

Cheers,Barry.

Have run GTAs with original wheels,, 16/17s, 17/17s and 17/18s and will probably run the V8 on 18/18s. Rears don't seem to make that much difference IMO to the ride, simply because even with 255/40s there is still plenty of tyre to absorb the bumps. Front does feel considerably harder, but then grip and turn in are better too. Saying that the ride is still reasonable compared to some cars when you up the size, 21Turbo for example rides horribly on 17" rims. All sporting cars today pretty much would have a firmer ride than an equivalent from 25 years ago.

But what's that going to do for unsprung weight, that's got to add 5-8 kg a wheel...great on smooth roads, but on rough roads that's going to do, wheels off the ground, lousy handling...?
Hmm

Think your over estimating the weight difference Lee :0). Tyre would be no heavier, wider but smaller sidewall, can't see 1.5 inches of wheel rim and 2" of diameter adding 5 kgs letter alone 8. 3 -4 maybe.

Interesting running 18 on the rear would look amazing and the tire choices are very good, it is the frunt that is the problem if you had a larg rim on the rear it would look like a drag car unless you had a 17" on the frunt, so I put the rear tire on the frunt it looks just right in diameter it fills the arch that is a 225/50/15 however when you turn the wheel to turn left the wheel just hits the lower cil. This is with the LeMans kit on by this I mean the inner lower wheel arch is cut right back to the cil when you fit the new frunt end on so the arch is larger than standard so they could fit a larger wheel, I reckon I could fit a 205/215/40/17 but it would be fag paper fit I could not see that fitting in a standard arch.

To give an idea obviously it's a large tire but it's a 18" front has a considerably smaller arch than the rear.

[stephendell]

On a standard car 205/40/17 are fine on the front. 215/40/17 catch on the inner wing on lock.

18" rear and 17" front would be a great combination imo and likely widen the tyre choice.