Matching tires - who makes em?

[Jeff K]

Ok, I did have a bunch of links saved for info from the old site.. Bummer.

I'm done restoring 16245 - It's tire time. :o

Who makes a matching set?

I would preferably like 245/60/15 rears and stock 195/60/14 fronts. I will take the 235 rears if no other matching option.

I heard Futura (OEM of cooper tires for pep boys) has that, but the website does not show them.

Thanks in advance.
Jeff

PS - I did find Falken Ziex ZE-512 and Kumho Solus KR21 - But the rears are 225.. Hmmm.. can anyone see that difference? I like a big fat rear tire!

[DeLorean]

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's are what I have, and you must run 225's on the rear.

As far as I am aware, there are NO reasonably priced matching sets in either the "correct" 235 nor the 245.

[Jeff K]

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's are what I have, and you must run 225's on the rear.

As far as I am aware, there are NO reasonably priced matching sets in either the "correct" 235 nor the 245.

Thanks, does it change the ride height? Is it noticeable? The difference is less then 1/2 inch.

[Jacko]

I just bought a set of Mastercraft tires. All matching in original stock sizes (195 front/235 rear) for $639. They have raised white letters which I turned inside. I had never heard of Mastercraft tires ... heard of Mastercraft Ski boats. Are the tires made by Cooper? They look good but haven't taken the D out to try 'em. I've found that the D is really twitchy with new tires until I get the 'new' wore off.

EDIT: just googled Mastercraft and they are a line of Cooper Tires.

[DMCMW Dave]

Cooper quit making them last year but they are still showing up in warehouses.

[Jacko]

Another thought on Mastercraft Tires ... When at the tire shop for mounting they couldn't balance one of the rears. The machine was calling for 5 or 6 oz. weights in two different places. They got a replacement from the warehouse and it was fine ... a bit unsettling though. I've bought a bunch of tires and never had that to happen before. :hmm:

[Morpheus]

I have a size-correct set of Primewell tires on my car currently.

Front:
http://www.primewelltires.com/images/primewell-logo-tireinfo.png PS830/850 195/60R14 $41 ea.

Rear:
http://www.primewelltires.com/images/primewell-logo-tireinfo.png PS860 235/60R15 $64 ea.

They are available @ Tires Plus and Firestone in the Central FL area.

[louielouie2000]

Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's are what I have, and you must run 225's on the rear.

As far as I am aware, there are NO reasonably priced matching sets in either the "correct" 235 nor the 245.

I have to object every single time I see people trying to push 225 sized tires onto DeLorean owners. There is a reason the DeLorean has the extra rubber on it's rear tires: a nearly 70% rear weight bias. The DeLorean in many ways is woefully undercooked when it comes to engineering. The big rear tires were slapped onto the DeLorean in attempt to quell oversteering. I think it's safe to say most DeLorean owners have experienced oversteer in their cars at one point or another. I know I certainly have. My rear swapped with my front end once when I took a hard right turn too fast. It's also important to keep in mind that unlike modern cars, DeLoreans also don't have safety nannies such as Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, etc. It's really best to not chip away at the limited "engineering" the DeLorean comes with standard. Just buy non-matching front & rear tires. You'll be the only one who notices anyway.

...plus, DeLoreans with skinny rear tires just look silly too. :dead:

[DeLorean]

I have to object every single time I see people trying to push 225 sized tires onto DeLorean owners. There is a reason the DeLorean has the extra rubber on it's rear tires: a nearly 70% rear weight bias. The DeLorean in many ways is woefully undercooked when it comes to engineering. The big rear tires were slapped onto the DeLorean in attempt to quell oversteering. I think it's safe to say most DeLorean owners have experienced oversteer in their cars at one point or another. I know I certainly have. My rear swapped with my front end once when I took a hard right turn too fast. It's also important to keep in mind that unlike modern cars, DeLoreans also don't have safety nannies such as Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, etc. It's really best to not chip away at the limited "engineering" the DeLorean comes with standard. Just buy non-matching front & rear tires. You'll be the only one who notices anyway.

...plus, DeLoreans with skinny rear tires just look silly too. :dead:


Well what brand tire are you running? Personally, I wanted something better than rebranded coopers or primwell - which I suspect at that price is probably a Chinese tire.

Compared to the NCT's the car originally came with, a modern Michelin Pilot A/S will (and does) kick the crap out of the NCT's.

235 Vs a 225 is an incredibly small difference in the actual measurement of the rear tread. My measure showed it as only 1/4" smaller (real world ) than the NCT's that came off of the car.

The trouble I had with running different brands of tires in order to obtain the correct size at the rear was that I could not find a tire with similar specifications made by different brands. Either the speed ratings did't match, the load ratings didn't match or the UTQG rating was all wrong between the 2. That would make much more of a difference than would about 1/4" of contact patch in my opinion.

[DMCMW Dave]

Another thought on Mastercraft Tires ... When at the tire shop for mounting they couldn't balance one of the rears. The machine was calling for 5 or 6 oz. weights in two different places. They got a replacement from the warehouse and it was fine ... a bit unsettling though. I've bought a bunch of tires and never had that to happen before. :hmm:

Unfortunately common with the Coopers. They would routinely take 2x the weights to balance as the average Michelin. They were, IMO, s----- tires. But they were the right size and were cheap.

I'd rather have a good tire (i.e. Michelin) in a matching tread pattern one size off than a crap tire that happens to be the right size, or worse, a setup with two completely different grip characteristics on opposite ends of the car.

[content22207]

... It's also important to keep in mind that unlike modern cars, DeLoreans also don't have safety nannies such as Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, etc....

Just an old fashioned rear sway bar would have been nice.

"Handling by Lotus"....

Bill Robertson
#5939

[stevedmc]

I have a size-correct set of Primewell tires on my car currently.

Front:
http://www.primewelltires.com/images/primewell-logo-tireinfo.png PS830/850 195/60R14 $41 ea.

Rear:
http://www.primewelltires.com/images/primewell-logo-tireinfo.png PS860 235/60R15 $64 ea.

They are available @ Tires Plus and Firestone in the Central FL area.

I'm using the same Primewell tires as well. They look great, are much better than the 10 year old tires that were on the car before, and only cost $375 including tax, installation, and whatever other fees Firestone chose to nickel and dime me with.

[Rich]

The good news is there is an additional brand of OE-sized tires for the D. on the market.

The bad news looks to be that the F's and R's are different models of that brand - the fronts being blackwalls with a "touring-passenger" tread pattern - the rears sporting big RWL's and a "sport performance" tread pattern. If the RWL is not on both sides, yes, one could flip the rears to match the front blacks.
Enlargeable front-rear pics: 2929 2930

http://www.primewelltires.com/

On balance it's hard to complain about having more instead of fewer DeLorean tire choices.

Wonder what it will take to make all 6,000 of us happy, like having a major-name mfgr make a decent set of matching/OE size sport-performance or high-performance fronts and rears for our cars?

Meantime we each make our compromises.

[wiresman]

Speaking of tires, I have the green light to get some new ones. What are some that look Okay and are recomended for our cars. I've experienced the ends swapping before and certainly would like to avoid that. I plan on pulling the wheels and taking them in to have them done since they refused to let me drive the car onto the rack last time at Sears for an alignment. I was a nervous wreck.
I'm in Northern KY, so shops around here are Sears, Tire Discounters, Michel Tire, Pep Boys, WalMart, GoodYear...not that driving to all of them would be so bad.
Kinda startin to look like old DMCTalk again, maybe better :wrenchin:

[Rich]

Speaking of tires, I have the green light to get some new ones. What are some that look Okay and are recomended for our cars.

Asked and answered.

+1 on DMCMW Dave's recommendation-reply to similar question here:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?344-Tires&p=2550#post2550

Read the rest of that thread for other questions and info. At the moment all of the tires out there for D's are a compromise in one way or another. Inform yourself and get the best set you can afford that does what you want.

[jawn101]

I got the Falken Ziex 512s after much deliberation and soul searching on 235 rears vs matching tread patterns and sidewalls and eventually caved and bought the set of 4. They look good and handle well too. Nice long lasting tread and a good warranty too. I would have preferred the 235s in the back but the difference in appearance is negligible.

[Farrar]

235 Vs a 225 is an incredibly small difference in the actual measurement of the rear tread.

What about 245s?

Farrar

[tkewley]

In fact it's the wide rear that's the tough one, because it's on a (now unfashionable) 15 inch wheel. A check of Tire Rack indicates, as noted, that there are no major brand matching sets available in the OEM sizes. If you're willing to go to a 225 in the rear, there are four:

Fuzion HRi
Fuzion Touring
Kumho Solus KR21
Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum

As they're all pretty close in price ($232-318. per set of four plus shipping), and the Ecstas appear best in terms of overall performance, I'd go with them. The HRi would be a close second, but they're on closeout, and so probably not available for long...

Checking a tire size calculator, and assuming the D's speedo is geared to the rear wheels, the 225 would cause the reported speed to be 1 mph quicker than actual at 60 mph - not the end of the world in my view.

The argument regarding the car's rear weight bias and 'brute force' engineering solutions (in this case the four size tire width bias F to R) is a valid one. However, as was pointed out, I would imagine any owners pushing their cars hard enough to make a one size width change an issue have likely gone to a more robust solution - i.e. larger wheels to accommodate modern low-profile rubber.

[TTait]

The speedo is geared off the front left wheel.



(Jinx - you owe me a drink Jim)

[dmc6960]

Checking a tire size calculator, and assuming the D's speedo is geared to the rear wheels

The DeLorean speedometer is geared to the left front wheel.

[delornut]

I have to object every single time I see people trying to push 225 sized tires onto DeLorean owners. There is a reason the DeLorean has the extra rubber on it's rear tires: a nearly 70% rear weight bias. The DeLorean in many ways is woefully undercooked when it comes to engineering. The big rear tires were slapped onto the DeLorean in attempt to quell oversteering. I think it's safe to say most DeLorean owners have experienced oversteer in their cars at one point or another. I know I certainly have. My rear swapped with my front end once when I took a hard right turn too fast. It's also important to keep in mind that unlike modern cars, DeLoreans also don't have safety nannies such as Electronic Stability Control, Traction Control, etc. It's really best to not chip away at the limited "engineering" the DeLorean comes with standard. Just buy non-matching front & rear tires. You'll be the only one who notices anyway.

...plus, DeLoreans with skinny rear tires just look silly too. :dead:

There isn't all that much differance. Looking at one of Goodyear's charts shows the 255 tire is only about 1/2" smaller in diameter and less than 1/2" narrower than the 235. Hardley enough to have much effect on handling.

Bruce Benson

[TemporalFX]

Has anyone found 245s?