tires / wheel
Asked by jonathan May 08, 2008 at 05:25 PM about the 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder 2 Dr STD Convertible
Question type: Car Customization
I just upgraded/sized the wheels from 15" to 17" and put 215/40/17 on all 4 - now the car feels a bit squirly in handling - tires are general eclaim UHP - any suggestions - previously had falken soft rubber tire in 205/50/15 rear and 195/50/15front - any suggestions on how to "settle her down" and get rid of the rodents?
4 Answers
New tires and wheels... Jumping to the bigger wheels with less rubber will give you a rougher ride, but if it's 'squirly'... then one of the wheels might be out of round or unbalanced or could have something pinched between it and the mounting surface. Get her on jacks and check the above, and post back. Easy way to check it the tires are out of round... Get the tire in the air, and set a pencil on a block so that it just barely doesn't touch the edge of the rim. Slowly spin the tire. If the gap between the tip of the pencil and the edge of the rim changes a noticable amount, then you've got a problem with the wheels or there is something on the mounting surface. Pull the wheel off... If there isn't anything between the wheel and the hub causeing it then go yell at whoever sold you the wheels.
Don't know how old this it or if you solved the problem yet, but the car drives like crap because of the tires, toyota released the car with different sized tires for a reason. You should try to keep the same size difference. Too many people don't think that that mattered, but it did, even having factory size tires that are mismatched front to rear will throw the handling off.
You need to keep staggered sizes front and rear, if your not already check out www.mr2oc.com and join. It is the official mr2 owners message board and all your wheel/tire size questions will be answered and just about any other questions about your car will be answered. Not keeping the staggered sizes is the number one cause for a unsettled MR2 like you are describing.
Just read the wheel size issue on the Spyder. My wife and I just bought a 2000 Spyder with 25k miles on it. The guy had 17" wheels put on it and it hits the plastic covers inside the top of the wheel wells. We're going back to manufacturer spec of 15" front/16" rears and probably Michelin tires to match the manufacturer specs, also. We want it to remain original. Thanks for the confirmation of what we had in mind.