tezzan wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 12:59
I think low profile tyres universally seem to make the handling better and the ride worse. When I drive classics now with old fashioned high profile tyres they normally have an excellent ride compared with modern stuff. Handling's usually crap mind you.
I agree re handling and ride. I don't think there is any good engineering reason for tyres to be as low in profile as they are today. After all, F1 tyres are hardly low profile - nor have they ever been. Mr Winterbottom always says that it is important to treat tyres as part of the suspension system, not as an 'accessory.' We are now used to cars looking 'better' cosmetically with big wheels and very low profile tyres; IMHO that is due to the greatly increased bulk of modern cars and SUVs where a properly specified wheel and tyre would look far too small. The size of the wheel and the very low profile mean that extra effort has to be made in the steering and suspension system to insulate the driver from road shocks - which reduces feel.
Before my Elite, I had a Porshe 944 which was much more fun to drive on the 195 section tyre option, but looked better on the 205 (or was it 215?) section tyre - the arches are so big on the 944 they need to be filled. It had a higher limit of adhesion on the bigger tyres, but felt as though breakaway would happen more suddenly. It actually felt quite 'wooden' in day to day driving on the bigger tyres.
Years ago I had a session in various AMG Mercs at MB World and wondered for a long time why, despite being so fast, they felt utterly boring! All the electronic handling controls meant you just couldn't approach the car's limits unless you switched the systems off.
Interestingly, in the Lotus world, at the talk on the Elan M100 at Castle Combe last year, someone recounted a tale of the dealer launch where the test runs around the track elicited surprisingly little excitement amongst the participants - the handling was so good they were afraid to push it as fast as they could have because the car's limits were so high - it just stuck to the track. I don't think the M100 has particularly wide or low profile tyres - its chassis dynamics are clearly so good that everyday drivers can rarely approach the limits.
So, unless you drive competitively on the track, I agree there is a very good case for driving an older car with skinny tyres in order to have fun!! And to my mind, RWD handling is much more fun than FWD.
Cheers, Richard