Tyre Size - "Z"?

ImDave

Well lads,

I bought a set of 17" alloys (second hand) for my 206. Three of the tyres that are on them are 205/40/R17, and these are rubbing off the strut/suspension. There is one, however that is nice and clear of the strut, by about 8/9mm, and is a 205/40Z/R17. Now, I know nothing about tyres, but it seems as though the Z means it sits flush with the alloy rim i.e. there is no lip on either side of the tyre. The Z is the only difference I can find between the writing on them.

I was looking on eiretyres.com, and found tyres with this "Z" in it, but I just want to be sure that these would be the same as the one I have before I go ordering them. Cheers

Seth Brundle

Z refers to the max speed - http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html#speed

ImDave

Cheers for that, good thing I asked, I was just about to order them. Does anyone happen to know the name of a type of tyre that sits flush with the alloy rim by any chance?

Seth Brundle

What brand are the tyres that you have at the moment?
Are you 100% sure that all of the rims are the same?
Are you 100% sure that the rims are for the 206 or did you just buy some rims? It sounds like the issue is more with the wheels and not the tyres tbh!

ImDave

Its kind of an unusual situation tbh. I bought them off a friend who had them on her 5 door '01 206 (they are after market 17" Lenso alloys btw). We presumed they would fit my 3 door '00 206 just the same. It seems that they are very slightly rubbing on mine, but apparently they were on hers aswell, without any problem. I'm just not mad about the idea of them making any kind of contact. The rims are definetly all the same. I will have to check the brand of tyre when I get home. Three of them had one type of tyre, then one had the different type, which has no lip over the alloy, making no contact with the car at all, and thats the type I am looking to get on the other three now.

Rowley Birkin QC

Z tyres are much more expensive I'd imagine. For some reason the dealers put them on my Dad's TDi A4, they wore in about 15,000 miles.

Unless its a 206 GTi I'd just go with R rated tyres.

VeVeX

The Z in ZR simply means that the tyre is rated to exceed 240km in one hour.

The R - as with the majority of modern tyres just states its a radial.

Sounds like an offset problem to me tbh. I would suggest the OP puts Nankang or similar tyres on the rims. Nankangs have a very round sidewall so should not protrude further then the wheel itself.

-Chris-

Before you buy anythinig else, take your car to a good tyre/wheel place. +1 on the offset problem.

You should get that checked out before you go splashing out on more tyres. They may have spacers or something that can correct your offsets.

Tyres shouldn't rub and they shouldn't be set up with so little clearance that a small change in sidewall profile causes rubbing.