New tyres, but which 1's

[Sam_]

The people I'd heard were in the tyre trade (doesn't meant much), and also mechanics etc so not S3 or BM owners

The idea is that you can feel whats happening with the front tyres thru the steering wheel, and thus you drive to the limits of those tyres.

With amazing front tyres, and ****ty rears, you can hoof it into a corner, plenty of grip and feedback thru the steering wheel, then the back end lets go, without warning, and your pointing the other way. I've been there, done it, got the tshirt (or brown trousers...), as has a mate of mine as i'll detail below.

With the stickier tyres on the rear, you know that you should never exceed their grip levels, as the front will let you know its struggling first and you'll be aware of the cars limits, and can drive accordingly.

An interesting caveat is that tread depth isnt everything. A few years ago my friend bought a corsa with bald tyrse, and picked up a cheap set of 14" steels with "good" tyres off ebay for it. We applied the above logic, and given two of the tyres looked fairly new with 6-7mm of tread on, we fitted those to the rear, and the other two (2-3mm of tread) on the front. He drove it home, found a wet roundabout and promptly spun it and had someone plough into the front of him. We were puzzled, he couldnt understand why, he wasnt driving fast and the steering hadnt felt bad/slippy etc. After some pondering thinking it might have been diesel or similar, we realised the rear tyres were bargain basement linglongs or whatever, and the fronts were michelin or pirelli or some premium brand. As a test he swapped the linglongs onto the front, and was horrified as to how little grip they had, now that he could actually feel what they were doing thru the steering wheel. With them on the back, he'd been completely unaware until he crashed.

I guess you learn something every day. It just goes against basic logic to me! They're the tyres doing most of the work. I guess ideally though, you'd have 4 of the same all round and rotate often.

I've never had a road tyre suddenly "let go" though. Usually, even on the rear, you get plenty of warning. Slicks and semi's will break away quicker from my experience but obviously take longer to get to those limits. I guess it's down to preference and driver skill. Understeer being deemed "safer" to control to most. As I've heard mentioned before "understeer scares the driver, oversteer scares the passengers"!

 

[superkarl]

oversteer scares the drivers too! (me anyway). i've never had a tyre let go as such from hard cornering, but i have had the back end reeaallly step out on a national speed limit B road, it was a long sweeping bend, damp, but 60mph seemed a reasonable speed to take it, then half way rround the bend the road had a new and different section of tarmac about 10m long, the change in surfaces was enough to upset the balance of the car and threw the back end out. i truely did poo myself, oversteer isnt for me, thats why i bought an oversteering boat.
a little off topic, but goes to show you can have the best tyres that money can buy, or the best you think, but with todays roads in britain there is some scary surprises

 

[Sam_]

Keep it nailed, she'll be reet

 

[beanoir]

oversteer scares the drivers too! (me anyway). i've never had a tyre let go as such from hard cornering, but i have had the back end reeaallly step out on a national speed limit B road, it was a long sweeping bend, damp, but 60mph seemed a reasonable speed to take it, then half way rround the bend the road had a new and different section of tarmac about 10m long, the change in surfaces was enough to upset the balance of the car and threw the back end out. i truely did poo myself, oversteer isnt for me, thats why i bought an oversteering boat.
a little off topic, but goes to show you can have the best tyres that money can buy, or the best you think, but with todays roads in britain there is some scary surprises

Oversteer is the best fun in the world Karl, don't be wet!!

 

[superkarl]

i dont mind when it just goes ever so slightly and gradually, which is what my car tends to do thanks to the R32 arb, but when in a split second it kicks out like a donkey on crack.... not for me! im a wuss i know

 

[beanoir]

i dont mind when it just goes ever so slightly and gradually, which is what my car tends to do thanks to the R32 arb, but when in a split second it kicks out like a donkey on crack.... not for me! im a wuss i know

A donkey on crack!! ha!

In between S3s I had a Jag XJR with 400bhp and bald rear tyres, thats probably why I find the Audi a bit boring in the wet now!

 

[superkarl]

A donkey on crack!! ha!

In between S3s I had a Jag XJR with 400bhp and bald rear tyres, thats probably why I find the Audi a bit boring in the wet now!

im not surprised! i bet that woke you up in the morning!

 

[Sam_]

A donkey on crack!! ha!

In between S3s I had a Jag XJR with 400bhp and bald rear tyres, thats probably why I find the Audi a bit boring in the wet now!

Should have had the best tyres on the rear

 

[aragorn]

oversteer might be fun, if its intentional and your expecting it and intending for it to happen.

However when it just snaps out like karl described above (which is what happened to me and my mate in the corsa i described above) its no fun at all.

Ofcourse the best solution is to have similar tyres all the way round, but if you do end up in a situation where you have a pair with much less grip than the others, it makes for a much more predictable and thus safer car to install them on the front wheels. Not only that, but if they are bad enough that its affecting your steering and braking, then being on the front and being aware of them will make you more likely to replace them with less crap tyres

 

[Sam_]

Haha true. Well when I've got the camber sorted and the 452s go, I'll fit the new ones to the rear then!

 

[Buzzer]

Iv always put the better ones on the front. More than offen iv lost grip on the front end through under steer and not a lot of movement from the rears. Also prefer for better braking, especially in the wet.

 

[aragorn]

Great, so your extra grippy non-understeering front tyres mean you push on harder and faster, and when you hit standing water mid bend your worn out rears promptly park you in a hedge

 

[Artimus]

... and artimus let us know how you get on with your Goodyear eagle 2's.

So I'm back from my weekend jolly up to The Lake District with the Missus! 700 Miles on the tyres and I have to say they're awesome. The motorway drive on Friday afternoon was punctuated with rain, heavy rain and more ****** rain, but even when some elderly 'gent' dived into my lane when his lane slowed down, right on the nose of the car in the wet, light braking brought a sharp response and disaster was averted! He was probably one of those old chaps that claims to have never had an accident in 50 years of motoring, but has seen plenty of them in his rear view mirror ...****-wad! Comfort is great, Tyre rumble is practically non-existent ...I'm really liking these tyres.

The mountain roads are fairly narrow, have streams of water running across them at what seems like every other blind bend, and are bordered by solid, car killing, rock walls! Treacherous in the wet & scary in the dry, especially when a 4x4 hurtles around a bend toward you towing a humongous caravan... these guys drive like they've forgotten they have anything behind them. As I've never driven those roads before, the tyres needed to be good in order to inspire confidence, and they did ...in spades. I never spun a wheel or lost grip once on the entire trip. If I'd gone on the old, 2mm tread depth tyres I've just replaced, it would probably have ended in tears. But I'm glad to say me and the car made it back in good order! oh ..as did the wife.

I'm very happy with the purchase & IMO the Goodyear's are worth every penny. :thumbsup:

 

[beanoir]

Good choice, I'm glad you're chuffed with them. I love mine, and they're in another league compared with a mid-range tyre like the Falkens or Toyos in my experience.

You get what you pay for with rubber.