1 week in...

LadyS3 · Aug 21, 2016

Can't believe I've had her a week lol! Absolutely in love with this car!

Bear in mind I've owned Vxr's, mk2 focus RS, VXR8, type r's....I can safely say this car is so much fun. It's so planted!! Don't want a fwd ever again.

Few things I'll be changing over time. Not sold on the plastic trim colour inside lol

Few questions for people...

Has anyone got the Bridgestone potenza's on theirs or has had them? Mine's come with some seriously shocking tyres on so I'm looking to change as soon as. My other half has a Lexus ISF and he loves the bridgestones, so I wondered what people think of them?

Also looking at tuning boxes or remaps, but interested to know what mpg is like with the remaps for the s3?

NFox · Aug 21, 2016

Had mine just 3 days and share your passion, I have always had hatches type r's etc too but this thing just blows all of them out of the water! I have the potenzas on the back of mine with pzeros up front but honestly not in the best position to really give any worthwhile feedback, especially coming from a 2.0 JTDM Giulietta with awful tyres, but the car is very planted even in this horrid weather.

Car looks great and I'm sure some more experienced owners will be along soon to confirm on tyres!

prt57 · Aug 21, 2016

Welcome to the forum. That is a very nice looking car.
I have Continental tyres on 3 of our VAG cars and very pleased with them. The ride certainly improved on our TT when I changed from Pirelli P Zeros. Much less crashy on bumpy surfaces.
The ordinary driving mpg improved on my S3 after a remap but it certainly drinks the V Power when giving it the beans as you would expect. These cars can be made to go very quickly with relatively little expense.

LadyS3 · Aug 21, 2016

Thanks Hun

I've looked at a lot of tyres now and also have experience with some brands from previous cars e.g Pirelli, Dunlop and Toyo... But I didn't rate the Pirelli as much after having toyo's and I don't want to be changing tyres every 5k so won't get any of those

Bridgestones seem to do the trick on my partners RWD and he has a seriously heavy right foot and drifts everywhere lol.

LadyS3 · Aug 21, 2016

prt57 said:
Welcome to the forum. That is a very nice looking car.
I have Continental tyres on 3 of our VAG cars and very pleased with them. The ride certainly improved on our TT when I changed from Pirelli P Zeros. Much less crashy on bumpy surfaces.
The ordinary driving mpg improved on my S3 after a remap but it certainly drinks the V Power when giving it the beans as you would expect. These cars can be made to go very quickly with relatively little expense.

Thanks

I did have a look at the continentals also but wasn't sure.

Mine so far only gets used for Bedford runs to see partner, so mpg is pretty good. Until I get the urge to properly drive her and then I expected the gauge to go down very quick

Have noticed she runs so much better on v power though. I might need a second job for fuel money lol.

S3Alex · Aug 21, 2016

LadyS3 said:
Thanks Hun I've looked at a lot of tyres now and also have experience with some brands from previous cars e.g Pirelli, Dunlop and Toyo... But I didn't rate the Pirelli as much after having toyo's and I don't want to be changing tyres every 5k so won't get any of those

Bridgestones seem to do the trick on my partners RWD and he has a seriously heavy right foot and drifts everywhere lol.

Mine came with Bridgestones.

Only good thing I could say was they lasted,but that was also a bad thing.

Poor dry grip,awful in the wet,and no progression.

Obviously different tyres suit different cars,but those things don't suit the S3 at all.

I've used Eagle F1s,Michelin PS3 and PSS's,and can say that the PSS's were the best all rounder,and last pretty well,even on my car.
I'll probably give the PS4s a try when I switch back off the Toyo R888Rs for winter.

S3Alex · Aug 21, 2016

prt57 said:
........ These cars can be made to go very quickly with relatively little expense.

That's true.....they can also be made to go shockingly fast. LOL

LadyS3 · Aug 21, 2016

S3Alex said:
Mine came with Bridgestones.

Only good thing I could say was they lasted,but that was also a bad thing.

Poor dry grip,awful in the wet,and no progression.

Obviously different tyres suit different cars,but those things don't suit the S3 at all.

I've used Eagle F1s,Michelin PS3 and PSS's,and can say that the PSS's were the best all rounder,and last pretty well,even on my car.
I'll probably give the PS4s a try when I switch back off the Toyo R888Rs for winter.

Thanks Alex, that's extremely helpful. I'll have a look at the michelins then

Why do I have a sneaky suspicion they're dearer than the Bridgestone lol

S3Alex · Aug 21, 2016

LadyS3 said:
Thanks Alex, that's extremely helpful. I'll have a look at the michelins then
Why do I have a sneaky suspicion they're dearer than the Bridgestone lol

They're actually not bad price wise,and grip so much better than the Bridgestones that it's worth it for that alone.

archemist · Aug 21, 2016

I have ps4's on mine and although I've nothing to compare them (on an s3) they ride well, grip and turn in fine. If you want a cheaper alternative uniroyal rainsport 3's are a great tyre.

Lovely car, my 2nd favourite for a stealth S3.

If you want to change the trims there's a set of ally ones on eBay at the mo. Not a big job to swap

Black / red leather and silver is a classic combo.

s5joe · Aug 21, 2016

I have got Bridgestone s001 on mine and can not fault them I find with tyres it's personal preference were a mate of mine hates them

MICHAEL PARKER · Aug 21, 2016

I have potenza's on mine and tbh they seem ok to me .

DJ_26 · Aug 21, 2016

This is probably the first S3 I've seen with those wood-effect trims haha. I like the seats and door cards though!

LadyS3 · Aug 21, 2016

DJ_26 said:
This is probably the first S3 I've seen with those wood-effect trims haha. I like the seats and door cards though!

Yeah I did kinda wince but my partner and the trader said it gives her 'character'... I just rolled my eyes lol. :blahblah1:

S3Alex said:
They're actually not bad price wise,and grip so much better than the Bridgestones that it's worth it for that alone.

Will have a look at those now, thanks

archemist said:
I have ps4's on mine and although I've nothing to compare them (on an s3) they ride well, grip and turn in fine. If you want a cheaper alternative uniroyal rainsport 3's are a great tyre.

Lovely car, my 2nd favourite for a stealth S3.

If you want to change the trims there's a set of ally ones on eBay at the mo. Not a big job to swap

Black / red leather and silver is a classic combo.

Thanks a lot

yeah I was looking at silver ones, but then thought about wrapping them black or carbon?

s3joe said:
I have got Bridgestone s001 on mine and can not fault them I find with tyres it's personal preference were a mate of mine hates them

Yeah it's hard as I preferred toyo's on my Vxr's and had Pirelli on my vxr8 but anything else I had Pirelli on it just didn't grip well etc...it's definitely about finding the right ones suited to the car and your driving style. Hence I asked for opinions as I can make an informed decision then at least :glee:

MICHAEL PARKER said:
I have potenza's on mine and tbh they seem ok to me .

Do you rate them in the wet? It's raining in Bedford and these shoddy tyres she has on at min are awful so I definitely need a good grip in wet.

MICHAEL PARKER · Aug 21, 2016

LadyS3 said:
Yeah I did kinda wince but my partner and the trader said it gives her 'character'... I just rolled my eyes lol.

Will have a look at those now, thanks

Thanks a lot yeah I was looking at silver ones, but then thought about wrapping them black or carbon?

Yeah it's hard as I preferred toyo's on my Vxr's and had Pirelli on my vxr8 but anything else I had Pirelli on it just didn't grip well etc...it's definitely about finding the right ones suited to the car and your driving style. Hence I asked for opinions as I can make an informed decision then at least

Do you rate them in the wet? It's raining in Bedford and these shoddy tyres she has on at min are awful so I definitely need a good grip in wet.

Tbh I have had no problems from them wet or dry , they were all ready on the car when I bought it and as they are brand new I don't feel any need to change them , I have been upto some serious speed (off-road of course ) and I am more than confident that they are upto the job .

Ben2487 · Aug 21, 2016

I had potenza's on when I had the car I thought were good when the car was standard, I then bought R888's then fantastic tyre the grip level was phenomenal only down side was the noise and now the increase in price, put on some ps3's then terrible but the car does have more power now... Orders yoko spec 2's for my new wheels.

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S. · Aug 21, 2016

Parada spec 2?

Ben2487 · Aug 21, 2016

S. said:
Parada spec 2?

Yea had a cracking deal on them

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S3Alex · Aug 22, 2016

Ben2487 said:
I had potenza's on when I had the car I thought were good when the car was standard, I then bought R888's then fantastic tyre the grip level was phenomenal only down side was the noise and now the increase in price, put on some ps3's then terrible but the car does have more power now... Orders yoko spec 2's for my new wheels.

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R888Rs are way better on the noise front,and better grip as well.

Bit snappy in the wet compared to the R888s.

HHS3 · Aug 22, 2016

Glad you're enjoying the S3, they really are lovely motors and AWD is the one!

Another vote for the Michelin PS4's here, I've been running them for over half a year now and have yet to fault them on anything. They're reasonably priced, excellent in both the dry & wet and it's safe to say that I push them to their limits often of which they handle everything I throw at them fine no problem.

SootySport · Aug 22, 2016

Hope you are warming to your character full car Madam.
I would steer away from Parada aka. Ditchfinders if I were you.
90% of posts on this forum recommend Mich PS3 or 4's for our cars and if you peruse the VW.Skoda.Seat forums you will see the same recommendations. I bought something completely different myself- Falken ZE914 XL(extra load for towing) and so far all seems fine, they are nice and quite and grip is reasonably good in the wet and dry. Only had them 2 months so no idea of the wear rate.

S. · Aug 22, 2016

Had paradas on my old car..good when it's dry and warm, very bad on wet, dangerous when aquaplaning..you have described them quite nicely ditchfinders.

S3Alex · Aug 22, 2016

Tend to agree with both Soot1 and S.

Yokos are OK in the dry but not good if it rains and significantly worse than the R888Rs in that respect.

Ben2487 · Aug 22, 2016

I went to pass a bmw m4 with the traction control off for the first time stage 1+ and the wheel spin was dreadful almost drifted into the curb on the dual carriage way. Yea Alex I have heard those Yokos are bad in the wet but I don't use the car everyday and planning a few trackdays. Ideally should of gone on at the start of the summer. My other choice was the Nankang ns 2

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S3Alex · Aug 22, 2016

Ben2487 said:
I went to pass a bmw m4 with the traction control off for the first time stage 1+ and the wheel spin was dreadful almost drifted into the curb on the dual carriage way. Yea Alex I have heard those Yokos are bad in the wet but I don't use the car everyday and planning a few trackdays. Ideally should of gone on at the start of the summer. My other choice was the Nankang ns 2

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For the next time round,get the R888Rs...they are way better.

TC on mine is excellent with the new ECU,and a Quaife diff makes a huge difference as well.

LadyS3 · Aug 30, 2016

Thanks all for the replies. It's much better knowing from your experiences. Think i'm gonna look at the michelin's and see if my partner can get them through his tyre supplier (get better discount lol)
These nasty tyre's i've got on now are starting to do my head in now. So decision needs to be made soon!! lol

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