REplacing tyres

Yeah if anyone knows the road.. probably not. it was from Aylesbury to Bicester on the a41.. there's a bit of dual carriageway that goes down hill then levels out.. flat and totally straight.. as soon as i got 120.. i was sure to count every 1mph extra haha.
 
Well the only car I ever had which reversed heading on me was a Clio RSi which, when I look back on it I screwed up the suspention on.

After lowering the car 30mm on front 60mm on rear (1 notch on the torsion bar) it suffered from serious lift off **** out action!

To be honest it came around so quick & on a dry road it convinced me not to **** with the suspentiopn again unless it was tweaked properly all round. I was one believer in putting new tyres on the back for that particular reason, so it goes to show it makes very little difference on tyre choice.

Originally Posted by Ess_Three
Have you tried getting the back out on a recent Audi (Bar the RS4)?
You can't.

Having had 4 Audi's now, the only one which even came close to spinning was my S2, & it was the most balanced car I've ever driven. Even when provoked, at best it would drift out on corners.
In the snow I could get the back out by yanking the wheel & stamping on the throttle & even then it could be driven sideyways with ease using throttle control... All on a private section of road Btw.

My conclusion on this is I personally would put the new ones on the front.
If the tyres are affected to the extent that the're getting slippery, it's time to replace them all. Also I try to even out the wear by rotating the tyres too...
:bye:
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Dave_Bayern said:
It was P-Zero Rossos both times.

The 100mph+ and maximum braking effort plus wet surface'might' have been a factor, but let me tell you, its a little TOO easy to spin it :)
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Sounds like your bias valve is sticking or not adjusted to the lower suspension properly.

One the back lifts on heavy braking there should be about 2% of braking going to the back end!! I had a tendancy to lock the rear on my mk2 and it was the bias valve sticking (common on the mk2 as I am sure you know).

My S3 had a tendancy to have the back squirm a bit under very hard braking from very very high speed (130mph pn track). It die not swap ends, it was easy to control with a tweak of steering input but it was not "right" that's for sure.
I had the allignment redone and found it only had 1degree of neggy on the back, increased it to 2degrees and its totally stable now. Weird that it made such difference, but it did.
 
simch said:
Sounds like your bias valve is sticking or not adjusted to the lower suspension properly.
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Good call...


I had the allignment redone and found it only had 1degree of neggy on the back, increased it to 2degrees and its totally stable now. Weird that it made such difference, but it did.
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I went the other way...
I took negative off to stop the back from doing it's own thing under power...wend down from -2.5 to -1.0 and never had any issues with braking stability, even with the Brembos on the front, and higher rear tyre pressures.

It would squirm a wee bit...but no biggie.
 
Interesting, good idea. I reckon that requires some investigation on my part...
 
Come to think about it...
Does your A3 have one Dave?

My non-ABS Mk3 did...but my current ABS Mk3 doesn't...so maybe your A3 won't have one.
 
Interesting stuff.

What are peoples' thoughts on suspension rake? For example I see some Audis with the front a tad lower than the rear.

Would a lower rear end help with stability?
 
HTC said:
Interesting stuff.

What are peoples' thoughts on suspension rake? For example I see some Audis with the front a tad lower than the rear.

Would a lower rear end help with stability?
Click to expand...

Mostly, I think it's fashion...
Allegedly it makes the car more slippery...and hance 'faster'. Yeah, right.

But a lower rear should make things more stable under heavy braking as the car will tend to level out under hard braking making the rear less likely to dance about...
But firm dampers (rebound) will limit the amount the car lifts at the rear anyway....so maybe a lower rear wouldn't make much difference if the suspension is set up correctly.
 
I think fwd should really be a bit lower at the front, helps the back around and keeps the weight over the front on take off.
 
AndyMac said:
Nope, just they (Michelin) would like to sell more of them.
Buy them at costco by all means, just don't expect sound advice from the saturday boys that work there!
Click to expand...


Mate like i say its Michelin's policy. Costco just have to enforce being one of their distributors so its not the guys who work there that have made it up.
 
I've thought about this every time I've had new tyres in the last few years. What is THE most common occurrence in this country? In my opinion - standing water, and I want the best tread on the tyres that hit it first!!

Although I guess if the fronts break away and the good stuff is on the back the braking might be cleaner?

I'd really like to see the source of the information rather than just a statement from Michelin....
 
Pretty much all your braking is at the front in any car, you need the best rubber on the front - it's obvious isn't it?
No idea what Michelin are on, maybe they've changed the laws of physics
 
Well the winter treads are going on later today on the standard S3 feet.

I'll reserve my opinion till later, but the guy assures me they are the best thing for this time of year.

Toyo Proxes on at the mo & have to say I've been very impressed so far with the performance in the past few days of cold weather & rain!
 
I cant see there being any need to put new tyres on the back - i personally go through twice the number of tyres on the front as i do on the back so if i always stuck the new ones there i'd end up costing myself even more money.

If you're rear tyres are low enough on tread, or a really crap tyre so that there is enough of a grip difference front-back that they would step out then you need to be changing them anyway.

Most of the braking is at the front, the car steers from the front while the back follows, the car is powered(mostly in an s3) from the front.

Can't see why any1 in their right mind would put their best tyres on the rear
 
Really can't be *****, it's totally obvious to pretty much everyone so what else do I need to know? Tyre companies want to sell more tyres, big deal. Put them where you want, maybe opposite corners, or both on one side, mine will always go on the front.
 
Sorry Andy, i know you have more tyre knowledge than the people at Michelin so best tyres to the front it is
 
Another link for more info, not that anyone is interested :icon_thumright:

MORE_INFO

Everyone has there own opinions and preferances which they are entitled to so not going to argue over it, basically put your best tyres wherever you feel is best
 
Sam-K said:
well. to solve this.

just buy 4 at a time!
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That's what I do where possible...rotate them to even up the wear and replace the lot.

I'm not a fan of replacing fronts (since I put the new tyres on the front too) and leaving the rears just chugging away as you end up with 2 or 3 sets of fronts to one set of rears, and the rears end up a very old rubber compound. Not ideal.

Wear 4 out, change all 4...keep the rubber compound the same, end up with 4 tyres from the same batch and remove much of the risk of having mismatched tyres.

Fine when you have tyres the same size all round.


What happens when I need to replace the front Michelins on my 911?
Can't put them on the back...
Have to put them on the front.
Goes against what Mr michelin says.
 
So if Michelin recommend that you change all four at the same time you'd do that as well?
A for that link, they're talking about French Vans, the key words there are "French" and "Vans".
 
Before reading this thread I would have positively said that the new tyres go on the front but it seems I was wrong to think this.

'Ive spent a fair bit of time reading all the reports that google turns up for this and almost every site states that the new should be on the rear. Thats not just sites selling tyres either. Many sites dedicated to safety also say the same.

Now this may be down to the majority of drivers having no idea on how to control a car in a skid situation in which case the theory is that if a front tyre fails you get understear which is easier to correct than and out of control rear? But the argument the sites put forward is very convincing.

I have to say I am quite surprised by this as it does appear to go against logic but the research is clear.

So from now on I'm with S3-ROB, new tyres on the rear.
 
audi upgrades
I totally understand the logic from an extreme safety point of view - but at the end of the day how often do tyres really fail? Even when they do if one tyre goes and the rest are decent enough it isn't going to send you spinning out of control providing the driver isn't a complete numpty. In which case no matter whether said numpty puts his/her new tyres on the front or the rear they're proably going to go spinning out of control regardless.

Also if you have a low enough tread on any tyre to be worrying about the amount of grip you're getting from it then it shouldn't be on there anyway.
 
The blowout arguement is a bit pointless as they are pretty rare in any state of road legal tyre.

As for front or rear debate it depends who its for and what your wanting out of the car.

By far and away the best way is to rotate the tyres occasionally and get even wear across all 4 and repalce all 4!

If however, you cant/ dont do this then what everyone has said is there or thereabouts true.

Safety, new tyres should go on the rear, this prevents lift off oversteer ( instant crash for 90% of the driving population). Not so much of an occurrance on audis but if youve had a french hot hatch and tried new tyres on the front you'll know for yourself.

Fun, Put the new ones on the front an the back end will become alive, even on an the s3, end of


which YOU decide to do, is totally up to YOU, unless you get them at costco, an then they will go on the back, until you get home that is!
 
Did some more research and apparently its Pirelli who did the first research on this, and there study was for aqua planing and the outcome was that putting the new tyres on the rear was the safest option.

Basic premise is due to the front of the car being heavier it doesnt lift as much when aqua planing whereas the rears do, so the best tread has to be on the rear to help avoid this
 
I've been thinking about this not getting the rear out on the VAG cars thing.

And I've had a thought, it must mean no-one who says this has ever done Donington?

I had a long discussion during lunch at a recent trackday where there were mainly Mk2 and Mk4 Golfs, and it had been noted that everyone waits until the last second before braking for redgate then turns in hard, forcing the car to drift midway through redgate before straightening up and continuing.

There was about 10 of us on the conversation and we couldnt work out how the cars were all reacting the same way, but the conclusion was we all went slightly sideways through the first corner , its slight in the pictures, but you can see it, and in the car, you can feel you are on the limits for adhesion.
 
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