On my car the tyre pressures are all the same, which suggests it might actually have 50:50 weight distribution... Not that it means much to me, although it makes checking my tyres easier

Which bit are you laughing at?!

Which bit are you laughing at?!

I just have a warped sense of humour... I thought 50:50 weight distribution referred to the balance of the car (ie the front half weighing the same as the back half) and it was the tyre size not pressure that reflected it.

Very complicated subject though...(seriously)

No offence meant matey:thumbup:

I just have a warped sense of humour... I thought 50:50 weight distribution referred to the balance of the car (ie the front half weighing the same as the back half) and it was the tyre size not pressure that reflected it.

Very complicated subject though...(seriously)

No offence meant matey:thumbup:

None taken! I only asked because part of my post was slightly in jest (tyre pressure checks; having the same target pressure in each tyre makes using my digital tyre inflator easier to use because I don't have to adjust the target pressure as I work my way around the car). But your reaction seemed too "strong", so I guessed you might be laughing at the rest of my post!

Re: 50:50 WD... Because the target pressure of my wheels is the same all round (2.0 or 2.1 bar I think), that suggests to me that my car might actually have something approaching 50:50 WD?

I'm no expert on this, but in my experience, cars where the front end is heavier due to the engine, tend to have higher tyre pressures at the front, given that the tyres are the same size all round.

On the other hand, my MX-5 had 50:50 WD and it had the same tyre pressure at each corner.

Am happy to be told I'm wrong though

put in 50:50 weight distribution into the search bar and read the wikipedia entry. That's where I got my info from.

I'll hear from you again in a few hours...

How do nails know to 1) pierce the tyre with most tread on and 2) go in near the sidewall so the tyre can not be mended?

put in 50:50 weight distribution into the search bar and read the wikipedia entry. That's where I got my info from.

I'll hear from you again in a few hours...

Well, I've not seen anything there that makes me think I've got it wrong. I still think my car has approximate 50:50 WD (not that I care, it just makes pumping up my tyres easier, as I said before)

I just have a warped sense of humour... I thought 50:50 weight distribution referred to the balance of the car (ie the front half weighing the same as the back half) and it was the tyre size not pressure that reflected it.

Very complicated subject though...(seriously)

No offence meant matey:thumbup:

Coming back to this though; most FWD cars have tyres the same size all around, few of them have 50:50 WD though?

So I would have said tyre size was a poor indicator of weight distribution...

EDIT: In fact, I would go further and say that tyre pressure might be a good indicator of 50:50 WD? Surely if you have e.g. a rectangular block, which would have perfect 50:50 WD, the weight at each corner would be uniform, therefore 4 equal sized tyres at each corner would have the same weight on them, therefore I'd expect the tyres to require the same pressure in order to keep the car level, let alone give equal handling/ride characteristics at each corner?

But I'm not expert, so...!

Edited 17 March, 200917 yr by riph72
Extra text

The only advice I would give is DO NOT ever put cheap tyres on.

I bought my vRS last July and it came with a pair of Wanli's on the front. I didn't know much about them (at that time!) and saw they were nearly new and was happy enough with that.

After driving a few miles it was obvious Wanli's were poor in the dry and in the wet they downright dangerous. I stuck with them for a week before getting Conti 3's all round (it already had 2 new ones on the back when I bought it). It was a different car afterwards (different for the better that is!!).

It may not be true for everything in life but for tyres at least I would say you get what you pay for. Yes Wanli's were about half the price of Conti 3's, but those 4 small patches of rubber are what keeps you where you want to be - on the road. All the performance in the world is worth nothing if your car is in a ditch (or worse) because you put rubbish tyres on.

Well said, Si66