Get some r888's / paradas on! Will do about 3-5k on the front but its nearly better weather for some fun

Get some r888's / paradas on! Will do about 3-5k on the front but its nearly better weather for some fun

Last time i looked, you couldnt get 888's in that size :(

Was tempted

Oh johnny got a phonecall last night of my bud eric supposedly he's interested in your fabia?

He owned my yellow before me

Can i say though having read the thread i'm a little confused over your motives :S

You're going to the trouble of getting your car remapped and buying big brakes but say you are prepared to sacrifice grip for longer tyre life?

It seems hugely counterproductive to go to make your car more powerful and better at stopping and then fit long life low grip tyres that will make getting the extra power down harder and stopping more difficult.

No worries, everyone’s motives and plans are different and what makes sense to one is madness to others

The car is my every day drive and I cover about 30K miles a year.

The vast majority of my miles are done on a motorway so soft tyres are just going to be wasted. :(

The non motorway driving I do is on some cracking roads and the map will give a nice helping hand. You don’t need super soft rubber to get power down when you are looking at an overtaking maneuver. This is somewhere that the PD engines are fantastic as there are bucket loads of torque. More power from a remap is not just for the smoking tyre supermarket car park brigade

Likewise when it comes to brakes the current 256mm will lock the wheels at any speed so it could be argued that there is no point in upgrading these but I have found that when worked hard it doesn’t take much for them to fade so the bigger brakes will help to negate this.

The next change will be the turbo – not because I want massive power, but because the PD150 turbo has little to no reported failures. Although turbo failures are rare on the Fabia in terms of the numbers out there I have had one go that destroyed the engine. Luckily it was during the warranty but I plan on keeping the car for several more years so it seems prudent to make this change.

I know I don’t fall into the normal “big brakes – big turbo†crowd but I do have my reasons for what must seem like some rather strange choices.

Everything is a compromise at the end of the day but I am modifying the car to suit my particular needs – it wont suit or make sense to everyone

Don't get me wrong i wasn't having a go just was a little confused by the time i got to the end off the thread

Improving performance and then sacrificing grip seemed crossed purposes to me.

I completely see your point of view though.

My VRS is also the everyday tool with the other half commuting 300 miles a week of dual carriageways in it.

It does an admirable job of economical boring commuting but also when in Cornwall visiting family it brings a smile to my face when chucking it around the lanes (and it was a hoot on the track days i did a while back!)

If it was me i'd go for a good tyre which will take the abuse when you give it to them but will also last well on the boring stuff.

Can't recommend the Pirelli's highly enough

Higher is longer wearing but the numbers aren't standardised fully across manufacturers so this is most use when comparing the same make of tyres.

For example, the Vredestein Quatrac 3 has a treadwear rating of 400, compared with the Vredestein Quatrac 2 which has a treadwear rating of 200, so the newer Quatrac 3 should last significantly longer, possibly twice as long.

Thank you Gareth for correcting my typo I'm going to blame it on the after effects of the morphine from my recent back operation, although it could have been yet another senior moment

The wear ratings we are refering to are the manufacturers wear ratings for the tyres, they are usually rated from 60 to 600 and go up in increments of 20, (60 being the fastest wearing, 600 being the slowest wearing).

You just have to be a bit careful with tyre wear ratings, and it helps if you make sure you are comparing "like for like" tyre traction ratings ie: what traction the tyres give when braking on a wet road.

Traction ratings are marked on the tyre side wall, example AA,A,B,C. (AA being the best and C being the worst).

Things can go a bit wrong if you try to compare tyre wear rates with the wrong tyre traction rating.

Example; a tyre with a wear rating of 300 and a traction rating AA, would (IMO/experience) wear faster than a tyre with a wear rating of 280 and traction rating A.

HTH

Bill.

Don't get me wrong i wasn't having a go just was a little confused by the time i got to the end off the thread

Improving performance and then sacrificing grip seemed crossed purposes to me.

I completely see your point of view though.

My VRS is also the everyday tool with the other half commuting 300 miles a week of dual carriageways in it.

It does an admirable job of economical boring commuting but also when in Cornwall visiting family it brings a smile to my face when chucking it around the lanes (and it was a hoot on the track days i did a while back!)

If it was me i'd go for a good tyre which will take the abuse when you give it to them but will also last well on the boring stuff.

Can't recommend the Pirelli's highly enough

its a great car and has insane potential, I understood your confusion and figured it would help to explain a bit further my particular aims. like you said at first glance my plans do seem contradictory

I agree on the tyres, thats why I started the thread. I have had tyres that lasted for ever but had little grip in the dry and were downright dangerous in the wet

reviews are a good start but its easier to get a feel from real world drivers. not everyone drives the same but you can get a good idea comparing different reports.

the Pirelli's sound like they will be well worth a look.

as you say its about lasting well over the milage but still having enough grip to play in the twisties

Cheapo budget deal specials at my local tyre centre always seem to work well for me. Cheap to buy, cheap to replace, seem to last an age 20k+, performance wise they aren't going to be the best but less grip/resistance should also equate to better mpg. If you drive sensibly then you can save a fortune over the branded tyres.

On my company car, my company always fits Michelin Energy's. The amount of punctures I have had within 1-2 weeks of having them fitted have been unbelievable, my company doesn't repair tyres either so it's back for a replacement each time. I would say out of every 4 tyres, 1 will get a puncture within 2 weeks, yet I've never had a puncture on my own car. It's either just bad luck or the tyres are to soft and easily punctured.

The Toyo T1-R, Goodyear GSD3, and Uriroyal Rainsport 2s all have a wear rating of 280. For Traction and Temperature, I know both the Uniroyals and Toyos are AA and A (the best you can get), I would imagine the Goodyears are the same.

This is what they are Wikipedia - UTQG

The Toyo T1-R, Goodyear GSD3, and Uriroyal Rainsport 2s all have a wear rating of 280. For Traction and Temperature, I know both the Uniroyals and Toyos are AA and A (the best you can get), I would imagine the Goodyears are the same.

This is what they are Wikipedia - UTQG

good info

thank you