Quick update on the RS-R's. All in all I think for the price they are a great tyre. I paid $127 each for them compared to $260 each for Yokohama AD08R's. I dare say the Yokohama's would be quicker but the Federal's are still a big improvement over road tyres. The grip levels are good enough to scare yourself and still come out of the corner safe and sound.

 

However as with my car they will show up other parts on your car that are lacking so be warned. Even though I had installed aftermarket pads, rotors and racing brake fluid. I found the brakes to be inadequate ie. smoke coming off the pads after a 8 minute session. Also on my car I am running only lowered Eibach springs. I really feel now that I also need to upgrade the shocks and fit heavy duty sway bars as my mid corner speed was lacking.

 

As a side note recently I fitted the Eibach RS hatch back rear springs to my wagon/estate to try and level out the ride height. The result was a equal ride height front and rear which from a visual point of view was exactly what I wanted. However when on the track I found the rear to be a little soft with weight transfer upsetting the handling mid corner. Hopefully with the B8 shocks and with a rear sway bar fitted things should be a bit more neutral in the corners with less weight transfer. On the plus side for the day I had very limited understeer (almost none all day) with the back sitting lower and the new tyres.   

Edited 23 March, 201412 yr by mmmRacer

excellent, sounds like the tyres will suit it  

 

seriously, get the H&R RARB, best handling mod you can do! I have it together with the eibachs.... interesting that the saloon springs seem soft, i assume thats why the estates are uprated.... shocks will improve it (the biltien B12's are apparently the ones to go for!) 

 

out of interest what pads are you using? I have upgraded to yellowstuff for this summer, looking forward to seeing how the stack up!

 

Cheers for the reply

Lets start with the brakes. I am using Remsa pads which are a very common upgrade pad among the vag crowd here in Oz. They are described as a heavy duty street pad. I had them burning on the first and last sessions of the day. Of course as a street pad they are fine.

 

As for the springs, the vRS hatch back springs are physically about a inch shorter then the vRS estate springs. With luck I will have some uprated ARB's before my next event although it would be nice to get the shocks done at the same time but that may have to be a few months away for now.

 

With the tyres I think you will be happy with what you paid for. Although I would suggest some better offset wheels too. With the right offset you should be able to run 17x8 with these tyres and not have them rubbing on the guards.

try EBC yellowstuff pads, they are the strongest "street legal" pad they do, aparently they work quite well, I willpost a review after Aprils castle coomb day

I'm about to fit black diamond pads n discs

 

The top spring is the vRS estate rear eibach pro kit and the bottom spring is the vRS rear hatch eibach pro kit. Once installed in a estate the car sit 20mm lower in the rear with the hatch springs.

Edited 26 March, 201412 yr by mmmRacer

The estate has an extra coil in the spring too, probably because the estate requires a higher poundage spring to control the rear. Suggest there is a chance with the hatch spring you will have a softer rear end

Now that Skoda have revised the Unladen weights of the Estate, we can see the Estate is 70 kg heavier than the Hatch

not 5 kg lighter.

& that extra 70 kg (to simplify)basically must be all above the rear wheels or behind them.

The different models are the same from the rear doors forward.

The rear springs & rear length/weight do seem to give a better balance/handling to the estate even when standard.

 

george

update time: summer tyres!

 

much better offset, stiff sidewalls, meaty rubber

 

 

lots of rubber on the road

 

 

already (with no scrubbing in) feels better than the winters in these warm conditions will be fun in the rain later! lol...

If it were a week later I could have offered to help tow you out of the ditch

Do my eyes deceive me or do you have some pretty strong camber going on there Dave?

 

Also, I am currently filling a bucket of hot water and car shampoo and will be heading north shortly.

Agree sparkly it does like they have a lot of camber. Just been tilting my head to try work out if its the angle of photo or not.

a bit of both, i think the RARB has pushed them out a bit, handles bloody good, and not noticed any bad wear patterns

another picture to show wheel angles...

 

AAAAAAHHH watch that plant it's trying to reach over a scrape your wagon ....No .ok then im away to bed.

have you seen the state of my bodywork?! lol... sparkly would do well to come and clean it

You have to love a Meteor Grey estate

 

ok... given the car a blast down familiar roads today, and I havent the nerve to push the tyres yet..... they just grip!!! they are astonishing! may have to wait until the track to find the limit!

 

traction is very impressive, and a weak point on this car ... no compliant at all on full throttle exiting corners on bumpy roads!

ok... given the car a blast down familiar roads today, and I havent the nerve to push the tyres yet..... they just grip!!! they are astonishing! may have to wait until the track to find the limit!

 

traction is very impressive, and a weak point on this car ... no compliant at all on full throttle exiting corners on bumpy roads!

 

Hows the road noise and comfort on them Dave?

 

All I expect performance wise will only improve from here as you will still need to run them in some more before you know what their ultimate grip levels will be.

indeed they have only done about 12 miles lol....

 

road noise is more than the winters, but you would expect that, big tread blocks ect , no more than the maxxis though, that were noisy tyres anyway....

 

comfort is fine, but my car isn't comfortable! lol...

I like an honest assessment

 

I am currently being ground down a bit by the invading road noise and ride on my car.  Once you have to do a longer journey in it (4.5 hours each way to a wedding in Hampshire this weekend) it really becomes wearing.

 

If Dampers don't get the ride a bit more sorted, 2014 could be the year of the Yeti!

you are going soft with a yeti! lol

 

noise doesn't bother me, I can never hear anything over the sound of the music

 

as for comfort, i could always go somewhere in the eunos, thats comfy (but VERY loud! lol) 

 

but guess you must be getting old

and I am a year older on the 10th :(

 

33!!!!

 

Where did life go.................................

 

Will just have to hope that I shake some of the cobwebs out at Combe.  Brembo's are going on this Saturday.  Due to various commitments though I am on a limited budget to make any more changes before I get there.  Will definitely be on road tyres, so going to switch my hankooks to the front as I think they have a slightly more suitable tread pattern (not by much), and I dont mind much if I kill them off.

 

That should hold up on the track.... nice solid outer tread...

I'm 43 by the way