Tyre wear and handling.

[HongKongPhooey]

I don't know if this point has been raised before or not, but here goes anyway, for anyone who hasn't seen/heard this idea before ...

In this months Evo magazine, they have a report on their long-term test Vauxhall Astra VXR, and the cars handling gets mentioned.

The Astra had, over time, developed a "concentration-hogging" tendancy to tramlining and torque-steering, a subject of particular interest to me as my Octy is displaying the same trait.

The likely cause, they suspected, was that, and I quote ...

"... it seemed likely that the culprit was the steadily wearing front tyres losing the 'give' that comes with taller tread blocks ...".

They swapped the tyres, front to rear (turning a blind eye to the "least worn on the rear" rule, discussed in a recent thread and mentioned also by the author of the article), and the cars handling was transformed.

To this end, mine is going in to a local tyre place this afternoon to have new fronts fitted, as they are very close to the legal limit, so hopefully the Octy will be restored to her original behaviour

All I need to decide now is whether to have them put the new rubber on the front or the rear, as the rears still have plenty of life left in them.

[HongKongPhooey]

The new tyres have got a few miles wear on them now, and the handling is definitely improved.

On section of road that I use twice a day, uphill away from a roundabout, the surface is rutted and heavily cambered, and even at moderate throttle the car was tramlining badly, and an effort was required to keep the car on course. The effect was noticable even to passengers.

This afternoon when I drove the same stretch, the car was totally different. Much more stable, and considerably more comfortable.

So there we are,

[pete1234]

Hi, what size tyres are you running on:rolleyes:

[bluepassion]

mine are the same at the moment they are getting ready for changing

[HongKongPhooey]

Hi, what size tyres are you running on:rolleyes:

Hi Pete,

205 50's, on standard 17" rims.