Suspension Guru's check in please

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

Got a bit of a weird thing happening with my car right now...

Basically when I turn sharply the back end feels a bit floaty almost like there is more steering play than there should be. Wheel nuts are all tight and tyre pressures are correct. I have just switched from the 18" Pirelli P Zero's to Toyo T1R's. The minute I fitted the T1R's ( 225 / 40 /18) same as the Pirelli's I thought that car felt as if it was riding a bit higher and was not as planted.......

So either the T1R's just feel weird by comparison ( less stiff sidewall ?) OR I have something up wiht the rear suspension. I had 2 new shockers installed recently and Prodrive Springs plus Geo settings.

Before I changed the tyres the set up felt VERY planted. I cannot see how changing the tyres would have such as dramatic effect. What else could it be ? I have new soid drop links and an ARB fitted too

The loss of confidence is killing me. I first really nitoced it when I had a dual with a Cossie on the Stockiemuir road. I no longer have the confidence to really lean on the tyres ( for info - the Cossie was still smoked )

Any ideas folks ?

Thanks

Cal

 

[dipsy]

It to do with the less stiff sidewall's .I had re070 on the Jdm sti .Then went for toyo t1rs .I am running 34psi in the front and 30psi in the back and that seems to of helped alot.I was running 33psi and 29psi when the 235/45/17 re070 were on the car what subaru says in owner manual and thats the size of the toyo's

[RA Dunk]

r u on 17" or 18" dipsy?

[dipsy]

Ac!d just added the size to the thread.

[fai17]

The Toyo and for a matter of fact all tyres do need run in and will be totally different after 500 miles.

I got new front front F1 and the car felt strange but know all is well again especially after the KH day[]

Give it time Cal it will be good again.

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

I reckon this is the case. I have done around 350 miles on them now so will give it another week.....Not been able to trust your car is a nightmare when turning in to a corner aggressively !

CGS

[WUZ]

FANNY! - go get them scrubbed in as Pater says and the trouble will be gone!

Russell

[Power Junkie]

Cal,

My T1R's took around 400 to scrub in, i felt the same at first, but now I love them, very progressive feel to them

[johns]

It could well be the tyres. I had a set of T1Ss fitted a few years ago, and had exactly the same symptoms. I swapped the tyres front to rear (all 4 new), and there was a difference (after adjusting the tyre pressure to suit). On detailed examination, two of the tyres had exceptionally soft sidewalls which you could press with your finger. This was after I had the suspension all checked etc.

What you may find (which we did with the original Bridgestone S02s), is that after a few hundred miles, you adjust to the softer sidewalls, and learn to trust the car. The grip is there, it's just that you need to trust that it is! Scrubbing in the tyres does also help, but can limit any refund you get if the tyres are faulty.

If you have gone from almost worn Pirellis with stiffer sidewalls, then you will notice a big difference going to tyres with softer sidewalls and lots of tread. You'll probably be getting a very spongy feel to the steering and the back end will feel floaty. You can get used to this, but it does take time to adapt (normally about 500 - 1,000 miles).

On my current car, I noticed a big difference going to F1s from RE050s, though the difference in wet handling, especially on bumpy/rougher roads far outweighed any slight loss on dry smooth roads. I now run winter tyres from Dec - Mar, and it's amazing how quickly you adapt to the softer widewalls and very flexible tread blocks. Now having swapped back again, I'm revelling in super sharp steering response, and seemlingly endless grip on dry roadds from normal tyres. It just takes me a while to adjust to them, which something like a track session achieves in a very short space of time []

John

[st3ph3n]

I had it when I went from the RE050s to the F1s too. Once they'd been scrubbed a bit and I'd got used to the more flexible sidewalls then I realised that they were just about as grippy in the dry, MUCH gripper in any form of moisture and much more comfortable. I'd done nearly 30K on nothing but RE050s so it was a bit change moving to the F1s, but would certainly be hard pushed to replace the F1s with anything else as they've been spot on.

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

Many thanks to all who have posted ! Some sound advice there ..........SIDC to the rescue [H]

[johns]

Cal,

as a quick test, you could try swapping your wheels/tyres for mine for 10 minutes to see if different tyres transform the feeling for you ?

John

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

hey John,

thanks for the kind offer..............between the posts above and having become accustomed to the tyres I am of the opinion that it is deffo the tyres.

I attacked an empty roundabout like a tramp into chips today and it felt pretty hunkered down

Like i said, thanks again for the invaluable help

Cheers

Cal