Tyres transform handling
Discussion
Just got my Dunlop SP2000's fitted all round yesterday.
Reading the Bible and this forum it seemed that people in general were saying that Bridgestone SO3's tram-lined and caused the car to bounce about far more than the SO2's, and also that the Dunlops were superior to the SO2's.
So as I was replacing a set of SO3's that were nearly new when I bought the car I was expecting some improvement.
That proved to be a total understatement.
The car feels as though its running on a velvet carpet, it now glides over the holes and bumps in the roads, before it would crash through every one. Although I am taking it easy to run the tyres in, I already feel a great deal more confidence, the car feels like its on rails.
With the Bridgestones I would never corner hard, quite the reverse, any bump or ripple mid bend and the car would bounce across the road.(BTW the car has standard wheels/shocks/springs etc
A bit sad I know, but I've never had a set of tyres have such a dramatic effect on a car. If I had known what the difference would be when I got the car I would have chucked the SO3's off then.
All of which leaves me thinking that the Bridgestone tyres fitted to Michael Schumachers Ferrari must have differed in some respect to the ones fitted to my TVR
Reading the Bible and this forum it seemed that people in general were saying that Bridgestone SO3's tram-lined and caused the car to bounce about far more than the SO2's, and also that the Dunlops were superior to the SO2's.
So as I was replacing a set of SO3's that were nearly new when I bought the car I was expecting some improvement.
That proved to be a total understatement.
The car feels as though its running on a velvet carpet, it now glides over the holes and bumps in the roads, before it would crash through every one. Although I am taking it easy to run the tyres in, I already feel a great deal more confidence, the car feels like its on rails.
With the Bridgestones I would never corner hard, quite the reverse, any bump or ripple mid bend and the car would bounce across the road.(BTW the car has standard wheels/shocks/springs etc
A bit sad I know, but I've never had a set of tyres have such a dramatic effect on a car. If I had known what the difference would be when I got the car I would have chucked the SO3's off then.
All of which leaves me thinking that the Bridgestone tyres fitted to Michael Schumachers Ferrari must have differed in some respect to the ones fitted to my TVR
I ran two complete sets of SO3s over a period of years and found them to be great in the dry but scary in the wet. Any sort of surface water on the motorway and you'd feel like you'd lost grip with the road.
Have now changed to Toyos and find these much better in the wet but at the expense of grip in the dry. I felt I could corner (without throttle) at much higher speeds with the SO3s, whereas I get understeer with the Toyos.
But you are right, the ride quality is unbelievably softer once off the SO3s. The SO3s used to bang the car round on even the slightest bump and yes, any sort of bump in a corner was bad news. Also running standard shocks etc.
Matt
Have now changed to Toyos and find these much better in the wet but at the expense of grip in the dry. I felt I could corner (without throttle) at much higher speeds with the SO3s, whereas I get understeer with the Toyos.
But you are right, the ride quality is unbelievably softer once off the SO3s. The SO3s used to bang the car round on even the slightest bump and yes, any sort of bump in a corner was bad news. Also running standard shocks etc.
Matt
zumbruk said:
GarryM said:
I thought the SO3s were great! OK, great on the track and very hard with tramlining on the roads! The SO3s are even stiffer than the R888 Toyos! I think the differences are that much more apparent because the TVRs are so light.
Light? 1200kg for a convertible??????
1200? Is that with a full tank and a 20 stone driver in it?
Mine came with an almost new set of so3pp's on the back and s02pp's on the front... They do tend to crash over the bumps and can skip a bit but this hasn't caused any scary moments even in 'spirited' driving. One thing I did notice though is that when they were new the wheels would spin very easily when pulling out of junctions/giving it some serious right foot etc. But I have noticed that after a few thousand miles it is actually rather difficult to get the wheels spinning unless I really want them to - instead the car tends to just sit down and go, a massive grip improvement! I think it shows that these tyres really need to be run in before you see the benefits of them...
...But then again I may have also got used to the car in that time so have learned to sub-conciously stop the wheels from spinning!!!
I do need to change the fronts fairly soon as well and was leaning toward toyo t1r's, what are these like compared with the dunlops and s02pps?
Nick
...But then again I may have also got used to the car in that time so have learned to sub-conciously stop the wheels from spinning!!!
I do need to change the fronts fairly soon as well and was leaning toward toyo t1r's, what are these like compared with the dunlops and s02pps?
Nick
Having some interesting fun on my new SP9000's on the front.
A bit of understeer going in to a bend quick and then wham! They grip and just pull you round - amazing fun, just hope the effect lasts. With a little gas at the right moment you can also bring the back round nicely, it makes for a fun drive out for sure.
A bit of understeer going in to a bend quick and then wham! They grip and just pull you round - amazing fun, just hope the effect lasts. With a little gas at the right moment you can also bring the back round nicely, it makes for a fun drive out for sure.
Be advised though, that if you look at the Goodyear website and go the the Eagle F1-GSD3 (the ones to have), the correct size for the Chimaera fronts (205/55/15) is denoted with an asterisk or somesuch to indicate that this particular tyre is the older (and vastly inferior) GSD-2 design.
I had Goodyear eagle F1s on the 911 and they were fantastic.
Ask, StuB and TrackDemon if you don't believe me ... could we get the back end to slide at V.max? Could we bollox ... well, not until Steve finally got it power sliding on the 3rd attempt
I did about 10k miles on mine and they were still superb ... and as a bonus, damp roads did not worry them one jot!
Ask, StuB and TrackDemon if you don't believe me ... could we get the back end to slide at V.max? Could we bollox ... well, not until Steve finally got it power sliding on the 3rd attempt
I did about 10k miles on mine and they were still superb ... and as a bonus, damp roads did not worry them one jot!
.Mark said:
Having some interesting fun on my new SP9000's on the front.
A bit of understeer going in to a bend quick and then wham! They grip and just pull you round - amazing fun, just hope the effect lasts. With a little gas at the right moment you can also bring the back round nicely, it makes for a fun drive out for sure.
A bit of understeer going in to a bend quick and then wham! They grip and just pull you round - amazing fun, just hope the effect lasts. With a little gas at the right moment you can also bring the back round nicely, it makes for a fun drive out for sure.
Yes indeed. I think the SP9000's are a very good tyre for the chim. I went from S02's to SP9000's and they are as good as the s02's if not better IMO.
[quote=frazer guest
i see a very expensive couple of weeks ahead.
[/quote]
Got mine from Micheldever tyres, £316 incl VAt and delivery, had to drop my local bloke a drink to fit them, still quids in and the right speed rating.
AND, they've even got rim protection beads so there is less chance of damaging my nice Griff 500 wheels when parking. hell, why would I park it, just drive it!
i see a very expensive couple of weeks ahead.
[/quote]
Got mine from Micheldever tyres, £316 incl VAt and delivery, had to drop my local bloke a drink to fit them, still quids in and the right speed rating.
AND, they've even got rim protection beads so there is less chance of damaging my nice Griff 500 wheels when parking. hell, why would I park it, just drive it!
i have falken fk452s on the rear of my griff and am very impressed wet and dry. Softer compound is better suited to our light cars. Also with any tyre that is new you will always get crap grip for a 100 miles or so before they bed in. Warren at Topcats racing uses budget tyres on his cars because they are much softer...just means you have to replace them more often which is no big deal when they are so cheap anyway.
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