Bassoctopus

Just been out for a blast this morning and have some thoughts about the handling of my car.

The car has just had the following work done...

S02s replaced by Eagle F1s 205/225
Castor bushes replaced by Mugen castor bushes (I had one split front castor bush before we started this work)
Lightweight JDM BBS alloys fitted
Replaced lower suspension arms all round
Geo (print out checked and approved by Chris Franklin)

Now the tyres are only 100 miles old, so I'm hoping some of the handling traits will settle down over the next week.

When I picked the car up, it was really tricky to drive with no real turn in and a soft feeling at the back. I put this down to brand new tyres but on checking, the Psi was a bit low - 27 ish all round, so I brought the F1s up to 34 which improved things massively.

I'm now running on 32. The car seems far more pointy at the front now. You could almost sneeze and change direction without knowing it! But in turn this has made the back feel slightly more nervous. There is also a floaty sensation to the car which wasn't there on S02s. I'm hoping that this is down to new tyres, I ran for 18 months on GSD2 F1s (205/245) and the car didn't feel as floaty as it does now.

The car does feel like a new car, which is good in some respects but not in others. I feel like it's going to take me a while to gain confidence in the feel of the car, especially the rear end.

I'm tempted to bolt my S02s back on when I get them back from the garage and see how the car feels on the original wheels and tyres.

Question for those who know more about this kind of stuff than me:
Is the pointy front end, likely to be down to the lighter wheels or Mugen bushes, or a combination of both? (I'm aware that having replaced a bad bush with a new one should make my steering feel more direct too.) I was expecting a less pointy front end with the F1s.

Shiskine

Do you go fast enough to notice ...

Bassoctopus

Faster than you Alfa boy

Seriously though, I didn't expect the change in tyres to effect me that much as I'm not that fast a driver. As I said, I ran the earlier and softer F1s before and didn't have a problem with them. Maybe having 245s at the back made the rear feel more planted?

LTB

Has your geo been altered adjusted at all Neil ?

If so what settings did you have previously and what do you have now ?

chrisr111

Why did you switch to 225 (since I know you know the 225/245 S02 idosyncrasy)?

Are 245 F1s not available?

Chris.

LTB

I don't think F1s are available in 245 on the rear and as you say this would account for less grip at the rear.

Bassoctopus

This is the old one - the best Chris could do with my seized bolts

http://www.bassoctopus.com/upload/s2000/cg-geo.pdf

And the new one

http://www.bassoctopus.com/upload/s2000/new-geo.jpg

Chris had a look at the new one for me and said that it was a good straight down the line geo.

Bassoctopus

Try finding any tyre in 245/16 now

The only ones I could find were Falken's or Toyos. Falken reviews were terrible and I've used Toyos before and not liked them - too soft and the wear rate is terrible.

The old GSD2 F1s were available in the 245, the new GSD3s that I have are not

Also there are a lot of people using 225 RE050s and not reporting loss of rear grip, although some are reporting a floaty feeling on high speed corners.

Dembo

I wouldn't draw any conclusions until you've done at least 500 miles on new tyres.

You've not got a lot of camber, which isn't going to be great for cornering grip, but maybe that makes the initial turn in better.

chrisr111

I just did a very quick search and found these: Michelin Pilot SX MXX3

Don't know if anyone has used them before?

Chris.