Grip in the wet and handling issue

thebloyn

thebloyn

thebloyn

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Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
142
Location
Nottingham
Mk1 Octavia VRS

1. For some reason I really seem to struggle for grip in the wet, and the car is very prone to aquaplaning and sliding sideways when accelerating :eek:. Other cars seem to drive away from me no problem. I have continental contisport contact 2s all round with tons of tread on them. 17", Dry grip seems fine. * have just been out to check the tyres as i had the wheels refurbed not long ago , where they swapped front with back, they dont seem to have a direction indicator on them but say "outside" on the outside so they seem to be the right way round, no uneven wearing too.

2. Not long ago I had a few mods done, RARB and the s3 upper and lower strut braces, the car is remapped too.
Since these were done the handling is much improved but I have noticed the steering wheel "grab" when going over say a grate or manhole cover in the road or bump, is this normal?

3 I just noticed the wheel is now not aligned straight when going straight ahead, it seems to be at 11 o clock, car seems to go in a straight line when i let go of the wheel though. Why would it just suddenly go out of whack like that? Its been perfect before, is this related to the handling issues above?
 
have you had the tracking checked? cambers all round etc..

the wheel out of line is most likly some numpty setting up the tracking without the wheel straight.

are the tyres wearing evenly?
 
1. Slow down. Big, wide tyres are not good in standing water. Do you really mean aquaplaning, i.e. hitting standing water at speed, or do you really mean you get a lot of wheel spin when accelerating causing the car to pull sideways?
2. Yes it's perfectly normal for the steering to grab on a reasonably powerful FWD car if one tyre loses grip.
3. Get your tracking done.
 
[TW]Fox;14609283 said:
A Mk1 vRS has 205 or 215 section tyres at the very most surely?
Click to expand...

Yep, same as mine (I run either 205 or 215 with different profiles).

I find my CTR pretty slippy in first gear no matter the tyres when it's wet. Bridgestones and Paradas have cut through deep standing water no problem though. Get a lot of flooding on the country roads round here but never had an issue.

1/4 throttle in first from a standstill is my advice. Some junctions are very greasy. In fact the roads arepretty terrible at the moment for me. Seen a lot of people locking up when slowing down normally.
 
[TW]Fox;14609283 said:
A Mk1 vRS has 205 or 215 section tyres at the very most surely?
Click to expand...
205/50 standard with 225/45 being a popular alternative.

Can't say that I've had any issues with handling in the wet on my standard suspension setup. They don't put the power down well in the wet but cornering ability seems fine.

I was seriously thinking about a RARB for mine but when really pressing on as long as you don't mash the throttle mid corner understeer isn't really an issue and at times the rear feels a little twitchy as it is.
 
OK so I will get the tracking done as the wheel off centre is bugging me.

By loads of tread i mean at least 6mm, they must have been new this year from previous owner, they dont seem to be wearing abnormally too, they are 205 50 17, but they seem rubbish to the falken 452s i had on another set of alloys, though they were brand new.

I dont think i was overdoing it with the throttle its just i couldnt get any power down without the front end going very light and drifting sideways whilst other cars were going past no problem - maybe they were brave/foolish
and yes real aquaplaning, this is the real scary bit about them, especially on flat dual carriageways or motorways, again whilst others driving by without a care.
 
Interestingly I had my Vredestien Sessantas delivered today. The delivery guy was slating Continentals he had and the fitting place I use had a customer come in not satisfied with them & the manager was pretty much in agreement they're not that great.

Never tried them myself but Amandas 9-5 has gone from the same tyres to FK452s and she prefers the Falkens. HArdly a fair comparison through becasue they Continentals were past their best.
 
Conti Sport Contact 2 and 3 tyres never gave me cause for concern with 400bhp going through them..
 
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