Understeer in E46, is something wrong?
- Thread starter NVP
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RE040's are good tyres!! They don't work as well as the 50's in the wet but they're on par (if not better) in the dry as far as I've seen.
Anyone know when the RE11's (or anything of similar performance) are available here? They look wacky and I reckon they would work well on the cooper S. (fronts could always do with more grip when theres 210ish HP under the bonnet on a low-downfoce FWD).
Anyone know when the RE11's (or anything of similar performance) are available here? They look wacky and I reckon they would work well on the cooper S. (fronts could always do with more grip when theres 210ish HP under the bonnet on a low-downfoce FWD).
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Also because the rear tyres are wider
Agreed to an extent but wider tyres does not always mean more pressure. Pressures are set more to cator for driving style or how a car chassis has been designed to run.
For example some RWD cars have same size tyres all round, but you'd ideally still run higher pressure in the rear to help rotate the vehicle.
The thing is as my weekends are full I only have time during the week and I'm having to take an hour out of work to drop the car off tomorrow, if I had to take another hour out of work for a second seperate "appointment" it would negate the 25-30 odd quid I'd save from taking it to an indie.[TW]Fox;16673088 said:
Yeah I'm sure sourcing the parts seperately and getting and indie to fit them would work out a little bit cheaper but I don't have the time as I need my car in working condition this weekend and I don't want to risk running it around on low pads and damaging the discs
Thanks for the advice, I will definitly get it re-tracked somewhere with a Hunter, especially after Fox informed me of the £200 price tag BMW would charge!
Fox, what's so special about this KDS Alignment that it would cost so much?
My manual says to run the rears at 41psi and fronts at 35ish iirc. Why do you suggest differently?
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Thats interesting, because my manual recommends 39PSI at the back.
Good choice
Keep an eye on your tyres/tracking from now on - replacing 2 x RE050A's doesn't come cheap!
Bad choice, these were on my subaru when i got it and once i had used them up i couldent change them quick enough
Eagle F1 asymetrics were so much better My E46 manual said 35 front 42 rear. When loaded this increased to, IIRC, 42 front and 49 PSI at the rear. I've run the rears at 49 before, after loading the car up with 4 people and a boot full of luggage before driving a long journey. Was a tad worrying doing it while staring at "51 PSI MAX" written on the side of the wheel.[TW]Fox;16674462 said:
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Yeah mines the same, 2.4 & 2.8 bar so 35ish and 41psi...
If by better you mean by turning into cheese then yes.
They grip well and they wear out well so what
If i want something that lasts ages and grips just as well ill spend twice the money and get some PE2s etc. Ive had more eagle F1s than ive had hot dinners on a number of diffrent cars and can never see where this cheese thing comes from. I agree they dont last long if you drive hard but who cares there cheap
Bad choice, these were on my subaru when i got it and once i had used them up i couldent change them quick enough
I can honestly say that i very very rarely find myself the victim of under/oversteer. (and i drive my car properly
)However, i haven't experienced my car with different tyres yet, so i cannot compare, but i don't know how much more grip F1's can give. 8 months on, i am still astounded to how much grip i have around corners on my RE050A's.
I think i'm going to be sampling the Vredstein Ultra Sessanta's next. I think i have about 3mm on the rears left so i'll be getting them in the coming months and report back!
The ultra sessanta's are great, i have not had them before but have reccomended them to a few friends. One of them has them on his 300 bhp Focus RS and alltho there soft and dont last long there great. I just see them as another F1
Another F1 at around 60% of the price!
Another good thing about the Bridgestone's is that they do seem to last quite a long time!
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The OP wanted to improve handling.
Adjusting tyre pressures is a method of improving handling or changing a cars handling characteristics and by changing the pressure he will be able to dial out some understeer.
To those putting 49psi into a tyre that has a maximum rating of 51psi seems dangerous.
You do realise that as tyre temperature increases, so does the pressure in your tyres.
For example my front pressures are 31 cold, after a very spirited drive they are 38psi. So a cold 49psi would be over 55psi after a spirited drive, just a warning as such high pressures could cause instability or even a blow out.
Then remember some tyres have softer sidewalls than others, when this is the case those kind of tyres normally need higher pressures to give faster/sharper turn in and handling feel, so its never as easy just to say stick to a said tyre pressure due to the amount of variables.
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I would imagine the tyre manufacturers have factored in the effects of running at e.g. 51 PSI at the maximum load rating at the maximum speed rating i.e. the equivalent of over-inflating an E46 330i's rear tyres by 2 PSI, loading the car with 425 KG (equal to three 20 stone blokes and a 20 stone driver) and, considering the 330i requires W, Y or ZR tyres, at least "over 150 MPH" or maybe up to 169 MPH or 186 MPH!
When loading the car up there is a notable change in "sharpness" from the tyres. Raising the tyre pressures goes some way to making them feel normal again, which can only be a good thing (and unsurprising as it's what the manufacturer says to do!).
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Dropped it off this morning, enquired about the KDS alignment and they quoted £110 for my model. Interesting... do I get it re-aligned at a cheap place or pay over double for a "proper" BMW alignment? She couldn't actually tell me what was so special about the KDS apart from "it takes an hour of labour".
"proper" 4 wheel laser alignment can easily cost £110
"alignment" for half the price will only be a basic tracking check. I'd ask them exactly what they check. If its a full alignment they should be adjusting cambor / castor etc.. as well as just the tracking (which just makes the wheels point in a straight line rather than checking if the wheels are at the right angle etc..)
"alignment" for half the price will only be a basic tracking check. I'd ask them exactly what they check. If its a full alignment they should be adjusting cambor / castor etc.. as well as just the tracking (which just makes the wheels point in a straight line rather than checking if the wheels are at the right angle etc..)