Re: New shoes: D60A2 (was V8 Handling/brakes)

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Fri, 15 Sep 1995 LToy@aol.com wrote:


>The real
> question, though, is about max tire pressures.  With the XGT-V4, the max tire
> pressure was 44psi.  With the D60A2, its only 36psi.  Both tires have the
> same load rating, same size, etc.  Anyone know what's going on here?  what
> happens if I pump up this Dunlop to say, 39 or 40 psi, esp in front, where,
> as Eliot notes, it helps?

to give you the quick answer, you can certainly go way higher than 36psi
safely.  the tire shop people tell me that they inflate tires to 60psi
when doing work on them (can't remember exactly what).

i have studded snows where they also say "max. 36psi".  at 36 psi,
they turn the car into a land yacht.  i run them at 42 front (because
steel wheels increase unsprung weight and therefore feel thumpier).

sorry i don't read a lot of the messages on the list so i don't know
which audi you have.  the v8 is really the one where you need lots of
pressure on the front tires to support all that heft hanging in front
of them.  the 5 cylinder models can probably get by with far less than
the 45 psi that i use.  i gather that the 5 cylinder wagons probably
have better weight distribution (esp when there's lots of junk in
the back) and won't need such radical measures.

sometimes when i have 4 people in the car they often wonder why i take
corners so fast.. my answer: it's not that often that i get a nice
ballast in the rear to even out the nose heaviness of the v8!!

:)

if the car wasn't that heavy already i would have thought of doing
things like putting sandbags in the trunk...

to be fair i shouldn't make this car out to be a monstrous
inverse-911.  i have driven the LS400 and Q45 and while they are less
nose heavy they do not have the sensitivity and fine suspension
compromises that we take for granted in german cars.  the v8 feels
like a truck in the tight turns, but on a fast sweeper it would take
something very substantial to beat it.  i have dusted most bimmers on
fast sweepers, even the 325i.  to date the only thing that has
dusted me is a ferrari mondial.

i don't know of any tests being done by crappy american rags that
would give an idea of performance on a fast sweeper.  the skidpad and
slalom numbers are just two dots on a wide, multidimensional graph.
even my highly rated corrado does not feel as capable through a fast
sweeper as the v8. (and my v8 doesn't even have extra sticky rubber) i
would give credit to the longer wheelbase and of course the quattro
drivetrain.


eliot