Re: Tire wear, all-seasons, and stuff

[Michael Williams <urquattro@surfree.com>]

John Paul Karasaki decided to speak these words:

>I'm not sure what you mean by technically, but if you run higher tire 
>pressures (or spring rates for that matter) in the rear than the front, 
>you will help REDUCE understeer by increasing the ability to oversteer.


Interesting, in my experience, it has been the exact opposite.  There is 
a web page i have used somewhat as a guide: 
http://catalog.com/susq/other/stuning.htm

And in it, stated as the first method to reduce understeer, is to 
increase the tire pressure in front and reduce tire pressure in the rear. 
 

This was backed up by Ned Ritchie when he was my driving instructor 
because my car was understeering a bit, and he asked what tire pressures 
i run, which i run 42 front and 36 rear, he said ok, and that the front 
should be bumped up to 44 while leaving the rear the same...

This is also interesting since, at least with the sport 8000, higher tire 
pressure most definitely means more grip.  I had a slow leak on the right 
front tire on the 4k a while ago, and any time that it would get down a 
couple psi, it would lock up very prematurely on hard braking...until i 
filled it back up and evened out the pressure...

and also, anytime that i had the front tire pressures a bit lower, it 
rolled alot more and understeered much more heavily...

later...

Michael Sheridan Williams
ICQ# 11740998
1983 UrQuattro, MC'd, koni yellows, borla, OZ Mito's w/ SP8000's
1985 4000S Quattro miles, Koni Yellows/Coilover (2B), strut brace, Sport 
8000 Tires, K&N
http://members.aol.com/daserde2