Re: Is AUDI trying to kill us?

[spiny@cix.co.uk (Martin Day)]

pantg@otenet.gr (Pantelis Giamarellos) wrote:

> ...
> As you may remember I am driving an AUDI RS2.
> When I bought the car from its second owner, it has just been shod 
> with four brand new Bridgestone S-02 tyres.
> The size used was the original fitment of 245/40/17' on the original 
> PORSCHE CUP design rims of 7'/17' size.
> 
> After driving the car for 18 months and experiencing problems with 
> three
> tyres being destroyed by potholes and cracks on the tarmac roads I 
> started
> seriously thinking about the opinion of my tyres specialist.
> When he had seen the car he told me that the 7'x17' rims were too 
> narrow for the 245/40/17 tyre size.
> 
> In fact his recommendation was to either increase the width of the 
> rims or reduce the size of the tyres.
> 
> About one month ago, while lifting the car for an oil change I found 
> out
> that the right front tyre had started to disintegrate and the steel and
> linen belts were exposed at the shoulder of the tyre.
> 
> I contacted Bridgestone European HQ and after a few days the Director 
> of the
> Technical department of their Greek representative has phoned me and 
> asked to examine the tyre.
> 
> After he examined the tyre we met and eventhough he proposed to give 
> me two
> free S-02 tyres he told me that according to the European tyre norms 
> issued
> by E.T.R.O (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) the fitment 
> of 245/40/17 tyres is illegal for 7x17 rims.
> 
> AUDI was fitting the 245/40/17 tyres to the RS2 on the 7x17.
> 
> Have other RS2 owners experienced problems with their tyres?
> 
> I will be contacting AUDI in the following days requesting a set of 
> 8.5x17
> rims for my car, together with an official explanation and a reasoning
> behind the illegal selection and combination of rims and tyre sizes.
> 
> I am still thanking God for seeing the tyre before going our on the 
> highway
> and having a most probably fatal accident because of AUDIs negligance.
> 
> I will be happy to hear from my fellow listers, RS2 owners and I will 
> be keeping you posted of the outcome of my contact with AUDI A.G. in 
> Germany.

I've used the original Dunlop SP8000s and Pirelli P Zeros on my RS2 with 
no problems though they do tend to wear fairly fast taking the car on the 
track. In particular, the inside edges of the front tyres seem to wear 
particularly badly. Is this likely to just be down to track use or could 
it indicate a problem with the geometry?

Martin