Bitten the bullet on Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2

[sonny]

Fair doo's mate. Should not worry to much about it.

[P_G]

From experience fuel economy is no different, ride is no harder except perhaps in winter and it is 1 mile in every 100 out. But pro's are better turn in and overall grip, invariably cheaper tyres to offset the increased fuel economy and bonus of better alloy wheel rim protection. Swings and roundabouts.

[sonny]

what about absorption of power output?

ok im being pedantic, I love the 255 vs 275 convo's. been going for a fair few years now lol

[chunky79]

I've just had the asymmetric 2's fitted to the rs6, £864 all in for 255-35-19. Only done 100 mile's in them but the seem a little quieter then the pirelli, gsd3 mix that was on before. Not done any saft driving in them yet so can't really compare handling. Still got to sort out tyre pressure's too.

dunc

[wolfgang]

Just drove home from my local ATS and immediate thoughts based on them being brand new and a very short journey: a much more compliant ride compared to the outgoing Pirellis. The car feels a little more planted on the road and the ride is less harsh. This was the most noticeable difference. The other thing that immediately struck me was a slight reduction in road noise.

Obviously, i'll need to bed the tyres in for a few hundred miles and then test them out properly during some spirited driving to get a better picture of how they perform, but initial thoughts are positive.

[APM]

IS THE 255/35/19 A BETTER SIZE TO HAVE THEN? I'VE JUST ORDERD SOME 275/30/19 WINTER TYRES, DUNLOPS 3D'S.INTESRESTING TO KNOW. IVE GOT SOME BRAND NEW VERD'S BUT THEY ARE A SUMMER TYRE IN A 255/35/19

should be thinner tyres for winter as they cut through snow/slush better than a wider tyre,wider tyres are fine for summer/warmer weather on tarmac.
read these articles www.Torquecars.com in the wheels and tyre section.

[adsgreen]

IS THE 255/35/19 A BETTER SIZE TO HAVE THEN? I'VE JUST ORDERD SOME 275/30/19 WINTER TYRES, DUNLOPS 3D'S.INTESRESTING TO KNOW. IVE GOT SOME BRAND NEW VERD'S BUT THEY ARE A SUMMER TYRE IN A 255/35/19

should be thinner tyres for winter as they cut through snow/slush better than a wider tyre,wider tyres are fine for summer/warmer weather on tarmac.
read these articles http://www.Torquecars.com in the wheels and tyre section.

It's like most things a compromise.
For fresh snow and powder you generally want thinner tyres - they suffer less from the tyre developing a "bow wave" of fresh snow in front of the tyre and stopping the car dead in it's tracks. The effect is similar to aquaplaning in the wet but the impact is felt at low speed when pulling away. With wider tyres you'll find yourself digging your car out more when you stop. This is why an old bit of carpet or simlar can help unstick a stuck car.

However, this needs to be balanced with what happens when you're moving and when it's stopped snowing. A thinner tyre won't cut through even a tiny bit of snow to reach the tarmac (and even if it could the tarmac is likely to contain lots of ice crystals in the gaps). The snow will compress into a more solid formation and after that no chance of getting through it. In this case you want to support the car over a wider area as wider snow tyres will make a better job of gripping the top layer of snow than a thinner one and importantly have more tread blocks in contact with the road. Winter tyres also collect the snow on the rubber as snow sticks to snow really well with a bit of added pressure (snowballs anybody?). Its how the autosock / snowsocks work for cars - they are made similar to wool with long fibers to collect the snow. Anybody who has used wolly gloves in the snow will know how "sticky" they are! I used snow socks last year as missed the boat on winter tyres and couldn't believe how good they were as a stop gap - wifes Mini Cooper S pulled away up a completely snow covered hill that farmers had got stuck in with the land rover defenders. Was quite amusing seeing their expression as this rather blinged up mini stopped, offered some help and then went merrily on it's way without any dramas.

As for wider tyres in general - you will always have a higher risk of aquaplanning as the water has more tyres to get around.
That aside, most other disadvantages can be mitigated - most comparisons of stock and wide tyres are done using the same pressure which doesn't make sense to me.
With the same pressure, the wider tyre will have a wider and shorter contact patch but the area in contact with the road will largely be the same. The tyre won't deflect as much so rolling resistance will be lower but the shorter contact patch will affect acceleration and braking slightly. Conversly the wider contact patch will help cornering levels.
However there's nothing to say that the wider tyre has to run at the same pressure - you could run slightly lower to restore the same tyre deflection so regaining the longitudial contact patch whilst keeping the extra wide lateral patch.
The best way to work out what is the right pressure is to drive the car for a bit and then take some temperature reading accross the wheel and see how they differ. Ideally you want it to be linear accross the surface with the inside edge being slightly higher due to camber effects.

[RS4pete]

On that last point ... Maplin do a fairly cheap IR temp sensor. It's Around 40 bucks I think.

[adsgreen]

I prefer good old temp probes - http://www.maplin.co.uk/digital-multime ... test-48318
thats an ok one for 20 Quid.