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How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:25 pm
by Timster
Just popped out on my new Vredestein Sessanta's.... well they've done only about 40 miles so far.
From the off the car feels very "lite" on it's toes not nearly as confident as my previous worn Conti's.
Overtook another car on a damp surface and felt the whole car slide sideways..... bit of a clench moment.
I do this little stretch of road everyday, so I know how the RS should behave.
I've never had this feeling before.
So question is as above.... when do Sessanta's start to get grippy ?
Does the new "film" take some time to wear off?
Previous tyres have been anywhere from 50-1000 miles to bed-in.
Frankly, these feel downright unsafe at the moment.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:28 pm
by sonny
did you get the wheels?
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:37 pm
by Timster
'fraid not mate. Too many things to pay for at the monent. Cheers for your advice though. I just couldn't offer Stu a fair enough price. Shame.
Ps. YES, I'm meant to be at Spa for the whole of this long weekend. Unfortunately I was taken down with cronic food poisoning at 01:00 Friday morning and spent the rest of the morning in the loo....etc etc.
Gutted and so angry that the timing couldn't have been worse.
Had to let the others go without me. I still had my gear packed and ready to drive over until this afternoon.... when I realised I just wasn't phsically up to it.
I waited months for this trip.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:56 pm
by sonny
drinks a pint of salt water, man up and get your butt over there
or you could always come to Spa with us in October?
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:03 pm
by adsgreen
Check the pressures - some tyre places just do best guess and over inflate.
But new tyres are worse in the wet - depending on the process can be up to 200 miles.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:27 pm
by P_G
Both sets of Sessanta's I have had have taken up to 200 miles to bed in and 500 to really start performing but then for me that was only a weeks worth of commuting. Plan yourself a decent rod trip with plenty of motorway / autobahn

driving and they should be fine.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:38 pm
by Timster
Cheers for tips boys..... pressures are bang on (just back from adjusting them when I had my little slide)
Sonny..... Reckon I lost about 4 pints / both ends during the night, thought of a pint of SW is yuk yuk.
"man up" lol love it.
P_G... cheers. My first set of Santas, so wasn't sure of the expected bed-in.
Right now... they are well scarey.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:41 pm
by P_G
If you have 275's they run best on 40 front 36 rear. They are worth the run in period and will last you a long time.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:53 am
by PetrolDave
TimsterRS4 wrote:So question is as above.... when do Sessanta's start to get grippy ?
Does the new "film" take some time to wear off?
Previous tyres have been anywhere from 50-1000 miles to bed-in.
Frankly, these feel downright unsafe at the moment.
I seem to remember seeing posts here that they took 200-500 miles to bed-in.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:46 am
by ShaneyB
Fook,
Definitely on the right way?
Not taking the piss.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:24 pm
by Timster
Shagga wrote:Fook,
Definitely on the right way?
Not taking the piss.
Yes mate... I've checked them all round.
They're 255's and I've today lowered the fronts to 37 psi, the rears to 39.
I just came around a local dual carriageway bend at around 80. I know for absolute certain this bend will take 100mph as I've done it comfortably loads of times.
At 80.... I had to back off as I could feel the whole car getting light... really un-nerving. Seems to get worse, the hotter the tyres get
Ok, so I've read all the reports about these tyres need time and patience to bed-in.... but should they be completely SH*T until then ?
Right now... I don't want to drive my RS.
That is just completely unheard of!
Gonna have a hunter 4 wheel alignment this week. Few adjustments required (not too major) were identified when I had my free check.
The guys looked at the instructions on the Hunter screen and scratched their heads a bit at the number of pages they had to read for the RS4.
Said I'd need to book it in for at least an hour or so.
The previous Conti's were so planted in comparison to these.

Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 5:55 pm
by P_G
Pressures should be 39 front 36-37 rears on 255's. Always more in the front because the weight of the engine is over them. You may want to get a hunter wheel allignment and on the Hunter GSP9700 wheel balancer if you feel that uncomfortable on them. Can honestly say the 2 sets of Vred's I have had have never been an issue and more assured than the SC3's I had when I bought the car.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:02 pm
by Timster
Cheers P_G. I'd tried it both ways around (ie higher at front). With a lower pressure on the rears, it felt even less grippy on the fronts.
Logical, or not.
Guess I'll just have to persevere.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:31 pm
by PetrolDave
TimsterRS4 wrote: With a lower pressure on the rears, it felt even less grippy on the fronts.
That's because the rears were sliding less as the pressure was a better match to the load, which makes the fronts feel worse than before.
Re: How long to bed-in Sessanta's ?
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:12 pm
by Timster
Hmmm.... so if I lower the fronts a tad more.... then the rears a bit to compensate..... then just a smidgen more from the fronts...... little from the rears.........
Now back to the standard 38 fronts / 35 rears (nearly lost the front at normal speeds around a round-about).
I reckon I'll be a great ice-racer by the time I've got these bedded-in.