Tyres

[geek]

Has anyone put new rubber on the 3 yet? If so, what did you go for?

Cheers

Steve.

[P_G]

I suspect Goodyear F1's of Michelin PS2/3/SS's will be the preferred choices but I gather not many people have got that many miles on theirs yet?

[geek]

What I thought, are there any longer term owners lurking about?

I am pretty much settled on PSS's but F1's are seemingly getting as positive reviews from RS owners.

Given the reasonable price of a full set I from Camskill may well change at half life....the lasting memory of both of my M experiences was the cat like feel, feedback and grip of the PS2's.

The M3 had conti's on when I bought it and they were shocking; swapping to PS2's was like night and day.

The conti's on the RS feel horrid when they start to loose traction, it isn't so much slip as a grinding feel and sensation right through the steering wheel

[MikeFish]

I know it's not an RS3, but my wife's S3 has done 1500 miles now on those horrible Contis. Last week she bought a new set of BBS CH-Rs and I told her to put F1s on. I took it out for a spin when we got back from wheel Shop (about 25miles) and the difference was amazing. No wheel spin at all, and I pushed it quite hard round a few roundabouts and it just gripped. The Contis would spin and I wasn't even pushing it that hard cos the engine hadn't been run in fully at that point.

[geek]

I know it's not an RS3, but my wife's S3 has done 1500 miles now on those horrible Contis. Last week she bought a new set of BBS CH-Rs and I told her to put F1s on. I took it out for a spin when we got back from wheel shop (about 25miles) and the difference was amazing. No wheel spin at all, and I pushed it quite hard round a few roundabouts and it just gripped. The Contis would spin and I wasn't even pushing it that hard cos the engine hadn't been run in fully at that point.

Are size are they?

[Carrg]

Mine were dead/shredded on inside after 3500mls (my fault) and went for F1 Ass2. As you say price is good on camskill. It was a toss up between MP SS, Vreds or F1.
The F1's have a fuel voucher with them atm bonus...

Your right the Contis are poor and it does feel like grinding through the steering when low on grip.

[geek]

Mine were dead/shredded on inside after 3500mls (my fault) and went for F1 Ass2. As you say price is good on camskill. It was a toss up between MP SS, Vreds or F1.
The F1's have a fuel voucher with them atm bonus...

Your right the Contis are poor and it does feel like grinding through the steering when low on grip.

How do the F1's feel in comparison to the conti's?

[Carrg]

Much more grip, softer and quieter but I havent used it that much or pushed it hard in the rain yet.

[geek]

Just out of interest, can you swap out the rears for 235's or will they rub?

[P_G]

I have 235/40 18's on 8jx18 et45 rims with no rubbing so I suspect 235's on the rear on ET50's will fit fine as they are 5mm further in

[MikeFish]

I know it's not an RS3, but my wife's S3 has done 1500 miles now on those horrible Contis. Last week she bought a new set of BBS CH-Rs and I told her to put F1s on. I took it out for a spin when we got back from wheel shop (about 25miles) and the difference was amazing. No wheel spin at all, and I pushed it quite hard round a few roundabouts and it just gripped. The Contis would spin and I wasn't even pushing it that hard cos the engine hadn't been run in fully at that point.

Are size are they?

She has 235/35/19s all round with no rubbing. The rims are 19x8.5J ET? (standard on the S3 is 18x8J ET50). I've forgotten the new offset but I remember thinking they were sticking out about 12 or 14mm more so probably ET42. The back look great but the fronts could do with going back in a couple of mm in my opinion.

[MikeFish]

Much more grip, softer and quieter but I havent used it that much or pushed it hard in the rain yet.

+1

If i had a car with contis on i'd just enjoy burning the crap out of them as quick as possible and get some decent rubber on.
My RS4 had P Zeros on it when I bought it, changing them for F1s was the best upgrade I've ever done to it, and the contis in my opinion have less grip.

[geek]

Did a short trip home last night from the train station; i did a few reasonably agressive circuits of a roundabout on a deserted industrial estate and had a tad of a revelation.

With the following, please be mindfull that it was 4oC and I am on stock summer tyres.

The car initiates loss of traction with understeer but then the haldex map & chasis set up appears to hold it at a slight nose heavy loss of traction without getting progressively worse with incremental speed increase, the tyres are still complaining like b@stards and giving god awful feedback through the wheel however the stance of the car remains pretty neutral.

I suspect that putting decent rubber on the car would simply increase the forces required to initiate the breaking of traction, it would though be very interesting to feel the quality of the feedback along with how the haldex and chasis respond when traction is broken.

I imagine increase in forces would include speed as well as turn in, this in turn would probably dictate a different response from the traction management and stability systems.

Peoples thoughts?

(my ideal scenario is that you push the break point beyond likely hard road use therefore essentially resolving the problem day to day)

[Nickyboy]

Much more grip, softer and quieter but I havent used it that much or pushed it hard in the rain yet.

+1

If i had a car with contis on i'd just enjoy burning the crap out of them as quick as possible and get some decent rubber on.
My RS4 had P Zeros on it when I bought it, changing them for F1s was the best upgrade I've ever done to it, and the contis in my opinion have less grip.

I have conti 3 and feel they're ok. I haven't lost traction in them in wet and dry conditions. I used launched control in the wet and not a single problem. I have to admit they're noisy. Of course I have less power to weight than an RS3 so is it that I have permanent Quattro that makes them feel ok? I haven't tried any other tyres as always seem to get a new car instead of new tyres so perhaps I am a complete novice when it comes to knowing about tyres.

Can someone tell me what they dislike about the conti's?

[MikeFish]

The lack of grip. It is worse on the RS3 / S3 because of the 4 wheel drive system.