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Traction Issues


geoff-r

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Hi all,

 

It's been a while since I've been on these forums but I still have my 370, it's my only car now, more of a toy than anything. I recently replaced the rear tyres for Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas as the Bridgestones RE050s were no good, or so I thought. Since replacing the tyres I've noticed a lot of traction issues. The car wants to kick out a lot more, traction control kicks in under heavy acceleration, something I never suffered from before. Now I don't want to go pointing the finger at the rear tyres straight away as I see a few people run these on the forum with no issues at all. At the end of the day they aren't cheap chinese tyres but these are brand new and the Bridgestones were right on the legal limit.

 

A few points worth noting is that I still have the Bridgestones on the front of the car, the tread is still pretty good however it does play on my mind that I have different brand tyres on the front to the rear. Another issues is that the car has been fiddled with slightly, it has been lowered has Stillen Gen 3 intakes, Berk HFCs and a Fast Intentions Exhaust. The latter has only been on for a week and I'm well aware the car needs a map (Ecutek will come in due course).

 

With all of these points considered should I be experiencing the problems I'm having? I don't want to say that the car is undriveable but with the traction control kicking in more often than it used to on the Bridgestone rears it doesn't inspire the sort of confidence I used to have in the car. If of course the simple answer is ditch the Bridgestones on the front and get a set of Vreds on there are as well will fix the problem then I'll go ahead and do it but at the moment I'm not whole heartedly confident in the Vreds. Opinions welcome, cheers.

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Personally I would have just put another pair of RE050A on the rear.

They are a better tyre then the Vreds which means your front tyres now grip more than your rear leading to oversteer. New tyres do take a few hundred miles to perform at their best, so the situation may improve but I suspect it is your problem if you only noticed it after the tyre change.

 

So either get another pair of RE050s for the rear....or put on a pair of Vreds on the front. Both options will even the car up but the the first will give better overall grip.

 

Also if you're lowered, probably worth getting a professional 4 wheel alignment done at a respectable/recommended place.

Edited by Sam Mcgoo
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VUS have much less outright grip than the 050A. It's the 040 Bridgestones that are no good, the 050A is a great tyre.

 

You've currently got a car with lots of grip at the front and not a lot at the back, relatively speaking. It's going to make it very easy to oversteer, which is why the TCS is kicking in frequently. The VUS is a good tyre, particularly in terms of feedback, but it's not as good as the 050A in everything else. Either match the fronts and accept lower grip levels with a lower cost to replace them, or get another set of 050A for the rears.

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4 matching tyres, and ideally all of similar wear, will address the traction issues.

 

I have never had any traction issues with the Sessantas and overall have found them a better suited tyre for the 370 and spirited road driving than the B/stones. Only issue I have is that my rear tyres are down to around 4/5mm of tread and I was thinking of looking just for a pair of rears, but given the prices you can get a set of MPSS for now they will probably be the next to try.

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My Bridgestones have now done 14k and the advice at recent MOT was that they still have some distance in them but get them done before winter. I'm booking in for a set of MPSS next month (gonna add some spacers too). Hoping to notice some improvement in noise levels and ride.

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New tyres do take a few hundred miles to perform at their best, so the situation may improve but I suspect it is your problem if you only noticed it after the tyre change.

 

I'd accept that point but the car has done 1000 miles since the rear tyres were put on, I honestly expected them to settle down after a few hundred miles as well but when you're planting your foot in fourth and the traction control is lighting up it's not something that fills you with confidence.

 

4 matching tyres, and ideally all of similar wear, will address the traction issues.

 

I have never had any traction issues with the Sessantas and overall have found them a better suited tyre for the 370 and spirited road driving than the B/stones. Only issue I have is that my rear tyres are down to around 4/5mm of tread and I was thinking of looking just for a pair of rears, but given the prices you can get a set of MPSS for now they will probably be the next to try.

 

It's interesting that you say that. I think as a last ditch attempt I will get a set of Vreds on the front as I do think really there should be matching front and back tyres on there.

 

My brother has MPSS on his GTR and absolutely raves about them, I'm thinking I should have just gone with them. I was just a bit disheartened as the Bridgestones that came off the car lasted just over 9k miles so really wanted a change, maybe I should have been more cautious as I never suffered the issues I now have on the Bridgestones.

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  • 7 months later...

What was the outcome from this?

I have uni royal on the front and budgets (brand new) on the back. Trv action control light kicks in under acceleration so was thinking of replacing the rears with MPSS but don't want to do the fronts too since it's a lot of money :(

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What was the outcome from this?

I have uni royal on the front and budgets (brand new) on the back. Trv action control light kicks in under acceleration so was thinking of replacing the rears with MPSS but don't want to do the fronts too since it's a lot of money :(

unfortunately that is joy of owning a sports/gt car.

Edited by Neilp
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What was the outcome from this?

I have uni royal on the front and budgets (brand new) on the back. Trv action control light kicks in under acceleration so was thinking of replacing the rears with MPSS but don't want to do the fronts too since it's a lot of money :(

Oversteer city.

 

Chuck the £800 on a card, cheaper than buying a new Zed. ;)

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What was the outcome from this?

I have uni royal on the front and budgets (brand new) on the back. Trv action control light kicks in under acceleration so was thinking of replacing the rears with MPSS but don't want to do the fronts too since it's a lot of money :(

 

I know some on here disagree with this (Ekona ;)) but for me, two MPSS on the back is a shedload better than two budgets, regardless of what youre running up front. I ran for years on mismatched front and back tyres (and still was on one of my cars up till a week ago) and Ive not died yet ;)

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What was the outcome from this?

I have uni royal on the front and budgets (brand new) on the back. Trv action control light kicks in under acceleration so was thinking of replacing the rears with MPSS but don't want to do the fronts too since it's a lot of money :(

 

I know some on here disagree with this (Ekona ;)) but for me, two MPSS on the back is a shedload better than two budgets, regardless of what youre running up front. I ran for years on mismatched front and back tyres (and still was on one of my cars up till a week ago) and Ive not died yet ;)

 

+1

 

I would also get the alignment checked, even with the best tyres it's no good unnless you make the most of the contact area

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