Boaty 172!

[Simon172]

Ive just had some new good year eagle F1s put on all round at micheldevers and the pressures are at 2.3 front and 2.1 bar backs. The cars done 60+ miles since i had them fitted and it feels VERY boaty - almost like it did when i had the flat tyre the other day!!?

Do they need bedding in before they feel like my old michelins? Its awful, the body roll seems really bad!!!? oh no - have i ruined the handling of my beloved clio?!!

Please help, thanks si

 

[m@thew]

whats bar to psi? i have 33front 31 rear on mine

 

[Locky]

I had some of those Eagle F1s put on the back of my MR2.... also from Micheldever.When I was driving back I was wondering if a wheel had been left loose or something because the back end felt boaty.It was purely because they hadnt bedded in yet.A 100 miles or so and they were just fine.I also feel that tyres probally need a bit of running to get the tyre walls flexing a bit better etc

 

[Simon172]

Cool. Phew, thanks for your advice. It certainly doesnt feel like my car at the moment! Probably nearly done 100 miles by now id have thought though. Itl probably take longer because the engines in the front on my car.

Not bad pricing tho: £209 for 4 eagle F1s fitted balanced and thats including a towing adjustment.

 

[Craggy]

cos 172s are boats!

 

[Simon172]

oh yeah, i didnt think of that!

 

[Locky]

If they did the tracking as well that would probally account for the different handling as well... especially if they adjusted it very far... its suprising the difference it can make.

 

[Simon172]

that as well i guess. It just feels like the car is floating and unresponsive, the back end take ages to follow where i want the car to go, on my old tyres it would be point and shoot. I can wiggle the steering wheel and the body "floats" on the tires. Hope it beds in soon!

I may pump the tires up some more - maybe they need it?

 

[ivegota16v]

ive just eagle f1s fitted, did a 250 mile journey with them and they feel so much better than the p-zeros i had before, must need bedding in!

 

[Simon172]

hi, did they feel boaty when they were on before the 250 miles run in? cheers

 

[VR6man]

when ive had new tyres all round before its been a few days before they feel "right"

they usually have a coating on them when they are new that makes them extra slippy for a while and nothing feels right initially....

definitely sharpish turns are a no no for a bit until the shiny crap is scrubbed off... otherwise its like putting tyre polish on the treads !

sure theyll be better soon si.

 

[BenR]

i have F1s on and i hate them....crap tyres.

i need some bloody bridgestones!

 

[Simon172]

really? i was really impressed with them. At first on the fronts they understeered like anything. Once warn in they lasted much longer than my S03s and gripped realy nicely. Ive been impressed with the previous michelins on the back, nice balanceable rear end under lift off etc. I guess ill be able to make judgement after im used to them and they bedded in? which car do you have the F1s on ben?

Will,cheers, i hope they will they did seem to tonight actually - get better that is. Managed to slay a sorted-orion so things are getting better. Oh dear tho, got toasted by a woman driving a Z3 3.0 off the line! i was ready for it as well, and she was some young business woman, with a very heavy right foot and a dab hand with the gear stick. Those things fly off the line! hate to imagine how much a Z3M would slay me!

 

[BenR]

on the valver.....still, i dont like them.

going to move to RE-720s

 

[BenR]

oh, and you dont need to bed in rd tyres, just wear that coating off, they cant afford to have tyres that dont grip from the off, you dont even need to warm up rd tyres that much.

 

[VR6man]

i think the coating though does make a bad initial difference... obviously the tread thats immediately in contact with the road gets cleaned up immediately (well after a mile or two) but the stuff on the side tread / the bits that arent ALWAYS in contact with tarmac seem to take a bit longer....and until then i find its always a bit uncertain as to whether you are going to pull away when you want to or turn in when you want to !

 

[Mike Wright]

I used to work for a tyre company and the tyres have a very small amount of dresser on them. Within a few miles they should be fine.

(BenR doesnt even have a car except on GT3!)

 

[Simon172]

Hehe. Thanks for the response folks. They seem to be getting better as more miles are piled on, so fingers crossed i can still take the devils punchbowl at 80 ....... (i wouldnt advise this - my bro tried and lost it big time!)

 

[® Andy]

Clearly Micheldever selling plenty of F1s for Clios this week ... had some put on the front of mine on Wed. Took no bedding in tho ... were better from the go than the goddam Michelins it came with (never been a fan of them ... last forever cause they dont freakin grip). F1s grip so much better, and were even fine in the wet on Friday PM. Wondering how long I can put up with the Michelins on the back now!!

 

[matt4478]

I really hate my F1s and Im giving em grim death to try and get rid of them ASAP!!! Like you said Simon, the car just fealt boaty from word one, and mine has only really got a little better over the last few thousand miles (probably because Ive got used to them). With the Michelins on, the car was so adjustable and lively, but now it just feels grippy and numb - not my cup of tea... On the plus side, theyre really good in the wet (whereas the Michelins would aquaplane for England).

 

[BenR]

YAY!!!!

sombody else that thinks the F1s are pants.....i hate them....wash out so early and just suck.

 

[Simon172]

oh no ive turned my car into a boat!!!!?

 

[BenR]

fraid so......

go get some decent tires!

 

[Simon172]

i might pump them up to 10 bar to get some stiffness out of them

 

[BenR]

lol

 

[KDF]

Quote: Originally posted by Simon172 on 31 March 2003

i might pump them up to 10 bar to get some stiffness out of them

*gets mental image of Simon covered in bits of eagle f1s*

 

[BenR]

or the tyre size imprinted on his forehead!

 

[rob172]

So Im not alone then. Wrote about this ages ago and everyone said oh theyll get better once bedded in. Sorry but no way - 3000 miles later Im still waiting for them to bed in!!!!

The diff between the oe michelins and the F1s is chalk and cheese. F1s cannot cope with the 172s power. This is especially evident with big understeer when powering out of corners.

When going round highish speed bends under mild throttle openings they never seem to be actually gripping, more constantly sliding whilst going around the bend which gives you no confidence to push. Also I have noticed the car seemingly rolling onto the outside edge of the tyre constantly under slower speed corners and roundabouts esp., makes it feel really wallowy. Improved this slightly by increasing pressures by 2psi all round but this has just made power on understeer worse.

The only good points about them seem to be braking and flooded wet weather performance.

The Michelins gave you confidence in the car by really gripping the road - not sliding, minimizing body roll and giving real front end bite and traction which is what the 172 is all about. With the goodyears you lose that bite which really changes the car.

After reading between the lines of the EVO tyre test Im now not suprised the F1s are like this. Think there may have been some bias with that test with them coming out on top (most good scores were subjective rather than actual performance).

Rob.

 

[KDF]

I got some toyo proxes .. they seem to be a really good tyre, I was gonna go for the f1s too cause everyone seemed to think they were brill.. glad i didnt now.

 

[BenR]

pass me my bridgestones back!

 

[paddymph]

shurrup about these Bridgestones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Simon172]

i agree those bridgestones (sorry) are very good- all the super cars you look at, have a gander at the tyres- bridgestone S0-2s mostly. I tried some SO-3s and they wore out VERY quickly, i was however impressed with the Eagles on the front, but only after theyd had a bit of wear on them. With them being to the back, im not used to their boaty/flexiness, so may actually give em a couple ouf poumps (said in a northern accent).

 

[visceral]

boaty!!! u wanna av a go of my standard contis!!!!

more hovercraft id say.

 

[Simon172]

no way! my dads new golf tdi pditdgtidiesel 150 has got those contiboats on. Ill give her a thorough test once the cars "run in".....