I have have had my 172 for 2 weeks and done a whopping 2k, the car has now done 7k. In these two weeks the front tyres have been replace ( A long story). However, I had thought to myself that the handling was becoming disappointing, but thought it was me adjusting to car. My dad drove the car on Saturday and commented on the difference, he had only driven it one on the day I collocted it. It is suffering from heavy understeer (I know its a natural tendency) but I feel like Im always putting too much lock on to get round the corner. Im running tyre pressures, 33psi front 31psi rear. Am gonna put springs on but want to make sure that before I mod it, I dont have any mechanical problems. If I ask renault, the techincians are unlikely to have a massive expiernce of 172 handling. Anyone any suggests???
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Handling Deterioration
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I have have had my 172 for 2 weeks and done a whopping 2k, the car has now done 7k. In these two weeks the front tyres have been replace ( A long story). However, I had thought to myself that the handling was becoming disappointing, but thought it was me adjusting to car. My dad drove the car on Saturday and commented on the difference, he had only driven it one on the day I collocted it. It is suffering from heavy understeer (I know its a natural tendency) but I feel like Im always putting too much lock on to get round the corner. Im running tyre pressures, 33psi front 31psi rear. Am gonna put springs on but want to make sure that before I mod it, I dont have any mechanical problems. If I ask renault, the techincians are unlikely to have a massive expiernce of 172 handling. Anyone any suggests???
Are the front and rear tyres the same? Have you tried swapping fronts for rears? Even if the tyres are the same on both ends, there can be a difference due to tread depth and even the age of the tyres. Provided that tyres were all you changed, that is where to look for the answers.
Astra 1.9cdti XP
What tyres have you put on? Try upping the pressure a little, I run 36psi at the front!
Tyres wouldnt make that much of a difference, especially wat eddd was saying, pressures could cause some handling differences but not what you are experiencing especially the pressures you are running yours on. Get the suspension and everything checked sounds like something mechanical is amiss.
Astra 1.9cdti XP
Not true! If you put cheap nasty tyres on the you will have understeer heaven!! There is a bit on one of Jeremy Clarksons vids that demonstrates this!
thats true, try bloody falken ze502s and then you will know the meaning of understeer, mainly in the wet though I have to admit, superb in the dry.
The reason for the tyres being changed? Dont suppose the tracking is way out, have you hit a curb or somehting? If the car aint aligned correctly then the steering geometry will be out and the car will under perform.
Not always the case - often cheap nasty tyres give more grip but a short life span! Cheap tyres often have a very soft compound, which makes for grippy fun but they wear v quickly!
Also if you raise the tyre preasure it can mean that the tyres balloon, meaning less tread is actually in contact with the road and therefore less grip. It does depend on the construction of the tyres, but it all has an effect.
In my m8s old RWD Sierra he lowered the back tyre preasures in the wet to get more tyre in contact with the road, but I wouldnt normally recommend this as it may cause additional stress on the walls, especially under cornering.
Stick to the manufacturers recommendations for the car (irrespective of tyre size)! Its all about the overall weight of the car, and therefore the preasure that each wheel will assert on the road.
Billabong,
Tyres make more of a difference than anything else. If there are different tyres on the front and back the difference can be quite pronounced. Also if otherwise identical tyres are old, even if they are unused, they can be quite hard.
Once the variable of tyres has been eliminated, then you look elsewhere.
Cheers, everyone, hadnt had a lot of time to reply. Have upped the pressures on the front to 35 and 33 on the rear, and it seems far better, seems much more preditable. When I checked the pressure the garage had put them at 28psi, even though i asked for 33!!!
I had the tyres replaced as one had an egg in it (On the rear), the spare had a nail in it, and the front two had too little tread on them, for what i considered to be reasonable for buying a newish car. So got four brand new tyres, all contis, not preference, but for free im not complaining!!! It is much more sorted now. Still need to get the springs to make it handle more like I want.
