If by "understeer" you mean that when you're exiting a roundabout, presumably cornering, applying full throttle on a wet and cold road, the car tends to try and move laterally towards the outside of the corner then yes, my car does that too. That is why I lift my right foot of that thing below it so that the engine's not trying to hammer 265bhp through the tyres when they're trying to cope with all of the above.

Maybe you guys are just expecting too much of your cars at this time of year. It really is the worst season to be making important decisions about the high end performance of tyres. I think the Scooby handles brilliantly, and no my suspension hasn't been modified as far as I'm aware. I don't think it's been touched on the WRX 300 Lim Ed.

Always good to hear other people's opinions about different tyres though, just in case someone has invented the "super-tyre". Cheers.

 

Fair enough, but you did say you'd never felt them slip. I agree that this time of the year is not the best to be discovering the limits of a tyre's grip!

Cheers.

 

Why is it that everyone goes on about this time of year we stay in Britain not Siberia, except for a couple of cold snaps this winter so far has been mild. A bigger risk is posed in the summer after a couple of warm days then if it rains the roads become slidely due to the rubber residue. Anyway surely any manufacturer selling cars in the uk should supply them with tyres to suit all seasons not just a couple of weeks in July. The RE050's are a ****e trye simple as that and shouldn't be supplied on a car with the power a Subaru puts out. What is the point in having to upgrade the springs/suspenison in order to cover Subarus mistake, fair enough if the tyre is good to start with you will only better the preformance but if the tyre is ****e(like the RE 050) you are spending money to achive what you should've had to start with. When you're spending £22000 on a car you would expect the tyres to be suitable for the cars preformance.
A car with the preformance of a Subaru is designed to be driven to the max and I doubt if anybody out there is brave enough to do so( I know am not but am honest) The RE 050's can't cope with the car being driven at 75% of preformance so god help anyone that hammers along. As some members have said I wonder how many accidents maybe even deaths have been caused by the poor preformance of the above, it's a chilling thought.
Subaru must address this problem as i would've thought that it must be a criminal offence to provide goods that put peoples lives in danger. All they have to do is look at the amount of people changing to Goodyear or Toyo and they will see they have a problem.
Just for the record my last car was a Toyota Celica T-Sport fitted with Pirelli P-Zero A's all round, now that car could be thrown into corners knowing you were coming out the other end, talk about velcro tyres.

 

ABC:""Fair enough, but you did say you'd never felt them slip. I agree that this time of the year is not the best to be discovering the limits of a tyre's grip! ""




I back off before the rubber physically loses contact with the road yes.... usually when neck muscles give up and my face is plastered to the side window

 

Perhaps we should let the peeps on "Ferrari.NET" know:

" Bridgestone has announced that it will supply Potenza RE050 radial tyres for the Ferrari Superamerica. The company will begin delivering tyres in January 2005 for factory installation on the newest Ferrari convertible. Ferrari will equip the Superamerica with Bridgestone's Potenza RE050 tyres.
The Superamerica is a brand new innovative convertible derived from the 575M Maranello that will be produced in limited edition, powered with a 12-cylinder engine and feature an innovative rotating roof in combination with electrochromic technology, which allows the driver to adjust the amount of sunlight that shines into the cockpit. The Potenza tyres will be of size 255/35ZR19 on the front wheels and 305/30ZR19 on the rear wheels.
Bridgestone has adopted a non-directional, asynchronous tread pattern in the Potenza RE050 tyres that will appear on the Ferrari Superamerica. Wet-weather handling is an especially important consideration in Europe.So Bridgestone's engineers have designed the tyres to provide excellent performance on both wet and dry surfaces. They have designed the inner tread to optimal wet-surface performance and the outer tread for optimal dry-surface handling.
Comfort was also a big emphasis in creating the tyres, and the result combines a quiet, pleasant touring experience with superior wet and dry handling. Potenza RE050 tyres similar to those destined for the Ferrari Superamerica have earned factory fitments on high-performance cars from Porsche, Mercedes-Benz AMG, BMW, and Aston-Martin, as well as Ferrari.
This latest factory fitment for Bridgestone tyres on a new Ferrari Superamerica marks another step in an extremely productive relationship. The legendary manufacturer of ultrahigh-performance cars has ridden Bridgestone tyres to six consecutive constructors' championships in Formula One racing. It has also installed Bridgestone tyres on a series of production models, including its present flagship model, the Enzo."

 

They are a version of the RE050's, not actually the same tyre you see on Subarus and look at the width of the rear tyres if the slip then were all in the ****.

 

Note to self... cancel my Ferrari Superamerica order.

Bridgestone Potenza S03's are based on the F1 tread pattern but they don't make your car handle like Mr Alonso's!!!

Not sure you can compare a ferrari specific version of the 050 to the standard 050 elastic band subaru put on the impreza.

Unfortunately like a great deal of the factory fit stuff on an impreza, the 050's are a middle of the road cost/quality compromise, you can buy better, and I certainly have ! Subaru don't even give you prodrive suspension on the WRX 300 which should be standard over the warbbly standard springs !

 

Stiffer ARB and solid DL's don't effect the ride as such, just helps reduce some of the 'wollowiness' when turning in.

Cost wise, good value for £££ IMHO..! Plus there's a group buy on these items at the moment, but I payed ~£150 for alloy rear DL's and a 22mm adj ARB. Fitting DIY is a piece of **** (takes less than an hour inc making a cup of tea and a biscuit..!) for anyone with an ounce of ability..

I'm planning on getting the PD spring kit fitted soonish, (mainly for looks as I'm more than happy with balance at the moment) I've just fitted 18's and it needs to be a bit lower..!

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...KTJOZSmall.jpg


BTW make sure you have had geometery checked as you'd be amazed at how out it can be..! (especially on new cars)

 

Had Eagles and again there great in all conditions, just trying Toyos had them on a short period they seem softer than the Eagles. Think the Eagle looks nicer tread also. Solely changed to cost saved over £30 per pair. I did purchase "Y" rated in both instances.

P zeros I have tried, I found when they started to wear down grip was not so good and exaggerated understeer issues. They were also noisier than the other two also. Eagles no probs with wearing or loss of grip-Toyo we will see. I will also be able to see if the cost diff is worth it on longevity between them also.

I must also add the conditions of our roads, more vehicles on the roads, more heavy lorries and probs with road tar moving into ruts so causing tram lining/rutting. I find this a lot on dual carraigeways braking at junctions and is more an issue the larger the tyre width.

 

I have the s03 and I do have to agree that in the wet it is quite scary. Which makes it even scarier is that even if it is just a bit wet, you can understeer and oversteer ....
However in the dry I do find the tires quite good, but I think it i s avery dangerous tire: you get used to the way it goes in the dry and then you get a shock just when there is barely a bit of water on the road....
This period of the year=winter tyre + drive slower

 

What is the correct tyre pressures for 215/45/17 RE 050's in psi ? There is something written on the inside door pillar but it is in kg cm2 which i think is bar.

 

http://allchin.net/files/pressure_converter.html

Varies with load I know, but on my '03 it's marked 2.3 and 2.2.

2.3 = 33.35psi
2.2 = 31.9psi

If you don't have much in the back and run mostly passenger free I'd suggest 3psi lower than the front. I don't run those tyres, but would suggest 33/30 and tweak to suit.

 

You're not kidding with the last bit! If you fit winter tyres drive A LOT slower!
Or if you live in the South East use decent normal tyres with plenty of tread and drive to suit the conditions. Save fitting 'winter' tyres for regular below zero conditions IMHO.