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Sick of sliding around

sawood12

sawood12

New member
Anyone else running with Continental Sport tyres? I've always stuck up for them as i've been happy with their dry grip and wear rate - however over the past few days it's been like i'm driving on an ice rink - it is simply dangerous. These things just don't seem to have any grip in slippery conditions. I think I might ditch them for something like Toyo's or Kuomo's which seem to get rave reviews. I was wheelspinning in 4th gear yesterday - and you can't blame my diff as both wheels were spinning.

I'm running 30psi in the rears and 28psi up front - am I way out of the ball park with my tyre pressures or something??
 
I take it you have still got plenty of tread as some tyres some times get that way when there near the end of there life..as far as tyre pressures go i always keep my tyres at 32 psi all round.
 
Agree.

Had some on a Volvo 850 T5. Going up to Prodrive one day on the M40 in a rainstorm, I was really glad I've had some rally driving experience. 4.5m car, and the thing aquaplaned nearly sideways at 75-80 Mph. Yep driving too fast for the conditions, but I wouldn't put those tyres back on. Worst experience since I fitted some early Kumhos....
 
Scott. The Conti,s are rubbish.Get some Toyo,s or Goodyear F1,s fitted .. Youl notice a HUGE difference..

Although the roads are most probably covered in a nice layer of rock salt at present, so no tyre can grip when that stuff is around...
 
I've recently fitted some Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas to my car (partly due to the great review they got in the Evo mag tyre test, especially for the wet grip) andI'm very impressed so far.

Good price too from Camskill Tyres via mail order.

 
I would say that your pressures are a bit low . Manufacturers suggest increasing tyre pressures by as much as 3-4 lbs for sustained high speeds and motorway driving. Less drag will increase speed and reduce fuel consumption considerably.
However you wouldn't want to run 34lbs if its winter with black ice around.

In snow I get out and reduce my pressures to about 12lbs and run at under 25 MPH

It all depends on your speed ,driving and roads

Water on top of Diesel is the problem rather than water alone. Roundabouts in the rain are the most treacherous places . I've twice lost my 44's on r/abouts. My Lux was a write-off at 20mph ![8|]
 
The Toyos always get good reviews by owners of our cars in wet or dry conditions, but even they will struggle to get mechanical grip in the low temperatures and greasy conditions we have had lately. Contis in my experience are a very good, long distance, long life tyre, but they do lack a little in ultimate grip.

I believe the book pressure for 17" wheels on a 968 is 36psi all round. I found that a little skittish and run 33F 34R which also gives even wear across the tread
 
My Toyos haven't been to bad grip wise even in these weather conditions but I suppose really I haven't been pushing them too hard.
 
I had the same problem with contisportcontacts several years ago. Dangerously bad tyre. However I fitted premiumsportcontact2 on me daily driver and they proved to be a superb allround tyre for a saloon car. I believe it is partially matching the tyre design to the car (don't put soft sidewall tyres on 16" rims on a 944 etc.), and partially better more modern designs i.e. continental seem to have improved a lot in recent years in terms of cold and wet weather performance.

My advice is if you want to fit continental on a sports car get the latest pattern, contisportcontact3 and fit them on 17" rims or bigger. ISTR the sidewalls are way to soft to work on 16" rims.

Michelin seem to be the same, 10 years ago the mxx3 pilot had brilliant grip in the dry but ISTR was pretty bad in the wet. The pilot exalto PE2 225x45-17 I have on my daily driver now are brilliant in all conditions and barely seem to wear at all, however again they have a squidgy feeling which I suspect would feel terrrible on a 944.

On another note I have previously said how impressed I was by the Hankook RS2, well now I change my mind. They have always lacked grip when cold but recently no matter how many times I rag 2nd gear or brake hard I can't get enough heat into them to make em stick. I guess the rubber is just too hard. Luckilly I have a set of 17" wheels for putting mega grippy tyres on when these wear out so I can something like vredestein's (brilliant in the wet) for normal road driving.

BTW the autoexpress test showed that pretty much all road tyres have almost identical dry grip. The only differences are in wet grip and handing characteristics so saying one tyre is great on one car is no gaurantee that it will be any good on another.
 
Scott
I like the Conti Sports, and agree Pauls suggestion of 33/34F/R. I'm on my 3rd set but the rears with 30% left do get a bit like you describe in the greasy conditions we have at present. I agree it requires caution.

One other point is a LSD produces more consistent behaviour from the rear end. My open diff 220 years ago was more hairy than my current car, - but I'd prefer the forged rods in your 220 engine[8|]

I think the conti is a good tyre but no matter what you put on a 944t in these conditions, it will break traction, (have a look at C.Harris & his M3 at the Ring on autocar.c o.u k and you will see that a modern 2wd still has the problem).

There is a cure but it involves 4 driveshafts, which bring other issues. There is a compromise and it is a LSD.

George
944t
964
 
So mostly still on topic.. nothing else considered what tires in your experience produce the most grip? Toyo R1's?? I need 4 new tires whithin the next month or so and I need them to be a sticky as possible!

Regards,

Ben

p.s. two bits of experience I can add is that Falcon tires although cheap are very very good in the wet and the new Conti's have gone way too far the other way! They are now soo soft that mine were bald all the way across and showing the threads on the inside after just 1500-2000miles on my R32!! Road driving only, no track work! They didn't really grip that hard so I was totally shocked when I saw them but the R32 is a heavy car!
 
Just fitted a set of Falken FK452's on my Lux and they seem to be all right as far as I can tell. It's still possible to make the back go out a bit if pushed but it seems to be quite progressive and predictable. They seem to be ok in the wet as far asI've been so far and they don't seem to be too bad for noise either.
 
Noise is a big issue in a 944 if it is your daily driver. I remember the contisportcontacts gave an amazingly smooth ride and very little noise, just a shame that throw in a cold wet morning and I used to get tired real fast from having to concentrate to much. Pumping them up hard just made things worse because the limit is more snappy.

Toyo IMHO are fairly noisy tyres on the 944, not mega noisy but noisier then continentals.

I believe that tractor tread pattern tyres tend to be noisy and tyres with wide circumferential bands (like a contipremiumcontact2 or contisportcontact1,2,3) give sharper steering and less noise.

Just a bit more to consider. I don't go for this thing that one tyre is definitely better then another, need to add up all the characteristics you are looking for.
 

ORIGINAL: DivineE

So mostly still on topic.. nothing else considered what tires in your experience produce the most grip? Toyo R1's?? I need 4 new tires whithin the next month or so and I need them to be a sticky as possible!

Regards,

Ben

p.s. two bits of experience I can add is that Falcon tires although cheap are very very good in the wet and the new Conti's have gone way too far the other way! They are now soo soft that mine were bald all the way across and showing the threads on the inside after just 1500-2000miles on my R32!! Road driving only, no track work! They didn't really grip that hard so I was totally shocked when I saw them but the R32 is a heavy car!
Click to expand...

On your golf probably michelin pilot if you want them to last better then the continental. ISTR michelin came out a long way ahead of the other big brands on a recent long life test. I believe they lasted 2.5 times as long as the continental. You are right about em going from being a long life tyre to a very short life tyre. I got 10K miles out of the premiumcontact2 on the front of my daily hack, compared to 17K on the 944 when using contisportcontacts several years back that had to be replaced coz they went of.
 
Sorry to drag up an old thread but it seemed appropriate to one I was just about to post.

My car had 2 new rear Conti Sport Contact tyres fitted just before I bought it in Nov'07 so there is still plenty of grip on them. Fronts are good too, also Conti's.

Now in all my other Porsche's I've run Toyo's mainly and Goodyears if I can get hold of them. I figured I'd leave the Conti's on until worn to see how I got on.

As you know this time of the years, roads go from icy to slippery, to greasy and then back to icy etc over the course of a day. So suddenly I can't even pop the shops in the thing without the back end squirming away like a sidewinder on acid. So much so, I thinking of laying out £370 on 4 x new Toyo Proxes T1-R's all round... It just feels ridiculously unstable.

I'm got forged CS wheels (not the cast D90's) so am I right in thinking the following sizes will be ok (its what's on the car at present).

Rears: 245/45/16
Fronts: 205/55/16
 
Try some Falken FK452,s..[DONT get any other Falken,s],,, Ive found them fab...[:D][:D] And a lot cheaper than the Toyo,s....
 
I've never like Conti Sports- once that thin shallow outer groove disappears they were useless, even on warm wet days in the summer.

I suspect Toyos are fairing better in cold conditions due to a soft compound. No summer tyre works well below 7'C as the rubber compound hardens and is useless. winter tyres are awesome (except on ice !) on these very cold days, but are useless themselves much above 8'C. British winters for you.

I'd avoid Goodyear F1s too in cold conditions - there are pathetic in even dusting of snow.
 
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