Tail Wagging

[gazza82 41]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Hankook V12's. Those tyres aren't expensive at all. Would be great if they offer a little extra confidence for the public road.

Had those fitted to daughter's 206CC and really sorted handling ... but they wear quickly ... esp on FWD car. 

[Jay 37]

10 hours ago, gazza82 said:

Had those fitted to daughter's 206CC and really sorted handling ... but they wear quickly ... esp on FWD car. 

Grip often comes with wear. No problem if the tyres aren't too expensive.

[Jay 37]

Back home after a great holiday. So I checked the Primacy tyres for production date; week 16, 2018. There's almost 5 mm of tread left.

[Lauren 2259]

So 18 months old or so. They'll last a long time yet, so either stay with them or bite the bullet and change them. 

[Jay 37]

As I drive a lot, they may be gone in a year.

[Daninplymouth 61]

53 minutes ago, Jay said:

As I drive a lot, they may be gone in a year.

I doubt they will unless you do massive mileage. My originals done about 15000 before I changed them and that included plenty of burnouts etc and I would say they were about half worn

[Jay 37]

7 minutes ago, Daninplymouth said:

I doubt they will unless you do massive mileage. My originals done about 15000 before I changed them and that included plenty of burnouts etc and I would say they were about half worn

I do about 15000 miles a year. With almost 5 mm left, they'd be pretty worn after a year. 

[BRZ-123 174]

You get 45K from these tyres easily with regular rotation and road driving. I do that kind of miles up and down the M way and took me 3 + yrs and I was still at 3 mm.

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

[spikyone 139]

@BRZ-123 is right. They're stupidly hard. Mine did over 20k miles including a few trackdays and still had about 5mm all round. They last forever.

I swapped mine for something better because I was bored of them (and got new wheels). They're just not specced for a ~200bhp RWD car and are horrible in the wet, particularly for traction.

[Jay 37]

So I went out to do some testing. I reduced tyre pressure from the advised value of 2.4 bar to 2.3 bar. It doesn't seem much, but it notably improves on lateral stability.

[Church 209]

Adjusting tire pressures is nice way for simple & quick grip (or grip bias) adjusting on site, and for testing out some things, but in my book it's worth dialing suspension (alignment's camber/toe, and/or sways rates/misc adjustments of springs & shocks) right, so that when everything else is even, grip & it's bias is right on spot i want, and i can change/adjust using other means if wished both way from "neutral" or do change overall, keeping bias same, instead of keeping in mind pressure delta front/rear.

[james_ly 7]

My car is on 28000 miles, looks like original tyres and still a good 3-4mm left. Not sure I'll be driving it in the snow though!

[Test Drives Unlimited 278]

121,000 miles and on the 7th set of tyres!

1st set = Primacy factory
2nd set = Michelin PS3
3rd set = Kumho KU39
4th set = Kumho KU39
5th set = Kumho KU39
6th set = Yokohama AD08R
7th set = Kumho KU39

Will be ordering the 8th set of tyres in January 2020 after my last trackday of the year on 30th December.

I change my tyres about once a year, except last year I got through 2 sets of tyres, but did cover 17 trackdays plus the usual road use etc....

This year by the time I do Mallory Park at the end of the year, I will have only driven 8 trackdays plus the usual road use....

Love the Kumho KU39 tyre and highly recommend them

[Jay 37]

6 hours ago, Test Drives Unlimited said:

...Love the Kumho KU39 tyre and highly recommend them

What's the major advantage over the other brands of this Kumho tyre?

[Jay 37]

I have been driving around with reduced tyre pressure for a week, mainly on wet roads. There's definitely more stability in the tail. It's amazing what difference a pressure change of 4 to 5% makes. 😲

[MartinT 514]

Yep, my TPMS light comes on every cold morning and I'm inclined to leave it like that rather than pump them up to the full summer pressure of 2.4 bar.

[Jay 37]

My TPMS lit as well. After resetting it, it's totally happy with 2.3 bar.

[Jay 37]

Further on the tyres... Last weeks it has been cold and wet, temperatures between 4 and 11 deg. C. I'm just not happy with those Primacy tyres. The least amount of torque on the rear wheels makes them lose grip.

[86iain 44]

Further on the tyres... Last weeks it has been cold and wet, temperatures between 4 and 11 deg. C. I'm just not happy with those Primacy tyres. The least amount of torque on the rear wheels makes them lose grip.

I managed last winter fine on Primacies.
Only changed them a couple of months ago.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[Jay 37]

49 minutes ago, 86iain said:

I managed last winter fine on Primacies.
Only changed them a couple of months ago.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk
 

Of course I know how to keep the car on track, but for daily use it doesn't feel right. The torque converter allows the engine to rev up to its first sweet spot at 2800 rpm, which is too much torque for these hard tyres under wet conditions.

[86iain 44]

Of course I know how to keep the car on track, but for daily use it doesn't feel right. The torque converter allows the engine to rev up to its first sweet spot at 2800 rpm, which is too much torque for these hard tyres under wet conditions.

Does the auto not have a snow program button?

Mine is my only car and I drive it in any weather, but is manual.

 

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[Jay 37]

57 minutes ago, 86iain said:

Does the auto not have a snow program button?

Mine is my only car and I drive it in any weather, but is manual.

 

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Yes it does, but the snow button only tells the gearbox to not use first gear. I think this is counterproductive, as the engine has to rev a little higher to get the car moving. This brings back into memory the good old Mercedes E280. Once winter mode was engaged, it was super smooth all the way. I also remember the '84 Audi 90, which was the other way round. Weighing  just over 1100 kg, being frontwheel driven, it lost grip all the time.

[86iain 44]

I had a 508 GT a couple of years ago and in winter mode that behaved impeccably in the snow.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[spikyone 139]

7 hours ago, 86iain said:

I managed last winter fine on Primacies.
Only changed them a couple of months ago.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk
 

Just my tuppence - it might be possible to "manage" through the winter, (I did for a couple of years) but that involves taking it very easy on Primacies. I've seen the "learn to drive better" mantra thrown around a lot, but I didn't buy a sports car to tootle around carefully. If you have to rein it in for half the year, what's the point? They lose a lot of grip in the cold and wet, which is even more obvious when you fit a set of PS4s.

[MartinT 514]

Agreed, the Primacies are horrible and do not inspire confidence, no matter how proficient you are as a driver.  I don't want to make a mistake and end up in the ditch on my single track country lane.  I had a set of Goodyear Vector 4Seasons on the stock wheels last year and they were brilliant.  This year, I have PS4s on my 8" wheels and hope to get by without using another set of wheels/tyres.  There has been only light frost and a sprinkling of snow so far, but deep snow is a real test on that lane, not to mention going past tractors coming the other way who don't even slow down.