Just trying to finish off the old A048's on the rear, and want to replace these with something with a bit more "all year round " use, as I find the trackday tyres don't really work too well when faced with driving on very wet roads so I put a set of A539's on the front and now face loads of tyre squeal with any spirited cornering, I think they may well a tad hard for a 7, so what do folks run when all year round motoring is planned?.

I'm on 13" rims if it makes a difference..

185/70 R13 021Rs...

Best tyre out there for 7esque use!

I was going to get those and then thought they were trackday based and therefore won't last that long, my 48's did not last well at all on our crappy roads, but on smooth dry tarmac were great, seems with the 539's I have gone from one end of the scale to the other, missing out the middle altogether... If the 021's last more than a year or so then I may be swayed ?. I realise anything non track based is going to be harder compound, but the 539's are too hard..

ETA

I was watching the rallycross before and the buggies were running those 021's as part of the regs, so they must work well on light cars..

As they are a race tyre, they are very cheap!

Last set I purchased were about £40 per corner...

Any idea of mileage covered on a set yet, gone are the days when throwing a set of tyres on my car to go faster were the norm, I need some decent life now as well, I appreciate the power output differences will make a huge difference with the figures , but with a puny old Xflow kicking out no more than 110 bhp, I got two years use, which in tems of miles was not much, maybe 3k or so, trouble with me is if I have good tyres I use them and use them hard... the 539's have slowed me down a bit much to my licence lifes aspect.

I usually get about 10K - but it depends on how I drive...
I do drive hard/fast, but don't tend to wheel spin!

Oh ok thanks, that's far higher than I was expecting, they then may well do me, I will leave the fronts on and try and wear those out somehow?, my diff does not slip very much so rears tend to wear far faster than normal, but I would not swap that just to increase tyre life. Sorry for the questions ( I did warn you all) but where did you get those tyres from dare I ask?.

I have an LSD...



Last supplier I used was George Polley Motorsport.

Westy
I'd 2nd the yoko ao21 in 185/70x13" always use 'em on the front of the S4 [get about 7Kmiles] - I d like to use 'em on the back too but they only last 1000miles or so, I've tried most 13" available in 185/70 size. yoko 539's were ok lasted about 2.5K miles, currently using cooper supersports, these look like they're gonna last 3K miles. On the back is less important for me, good front end grip is what I want, rear end slides are good for my driving style, so basically any tyre in the right size would do
I have a Quaife ATB diff which Is geat,

Cool thanks, yes I am not that bothered about the rear end sliding about either, it's just the dreaded understeer I hate, hence the 539's on the front for wet use and swapped the old fronts back onto the rears ( I did have A048 all round) Cooper, is that Avon ?, or am I getting mixed up somewhere along the line?, 1k miles is not really enough for my wallet these days, when I was racing I would spent stupid amounts cash to get that win, but today things are different I need a tyre that both works well on a light car and lasts a reasonable amount of time - not a mix that often goes together, maybe 539's on the back would do afterall,?, just don't want to waste a pile of cash on tyres that don't do what I want them to...


ETA

For folks who have changed from track based tyres to road based tyres, have you had to change the camber settings, I have found that I have had to reduce the front ARB roll stiffness by some amount to stop it ploughing straight on in bends, but have not as yet changed the camber ( which I set for use with track based tyres) , I think I may need a degree or two removing from my current settings?, bit on the geekish side maybe, but that's me.....It has to be right.

Westy
Ao21's use the same rubber as the ao48 Medium compound so have similar grip levels in dry, coz of the blocky tread they overheat quickly on dry track, but the tread depth is greater so wet grip is excellent, this is what makes them great road tyres, coz you rarely can drive hard enough to get them to overheat on road, their price is excellent for the quality of grip available.
I'm not sure on the coopers , my local tyre shop said they were manufacturers of 'unusual' sized tyres of which the 185/70-13 was one, grip is ok similar to 539's and they dont squeal which is important to me
hope this helps
Mal

Ok thanks again Mal, 21's it is then, I had forgotten until you mentioned it, but the 48's I have are all the soft compound versions ( ordered during a red wine evening no doubt !!, lol ) and wore out pretty fast.. the 21's being the treaded "medium" version would most likely suit me and my pocket... Yes, not keen on the squealling aspect at the moment, it has been made worse recently by the council resurfacing one of my fav routes, surface is so smooth now which is good for the ride, but the squeal on the bends even at moderate speed is excessive, sounds like I am doing 3 times the speed I really am to passers by I am sure lol....

Thanks folks for the inputs, a set of 21's it is then

Westy

Just thought I would chuck my two pence worth in.

Suspension setting are alway controversial and everyone has a a view and so here is mine and missing out spring settings a damping!

If you are running arbs then, on a seven, they are not there to control the sprung weight. What they will do is tend to move the centre of roll to the contact surface of the outside wheel. This with sticky tyres in the dry works really well as it transfers the load primarily to the outside wheel and the more you load the tyre the more it grips.

If one does not have the luxury of great grip, so in your case A539s or wet weather, loading up the outside tyre means it losses grip and so slides/ squeals. To address this reducing or removing the arbs will move the centre of roll to nearer the longitudinal axis of the centre of gravity and when cornering will load up the outside tyre less and use more of the inside tyre grip as the inside suspension has more extension and so will take part of the load. Spreading the load works better in low grip situations. Also in the wet the roll can be assisted by softer damper settings.

The other question is the balance between front and back. By reducing the arb on the front and increasing it on the back your car maybe better balanced and so reduce the understeer. Actually what it may do is improve the grip on the front and reduce the grip on the back and so stop the car under steering and therefore increase confidence and so increase speed. If you do not have adjustable arbs try a cheat and put a lb extra pressure in the front tyres and reduce the pressure in the rear. Both of these things should reduce understeer and will give you lift off oversteer and, if forced to brake in a corner, maybe be interesting!

So to address your question on camber. I have a Westie too. It is setup for the dry and runs 1.5% of camber. It has very stiff arbs and so does not roll very much. In the wet I disconnect the arbs but would not reduce the camber. It really depends on the car.

Hope this helps.

Crunchie

I'm on A539s too, albeit on 14" wheels.



I have never experienced the tyre squeal of which you speak and have found them to be a great all-round, wet or dry tyre. I've done a track day (Curborough) and the slalom thing at Dunsfold on them this year and have only recently had to swap rears for fronts as the rears were ever so slightly more worn than the fronts. And I mean "ever so slightly" (nowhere near the tread-depth indicator thingy).

Excellent purchase, five stars, would buy again.