Improving The Balance

When I bought my car, it was well balanced, and would drift safely, if I lifted off the throttle.   In the hope of improving the grip, I fitted 205 tyres to the front.   My problem, now, is that my car is a little tail happy.   What can I do to restore the neutral (or slightly tail happy) balance that I had with the 175 tyres?   Or should I accept the compromise, and make an effort to slow down before I reach a bend?

You could try 195 tires on front or go bigger on rear

Cram in some 245mm rear tyres, and/or get grippier ones if you don't have them already?

 

Edited by Nev, 18 March 2018 - 12:06 PM.

the benefit of the wide front tyres , you notice it is much more stable under braking

 

you can easily ruin a fun car by going too much tyre

Really does depend what you like, one mans oversteer is another mans adjustable etc... Ive run 175, 195 and 205 and wouldnt go back from 205. Youd need bigger wheels to have wider rear tyres so would be cheaper to downsize the fronts again and leave 225 rear. So Id say 195 would give you what you want.

Up to now I would not dream of going back to 205 fronts. I thought they were effective but a bit of a blunt instrument.

 

If I had narow enough front wheels I would have tried YOKOHAMA AD07 LTS2 TYRES in the following size 175 x 55 x 16

 

Kindly, Paul

You probably wont notice a huge difference (if any) going back to a 195 section tyre. You could:

• Have the geometry adjusted to suit - A bit less camber at the front may help
• Fit new tyres to the rear (fresh front tyres and old / well used rears will contribute to the shift in balance)
• Adjust the tyre pressures - A touch more at the front will help counter act the gripper front axle. The VX is quite sensitive to this so no need to go mad.

 

Thank you for your advice. I take your point that I have lost some of the fun by going for the extra grip, but it's good to have the grip, when you need it...

I had not realised that the Lotus Elise also has 175 section front tyres.  I hope to be at the National meet, so will try the effect of playing with the tyre pressures.   My R1-Rs are quite old, so a change of rubber may help.

Thank you, again,

 

Michael

Yep, current Elise runs 175 front and 225 rear AD07

More grip certainly takes the fun factor out of the car

I suspect some of my new editions will do the same
But hopefully make the lap times quicker

Or fit a stiffer front ARB.