Another Opinion thread...

My car is booked in for 4 wheel laser alignment later this week, because I am concerned about the handling at low speed on uneven roads - I have just read through ALL of the threads thrown up by searching for wheel alignment, so I think I know what to expect!

However, I would like opinions on the tyres I am currently running, bearing in mind daily winter driving etc. Stock wheels, with Yokohama (DNA GP) 235/45 ZR17 on the front and Toyo Trampio (GU:WN) 255/40 ZR17 on the rear. All the tyres were on the car at import, and have lots of tread left. I can't see any uneven wear at all.

My question is, should I change the rear tyres before having the alignment done? A search shows the Whifbits Supra as having the same Yokohama tyres, but is this a track tyre? A search for the Trampios gives me the blurb "exceptional grip in the wet and the dry" but also implies track tyres rather than road tyres. Or doesn't it matter?

All comments, opinions and suggestions appreciated

Thanks

A normal road use tyre will have lots of tread grooves on it where as a track day tyre will not.

Do you have a picture you can post to show us what your tyres look like?

Allow me....

http://img116.exs.cx/img116/9081/tyre.jpg

Originally posted by Sakura

My car is booked in for 4 wheel laser alignment later this week, because I am concerned about the handling at low speed on uneven roads

Are we talking ride comfort / suspension clattering over bumps type stuff, or what specifically handling wise?

In my experience the MKIV likes a matching set of 4 tyres all round. The tyres are road tyres, the special road legal track tyres like Michelin Pilot Sport Cups do not have *ANY* pretention to being quiet or having good wet grip

Originally posted by Scooter

Are we talking ride comfort / suspension clattering over bumps type stuff, or what specifically handling wise?

It's hard to explain - because I have been driving 4WDs for the last 4 years, so anything with low profile tyres is obviously going to feel much harder and bumpier to me!

All I can say is that it pulls and has bump-steers to the right or left whenever I'm on an uneven road (and Surrey has some of the worst maintained roads!) at low speed (30 - 40mph), and to me it feels odd. I don't notice any real pull at higher speeds, in fact, the higher the speed the better it feels. No pull when braking, either. Oh, and I check the tyre pressures all the time, but no matter how many miles I do, or at what speed, it always seems to re-set from 36 to 33???

Thanks for your help

Thanks, Matt

They are the ones on the rear!

I'm sure that Paul's (Whiffin) car had Yoko AVS Sport (street tyre) as I used to have the same.

out of interest where are you having the alignment done? i need mine doing urgently and im not a million miles away from surrey

cheers ...lee

I thought you would have gone here lee ?

http://www.micheldever.co.uk/index.html

I have never been but, others have over the years...

I have been "persuaded" to give Abbey Toyota at Holmethorpe (Merstham) the benefit of the doubt, because they have the computer stuff. My contact says they were very good in the past, so I am going to brave the "main dealer" monster for the alignment and see what happens. I will let you know after Thursday!

Originally posted by leett

out of interest where are you having the alignment done? i need mine doing urgently and im not a million miles away from surrey

cheers ...lee

Also lee, you are low (ride height) so, would phone ahead as I know some places can not accommodate low cars.

I'm not that low and Toyo had to remove my front stock lip to get the car on the ramp.

(sorry if ...suck eggs an all)

Sakura - if your car is lowered then this can sometimes add extra camber on the front which will inherintly cause the front end to be more reactive to uneven surfaces as the bumps in the road start acting at angles to a non-flat tyre contact.

And as you will have already read, those tyres are not specific trackday tyres.

Also if you are new to driving the Supra with low profile tyres the car is already kinda jumpy on 'b' class roads at any speed really.

You'll find that if you go over a bit on uneveness then it can seem as though the car is chucking itself in an unwanted direction but if you just keep a tight grip in the wheel it should be fine.

I'd still go and have the tracking checked out all the same as you have already planned.

I use the DNA GP's now yes, these are only available in Japan though, I import them when I need them. Much better than the Michelin Pilots I was using before, the car feels much better balanced on the track with the DNA's.

I'd definately get your alignment done though for piece of mind, had a car in with similar symptons, turned out to be a buggered front shock.

Thanks for all the good advice

I'm less concerned about the tyres now, although I will take on board Chris's advice about it being better to have the same tyres all round in the future.

Hopefully, the laser alignment will resolve any issues with the pulling, and it will not be a front shock!

Where in surrey are you mate? I'll be needing my alignment done at some point too. I need the 4 point laser jobbie.

The Supra is a bit of a 'wanderer' - it tends to follow every camber change and indentation it can fine. There's been at least one thread on this in the past with about 20 people all commenting on this 'feature'.

When I went up from 16s to 17s I found the wandering problem was greatly reduced.