Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I currently own this '94 and everything people have said is true. Not THAT slow mind.

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Wanted one of these as my first car so badly.

Dibs if you ever let it go!

Posting it here as it's easier than sharing a link from Flickr via Instagram:

Yeah just over 60 / 40 split like you say.

There will be some adjustment in that with tweaking ride height, say, if the front of the car got a lot lighter suddenly

Some, but not a huge amount - and I might end up with rake like a Charger.

I'd probably want to balance each end, so CF at the front with Inconel at the rear etc.

And that's an amount of money that I don't want to think about.

You cannot change your fore aft split with suspension adjustment. You can make sure it's balanced diagonally

You can, but not by a lot and whether you should or not is a different question.

Mine is set up side to side / corner to corner, but like you say you would only really be able to achieve the offset from losing some weight on the rear at the same time as the front weight reduction.

I vaguely recollect we would setup RWD cars with between 55 and 65% rear bias.
My rally car is setup essentially the opposite because it's wrong wheel drive, i have put a GRP boot on though as part of the re-build which should help

@Hefty
Any experience of how those Ford 2.5L engines age over 100k?

The Grand Espace dCi, (51-reg) today became a £21.50 daily indulgence to enter the London Congestion Zone,
and,
an S-Max may be the least worst alternative,
but Autotrader is telling me I get more C4 Grand Picasso for my money,
(newer & less miles).

No, sorry, I just looked into the fastest 7 seater a few years back.

But I do know that all the things fall off the Grand Picassos.

Never buy French. Especially second hand.

Whats wrong with instagram. 😎

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Bluemotion
a 45 mile commute down motorway every day

but

Not interested in "energy saving"

Confused? Michelin Energy+ on my van, seem grippy enough. About £60 each for a 15" with a higher weight rating.

Anyone have any experience with R tires (street legal) on the streets on a normal car?
What would these do to the general ride when not pushing it?

I bought a set of wheels with like new Federal z201 and dont really feel like buying new tires unless they are rubbish for street use? I wont be able to try myself until spring unfortunetly hence me asking..

Thanks!
B

Nursey is the man to speak to, but i’d be wary. I certainly wouldn’t be driving like a fanny with them cold or in the wet.

I drove to brands in the wet with yokos and it was fine, but it was very easy to skate around.

Thx. This is stricly a nice weather car so wet n cold is hopefully not to much of a concern as that would only happen if i got stuch in bad weather or similar.

In the dry they'll be fine, just watch out that it'll take ages for the tyres to get warm and they'll spin up so easily when the rubber is cold.

In the wet just chill out and know that you've not got much grip so not much point trying, especially on the motorway or dual carriageway. It's a bit annoying because the inside lane is usually cambered and grooved much more than other lanes due to HGVs, and as a result you get more standing water. This means you end up with micro aquaplanes on just 1 wheel, so I drive around 55-60 mph and take it easy. You could maintain better grip and a bit higher speed in the middle or outside lane, but on the off chance you hit a big bit of standing water you're going to have a bigger aquaplane so it's safer to just drive slower and put up with a slightly grabby steering wheel.

They never seem to get truly hot in winter so tyre wear seems to slow down. Or it might just be you don't drive the car as much during winter.

Those FZ-201s are pretty tasty, mate used those on his TA car one season and we were very impressed. Similar grip to A048R, but cheaper.

That does seem like a pretty good option for me actually as i will ride 99% in the sun only and very little use outside of spring / summer.

Now im even a bit eager to try them out. They are also about 20-30mm wider all around which should improve things a bit even if rubber was the same.

Thanks!

they will only be good warm

How old are they? When I was at CG they tested every tyre for (age induced) hardening, found one cars handling imbalance (it oversteered when turning right, not when turning left) was due to left rear tyre being six years older than the other.

=if they're old, might be wise to replace, given that they're a bastard when cold.

Noted, everyone should own a mini at some point.

Good tip. These were bought new 2 years ago so hopefully it wasent old stock .)
But i mostly wanted the wheels they just werent avaialble without the tires i guess.
Should be okay age wise i think. Will double check.

Don't enter the zone during operational hours.

Right here is a challenge, car, petrol, auto, cruise control and size of a 90's astra. Must be able to survive the death of a thousand dents.

Agreed, that is one very logical, if impractical, solution.