some questions about tyres..please help me sifu!

[FVel]

Good thread.

I have a question regarding tyre pressures.

I appreciate if someone can confirm when is the proper time to take a pressure reading on the tyres.

Should I do this in the morning before the car has been driven, when the tyres are still cold ??

I'm using an Intercomp Tyre gauge (Made by Goodyear USA) which I bought recently.

 

[mir_nofx]

in the morning i guess..cz heat will xpand the air rite? so not right already the reading maybe..but won't coldness effect the air too?
datz my 1/2 cent only..ask for someone with 50 cents..cz i'm a newbie only..
u seem pretty concerned with ur tyre pressure yea? since u even bought ur own device to see the pressure..
u using anything extraordinary?
anyway let the sifus answer this question!

 

[GT_AUTO]

imo,whether in cold or hot it doesn't matter as we r not using race tyre.the
gauge is for u to check out ur tyre whether it's inflated properly or not.
what i mean is that sometimes after 1-2 month after u last inflated ur tyre,
u want to know whether u need to re inflate it or not.that's all.unlike racing
tyre where the road surface n air temperature is important to determine how
well the tyre will perform under specific tyre pressure.correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[FVel]

Interesting replies.

I'm using Yokohama Advan AD07. Previously I had tyres with uneven wear but really didn't care enough, but these AD07s are by far the best tyres I have put on my car. Understandably, I wanted to ensure they are well taken care of. I've had my alignment done and fussily enough I now only chose one tyre shop that I trust to do my tyres.

I notice there's quite a bit of difference in pressures from a cold undriven tyre. I drive an Iswara and without the benefit of a power steering so I can actually feel the difference in steering weight as the tyre gets up to temperature. I took a reading this morning on the fronts (28psi) and the rears (27psi) which is under the 'recommended' pressure for the Iswara. By 'recommended' pressure, I am referring to the 29psi that most people (including the tyre mechanics) seem to suggest for the Iswara. It could be a generalization...I won't know without some proper monitoring specifically on tyre wear with my car on my suspension.

After driving the car from home to work (about 6 km), I took another reading. The pressures have risen to 30psi fronts and 29psi rears. I'm aiming for 30.5psi fronts and 29psi rears.

The question for anyone technical enough to answer this is :- when people talk about recommended pressures, do they mean "Get your recommended pressure on a cold tyre" or do they mean "Start at a lower pressure on cold tyres and then let the pressure work itself up to recommended pressure as the tyre heats up from driving."

So...anyone like to take a stab at this one ?

 

[GT_AUTO]

with pressure varies around 1psi ,i don't think it will effect ur tyre much.

 

[mir_nofx]

guys..got one question ere..not as hard as FVel's question though..hehe

i'm quite concerned if my tyre wears unevenly..maybe due to alignment or smthing like dat..so how do i tell if my car needs alignment (apart from telling when ur goin in a straight lane then when u let go of the stering it goes into another lane) and how much does it usually cost?

cz i think i wana install the strut bar..and after dat do alignment since u guys said it'll make the alignment stay dat way longer..
and wuts the difference and the pros and cons btween a 2 point strut..4point strut..? is there a 3point?

 

[GT_AUTO]

at my plc,they charge for rm18 for alignment.i think kl price is the same.
for strut bar,there's 3 point bar from ultra.it's cost around rm160.it perform
slightly better then the 2 point bar.for ur alignment concern,why not check
once in every 4 month.

 

[satria_95]

mir_nofx,
Seems to me like you're quite concern about stability and handling factor. Well, me too. hahaha I'm also driving a satria. What I did was I changed my front 2 point top strut bar (at engine bay) to a 4 point strut bar. The bar is quite thick.
Then I installed 3 point strut bar in the boot. The handling improved quite a lot. Another thing I had in my car is rear anti roll bar which came standard with my car. I think my front also has anti roll bar. I later change my absorbers to HWL high-low adjustables. Feels quite nice when taking corners hard.
But to be honest, I won't do so much hard cornering with a satria 1.3. My personal opinion is this;
I like to approach a corner fast. I would then brake last minute and do a heel toe to keep the rev going high while I drop 1 or 2 gears. I'll enter the corner a bit carefully, and once I'm into the corner, I'll floor my accelerator till I exit the corner. Of course, the process will be different if it's a big full circle, the circle that takes you from damansara highway to jalan duta.
Now, having said that, I feel that if your car ain't got enough power to pull you out of the corner while doing high speed cornering, you may lose control of your car in a sense that your car may still go forward even though your wheels are already turned. I think they call this under steer or something.
So you may want to be a bit careful by slowly testing your car's handling bit by bit until you feel how much your car can take. I'm not saying that my car is powerful or anything but just sharing my experience with you because I did have close shave experiences before. hehehe

I actually just sold my AD07 (2 pieces) 195/50/R15 for RM125 per piece. hehe Now I'm back with my 14" using Falken Azenis ST115. I think it's 185/60R14. Surprisingly, these tyres are quite grippy even for just 14" hehe

 

[GT_AUTO]

i've use 14" before.rays wheel on a DNA GP tyre(es 100).damn syiok.

 

[mir_nofx]

waa..downgrade from 15 to 14 ar? why ar? fc? or just wana try?
errm..i think i'll install a front strut soon maybe..3 point maybe based on wut u guys said better..but a rear bar will be inside the bonnet right for satria?
that'll be inconvenient then if i want to put larger things inside..

so maybe i'll just go with the front..i heard dat diz guy frm a shop says that the ultra racing, UTR, and one more brand (can't rmember) he said dat it's all from the same factory but just different brands..so meaning if i choose the lowest price it'll still be the same quality right? how about zenden strut bar? any comments? my range of choice maybe..zenden, ultra racing or UTR..

 

[GT_AUTO]

i don't think it's from the same company lar cos that day i read in the news
paper ultra is taking legal action on utr cos utr use identical name selling
same parts as ultra.

for me leh,if the product perform the same as the other brand but cheaper,
i don't mind using it.it's all up to u mir_nofx.i'm myself using 2 point only
cos scared if there's a frontal collision,the third bar might push the firewall
inward in to the cockpit.

 

[king_jamez]

hi guys...i have a problem with my wheel allignment recently...my car tends to steer to whichever side that i had turned to...done all my allignment n camber..the guys at the workshop said that i my steering box mounting is faulty n it's giving freeway to the steering rack so it tends to go whichever way tat i steer to...i need advice from all the sifus out there...pls help me out...they quoted me rm80 to fiz both mountings...is that the rite price if it is the problem??

 

[FVel]

with pressure varies around 1psi ,i don't think it will effect ur tyre much.

OK thanks. I just make a routine every two days to check the pressures and top up if slightly below the level I aimed for. The tyre pressure gauge I bought is very handy for this.

 

[GT_AUTO]

make it every 2 weeks la bro.every 2 days is not that convenient.

 

[Maxx]

Tire Tech - Where to Install New Pairs of Tires?

 

[satria_95]

mir_nofx,
The rear bar is installed in the boot area, not the bonnet area. The bonnet area is the engine bay. Try installing 3 point front and 3 point rear. The thing about 3 point rear is that it will take up a certain amount of space in your boot so you lose that bit of space.

 

[m@ttz]

hmm.. agreed wit s95, 4 points bar front n 3 points bar rear giv a lot improvement on driving, n dont 4get for antiroll bar for rear n front (if ur car dont hav it), the best to get evo3 front lower arm, damn nice cornering n hi speed..

btw s95, when u wanna install another bar?? hehe.. waiting for ur feedback on it..

 

[satria_95]

mattz,
When I have the money and especially the time lor. Past few weeks been working like no day no night. sigh. All for a measly 2 packets of peanuts a month. sigh sigh...

 

[m@ttz]

wah..workaholic person, nevermind la, soon u will headache to think wat to do wit ur money, hehe..

btw, last time i saw green 1.6 satria wit plat no. 'Satria 95' at klang, is dat u??

 

[satria_95]

mattz,
I ain't no workaholic but the nature of my job takes up almost all my time and after 7 years of working and slugging my health to the bottom, I still don't get rm3k for my basic. So basically, it's blardy demotivating but just working for survival. No la, my plate is normal plate only hehehe I use satria_95 nick name cos my car is manufactured in year 1995. hehe