More stuff on Proxes.............

Anonymous · August 4, 2004, 10:04

Ok then. had the Proxes fitted this morning. They look nice!!!

First impressions..............well, I KNOW they have to be scrubbed in and maybe I am jumping the gun here, but they certainly don't seem as "direct" as the Bridgies that have just come off. Grip levels seem lower (although, I hope someone is going to tell me that this gets better the more scrubbed they are) and the reactions seems quite a bit slower too. Ride and noise definately seem better though, although I am yet to check if the fitter inflated them to the correct pressures yet.

So, all in all, I wouldn't say I am dissapointed (yet) but after all the good noises from people with them on here, I would say I wasn't expecting such a large difference in the feel of the car either.

I will wait another 200miles or so and see what they are like then. Hope you lot haven't been joshing me.................. s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

GSB · August 4, 2004, 10:07

You have to scrub them in, they are truly awful until thats done! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

markiii · August 4, 2004, 10:16

yep takes a coupel fo hundred miles. and you'll need slightly higher pressures than teh stones.

Anonymous · August 4, 2004, 11:06

Right oh. I did think they felt a bit.........poor. When you say "slightly higher" Mark, you got recommendations? I did a search on this, but there seems to be a lot of different preferances.........

SteveJ · August 4, 2004, 11:26

The reason they are quieter is the less rigid side-wall construction, which in turn is why they are somewhat 'vague'

Once you get use to the slightly strange feel on the rear of the car, they are not bad, but as I have commented elsewhere the TC & VSC lights seem to be on a lot more since I changed to Proxes (as compared to the RE040's) and the Proxes have now covered 8k miles so I would consider them well and truly scrubbed in.

For the price they cant be beaten, but as an out-and-out performance tyre they are certainly not the best.

markiii · August 4, 2004, 11:42

well, while steve is partially correct, you have to ask yourself how you define a performance tyre?

the proxies biggest strengths apart from price, are wet weather, 2nd only to S03 and F1's, and feel, sure the overall grip may not be as high as an re040 but they tramline less and are way more communicative.

Your not going to be needign ultimate dry grip or teh most pinsharp response on teh road. because you won't drive at 10 10ths, personally I'd rather know what teh car is doing and teh proxies are ways easier to hang teh arse out on, precisely because of that.

having said which get the pressures right and they are surprisingly good on track as MPH and I can testify.

I would raise front and rears by a coupel fo PSI over stock and see if that helps. personal preference may need more. The reason I say that is personally I ruan teh stones at 2psi below the manual to tame the understeer, so my front proxies are now back at factory pressures.

depends on what your starting from.

if you want me exact PSIs I seem to remember 27 front and 34/36 rear worked best for me.

Anonymous · August 4, 2004, 11:50

Right oh then guys. Cheers for the help. will check the pressures when I get home tonight and then take it out for a blast and see what happens. Want to get the miles on it now to see how they REALLY perform!!! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

Tem · August 4, 2004, 17:25

Quote from: "John Woodward"Bridgies that have just come off

Did you have the RE040's..?

Anonymous · August 5, 2004, 10:32

Yeah, I did. Original stock ones with 30K on them!!!! s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Needless to say there wasn't a lot left of them! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anonymous · August 5, 2004, 14:08

Quote from: "John Woodward"Yeah, I did. Original stock ones with 30K on them!!!! s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Needless to say there wasn't a lot left of them! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

How ON EARTH did you get 30k miles from a set? My car hasn't done 10k yet and I reckon there's no more than 2k left on the rears. Must be the way the wife drives! s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · August 5, 2004, 15:30

Unfortunately Andy, most of my driving is motorway driving. Doesn't mean to say I do "give it some" when I can, cos I do. But that opportunity is reasonably rare. So, the tyres don't get the hammering they should probably.

But its bloody good fun when I DO "give it some"!!!!! s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 09:13

Ok then. Coming up to 150 miles on the Proxes, so not COMPLETELY scrubbed in yet. Checked the pressures and the fitter had them at 30psi all the way around! So, inflated the rears to 34 and left the fronts as they were. Seemed to make a little difference, but not a lot. So might start experiementing.

But one question. I think I know the answer to this as it should be pretty obvious, but I want to check in case I am horribly mistaken and making an arse of myself........

If I inflate more, it SHOULD, in theory, make the side walls stiffer, hence should make the steering that little sharper, should it not? Like I said, I realise that they are still not properly scrubbed in, but even at 30psi on the front, I still seem to have a very small "delay" in turn in with them on compared to the Bridgestones. I liked that feeling of lightening responsiveness with the Bridgies, yet I don't seem to be getting it with the Proxes so far. Even at that pressure. So, would deflating them make it worse or better, or maybe should I inflate them more? More than 30 on the from seems a little excessive.................

Am I wrong on this? Any ideas? I realise I the car isn't going to feel EXACTLY like it did before with different tyres on, but I do miss that directness that the Bridgies gave. Will that come back?

But what I will say is that this morning was the first time I have driven in the wet (and pretty damn wet it was too!!!) with them on and BOY do they feel planted compared to the Bridgies!!! I am VERY impressed with the feel in the wet with them on, I have to say. So that is a BIG bonus.

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 10:05

Over-inflating the tyres will adversly affect the contact patch of the tyre - there will actually be LESS tyre on the road. You'll actually wear them out in the centre far quicker by overinflating meaning you're left with good tread on the edges thus wasting what could've been a good tyre...
This happenned to me with a set of F1's set to 33/34psi. Personally I'd go with 27/28psi on the fronts; and 31/32psi on the rears with the '2.

HTH

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 10:07

Forgot to add: overinflating the rears will make the '2 (or any rear drive car) more tail happy and prone to snap-oversteer.

HTH

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 11:14

Thanks Noble. I actually understand that though, so what I was wondering about the inflation of the tyres having an effect on the "stiffness" of the side wall and therefor affecting the response and reaction of the tyre on turn in. Just seems a little slow to me compared to the Bridgies at the moment.

I am going to experiment with pressures I think. I might deflate the pressures on the front to maybe 1psi over stock and make the rears nearer stock I think. See what happens there, although I know people have said that with the Proxes they are better slighly over stock pressures. I suppose it is all down to personal preference in the end isn't it?.......... s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 12:43

You'll probably find that upping the pressures will indeed make it feel stiffer but remember at the consequence of a less progressive feel and a smaller contact patch as mentioned above. It's up to you whether you feel this is a satisfactory compromise... Try F27/R32psi and see how you get along. Otherwise just burn 'em out and get a new set of Bridgestone S03's or Advan Neova's. I was in a discussion similar to this a while back where I asked which tyres had stiff sidewalls.

Anonymous · August 9, 2004, 12:48

Yeah think I am going to drop the front pressures and see how that goes. I might level the rears out to stock too and see what happens.

With my driving on the motorway all the while though, I reckon these tyres could be on the car for quite some time to come yet.......... s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Don't get me wrong. I am not dissing them. They could turn out to be fantastic tyres cos I haven't really got them scrubbed it and I am not making judgement now. I have just spent £170 on them!!! Just being new, I get a bit paranoid about things..........

Will keep people posted..........