pshaw118

So I finally went out and bought some tires for the FD, but I don't feel like it's gripping as well as it should. I bought Yokohama AVS ES100 (225 front, 245 rear). I've been driving with bald tires for so long that I can't remember how it feels to have some stick to my tires.

It also doesn't help that most of my mods were installed when my tires were starting to lose grip.

My question is: Do you guys have problems maintaining traction when cornering in second/third gear? Could something be wrong with my diff, or do you guys think it's completely normal to break traction like that?

fdeeznutz

My car feels like it is on rails when i take a hard corner. It is probably not your tires. Do you have stock suspension? (springs,stuts,bushings) Probably worn out struts

pshaw118

my suspension is pretty new. Tanabe springs on tokico 5-ways. Had my bushings checked out too. The car corners well, I just mean that I break traction easily when I'm giving it a little gas.

I 8 A CIVIC

Don't worry, a little drifting is good for the heart.....

WVRx7

If you are breaking traction when cornering in 2nd or 3rd gear, on public highways the only failing part is the driver.

So you are saying you are cornering and accelerating mid-corner on the street at 50-60+mph and you are losing traction. And...this is happening often enough that you are asking the internet about it?

Granted, we all go out on the public roads and drive a little crazy sometimes, but your question and apparent lack of any knowledge of physics alarms me.

If you are accelerating hard enough to break traction, obviously, you should be strive to learn the behavior of the car and learn that you shouldn't press the pedal as far. Accelerating, or the act of applying power in a turn is a finesse procedure and should be done only when you know the limits of the car and the situation you are in. Applying power with the front wheels turned is WAY different than doing it in a straight line.

With that said, you probably shouldn't have staggered the tire sizes. Absolutely no reason to have 225 in the front if you moved to 245 rears. I autocrossed for several seasons on a full set of 245/45 and the car really likes that size. Having a smaller size front tire can, at the limit, cause odd handling but it cannot cause rear traction problems. If anything, it would cause understeer.

I hope you aren't as simple as your question infers. Sometimes it's scary to truly consider what some people type. I am glad I am not in the oncoming lane when you are experiencing your traction problems.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Have you had an alignment done? If you've tinkered with your suspension (lowering, etc), you need to have it realigned.

The ES100 is not a 'max' performance tire anyways (compared to AVS Sports, PZero family, etc), likely trading a bit of 'stick' for better wear.

http://tirerack.com/tires/yokohama/yokohama.jsp

pshaw118

You need to calm down. I don't know where you got the idea that I'm cornering on surface streets at 50-60mph, but I'm not doing anything nearly as stupid as that. Also, when I say I'm breaking traction, I'm not saying that I'm doing a 4 wheel drift. I'm just saying that the tires are not gripping. It has never gottten to the point that I lose control of the car.

My concern is that I'm breaking traction in 2nd and sometimes 3rd when I'm taking a corner at anywhere from 25mph up. You really have some nerve coming into this thread and basically talking **** about me and my driving abilities. I haven't driven anybody else's FD in a really long time, so I was just wondering if this was normal or if I have some problem that needs to be checked out.

The next time you feel like getting on your high horse, you better ask about the details first. I have never cornered at 50mph+ on surface streets. I do know the driving characteristics of my car. I also know that you are too quick to assume that you're better than me somehow. If you didn't have anything to contribute to my question, you should have just PM'd me your concerns about my driving abilities.

pshaw118

dclin: I think I bought something from you a couple of years back. Maybe a boost guage or tanabe springs? It was a really long time ago.

Oh yeah, alignment was done on it before I got the tires. I was going to get it realigned when I have the time.

WVRx7

I am not doubting your abilities. Your question was worded horribly.

There is little chance of breaking traction at 25mph unless it is because of too much throttle. Sure, I suppose it could happen if you had 75lbs of air in the tires, or an really messed up alignment, or if coolant was leaking from the car and getting on the rear tires.

But, if you are are not using too much throttle I just don't believe it could happen.

Your question made it sound like you are completely clueless. If you aren't, great.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

May have been a SPI gauge, never had Tanabe springs though. Have not sold parts in awhiles, but use to buy and try - then turn around and sell -parts all the time hehe.

If the camber/etc was set to factory specs, you might want to check with the track guys in the Suspension/Wheel section to see what kind of settings they use. A little more negative camber may give you a bit more traction in the corners, but at the expense of more wear along the inner edge of the tire (more traction - up to a point of course).

pshaw118

wvrx7: You're right. It was worded horribly, and I appologize for it, but it's really not easy to word something like this. How about this? Too much throttle seems to happen a little earlier than before. I think I might be breaking traction even when I'm not opening her up as much as I used to.

I was just wondering if it could mean that something on my car isn't happy. Maybe the diff is going bad?

Dclin: yeah. It was the SPI guage. It fits the interior so nicely that a lot of rex owners want one too. I'll try the adjusting the camber, but I don't see how my car would change to the point where I would have to adjust the camber to make it stick to the ground. Either way, I'll see if wearing the tires in a little makes a difference.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

What's the treadwear on those ES100s? Also, what tire pressure are you running?

rynberg

I'm with Rich and Dclin, those tires are not in the highest rank of performance tires. Have you checked your tire pressure?

Also, what mods have you done all at once? If you just added the stiffer suspension, perhaps it is set too stiff and you are actually losing contact over bumps, etc. Also, have you looked at your sway bar mounting brackets? They get bent fairly easily and could be contributing to your handling issues.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I looked at the test results at tire rack. The ES100 beat the AVS Sport in virtually every category. I suspect the AVS sport is in the ultra high category only because of it's price. At around $100 each, the ES100 is a better tire than many that cost 50% more.

I will be buying the ES100 245/45/16's all the way around when the time comes. Of course, I am a cheap bastard!!!

I don't think you are losing traction because of bad tires. You should look elsewhere to find the problem........if there is one.

pshaw118

I'll have to check my tire pressure during the weekend since I'm not currently living with Brenda. It seems that the consensus is that the tires/suspension are the culprit. I'll be sure to check everything mentioned here when I see Brenda again.

88IntegraLS

Just a thought . . wouldn't bald tires have more traction on dry pavement than treaded tires? When I was first reading up on autocross faq's I saw bald tires recommended if race tires were not to be had, the reasoning being very short or no tread giving less chance of having the tread roll and scrub under hard cornering. So if you have had bald tires for a while and had mods done with bald tires, you have no baseline for "too much throttle" on treaded tires. Even some race tires need to be shaved to work correctly . . . perhaps more tread can sometimes mean less traction.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

I could not find any test results comparing the AVS Sports to the ES100s directly (there are tests and results, but compared to other tires in their respective classification, and on different sizes and on different cars), but being as the ES100 is a newer design - I'm sure it has some improvements.

AVS Sports:

http://tirerack.com/tires/tests/max_perf.jsp

http://tirerack.com/tires/tests/avs_sport.jsp

ES100:

http://tirerack.com/tires/tests/test...eMake=Yokohama

If you are refering to the Survey result averages, these are general feedback from customers - and I seriously doubt one can rely on them except for general advice (meaning not scientific).

While everyone should realize that there are some questions regarding wear rating and how accurately it reflects differences in wear - from manufacture to manufacture and even model to model - Yokohama does rate the AVS Sport as 180 to 220, depending on size, and the ES100 as 280:

http://tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?m...odel=AVS+Sport

http://tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?m...odel=AVS+ES100

There is *usually* a correlation between wear and 'stickiness', but I would guess not always of course.

I have not heard anything bad off hand yet about the ES100s, so I'm sure they are a good street/ocassional track tire.

Tim Benton

iTrader: (1)

I think the car's mad at you for calling it Brenda and wants you to sell it to an owner who won't call it brenda

Tim

pshaw118

There lies the problem. Nobody wants to buy her. Maybe it's because I named her Brenda?

As far as the bald tires being better, nope. The new tires are WAAAAAY better than bald. I just remember my cheesy cheapo tires sticking better than these new ones are.