Winter rims & tyres

[frenk]

Greetings from snowy Switzerland!

In our mountainous country winter tyres are mandatory. We usually swap them by the end of October and mid April, respectively. Most drivers have also winter rims that are stored with fitted tyres at the dealer’s due to lacking space at home.

My RS runs now on 18″ BBS SX Crystal Black:

http://bbs.com/de/produkte/design_line/SX.php

The tyres are Pirelli Sottozero 3 225/40 R18 92H:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Pirelli/Winter-Sottozero-3.htm

The rims look gorgeous (when clean and in sunlight, a condition not often found in winter though) and they fit over the 350 mm discs with the Brembos. The tyre is very, very difficult when new. The first 500 kilometers the car behaves like a pregnant cow running downhill. Now it’s fine and the max. speed of 210 km/h is fair enough.

You guys in Britain probably don’t need them. But in case of reversed climate change that would be my approved suggestion 😉

Cheers

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Revo Stage 1 – JCR super low seating frame – Mishimoto gas pedal spacer – DSC sport controller

[Kenny]

What do you do with the valve stems for pressure monitor on aftermarket wheels?

[frenk]

@Kenny: the BBS rims are compatible with most pressure monitoring systems. But I haven’t looked closely into it personally. I know my Ford dealer for 16+ years now. He always put BBS winter wheels on all my past cars, Mondeos, Focus, Fiesta. Tyre brands may change though but I never had any problems.

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Revo Stage 1 – JCR super low seating frame – Mishimoto gas pedal spacer – DSC sport controller

[frenk]

@Kenny: On second thought a few notes on tyres and pressure from my point of view. I’m sure you are quite knowledgable in this subject.

As you know tyres are the only contact zone between the car and the tarmac. The surface area is just about the size of one DIN A4 paper for a 1.6 ton moving vehicle. Thus tyre choice and pressure are the most important safety parameters you can possibly have, not only for cornering but also for braking. I always recommend mounting winter tyres. Not because of the rain or snow, but because of the much improved performance of the softer rubber mix at temperatures below 7° centigrade. I do not advocate all-season tyres at all. Sometimes temperatures do not correspond to the season. But it is safer to drive a winter tyre at 20° than a summer tyre at 5° provided the maximum speed is respected. Actually, this week we had about 10 accidents around Basel due to snow fall. Some lunatics wrecked their cars by overtaking in summer tyres. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured.

Ford’s recommendation of standard tyre pressure in the RS is I think 2.5 bar front (36 psi) and 2.3 bar rear (33 psi). My preferences are a bit higher. First I like it harder, the steering feels more alive and precise. I don’t like that soft, sticky feeling in turns when the pressure is low. Second if you’re on the Deutsche Autobahn (I live close to the border so there are good chances for an occasional joy ride 😉 )  for hours at 200 km/h it simply feels safer. So I’m running at 2.9 bar front (42 psi) and 2.7 bar rear (39 psi) and I love it.  I had the impression that the lower rear pressure helps stabilizing the cornering. I wonder how you guys in Britain think about that.

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Revo Stage 1 – JCR super low seating frame – Mishimoto gas pedal spacer – DSC sport controller

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