TheBoy

The grit and other stuff they put in the grit, does get dragged all over the place, and will have got on your tyres. Without doubt, things are more slippery at the moment - I couldn't get mine to pull away from a roundabout, or go around the next one with the rear trailing the front on Saturday, just a few hours after it had been WIMed (so I know there's not much massively wrong with the car itself). I put it down to all the grit on the motorway junction getting washed down in the rain, and dragged down by cars.

Sadly not - but we are having to "go back to basics" with this one, and I didn't think we would immediately cure all the problems by putting the standard settings back on. However, although it may be placebo effect, I reckon its definately more stable from the type of wandering that you don't feel a pull on. But I am did have a violent pull down the Wendover bypass, which is the only place on the entore journey home that I was able to exceed do the speed limit. I had an episode of this from both the front and the back. The Wendover bypass is probably about 1 mile long. Under moderate to heavy braking, the front of the car is squirming about. But now we have a geo setting that we know works for me (on my other Omega), both Omegas are pretty tight, chassis wise IMHO, so we can move on and try looking in other areas for why I can't get this pig to go where I point it. You gave me a couple of pointers, most interesting was the Merc experience with tramlining, so that will be high up my list of tasks (although I had already tried that, but with the geo as it was, we were probably fighting too many variables at the same time). The other one, with the balance issue, I've barely driven it (only back to Great Misery to drop it off to her), but the balance issue seems 100% sorted . As to the Sport Maxx RTs, when she got home from college yesterday, I asked her what she thought of the car, the reply was "what have you done to my car, I don't like it". So I can only assume that she would go along with my initial impressions above, RTs are not as stable/planted/confident as TTs

Problem arising, is with all this new eco tyre BS, and these silly new euro labelling, all the old decent tyres are going out of production. But you are right, different tyres suite different cars. Mrs TB's little old Rover (before I shoved it into a 4 car pile up ) worked really well on P6000. Nobody would ever of though a P6000 was a good tyre. We tried all sorts on it, none were much good, and always went back to the Pirelli (which was the factory fit at the time). Then Pirelli stopped the P6000, and we never did find a replacement that worked before I wrote it off. I too, traditionally used to shy away from Dunlops, until I got my first Omega, which came with SP9000. Once worn, I tried all sorts, and went back to the SP9000. That became obselete, so put on the Sport Maxx TT, and immediately leaving WIM, knew it was a great tyre for the car (it was lashing it down that day). A couple of sets later - they are only good for 11k before being pretty spent (errr, possibly illegal - actually, no possibly about it) - and they are no longer available, despite WIM's (and other outlets) best attempts on my behalf to source some in my size. So the Sport Maxx RT is the obvious replacement. Jury still out on them, as only done 150 miles due to an unforeseen problem, rectified by WIM yesterday. But I very much doubt the RTs will be a match for the TTs, and initial impressions bear that out.

I don't like them, and can never recommend them on our site. Is it really hard to get wheels with the right PCD?

How do people go about choosing tyres for there cars? I specifically referring to those who are more discerning than those that just buy something black and round, to get through the MOT. Hence asking WIMers My preferred tyre for my Omega is a Dunlop Sport Maxx TT, based on exceptional stability, good lateral grip with plenty of feedback and warning that you're on the edge, and excellent braking performance, wet or dry - the Omega is a big, heavy, 1.7T lump to stop. As always, Betamax Man has struck again, and this tyre is now no longer available. So once again, looking for another tyre. Hence wanting to know how to choose. I find tyre reviews unhelpful - what works on a Golf doesn't necessarily work on an Omega. Falken 452s and Falken 912s are clear examples of this, they are really not suited to the Omega. I found some reviews for larger, heavier, exec saloons rating Continental SC5 highly, so I slapped 4 of them on one of the Omegas a few months ago, at the cost of £700 (Gulp). The tramline like a sod, they squirm all over the place under heavy braking, and generally do not allow confidence in the car. To prove it wasn't a chassis problem, have swapped them over to my other Omega, the faults all move with the tyre. And the wear rate is really not looking good on them either, bearing in mind they have only done a thousand miles of so. The trouble with tyres now is that the high price really does exclude much in the way of experiementation, purely on cost grounds. So how do WIMers choose their tyres?

OK, cheers, I'll pass it on

What is and isn't adjustable on it? FIL has one that has a pull towards left, his local tracking place have looked and say its all OK (but we know what they're like ). Also swapped the front wheels over.

Blimey, sounds like I'm being argumentative, thats not my intention. Learning is my intention

Thats all well and good if your supplier/fitter can be trusted. Not always so ideal if supplier/fitter is tied to a supplier (eg, Central, or the indy opposite here, B&T, always recommending Cooper/Avon), or has stock on the shelves that they want shifting. There seems to be so little info on the manufacturer's websites to help in such situations (having spent most of the week pouring over the Conti, GY and Dunlop sites), the cynic in me says this is by design

Yeah but the roundabouts and speed bumps kill tyres and geometry... ...Hmmm, maybe WIM should open up in roundabout city ;D

I don't see anything to be sorry for - sounds like you pulled out for reasons of integrity/quality.

But the counter argument of that is would the same apply to a generic, non-marque specific, variant? How do we (consumers) know if the generic one on a Vauxhall is better/worse/indifferent to a Merc/Audi/Porsche/AcmeCarsLtd variant fitted to a Vauxhall? I know the answer is we don't know, but thought I'd throw it in for the purpsoses of debate and discussion

Best wishes for the future, Tony. I hope you understand that, although Atomic is more convenient for me, I will continue to use WIM.

Damn, and I didn't even get the chance to use the MK branch On the upside, I did nick a lot of WIM's coffee and scoff a lot of WIM's cakes on the open day Sounds like the split was for all the right reasons, so I applaud WIM's morals for that , even if it is a pain to get to Chesham!

OK, I'm confused (yeah, yeah, easily done, I know). Lets take SC3 for Mercs as an example. Merc make small family cars and bloomin' great exec saloons. I suspect they vary in weight/power, so not quite sure why that would need a different tyre to BMW (I know/believe there is not BMW SC3 variamt), which also does a small family car and large execs. If the compound is adjusted for, say, large execs, then is the Merc/BMW/Audi/Acme variant not suitable for the same marque's smaller models? Told you I was confuddled!

Is there any way we, as consumers, can see what the differences are? As currently, I think its impossible to make an informed choice. It also makes a mokery of any tyre test reviews that the magazines do (although I think they are only relevent if done on similar sized cars and suspension designs as your own car), as what are they testing? It all seems a black art, and the consumer is in the dark. Experimentation will be expensive, with a set of tyres costing between £600 and £1000

There are lots of different SC3, and probably other tyres, that are specifically modified for each car manufacturer. SC3, for example, is available for Porsche, Merc, Audi and 'generic'. Possibly more. What are the differences, and how are us poor consumers supposed to know about this, and what the differences are? All seems a bit naughty by the tyre industry, IMHO. As if to create confusion, making it a black art, but with the end result of consumers possibly not getting the tyre they expected/wanted. I appreciate for many customers of standard fast-fit places, a tyre is black and round, and an annoyance to have to replace for MOTs etc. Although I suspect WIM members do know better, having a better understanding of geometry, suspension and grip.

I think I need rubber wheels

To close this one, I think the amount of 'excitement' the wheel must have suffered to be so far out of true may hold some clues. Opps. Tyre now scrapped, wish I'd checked the load markings, wonder if it was low, as the Omega is a heavy old tank. Even more so with me sat in it ;D

Errr, Tony, I have a tyre almost just like that (maybe not as extreme), do you think its repairable? ;D Although, in my ownership (was on the wheel when I bought it), it hasn't been driven flat (me being anal like I am over pressures), so not entirely sure how it happened, but would concede it had been the subject of quite some stress and abuse! The type of abuse that means all my wheels are currently at Pristine Alloys

I've done Karting at the MK Daytona, and its a blast. A good long track (if they have the normal big layout, I think its 1200 meters or something daft like that), although the main straigt is uphill from a tight bend, so fattys like me struggle on that bit ;D

Shade over 2yrs

What can cause this. Its on the inner side, so not rubbed against curb, 3 splits, 3 about 3" long, other shorter, about 5mm deep. Always correctly inflated. MOT tester missed it on Friday, it was only noticed by chance on Sunday whilst we were replacing an exhaust... ...and to think the speeds it was doing over the last few days!

On behalf of the Omega Owners Forum, thanks to WIM for allowing us the opportunity to see the centre, and we even managed to get a couple of our members' cars on the ramps and have explained (and demonstrated in one case!) the common issues affecting them. Sadly, I think the weather detered many, but it was quite busy by the end The level of grip on the roads around the centre should be incredible, with the amount of rubber on the surface..... Thanks to Tony and the Team

I have Dunlop Sport MAXX on my Omega, pretty pleased with the level of grip offered in dry and in wet (managed to avoid the snow), but beginning to worry I won't get a year from them. Traditionally ran Dunlop SP9000 on this car, which used to get me around 15k/18 months before being completely knackered. I'm estimating these, on current wear rate, will not far exceed half that. Driving style is often spirited, if the grip is there, I want to use it, and since these tyres have gone on, I've had an awful lot of fun . That said, I'm a bit old to be wheelspinning, or tail wagging the car for no reason - I get my thrills from trying to do corners quickly, which invariably means not sideways. Anybody else have any opinions on these tyres on a big heavy 1.8 tonne car?