littlebrownbike

Just a case of having a retarded moment, you wouldnt think I'm Rospa gold would you? LOL I must have jinxed myself, as eariler that day I said to my friend "My car has not needed anything but maintenance in the past 7 months". Edit: Steering aint quite straight, do you think I've bent something or just a case of the car needing alignment? No bangs or clunks full lock to full lock.

To be honest I c**k about in the snow almost every day (on quiet roads with no-one about of course), just today it finally caught up with me. Leason learnt, no more fun in the snow :-)

Today I was being a c**k and deserved what I got!! About 10mph on a slight curve, I quickly put full lock on and gunned the throttle in 2nd gear and lit up both front wheels. Lifted off as I normal do and unwinded the steering expecting to cure the understeer, except it didn't - infact it did sod all, and straight into the curb I went! Which is strange really, because today was far from the coldest day we've had and I've done exactly the same on the same bend countless times. I did try and put on as much lock as possible at the last minute, hoping to engage the ESP, and it worked - sort of, the nose of the car was pointing where I wanted to but it slid sideways and bounced off. I thought I may have gotten away with it as the tyres have massive rim protectors on, but unfortunately not!! Car seems to drive as before, and the wheel is straight, so hopefully its just a case of refurbing the wheel. Theres another £60 down the swanny!! Oh well, could be worse. Pictures included for your amusement P.S. Before the hate rolls in, this is my first accident and I've been driving for over 4 years P.S. Potenza's are crap in winter, compared to F1's and Toyos!!

So, very slim change off handling benefits, with the disadvantage of durability. What about comfort, do they squeak like normal poly bushes?

Tony, can you explain what the pros and cons are of the above mods? I have NO idea if those bushes are good or bad. I dont plan on getting any, its just to put my curious mind at ease. (dont see the point in doing it on a mk3 Mondeo, as the standard wishbone bushes seem to be wear proof!

If we look at the top two bushes on this page (front & rear lower arm bushes); http://www.powerflex.co.uk/products/Mondeo...%29-2410/1.html Whats the opinion on these - worth the hassle, any noticable differencem any befit to being able to adjust the caster? Crucially, do they affect the ride, handling and comfort of a vehicle?

I'm glad you posted this Tony as I got caught out and was quite embarrassed, as I take pride in keeping my car in tip top condition, how could I have overlooked something as simple as tyre wear I think its just because I assumed my car was well looked after that I didnt keep a closer eye on my tyres.

Yes I have read that thank you, and I have also tested them out. Sadly though they are more noisy than my F1's which was a dissapointment, but definately less hard.

Actually its not in the manual, and its not just me that can't find the answer, a search on google & mondeo forums reveals that there is no official information regarding to the mk3 mondeo and tyre load indexs. However I jsut rang bridgestone technical, very friendly people, he advised me that the Z meant BMW 3 series but wouild be ok on my Mondeo, and that according to his data 88W is fine for the Mondeo ST220.

Also load index is 88Y...so many people on mondeo forums insist you need 92Y XL but fail to back this up. Its not in the manual or stamped on the car anywhere, and having 88Y all round still provides an excess of 265kg over the vehicles gross weight. Also, bridgestones tyre selector returns 88W for my Mondeo.

Excellent thank you, the garage insisted my steering wheel won't be straight with new tyres.

How sure are you? I have googled compound codes re040 but got little results, although I did find some variants having no compound code so I guess "Z" must mean something. May give bridgestone technical a ring.

Ok on the sidewall in big letters it says RE040 and shows a star...in smaller letters it says RE040Z. Whats the news? Edit: Tyres speed rating are Y, so the Z isn't referring to that.

I hope so too...I'm sure it wouldn't cause unduly harm even if it was designed for a Lexus, but still nice to know. I will have a proper look in the morning, neighbours mustthink im weird looking at car tyres with a torch at this time of night.

Just had a look now, can't say it said anything, perhaps its just generic?

it would appear they do not affect a cars handling though? I have just read that E46 M3 has 87 indexed tyres as standard, one would assume if they had handling benefits then BMW would have reeped them.

Will have a look tomorrow, how do the compounds differ?

Excellent, in that case my alignment should match the above picture, saying that I did hit a massive bump in the road!!! The operator told me a car needs aligning with every new set of tyres, this matches what I read in a fast ford / performance ford magazine when they did a feature on a certain company down south. But I take WIM's word for it!

Air Pressure (psi) 20 23 26 29 32 35 38 41 P235/75R15 SL 1543 1635 1753 1852 1940 2028 P235/75R15 XL 1543 1635 1753 1852 1940 2028 2105 2183 Note: 35 psi is the assigned "maximum load" pressure for standard load tires and 41 psi is the assigned "maximum load" pressure for extra load tires. The above chart correctly shows that an extra load tire is not rated to carry any more load than a standard load tire when both are inflated to the same pressure (up to the standard load tire's "maximum load" pressure of 35 psi). This is because a tire's load capacity is a function of its size (which determines the size of the "air chamber"), its construction (which determines how much pressure can be held) and the actual air pressure used (which determines how many air molecules are forced inside the chamber). All tires with equivalent physical dimensions carry equivalent loads (until they reach their maximum load pressure).

Found this; "Extra Load tyres are designed to be used at higher pressures than normal tyres. They have the same maximum load capacity as a normal tyre with the same Load Index but achieve this at a higher pressure. Normal tyres are inflated to pressures between 2 bar and 2.5 bar. They reach the maximum load capacity as specified by the Load Index when inflated to 2.5 bar (35psi) Eg for a Load Index of 94 this is 670kg. Extra Load tyres can be inflated to pressures up to 2.9 bar (41psi) and actually have a lower load capacity at the same pressure as a normal tyre with the same Load Index. To get the 670kg load capacity for a Load Index of 94, an Extra Load tyre must be inflated to 2.9 bar. At 2.5bar it will only have a load capacity of 595kg. Use the tyre specified by the vehicle manufacturer and inflated to the pressures they specify. Differing from this could be dangerous or at least uncomfortable with a harsher ride."

Would have preferred Eagle F1's again but I was in a rush and the RE040 were the only suitable tyres the garage had for my car. Can we get a general opinion on these tyres? After 160 miles I can say they grip well in the dry, rather well in fact, they are more comfortable than the F1's they replace but they appear louder over rough surfaces. Apparently they aren't great in the wet or the cold, which is worrying as winter is coming fast. However I drive sensible in such conditions so shouldn't really be a problem. The real test for me is will they get me up and down my hilly estate in the snow, and will they work well on a dry & warm lap of the nurburgring?? Final note, what are these tyres like for wear? I got 18,400 miles out of my Eagle F1's so would ideally like to see the same.

This I have wondered for years, its easy to say "XL tyres have reinforced sidewalls", but there must be more to it than that. What I want to know is, why, and whats the benefit? For example, lets say we have have two tyres, same make & model,....one is 92Y and the other is 92Y XL. Off the top of my head each tyre can hold 680kg, but what can the XL tyre do that the non-XL can't?

Thats appauling, at least the local VW & Merc dealers here have the decentcy to send all their cars to the local 4 wheel laser alignment centre... That digital gauge, can I ask where you got it from? Cool as fook!

Lads, 2 questions. I got my alignment done 1000 miles ago, but have now had 2 new tyres fitted. Will my alignment be out again? If so, I have done 160 miles on my new tyres, will they have started to wear funny already? (as in getting it stuck in their memory). I really hope I dont have to spend another £70 on alignment!! (and yes I should have got them changed before the alignment...)

It would appear so, anyway I've just hit the biggest pothole I've ever hit, so now my alignment really will be knackered. Why do I bother!!!