[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Nopes. Its perfect. Enough rubbers between road and rim. 18s are overkill.

I was talking in terms of the width not the profile. I know the profile is still fine, but I don't want the car to feel slower with 225s. Since you haven't done a remap you are the best person to answer.

[prithwi-81]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I was talking in terms of the width not the profile. I know the profile is still fine, but I don't want the car to feel slower with 225s. Since you haven't done a remap you are the best person to answer.

Will give you the answer to that on friday. If you see how suspension works, the width of the tires doesnt affect acceleration, just braking and cornering, unless you go insane and go 245s

[OmThoke]

Hey Akshay congrats - I had read your thread on the Bimmer, but I wonder why one would buy a Laura despite having an Accord V6, and a 3 series in the parking lot?

I guess Mahindra XUV 500 could have been a fantastic replacement to the Innova, if not the Yeti or Ford Endeavor, and it could have fit the bill too!

Anyway, I don't want to be a spoil-sport to ruin your fun of owning a new car! Congrats again, and I guess now u've a whole lot of color options - just need a red and a yellow i guess!

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Will give you the answer to that on friday. If you see how suspension works, the width of the tires doesnt affect acceleration, just braking and cornering, unless you go insane and go 245s

I'm sure the acceleration will be the same upto 100kmph. But if you have a chance do let me know if it feels any slower accelerating above 100. 245s would definitely bog the car down some amount.

Originally Posted by OmThoke

Hey Akshay congrats - I had read your thread on the Bimmer, but I wonder why one would buy a Laura despite having an Accord V6, and a 3 series in the parking lot?

I guess Mahindra XUV 500 could have been a fantastic replacement to the Innova, if not the Yeti or Ford Endeavor, and it could have fit the bill too!

Anyway, I don't want to be a spoil-sport to ruin your fun of owning a new car! Congrats again, and I guess now u've a whole lot of color options - just need a red and a yellow i guess!

Simple. Petrol+Manual = fun no automatic can give you. Also if you read this thread you would see that we had no use for an muv the size of an Innova.

Would never buy a Mahindra, and the Ford Endeavour with its leaf springs would've broken our backs. Have got the Yeti now anyway

Lol its a year old already and done 18k kms, not new anymore.

[Akshay1234]

Just changed the sunfilm on the windows of this car to Vkool 70%. Cops did stop us once in a while with the old darker film, so decided to just switch it to a lighter film. This one apparently has better heat rejection than the film I was using before, in spite of being pretty clear.

[Akshay1234]

The tyre which had a bubble needed to be changed since the bubble had grown a fair amount. The car is at 193xx now, and I've had enough of these crappy A-Drive R1s. So decided to bite the bullet and change all the tyres. Got 225/50 R16 Michelin PS3s. First impressions are that the drive is much smoother, and the ride seems to be better. Will update you guys later after a spin at night.

[karan561]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

The tyre which had a bubble needed to be changed since the bubble had grown a fair amount. The car is at 193xx now, and I've had enough of these crappy A-Drive R1s. So decided to bite the bullet and change all the tyres. Got 225/50 R16 Michelin PS3s. First impressions are that the drive is much smoother, and the ride seems to be better. Will update you guys later after a spin at night.

Do tell us what your driver/chauffeur feels of the change too as he's gonna drive the car > 50% of time

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by karan561

Do tell us what your driver/chauffeur feels of the change too as he's gonna drive the car > 50% of time

He finds the drive smoother as of now. He drives it more than 50% of the time, I only take the car out at nights on some days. Well my chauffeur is certainly having more fun than yours in the Scala

[Akshay1234]

PS3 Update -

Took the car for a spin last night. The first thing you notice while walking to the car is that the stance has improved. Earlier the car looked a bit undertyred, but now with the fatter tyres it looks great. The wheels are still a tad bit inside the arches, and not flush, spaces would probably solve that.

Now the driving bit, the first thing you notice is that the car feels a lot more smooth. The tyres make the inside much more silent than the stock NCT5s or the A Drive R1s that I was using. The smaller bumps are just absorbed, and you don't feel or hear a thing. Earlier you would feel a little bump and hear the suspension working.

Don't get me wrong, the suspension still does make noise. Just less of it. The ride is now just about 15% stiffer than a normal Laura, earlier I would have said it was about 30% stiffer.

Larger bumps are still felt, but it still feels a little more plush than earlier. The whole car feels a bit more premium due to the smoother ride and less tyre noise.

Now for the handling, the body sway is reduced. Also the feeling of the tail losing grip while taking a corner hard seems to be gone. The car feels more nimble and because of the body roll being reduced it gives that much more confidence.

The grip while accelerating too is highly improved. On most roads the traction control light doesn't come on in 1st now, and just blinks a bit while shifting into 2nd. My biggest concern was the car feeling slower because of getting 20mm wider stickier tyres, but to be honest I can't make out any difference.

All in all, totally worth it. Definitely something vRS owners should do.

[karan561]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

PS3 Update -

Took the car for a spin last night. The first thing you notice while walking to the car is that the stance has improved. Earlier the car looked a bit undertyred, but now with the fatter tyres it looks great. The wheels are still a tad bit inside the arches, and not flush, spaces would probably solve that.

Now the driving bit, the first thing you notice is that the car feels a lot more smooth. The tyres make the inside much more silent than the stock NCT5s or the A Drive R1s that I was using. The smaller bumps are just absorbed, and you don't feel or hear a thing. Earlier you would feel a little bump and hear the suspension working.

Don't get me wrong, the suspension still does make noise. Just less of it. The ride is now just about 15% stiffer than a normal Laura, earlier I would have said it was about 30% stiffer.

Larger bumps are still felt, but it still feels a little more plush than earlier. The whole car feels a bit more premium due to the smoother ride and less tyre noise.

Now for the handling, the body sway is reduced. Also the feeling of the tail losing grip while taking a corner hard seems to be gone. The car feels more nimble and because of the body roll being reduced it gives that much more confidence.

The grip while accelerating too is highly improved. On most roads the traction control light doesn't come on in 1st now, and just blinks a bit while shifting into 2nd. My biggest concern was the car feeling slower because of getting 20mm wider stickier tyres, but to be honest I can't make out any difference.

All in all, totally worth it. Definitely something vRS owners should do.

Woah ! Thats quite a bit of testing you have done in a night, from the potholes to acceleration to cornering

Btw, how many kms have you clocked with the new tires ? I mean have you run in your tires ? I say this because the performance will improve once the mold release agent is scrubbed off (In aprox 500 kms i.e.)

Btw, pics

[Ace F355]

Hi Akshay, long time no see. I was reading about your A Drive R1s. Quite an unfortunate incident you narrated. Luckily, I have done close to 36000 Kms on my car running on R1s and haven't had any issues. You might be surprised to know that one front tyre even survived going over a full piece of brick at about 65 kph! The damn alloy was gone bad yet the tyre survived!!! Sheer luck may be. I anyway feel that I need to change tyres soon as I find them too skittish now with just a few mm of thread left. What do u think, which tyres should I go for now?

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Hi Akshay, long time no see. I was reading about your A Drive R1s. Quite an unfortunate incident you narrated. Luckily, I have done close to 36000 Kms on my car running on R1s and haven't had any issues. You might be surprised to know that one front tyre even survived going over a full piece of brick at about 65 kph! The damn alloy was gone bad yet the tyre survived!!! Sheer luck may be. I anyway feel that I need to change tyres soon as I find them too skittish now with just a few mm of thread left. What do u think, which tyres should I go for now?

Yeah the R1s are quite tough, they wouldn't have got damaged had I not been forced to drive on the flat for a tiny distance.

If the roads you drive on are fine, without too many potholes, etc then check out the Advan Sports or the PS3s which I just got.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

All in all, totally worth it. Definitely something vRS owners should do.

Noted. As you said the stock tyres do look under-tyred.

Thanks for the regular updates Akshay, much appreciate it. My car has just gone over the 15k mark (Service slot booked in on Friday) in 8 months, I should be in the market looking for new tyres soon (Had set 20k as an upgrade timeframe), was thinking of the S-Drives, the PS3's seems to be an excellent alternative in the event I cannot manage the Yokos.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

PS3 Update -

Took the car for a spin last night. The first thing you notice while walking to the car is that the stance has improved. Earlier the car looked a bit undertyred, but now with the fatter tyres it looks great. The wheels are still a tad bit inside the arches, and not flush, spaces would probably solve that.

Now the driving bit, the first thing you notice is that the car feels a lot more smooth. The tyres make the inside much more silent than the stock NCT5s or the A Drive R1s that I was using. The smaller bumps are just absorbed, and you don't feel or hear a thing. Earlier you would feel a little bump and hear the suspension working.

Don't get me wrong, the suspension still does make noise. Just less of it. The ride is now just about 15% stiffer than a normal Laura, earlier I would have said it was about 30% stiffer.

Larger bumps are still felt, but it still feels a little more plush than earlier. The whole car feels a bit more premium due to the smoother ride and less tyre noise.

Now for the handling, the body sway is reduced. Also the feeling of the tail losing grip while taking a corner hard seems to be gone. The car feels more nimble and because of the body roll being reduced it gives that much more confidence.

The grip while accelerating too is highly improved. On most roads the traction control light doesn't come on in 1st now, and just blinks a bit while shifting into 2nd. My biggest concern was the car feeling slower because of getting 20mm wider stickier tyres, but to be honest I can't make out any difference.

All in all, totally worth it. Definitely something vRS owners should do.

I also have PS3 225/45/17. Have done around 6K kms so far. And I can vouch for it! The actual characteristics will show up once you cross the first 1K kms. As mine is 45/17 profile, the ride is a bit harsh on hard tarmac, but on soft asphalt, it is too much fun.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

I also have PS3 225/45/17. Have done around 6K kms so far. And I can vouch for it! The actual characteristics will show up once you cross the first 1K kms. As mine is 45/17 profile, the ride is a bit harsh on hard tarmac, but on soft asphalt, it is too much fun.

I'm aware of that This is my second set of PS3s. My Bimmer is running 225/45 R17 PS3s too.