Mk2 tyre recommendations?

[Tahrey1043]

Experimentally tried to remove brake shoe. Couldn't do it. Gave it a push with the wheel brace.

WHYYYYYYYYY!!?!!?

I may have inadvertantly fixed something

Hmm!

I know exactly what you mean about the arrowspeeds.. on roundabouts I get horrendous understeer, damn nearly come off when approaching an exit a bit too vigorously on a couple of occasions. Sure, it's fun to be able to scream the tyres round the slightest of corners without even trying, but not exactly great from a handling / safety angle

Mine seem ok in the dry, but when it rains you may as well not bother going out. Totally bobbins. I'm still loath to scrap a pair of otherwise decent tyres that are ok at lower speeds while they still have tread, but what price safety? I think it would be a worthwhile investment, assuming Bob finds nothing pricey wrong tomorrow.

Managed a decent wheelspin in 2nd on a clean, if slightly damn, road last night, which is worrying when I only have 45bhp going through that pathetic excuse for a set of tyres..

Raaa! Now try to get 3rd..... Did that on the always-greasy left turn at the lights after coming off at the M5/M6 merge junction towards bham centre. Start off in 2nd as i know its tricky 24/7 for any car, but one tyre breaks away when halfway round, i think... screw it.... floor it, the revs hammer up to 5000+, do the shortest 2nd-3rd change of my life......... mega wheelspin in 3rd gear, about "50mph". Most triumphant, but scary all the same.

[GroovyCarrot]

WHYYYYYYYYY!!?!!?

Well, my policy for repairs goes something like this:
Does it unclip? No.
Does it unbolt? Maybe..
Do the springs come off? Well, might do..
Can I work out which springs are meant to come off? Must be joking.
Am I strong enough to remove any of the springs? Not a hope.
Solution: Find biggest, sturdiest lump of metal to hand, find a good pivot point, pull like hell
It took two of us about half an hour to work out where all the bits went and to work out how the hell to get them back in place..

Mine seem ok in the dry, but when it rains you may as well not bother going out. Totally bobbins. I'm still loath to scrap a pair of otherwise decent tyres that are ok at lower speeds while they still have tread, but what price safety? I think it would be a worthwhile investment, assuming Bob finds nothing pricey wrong tomorrow.

Yeah, that's what I've been telling myself.. I may not really have lots of money to play with, but my safety and other roadusers' safety are at stake with these tyres, so it's something that just has to be done.

Raaa! Now try to get 3rd..... Did that on the always-greasy left turn at the lights after coming off at the M5/M6 merge junction towards bham centre. Start off in 2nd as i know its tricky 24/7 for any car, but one tyre breaks away when halfway round, i think... screw it.... floor it, the revs hammer up to 5000+, do the shortest 2nd-3rd change of my life......... mega wheelspin in 3rd gear, about "50mph". Most triumphant, but scary all the same.

Nice one I'll make that my goal.. when I have a spare clutch plate to play with

[Tahrey1043]

re: repair policy

ah a man after my own heart, i see now i was under the impression you were more sensible than me in such matters, but never fear, not any more!

(thats kinda how mine ended up in bits - like a numpty, thought the shoes had to come off to change the cylinder, and made a complete hash of both removal and replacement... good to hear your repair went a whole lot smoother, mine was a N I G H T M A R E )

now i havent got the demon wobble going on, gonna rotate the michelins round to the front (if the garage didnt already do that - forgot to check and didnt give it any cornering/wheelspin/heavy braking stress on the way home, just found somewhere i could do a safe 65 to test it out )

[GroovyCarrot]

ah a man after my own heart, i see now i was under the impression you were more sensible than me in such matters, but never fear, not any more!

Pfft!

I think pretty much everything I do happens on a 'pull it really hard and see what happens' basis I'm not exactly afraid of experimenting with the car, as I know that almost everything about it is very simple to fix and I can always take the bus into town for a couple of days if I need to As such, I tend not to stop when I realise I don't actually have a clue what I'm doing, which leads to minor issues such as my brakes falling apart...

Following intensive braking tests (slamming on the brakes at 60mph and seeing what locks up under what pressure with various different loads), I have discovered that it tends to be the offside rear that locks up first if it's just me in the car, and that I just don't appear to have any brakes at all with a load in the back (Seriously, it takes more strength than my leg is willing to give up to lock the wheels doing a stop like that with anything heavy in the back.. I can do it from about 40, but braking from 60, by the time I'm going slow enough to lock up the brake fade cuts in and I just keep rolling. It's a bit scary really..)

So anyway, I'm thinking it might be an idea to put the michelin, which is almost brand new, on the offside rear and see if it stops it locking up so readily. Might help, I don't know.. I'll try it tomorrow and see.

Btw, what did you find was causing the shakes in the first place?

[GroovyCarrot]

Don't suppose you know what the spacing for the bolt holes should be?

[Tahrey1043]

Driveshaft weight was missing and shaking the shaft loose.

Thing is after a single trip up and down the M42 i have a feeling the problem is coming back - either that or it's that i rotated the tyres in the NCP (rather than on an exposed driveway!) and the michelins are STILL unbalanced compared to the smoooth arrowspeeds. hmm.

It'll do for a couple weeks anyway - if it gets chronic again real quick i can always go back to the garage and say... oi... you didnt put that weight on right... im trotting up the motorway at 65 and hear this CLUNK

then again i'm convinced matey reads this board so i'll have to come clean for the good of my concience! (but the same driveshafts are used for all polos up to the G40 aren't they? if it cant handle occasionally kissing 90, then what of 115-120?)

bolt holes are 100x4 arent they (if you mean what size bolt, then.. pfft! no clue! take one of your existing ones to a place that sells bolts?)


EDIT: a week on and it's dandy, or at least dandy enough for me not to fret about it any more. still a slight vibration at speed but not anything that you'd notice.. slight rattle from the stereo that could be fixed by making the mounting rails fit more firmly in place again..
one of the balancing weights on the rear wheels came loose and slid down to the bottom edge of the rim when i last washed it, however its only a 10 gram so not too worried... it being on the back too, on the naff tyres, those wheels will only end up back on the front or in an emergency, until it next has fresh rubber on - so itll be rebalanced anyhow. pushed it back up to about where it came from and recrimped it best i could with cheap pliers, seems to have worked.

[ste mk1lx]

Don't suppose you know what the spacing for the bolt holes should be?

Hi new to this but here goes the spaces should be 4 x 100 if I remember correctly.