On Wed, 04 May 2005 22:10:43 GMT, "Tony Rickard"
> wrote:

>
>"Zathras" wrote:
>
>> Sorry..it IS old fashioned and you are wrong. Newer, more advanced
>> thought, considers it very bad to loose grip at the rear first. You
>> put your best tyres on the rear so the front looses grip first
>> (hopefully). This you can see and react to in a way you can't if the
>> rear goes first. The reasoning applies for all road vehicles. It's all
>> been explained here, and in other places, several times so, if you
>> need further clarification, do a google search.
>
>I accept that losing the rear can be harder to control, however, the
>majority of "offs" IMHO are through simply understeering off.

That's not the point though. If you're going so fast that the car will
understeer off the road, having the good tyres anywhere probably will
not help much.

>Having said
>all that there are many other factors such as weight distribution (having a
>20 odd stone of people in the back, a boot full of compost etc.) that
>probably have a greater influence.

Having the mother-in-law in the back seat should not affect where you
put your tyres - maybe their pressures though!

>Add to that the nut behind the wheel
>doing daft things like abruptly braking mid bend or failing to read road
>conditions (the sign said 40mph therefore I must be able to go round this
>bend in a monsoon at 40mph) and I am unconvinced a small difference between
>front and back tyres really make the difference between spinning off and
>staying in control.

Having driven non-Alfas in the past, I can assure you that I've
experienced a huge difference. The 156 isn't too bothered, being
better balanced than some, but it's max cornering speed is also poor
compared to many cars these days.

>However, a soft front and a hard rear maybe sufficient to change the
>balance.

I'd be surprised if the small hardness and softness difference of
modern road tyres had that much of an effect compared to wear
differences.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)