I got a new A3 Sportback 2.0TDI SE a couple of months ago and its fine apart from the ride which is pretty unsettled. The car runs on 16" wheels and Bridgestone tyres but I noticed that the standard tyre pressures seem unusually high for a smallish and relatively lightweight car. Has anyone experimented with lower tyre pressures successfully on this wheel/tyre combination? I have read that poor ride quality is an Audi trait in the UK.
I agree that the factory pressure recommendations are a bit overrated. After a lot of testing I found that the best grip in my A4 can be obtained at 2.1 atmospheres (cold tyres), which is two tenths down from spec. I imagine factory recommendation tries to make up for some possible short term neglect. It's hard to believe how much more comfort and stability you can get from that tiny adjustment.
On another note, a few years ago, I had my winter tyres installed but some green mechanic set rear pressure at a whopping 2.8 atm. As I was not aware of that and I'd just collected the car, I nearly had an accident when overtaking at some 140 km/h, when the car exhibited a severe instance of oversteering all of a sudden, which had never happened before.
Basically, what happens when you overinflate the tyre is that the contact surface decreases with more stress on the central part of the band, and general "nervousness" as exhibited by the car. This translates into sudden unpredictable behaviour. The only slight advantage if you drive slowly is that less contact surface means slightly increased mileage. And yes, I do know that theoretical physics will tell you that friction force is not dependant on surface, but in the real world it does make a difference.
Underinflating can be even more dangerous, especially in the summer, when driving at high speed on the motorway could potentially cause the tyre to burst because of increased friction causing rubber temps to soar. Even if that doesn't happen the tyre gets quickly worn out and mileage may decrease dramatically.
Basically, I would suggest trying some tenths down at low speed and check grip. There is no doubt that optimal pressure equals the best possible grip. Then, on those instances when you're planning to see rather a lot of the motorway get those tenths back in.
My two cents,
JP Roberts
"Narin Ganesh" escribió en el mensaje news:ZTLke.15480$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net...
Audi has been critisized in the UK for their poor suspension performance. Audi now has focused a team to resolve to the UK market.
"phil" wrote
And the Audi team that analyzed Polish market came to the conclusion: "Fix your piss poor roads!" :)
Cheers,
Pete
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