Today I want a

You don't know my kids. Can't keep the buggers still.

Reply to
Conor
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That'll be all the E-numbers and sugar they're getting from the McDonalds meals.

Reply to
SteveH

E's are good...

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

That explains once a fortnight.

Reply to
Conor

Heh-heh.

Reply to
Conor

Would you not prefer a very, very nice black Mk1 Golf GTi 1.8 on a Y plate? Really very nice indeed... I just happen know where there is one ;-)

Reply to
Pete M

'ow much, Mister?

Reply to
JackH

Don't buy a Golf from this man, they come with hide-and-seek cooland caps

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Hmmm...

Reply to
Conor

I'd also like to know what tyres are fitted as well in regards to the alleged poor handling. I've just fitted a set of Continental Premiunm Contact 2's to my MK3 Mondy which are what Ford are fitting as standard to the new Mondeo. The difference in quality over the old stuff was noticable the first time I chucked it round a corner. It has made the car far far more chuckable round corners than it was last week.

Reply to
Conor

Conor gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

What came off?

Reply to
Adrian

Some budget things as fitted by the leasing/contract hire company in the final months of the contract. They were part worn when I got the car and I've done 18,000 miles on them since then so they were chosen for the longevity I think.

They were always a bit crap in the wet but felt OK in the dry and would put up with most things I gave them. I guess I was wrong about that.

Whereas before on a certain stretch of really twisty B road here (B1249 Driffield to Beeford) I'd go round corners, feel a bit of understeer and compensate for it, now there is absolutely no understeer whatsoever and it just feels far more firmly planted on the road. I can now chuck it round tight bends to the point where I need to have bucket seats to go any quicker without ending up in the passenger seat.

In my defence, having driven exclusively RWD in the 3 years prior to getting this Mondeo, I just put the slight bit of understeer down to FWDness and adjusted accordingly.

Reply to
Conor

Conor gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

It as a genuine question, btw...

Chosen for the price, more like.

Can't say I'm particularly surprised... Bet the ABS is a lot more reluctant to kick in now, too...

Reply to
Adrian

What are brakes?

It doesn't wheelspin when I exit roundabouts anymore.

Reply to
Conor

Now that (and the Merc driver) represented the peak of the "sad rep" experience.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Question is, how much of the difference is the brand, and how much is simply new tyre vs old tyre?

Reply to
Clive George

"Clive George" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Judging by swapping the 6mo/2000 mile old Chinese crap off 'erselfs 205 and chucking some Avons on, all of it.

Or, indeed, any of the other times I've swapped cheap shit tyres for decent ones.

As for new/old tyres - I swapped two of the Michs on the Saab for new Michs a few weeks ago. They'd been on 18mo, and were at about 2.5mm or so left. It's difficult to be _absolutely_ precise, because the old ones were Pilot Primacies, and they've been discontinued in the mean time, so these ones are Energies, but - if anything - there's been a slight dip in the dry grip with the new ones. Probably more down to the change in compound and tread from "slightly-grip-oriented" (Pilot Prims weren't the top-top grip tyres - just the best I could get in the right size) to "low- rolling-resistance-oriented" than anything else - and fuel economy does seem to have improved slightly.

Reply to
Adrian

All brand. The improvement is so marked that it's not new vs old. Shouldn't be surprised really. On my last Capri, I put on budgets and was so horrified by them that I changed them after a couple of months with only a couple of thousand miles on them.

Reply to
Conor

Iv'e found that different makes have compltely different characteristics as they wear. Most, but not all, brands can have reasonable grip when new. However the cheap Korean/Chinese brands in particular only seem to last a few hundred miles before the grip starts to go. Because it's a gradual change it's difficult to detect until one encounters poor conditions or changes to a different brand.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I love Avon tyres. IME They're crap for the first 100 or so miles and after that they seem to just be brilliant, not the grippiest but they seem to be a lot more progressive than most other tyres. Having said that, with them being so progressive you can use more of the available grip more of the time so it's all swings and roundabouts.

A lot of 'rep-spec' Mondeos tended to be fitted with Firestone tyres from the factory. Quiet and reasonably grippy but they wear a lot faster than they should considering Avons or Michelins will give the same grip for a lot longer.

Reply to
Pete M

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