Lauren

Mine has arrived too, thank you Rob!

That's what they come with stock. I think you'll find it a tad hard on the road. Great for track of course. I run 5/6kg whilst Keith and Dave have 6/6kg.

Obviously it's better to get wheels with the right offset and avoid the use of spacers. However, I don't think there's an issue with a relatively small change.

Captain, it might help that the bigger wheels are lighter than the stock wheels. Also there isn't that much difference in profile when you take the width difference into consideration. For example when I went from a 215/45 to a 225/45 the ride quality improved due to having a bigger sidewall on the wider tyre.

It may be because you don't have an engine in there that's causing the problem?

The start procedure is press the clutch down and press the button once. That starts the engine. If you don't press the clutch down, then one press will bring alive the ancillaries, a second press will turn on the ignition. Pressing a third time will turn it all off again.

The grip conditions were very low as the road was just white with salt. I've had these tyres in this size (but higher profile) on my car and they do offer a lot more grip than the standard tyre. It won't slide around so much in the dry on roads in better conditions IME. In the wet obviously you can play as much as you like, but these are good progressive tyres.

Not that I've seen. But it doesn't mean there isn't anything.

No, I didn't discern any difference, though grip levels were very low. Yes, point taken about embroidered!

In respect of doing such an event, we'd need to use someone else's insurance, so it inevitably involves paying someone to run that side of things.

Yeah, that could be a good deal! I could always review parts and report back on any issues.

My first Milltek exhaust cracked on the join to the back box at 40K miles. Not terrible considering the mileage. Another was put on with no problem at all getting it sorted. It was a quick and painless affair due to Richard at RRG dealing with it. Well today I had a look after noting it was sounding a little different and it's gone again in exactly the same place, this time after only 16K miles. Considering I do about 25K miles a year, this one has only been on around 8 months!

I can tell you James about my experience of going from OEM wheels to my TE37s which are 1.8kg lighter than stock. The car feels more alert, quicker to respond, almost like it's light on it's feet, which sounds absolutely ridiculous but it's what always springs to mind! A lighter wheel will mean faster reacting suspension, which can be run softer, also it will accelerate and decelerate more quickly. It's a win, win, though the only slight downside can be the ride is a little more fidgety. In terms of performance though it's win, win. I actually thought I'd never be able to tell when I put the lightweight wheels on, but the difference surprised me! Yes, 8.3kg if they're the same as Rota's is what I'd expect, but it's still lighter, so you've got 50% of the gain I have with my even lighter wheels.

It is frustrating, James I agree. The first one going at 40K miles is not really so big an issue. The second one has only been on since last June though! That's not good enough. We'll see if I'm third time lucky or I'll be looking at other options if the next one breaks. I think with the amount of mileage I do, I'm a good tester for aftermarket parts!

Fair point, Rob! Balls!

Blimey! What are you actually going to do with Steve's old car? Must admit, it looks a lot better now the vinyl is off!

My wheels weigh 7.4kg. Although the powder coating adds 200g it seems! Yes, lighter wheels make a surprising difference to the handling. Stock wheels are 9.2kg. Volk Racing wheels are made by Rays Engineering BTW. My wheels cost me £830 all in including the refurb, but you have to really keep a look out for these, they don't come up very often! Mark my wheels weren't cracked. One had a dink in the rim. I just got them refurbed where they dealt with that as well. Was at Diamond Wheels in Stockport. I did look for an exact weight of your wheel, but the nearest I could find was the Rota Grid 17x8 which is 8.3kg. Would expect yours to be similar.

No they didn't say they changed it at all, Keith. It's simply that they will be thinking that the failure rate isn't high enough to warrant a redesign or adding say a flexi pipe. Ian, it's got a lifetime warranty, so though annoying, it at least gets changed free of charge. I might do though in the future.

Yep, terrible films, but some love them it seems! Maybe it's a marmite thing?

I thought I'd start this thread as I admit, I have a bit of a fascination about winter tyres and comparing them with their more summer orientated counterparts. This is my second year with winter tyres on. Last year was very mild and I think they were not an advantage compared to my summer tyres. So, this year I'm hoping for colder weather so I can try them out properly. I've discovered that they don't work as well as my summer tyres do at say 7C. I don't think they gain an advantage until it's a fair bit colder. I've had mine on a week now and the difference between my Advans are fairly marked. The winters (Yoko-W Drives) have done winter for the past two years, so I'm beginning to wonder if they might be past their best. It suprised me at how easily the rear wheels lit up, although the conditions were greasy and they are 10mm less in width compared to my Advans. In a way it's been a lot of fun so far, though I've had the odd occasion where the lack of grip really surpised me. Fortunately it seems most of the slip is throttle orientated, though I've had the odd four wheel drift where all four wheels slide at the same time, to the same degree. That's been interesting. I've no understeer though. The front end seems quite hooked in, but the rear is lively. I do have a more aggressive geo setup than standard and obviously I've got my wikkid suspension. From what I recall my car feels a lot livelier this winter than it did on the last. I'm interested to hear how others are getting along with theirs.

Liking the gear knob, what is it made of? Yoko Advans will handle the track better and are good on the road. Could be an option?

I'd suspect your rear screen needs cleaning a whole lot less, especially so if it doesn't get wet. I notice that the rear screen gets dirty quickly this time of year.

Mine are going on Saturday week, can't wait to get the winter tyres and stock wheels off! I would have done it a bit earlier, but that was the quickest we could sort it out.

Yukiko is very good at setup as you would expect. Did you go for the 6/6kg spring rates? After much fiddling with the EDFC I came up with some good custom settings. It takes a little while to get a feel for it.

Good stuff. Sounds like you're building a car just like mine! I have 17x8 TE37's, albeit powder coated they came in at 7.4kg. I've already got the Tein suspension and the TRD start button! Are you going for EDFC?