Ekona

Define 'drive it hard from stationary'? Did they replace the master cylinder as well? How about the clutch line? Why did they rebuild the gearbox?

Morgaldo!

Yes. Yes it does. No, you've changed the entire balance of the car. You've given the rears better grip so you've shifted the bias for both braking and grip backwards, which creates an inherent instability. If your rears have more grip than the front you will experience understeer. You can do that with mixed tyres, tyre pressures or altering the width of the tyres, but the end result is exactly the same. I'm struggling to put it in simpler terms for people to understand, I really don't think it's that hard to comprehend. As far as Docwra and the manufacturers with mixed tyres go, I'm investigating that as we speak. It is true that Pirelli make some tyres that are completely different externally that they claim are safe to work together, and I was unaware of this when writing the original post. I've e-mailed them directly for clarification, and have recieved the most generic response back you can possibly imagine: As such, I intend to push them for details and will post up the results here. All I will say at this point is that at least Pirelli have designed these tyres to work together, despite their apparent mismatch, and so that could explain why they feel happy to recommend this. I have my doubts as to any cars that come with the mixed setup from Pirelli as OEM, however Docwra has first-hand evidence that they do and unless I can prove otherwise I bow to his knowledge on that. That said, as far as I am concerned with my own experiences and research I am still very comfortable saying that putting mismatched tyres onto your car is something only a fool would do.

Not at all, although in an ideal world with limitless funds I'd love to! It's more about common sense than any strict rule really, personally I don't change my tyres until I have to, but I will be aware of the conditions I'm driving in and how I'm driving to take wear into account. I usually replace them when down to about 3mm on the PS2s, and then kill the old ones off on track.

They won't be in a better position because they do not know how the car is going to react under any given circumstances. You've introduced a new set of variables that you don't need, and that leads to a certain amount of unpredictability. Look, without trying to sound too harsh I've given as much info as I can on this subject without going into ridiculous amounts of detail, and there's enough on here to convince you that running mismatched tyres is a Very Bad Idea Indeed. I'm more than happy to continue with a sensible debate about this if people want to ask specific questions, but I refused to be drawn into an argument with people saying that X combination is great or Y combination part-worns will be better: If you honestly believe that, then that's fine, but please don't come to me for any sympathy when you have an accident and blame everything apart from the nut behind the wheel who makes the tyre choices. This isn't aimed specifically at you Docwra, it's more of a general "Let's leave it there before it gets nasty/boring". I want this to be an informative Sticky that people can reference or ask specific questions on rather than a huge 20 page epic involving all the people on mixed tyres. That said, if anyone would like to PM me with anything I'll be happy to correspond with you that way, and then we don't have to bore others with circular arguments.

Heh, is that a good thing or not?! Never a truer word spoken in jest mate. At least this time I'm going into it with my eyes slightly more open, and more importantly I'm sure that the right people are in place here already to help ease me in. I'll kill anyone who misquotes me on that last line

Apparently my interwebs connection at home isn't good enough for the Apple servers, and it keeps cutting the OS4 download off after about 60MB

On paper England and Germany are pretty well matched, and all we can hope for is that both teams rise to the occasion and give us something decent to watch.

Thinking about this a bit more, it has to be by design. Think of it like a very dodgy way to implement heel and toe changes: When doing one of those, you blip the throttle to match the revs for when you change gear, which helps on wear on both the clutch and the gearbox. Okay, so the car doesn't blip the engine nearly enough for it to be used as that, but I wouldn't bet against it being there for some kind of wear protection. I could be wrong, and it might be emissions based as that's the only two reasons I can think of for a manufacturer deliberately programming something like that in, but I struggle to to work out how it could help emissions.

I'll take it please fella

Terrible news

It'll fit, it just might not fit in the space the space saver has vacated

I rarely keep a car past the two year mark, and yet whilst I will admit to doing a fair amount of window shopping (well, and a bit more in some cases) in recent months regarding Exiges, 911s and Corvettes I still struggle to justify the 'upgrade' as the Zed just ticks so many boxes for me and for such a fair price in all aspects. I really can't see myself moving on any time soon, there's still so much more to get out of the car and also I'm sure there's more for me to learn as a driver that the Zed can teach me.

I've tried it before, and despite the very dodgy science surrounding it (you really need 100% nitrogen in there to make the big differences, which unless they suck all the normal air out using a vacuum won't happen) I was happy with the results. The theory is that nitrogen holds less water vapour than air, so when you get the tyres hot on a run you don't get such varying tyre pressures: They should sit more or less where they were when cold. Because of the installation method I've already mentioned I'm not convinced that that holds very true, however I did notice that the tyres held their pressure long term far better with nitrogen than with normal air. For what it costs (and it should be no more than about £1 per corner) it's worth trying and seeing what you think. FWIW I don't bother any more, but I'm glad I made the effort to try it and find out.

That just looks so angry. I love the square handbrake with the push button, I'd never noticed that before.

Count me in for this too! Would love to be on the stand if possible but no worries if not, also happy to pay for my entry ticket so I don't take anyone else's place for the freebies I'll meet you all at the pub and go from there.

I'd better start making some then! Joking aside, it's an honour to have been asked to join the team and I'm looking forward in equal measure to both helping out more around here and learning more about the place. It's a genuinely great place to be and I hope to carry on with the high standards already set here.

The clutch itself no, there won't be any difference as it's the friction plate that gets worn rather than anything you'd feel pressure on. The only clue you'll get is slipping when you apply power. The clutch pedal itself is adjustable I believe, however different pedal heights between cars and the biting point could be down to worn master or slave cylinders, worn clutch lines or old clutch fluid. Have a read of this page which should give you a better idea of how the whole shebang works (it was a godsend to me when I had my recent clutch troubles!). Apologies if that's teaching you how to suck eggs though.

But they're all part of the same car... The setup you've got will be very prone to oversteer, and as such is the worst possible combination out of the three options. For the most part a good tyre is a good tyre, but weight distribution does play a part as well. Of course you should always drive to the conditions, but it's the unpredictable nature and a billion and one variables that also affect your car in ways you can't prepare for. If someone pulls out on you and you have to swerve to avoid them, a driver on matching tyres will be better placed to avoid the danger than you will on mixed tyres. In an emergency situation, or where you catch a bit of oil on one side of the car, you're going to find out just why mismatched tyres are a bad idea. Like I said in the main post, those who think it's fine have just been very lucky so far. If you can't argue with the logic, then you know you're in the wrong on an 050/VUS split.

Sounds like most men in most offices around the country

Exactly why I got a spare set of Rays, really can't beat them for trackday wheels I'm currently using the R888 in GG (med) compound and used to run the A048s on the VXR in LTS spec which is somewhere between M and MH IIRC. I've never run the two on the same car and realistically never will seeing as how Yoko don't make the sizes I want in the 048, but I can go on what I do know which is that I'd pick the R888s any day. I've yet to track the R888s (next month at the 'Ring will see them get their outing) but on the road there is 95% of the grip of the 48s but with 105% of the feel: They're slightly more progressive than the Yokos which tend to give less warning when they're about to go. I think the Toyos also have better wet traction than the 048s, but that's like saying I'd rather bang Nadine from Girls Aloud than Kelly Brook: Technically true, but you'd be really happy riding on either

How much do you hate the RE040s? If you really hate them then yes I'd change, but if money is a big issue then no harm in getting a fresh set of rears which should hopefully die by the time you need new fronts. Very much depends on the race series and what cars are being run, but you are of course correct. I should have made my last sentence clearer really, I was referring more that race cars don't run mixed tyres rather than they don't run mixed compounds.

But a footballer already pays more in a year than a basic NHS worker does in a lifetime*. Why should they pay more than that? They don't cause economies to crumble if they get things wrong (a la banks), and in fact a successful football team will bring in a lot of monies not only in the immediate area, but also possibly nationwide too. The very biggest clubs attract huge investment from overseas, which then gets spent in this country by highly paid footballers who go to smaller businesses because they want something no-one else has got. You and I buy from B&Q, they buy from John Miller of JWM Furniture Makers just off the North Circular who does very expensive one-off bedside cabinets. Very few people go into the NHS because they want to be rich, they do it because of a general need to help others and for that I give my thanks. They know that it's low paid, but they love the job so much that they still go in with their eyes wide open. Should they be paid more? Well yes, of course if the country has the funds then by jove they should, but the NHS (and the public sector in general) has never been about ultimate wages. You'll always earn more in the private sector, but you take the risk that you won't get the guaranteed work that you do in the public sector. *Assuming footballer earns £5.2M (£100K per week) and NHS worker £20K.

Thanks for the kind words chaps, much appreciated Tbh I could write for hours on the subject of tyres and there was so much more I wanted to write but had to leave out to save it becoming an utter bore to read, and everyone who has mentioned that there are other factors involved in tyre decisions (especially but not limited to wear) is bang on the money. That's partly why choosing tyres should be about common sense as much as knowing the exact details, and basically if you think that there might be an issue mixing old and new then there probably is, and you should seriously consider spending that little bit more to get a good match all round. This applies to every car really, but given that sports cars are usually driven a bit more enthusiastically than shopping carts it's worth being a but more cautious than you might be otherwise. As a general rule I'll run my tyres down to about 3mm and then spend a trackday or two killing them off completely, the one exception being the trackday special R888/A048 as they only come with 4.5mm (ish) anyway so you'd constantly be changing tyres if you swapped at 3mm.

Must admit, I can't see a lot wrong with it either. As a higher rate tax payer it'll hit me more than others who are on the basic rate, but I appreciate that we're all in the same boat and the country needs to be sorted out now rather than letting things get worse. In one respect it's a huge gamble for the Conservatives as they've now promised to eradicate the deficit by the time we're due a next General Election, so if they haven't done it by then then there's no way they'll get a second term. On the other hand, if they get it bang on (and I hope they do) then there's a big two fingers up to Labour really. I very much doubt we'll see the back of the Human Rights Act with this government, as the Lib-Dems won't want to get rid of that and put something stricter (more common sense?) in place. If they manage to get anything through that isn't related to financial stuff in the next few years I'll be amazed, they've really got their hands full right now.