Swapping wheels...

[AWESOM-O 4000]

I've been told that it's reasonable to swap the front set of wheels for the back set of wheels in the interest of 'cough' preserving consistent tyre wear.

While I appreciate this is potentially a pikey way to go on tyres, it may make some sense as it means you can manage to have 4 newtyres all at once rather than two at a time and two always being worn.

Does anyone have any experience of swapping them and know if this creates handling problems etc - particularly cos our machines are so sensitive?

Thanks,
Glen

 

[DaveTrophy]

I havnt done it in the Trophy but I've done it on cars in the past, didn't experience any problems to be honest.

I wouldnt advise sticking them on the back if they're right on the limits though, you may find the back end twitching about too much.

 

[AWESOM-O 4000]

Agree Dave, wouldn't try it if I only had a bit of tread left, have plenty at the mo, so was thinking I would give it a go

Anyone else tried this?

 

[g40steve]

Yes just do it.

I swap mine over every now & again no problems, gives you chance to clean the backs of the wheels 8-[

 

[Matt X2C]

yeah, there are no problems at all! You want the tyres with more tread on the front!

 

[George K]

Matt X2C, i completely agree. I know the current 'offical' advice is that all cars should run the tyres with most tread at the rear - but that seems totally illogical for cars prone ot understeer (90% of all modern cars). the only caveat is, as already suggested, not to have less than say 3mm at the rear, so as to avoid lift oversteer.

The only real issue is aquaplaning - last weekend I did a hillclimb, and my track tyres are down to about 3mm or less, despite which i was one of the quickest in the wet - and as I have said befvore i am not brave in the wet - a great tribute to the Trophy. Oh, and obviously running 2 degrees negative does not seem to be a problem!

 

[Cue]

as long as the tyres on both sides of the car are of equal tread depth then you won't get any problems - the boot joints don't like it when you're running a 3mm tyre on the left for instance when you have a 7mm depth on the right.

back to front I agree with Matt & George. more tread on the front is best - after all they do all the work and need the most tread.

 

[vamos]

@ George K

I am very interested in hillclimbing. What would you say is the best way to get involved? Join a club I suppose? Thanks in advance.

 

[Tommy]

My dad has a lot of experience in Hillclimb, been doing it for years, i have helped with it alot all over the UK

I'm having a go in his car this year at Harewood

http://www.whatnonegatives.com/2007/070 ... es_std.jpg

What do you need help with?

Tom

 

[hoolio]

 

[George K]

Vamos - I live in SE Devon, near Honiton. There are several clubs: Woolbridge, Torbay, Burnham & ??. Would welcome some Trophy company - i occasionally see a couple of 172 Cups from wales, but apart from that it is very rare to see a modern Clio in the Production class. BTW it would appear that next year in this class we will have to run 1a tyres.PM me if you want more inf - it is great fun.

 

[tholman]

the boot joints don't like it when you're running a 3mm tyre on the left for instance when you have a 7mm depth on the right.

Can you expand on this? I have big problem of too many roundabouts = nearside always wears quicker.
So is very hard to have matched set for wear

 

[Cue]

their's different rolling radius' with tyres of different tread - similar in principle of driver for any length of time with a 15" wheels on one side and 16" on the other. so one wheel is spinning faster than the other - it wears out the ball joints....

 

[Delongi]

I swapped my fronts (3mm) for the rears (5mm) on Friday before a trip to Abbeville (Lotus on Track day) at the weekend. I'd felt the front end bite had gone off slightly and had wanted to restore the grip. Swapping fronts for rears is something I'd done previously on other cars with no adverse affects. I did 6 or so laps on track and didn't feel that the back end was any more playful than normal.

Off topic but of possible interest - round Abbeville the Trophy (with a bootful of kit) was circulating at near identical times to a standard Subaru WRX but was about 4 seconds a lap slower than I was able to get round in our standard 118bhp Elise.

Coincidentally Renaultsport were there getting ready for a customer event the next day. They must have unloaded a dozen or so R27s, R26s and a right hand drive Twingo Sport!

 

[Cue]

what's the track like for a trophy?

 

[Delongi]

Abbeville is a very tight and twisty circuit. There are 13 corners in 1.5 miles and is ideally suited to nimble, lightweight, rwd cars like Lotus's and Caterhams. I'd spent most of the day circulating in the Elise but wanted to take the Trophy out to see how it would fare. This was my first time on track in the Trophy.

The Trophy coped admirably well resisting understeer nicely and gripping excellently in the slower corners and chicane. I was able to keep up with some of the more conservatively driven Elises on track at the time and was up to 5 seconds a lap quicker than my other half (keen driver but still considered a track day novice) in the Elise. Under braking the Trophy seemed stable and even when trying to provoke the rear a bit with a lift off it remained composed and predictable. Abbeville is a great circuit in a rear wheel drive car. Almost at every corner there's opportunity to get the back end out in a playful drift and because there's lots of run off and nothing to hit it's ideal for beginners. From the bank by the paddock you get a great view of the whole circuit and I spent a fair amount of time just being entertained by the variety of vehicles enjoying some spins and drifts. If you get a chance to go to Abbeville I'd highly recommend it. It's only 45 mins from Boulogne, the crossing on the Seacat from Dover to Boulogne took 50 mins and cost us £54 return. Coincidenally I notice there's a Trophy booked on the Easytrack day to Abbeville on 4th July (http://www.easytrack.co.uk/events/view. ... &type=VIEW).

Only negative feedback regards the Trophy was when pusing on in some of the tighter turns the front would hop about quite considerably and after 6 laps the brakes were beginning to fade noticeably. When braking from the 90mph straight to the 30mph 2nd gear right-then-left on one ocassion the pedal went almost to the floor and for a moment I thought we were going to end up in the gravel. Thankfully we made it round, just. I eased off a bit for the last couple of laps.

Overall I was impressed by the pace of the Trophy. I'm looking forward to an evening at Donington Park next month with Bookatrack. If I was going to do more track days in the Trophy I'd definitely improve the brakes but there's still several thousand miles left in the current disks and pads so I'll leave it until they need replacing.

Cheers
Simon
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[Cue]

yeh the brakes do suffer from fade if your using an OEM set-up. Fine for road use but useless for track work.

 

[hoolio]

was about 4 seconds a lap slower than I was able to get round in our standard 118bhp Elise.

Yeah but that'll be 118 real BHP rather than the Renault imagined 182 :lol:

Great write up above by the way.

 

[vamos]

Vamos - I live in SE Devon, near Honiton. There are several clubs: Woolbridge, Torbay, Burnham & ??. Would welcome some Trophy company - i occasionally see a couple of 172 Cups from wales, but apart from that it is very rare to see a modern Clio in the Production class. BTW it would appear that next year in this class we will have to run 1a tyres.PM me if you want more inf - it is great fun.

PM sent.