Platinum Grey Leon FR TDI Hybrid - The End!

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
Thanks guys. Glad your enjoy the next step of this project. When I decided to stay with car and resolve the ongoing niggles gave me a new zest for the car to push on and make a true performance diesel hatch.

Drove the car this weekend and she drove great. Needs more power for sure as she can take it. There is a slight handling issue that I will look to address after this next step project is finished. It may be resolved by new front tyres or tweaking the kw v3s or the geometry.
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
Understeers when pushing on in tights bends. My feeling is that cause of heavy front end something needs tweaking. Could be tyres letting go a little too early with torque or a heavy right foot. Also got a feeling rear spacers are causing it so spacing out front may bring back the balance........
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
What tyres, FARB, tyre pressure and geometry angles you running?
You have these variable geometry wishbone bushes do you not?
Tyres pressures need checking but I keep it at 33PSI cause I feel tyre walls of fk452 are too weak. 25mm front arb....I do have variable geometry bushes and got about 1 degree of camber at front. Probably needs checking but haven't done so as tyre on front is quite even.
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
I'd be looking at the tyres first as its the cheapest one to sort. Check your tyre pressures weekly to be sure
Well falkens are nearly gone so toyo t1rs on the way. Couple of mm left till wear till they need changing so anytime soon.
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
The thing that improved my handling massively was getting a digital tyre pressure gauge and doing weekly checks on these. But have also always used top of the range tyres, so that also helps in a FWD car fighting for traction
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
The thing that improved my handling massively was getting a digital tyre pressure gauge and doing weekly checks on these. But have also always used top of the range tyres, so that also helps in a FWD car fighting for traction
I got a cheapo one from Tesco couple years back but as you can imagine it was very poor. Any particular one you suggest?

I am hopeful that this issue is due to tyre flex, weak side walls of the falkens so Toyo's should cope much better on the front. What tyre pressures for a heavy front end car do you suggest?
 
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Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
The gauge I have is the Halfords ones.
These seem perfectly fine and usually rank well in the reviews.
I bought a twin piston foot pump too all for about £50 but the best handling mod I have TBH.
Especially for the track where tyre pressure is critical to good handling.
I know that the GYE F1 Asymmetrics are good for handling but for extreme handling I could feel tyre wall flex on these too.
For the best handling you cannot beat Toyo R888's.
Its impossible to flex these side walls
 

slick

Bit of an animal
Mar 15, 2005
1,124
0
Essex
Just the blocks (dry), no gearbox, fluid, IC's etc, the weight comes in at...

82kg Cupra R
134kg TDI 150PD

Last time I checked from a tech I spoke to...
Shows you the difference just in those..
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
Just the blocks (dry), no gearbox, fluid, IC's etc, the weight comes in at...

82kg Cupra R
134kg TDI 150PD

Last time I checked from a tech I spoke to...
Shows you the difference just in those..
Blimey thats like having another person in the car.
 

slick

Bit of an animal
Mar 15, 2005
1,124
0
Essex
Blimey thats like having another person in the car.

What you got to remember is, that other parts run heavier on the Cupra R, e.g. Two side intercoolers, different brakes, cast steering arms, thicker tie rods etc.
So when you look at the book figures the whole weigh in doesnt show that big difference.

But as we all know weight distribution is the key, lower centre of gravity, keeping the heavier parts, lower on the car, Cupra R's have casted arms, about as low on the car as it can get, unlike the TDI with its folded/pressed plate arms... Then with the heavy lump above it all, top heavy the old girl is... :lol:

But as we know Maz, those old tyres are doing no justice to your car and diff :whistle:
 

mr_merc

Active Member
Oct 22, 2008
86
0
Blimey thats like having another person in the car.

Maz, you're a funny one mate. You've spent so much time and money sorting the geo and so on with the car, but still run ditchfinding tyres (relatively).

A few tyre suggestions for you, assuming you aren't going to track it and wreck the tyres:

Avon ZZR
Toyo R888
Yoko A021
(would say A048 or A032, but your car will eat them in 4-5,000 miles)

If you think the above will wear too quickly, try to find some Kumho Ecsta V70A's if poss. The Caterham guys have just started using them and there is a real buzz about them.

James.
 

jonjay

50 Years of 911
Jun 27, 2005
5,843
1
Essex
Maz, you're a funny one mate. You've spent so much time and money sorting the geo and so on with the car, but still run ditchfinding tyres (relatively).

A few tyre suggestions for you, assuming you aren't going to track it and wreck the tyres:

Avon ZZR
Toyo R888
Yoko A021
(would say A048 or A032, but your car will eat them in 4-5,000 miles)

If you think the above will wear too quickly, try to find some Kumho Ecsta V70A's if poss. The Caterham guys have just started using them and there is a real buzz about them.

James.

I bought the 4 falkens on recommendation from around 3/4 of SCN users. At the time they were fit for purpose but like a few people I started noticing flaws and thus I went for 2 toyo's. Wanting to finish the falkens asap I stuck those on the front.

I wouldn't call them ditch finders as they definitely a good tyre for the money and suit the needs of lighter front end LCRs. For TDIs the Side Walls are not strong enough causing tyre flex, they don't let you know early enough when your on the limit and past 50% wear the grip diminishes.

I said a while back that I was counting the days till they run out but recently the flaws have been fustrating me more hence conversation :)

Long time no see btw :)