loss of steering feel on GTD

[golfberg]

When i first drove my GTD the feel of steering was amazing - you could almost feel the tarmac through the steering wheel and turned into corners with amazing grip.  The car sat on Santiago’s with Pirelli P Zero 225/35 19 inch tyres.   I got over 20000 miles on the fronts before i changed them at 2.5mm.  I went for Pirelli’s again, but the steering feel was completely different.  It feels to be very light and lacks any feel of the road like previously. The car was tracked on a hunter system when they replaced the tyres.   Does anyone know how I can get the original feel back?   Could it be the toe in/out settings.   

[mcmaddy]

Tyre pressures?

[monkeyhanger]

Massively high tyre pressures. 36psi is high enough, bet they're on 42.

[fredgroves]

Tyre pressure really really effects the feel. Every so often my gtd is fully loaded with gear and I pump the tyres up for heavy loading (which improves it under load) but after unloading it feels terrible until I deflate them to normal two up pressure.

[hepton]

have you got it in sport mode?? thats the only way mine feels right 

[golfberg]

Thanks for the comments.  On the first set of tyres I was running them at the recommended 41 psi and the handling was great.  The tyre wear seemed very even and the fuel consumption good.  I noticed if they went down to c.36 psi it increased the consumption with no change in handling.  I will try tomorrow to drop the pressures on the new set to around 35/36 and see how it feels.  I never use sport mode as i don’t like the high revs waiting for the DSG to change up.  I use individual economy mode with sport steering, but will have another play with the settings.   

[golfberg]

just an update ...... dropped the tyre pressure on the fronts to 36 psi. Needed to pop over to South Yorkshire, so that would be an 80 mile round trip and ideal for testing.  I think overall there is a 10% to 15 % better feel to the car.  It feels less loose, in particular in the straight ahead position.  At speed there is more feel overall, but turning into side roads it still does not have the “Tarmac gripping”  feel it used to have.   On the fuel consumption increase, it does not seem that bad.  I got 48 mpg, although i was stuck for several miles in the outside lane on the two lane section of the M18 doing 56 mph following lorries which would not pull in. 

i will run with 36 psi for a month or so to get a better check on the economy.

[dubber36]

How did the old tyres feel with minimal tread left on them?

It could be that when you first had the car, it was warm weather and the tyres gripped well and felt good. As they've aged, you may not have perceived a drop off in performance. Now you've fitted new tyres, you may have expected that 'new' feeling again, but with the drop in temperature and greasy road surfaces, you are not comparing apples with apples.

Tyre pressures will make a difference as said above. Later recommended higher than necessary pressures are there as a way to help with emissions.

[golfberg]

The old tyres felt the same throughout their life, from when i bought the car with 1500 miles on the clock and 7 mm of tread, right down to 2.5 mm.   Obviously, there was more wheel spin in the wet as the tread wore down.  It’s a real puzzle and i am thinking its the tracking that has changed the feel.