Scrabbling for front traction

[johnds8]

Hi,

I've noticed that under hard turns, turning out of a junction fast or around a mini roundabout a bit quicker than you should, that there is a noticable scrabling of the front tyres. Sometimes the ESP light comes on.

I am going to be replacing the front arms soon but there is no noticable play or knocks.

Is this just a push-on understeer trait of the 8 or is something amiss?

On my old car I was constantly trying out all manner of different alignments and used to get the same with front toe-in but not with 0 toe. I guess to do with toe-in on turns.

Obviously it is worse on loose surfaces.

Cheers

John

[HPsauce]

I'd be looking at my tyres first - what are they and how much tread?

(I've done some fairly unreasonable things at times at mini-roundabouts without drama )

[jayzee]

Pulling away on full-lock does tend to make the car judder somewhat. A normal quattro trait.

[Dezzy]

I don't have ESP but the 8 will muzzle on a bit if you push it into a real tight bend hard, you'll have to ajust your driving style to suit. Slower in faster out, you should be able to exit the bend with your foot pinned to the floor. They will understeer if you try driving it like a gokart.

Maybe you're pushing it a bit hard? Tyres might be worn or a too hard a compound for the winter.

Remember it's a 1 & 3/4 ton car not a pocket rocket, but that said they handle really well for the size of them.

[Adrian E]

My 1st thought was tyres too - mine is on 20s but it's not a trait I've noticed with mine. It usually digs in and goes!

[briang9]

at the end of our road I have a 90 degree left hand turn at a give way on a fairly narrow road, so I am turning very sharp left on full lock, front wheels always scrabble every time and warning light flashes, think its fairly normal to be honest, I still have the tyres that mine came with (Nexens) which are a bit of an unknown brand so that may be a factor, however they have coped well with everything else that over 11,000 miles expected of them, including last years severe winter. I wouldnt worry too much to be honest

[johnds8]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the v.quick responses!

I've got Conti Sport Contact 2's all around with about 5-6mm on so certainly not new.

It does sound like it's reasonably normal then which is good to know.

As mentioned my old car (Celica GT-Four WRC) used to do a similar thing that I could dial out with the alignment.

It soon grips and I have no other issues at all like wheel shake at speed etc so ill just put it down to one of those things.

I may whip out the alignment gear at some point and play with a few settings even though I bought this car to hopefully stop playing with my cars all the time! On the Celica I even fabricated my own 40mm Bilstein coilovers and boy were they nice.

The Celica OEM alignment specs were 0 toe front and toe-in at the rear. Changing to slight toe-out at the rear really made it a B-road monster. I guess it's Audi doing what most OEM's do and align for predictable understeer at the limit and reasonable tyre wear.

Perhaps ill change it at some point or just leave it well alone and carry on enjoying it as I am now.

Thanks again

John

[PsYcHe]

Definitely normal to get a bit of front wheel scrabble on heavy lock, to do with the way the Torsen diff works, you really hear it on low-speed manouvering.

[briang9]

Originally Posted by PsYcHe

Definitely normal to get a bit of front wheel scrabble on heavy lock, to do with the way the Torsen diff works, you really hear it on low-speed manouvering.

thats you down for a session at the next annual meet to explain how a Torsen Diff works

[PsYcHe]

That needs to be the Friday night.. definitely a post-beer discussion