Curing Understeer MK1 Leon

[LewisLeon]

Hi guys,
Hope everyone had a good new year etc

Just wondering if anyone has any siggestions on curing the colossal tendency of my MK1 Leon TDi to understeer absolutely everywhere? Backing off in an attempt to get the tail to come round (As in my old 306 ) makes no difference at all...
will strut braces help at all? I'm looking to get it mapped soon but I'd rather get the handling sorted before a man with a laptop puts a few more horses through it...


any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers !

 

[m0rk]

tyres/weather?

 

[LewisLeon]

Pirelli p6000's.....not exactly bald.

Worse in the wet (obviously ) but nevertheless pretty bad in the dry. Doesnt exactly fill me with confidence when pushing on etc...

 

[MarkE]

The Leon's a heavy thing, being made of actual metal rather than whatever it is they make cars out of in France, so maybe try carrying less speed into the corners? Plenty of power and torque on tap to fire you out of the other side.

P6000s aren't exactly a performance tyre, either, IMHO.

 

[andycupra]

ARBs

 

[UncleFester]

As above - mine used to understeer like a pig .... ( PD150 Tdi) got ARB front and back, uprated bushes etc and a load of other bits however the ARB and front upper and lower brace made the most difference,

 

[traumapat]

rear arb took alot of understeer out of my car

 

[George]

Pirelli P6000s are the culprit!! Trust me on this one ... They are complete ditch finders, get them off ASAP mate! I had them on my Mk 1 Cupra, and on one occasion pretty much put it into a hedge at about 40mph cos they just suddenly broke into understeer.

I put a pair of Goodyear Eagle F1s on mine, the GSD3s, and my god they are better, the car feels completely different now.

They weren't too expensive either, about 140 quid for the pair.

Good luck!

 

[D.K]

Get rid of the Pirelli P6000s they are :w4nk: and the state of the roads at the moment wont really help.

 

[George]

Get rid of the Pirelli P6000s they are :w4nk: and the state of the roads at the moment wont really help.

yup, seconded

 

[RobDon]

Better tyres, anti-roll bars and a lower front strut brace will all help to minimise understeer.

 

[LewisLeon]

*** wasn't expecting so many responses so quickly

I'll sort out some new tyres and set fire to the Pirelli's then



Thanks a lot for your help, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[ArosaRacer]

watch out trying to induce oversteer, ive seen two cars (Not Seat) today make love to the armco barrier on the A249 sliproad both started understeering and both came to greif

 

[LewisLeon]

thats part of the reason the 306 was sold on
dont get me wrong, it was epic fun, but being late for work with the back end all over the place got a bit tiresome.

 

[sheffboy]

Totally agree with the above posters.

get rid of the p6000's. I thought I'd save a few quid when i changed mine from pzero's (also crap but came with the car) and boy what a mistake. awful tyres imo.

try some gsd3's as mentioned and you may find your happy without shelling out for the ARB's. I was amazed at the difference when i got the goodyears fitted.

 

[volvic]

I'm probably going to be the only one when I say, Pirelli's 6000 are actually great cheap tyres. On my previous Nissan Primera, I use to be able to tell when it would under steer and control it(or keep my foot planted if there was enough room). Obviously taking less speed into the corner helps.

I have Michelin® Pilot® Sport's on my car and it under steers like a dog when pushed hard. So just take it easy and boot it out.

 

[D.K]

225 x 45 18 Pirelli's 6000 aint cheap

i'm running Michelin Pilot Sport's and they are fine on mine

 

[ChrisGTL]

Dump the P6000's and get ARB's.

Had P6000's on mine before I replaced with my budget Flaken 452's, those two tyres are in a different league.

I've got the front and rear strut on mine but I should of saved the money and gone straight for the ARB's.

 

[volvic]

225 x 45 18 Pirelli's 6000 aint cheap

i'm running Michelin Pilot Sport's and they are fine on mine

what size wheels does Lewis have?
P6000's use to be £20 each 15" new at my local.

 

[777cupra]

you could try possibly....learning how to drive? reading the corner, the conditions....chosing a better line/speed?