Shakedown Drive on H&R Monotube Coilovers

I’ve got the car from FA Racing last Tuesday and this morning was the best time to conduct little bit of shakedown drive from Ampang – Hulu Langat – Kuala Kelawang – Pertang – Manchis – Karak – Gombak which roughly amounts to 250kms.

Putting aside that it was raining in the early morning that resulted the asphalt surface kinda icy slippery, I was definitely grinning from ear-to-ear revisiting old awesome roads with finally an almost well sorted Pocong. Here’s some excerpt I can give-away for the moment:-

• FA Racing has setup the car to be easy to drive hard and pretty much planted throughout hundreds of turns.
• Quicker and crispier turn-in with much much tighter steering feel allowing almost alienating or masking the chubby front engine’s weight.
• Virtually extremely small roll angle at turns but in it’s there nevertheless just only being delayed making it nippy like a supermini should.
• If I got too gung-ho into corner entry or mid, a mild lift-off is all it takes to get it tightens like a good FWD car should…talk about throttle steering at corners :)
• Because of sorted geometries, ride height and corner weighted; the tyres require less psi and that resulted in much much compliant ride …. and I dare say feels better than stock!

Of course, the suspension setup would be ‘work in progress’ as I’m gathering some requests to address my driving preference to be factored in but all in all I see RM700ish of expenditure to FA Racing as bang-for-buck investment, after all suspension tuning know-how is a “black-art” to me at least :)

The route...

Motorists kindly give-way, shakedown in progress lol

Some rough patches but the car rides just fine

Some straight stretches allowing Pocong to stretch its legs

Nice flowing turns after another

I see you..

Gotchaaa!!

Throttle-steering is pretty wicked

Because of lacked of cars, both ways are at my disposals hehe

Roll angle is there nevertheless just only being delayed making it nippy like a supermini should

Nissan Silvia S15

While I’ve checked in Pocong to FA Racing for suspension setup, I managed to drive this Nissan Silvia S15 for half a day. It’s actually one of the cars I’m hunting for in 08 and ended up with the Pocong. I like the more ‘feminine version’ of Skyline, white colour, spot-on driving position and the steering feels meaty enough given it’s still running stock. Hmmmm….pretty much a good platform to venture into rwd :)

Dodge Caliber

I was in DC on a business trip for a week recently. With an exception of say New York, anywhere else, you need a car to move around. A quick ring to Enterprise Rent-A-Cara company did get me this, Dodge Caliber 2.0(A). Starting rent rate is quite cheap honestly speaking at USD40 but the moment I added up basic insurance, gps and sales tax, the rate per day is USD82. Oh well…

The Caliber to me is a typical American kinda design with bold looks, tall and high ground clearance. Treat it as scaled down and baby Dodge Charger with a meager 2.0 litre engine mated with CVT gearbox. Pretty cool considering at that time Dodge Charger is not available for rent. The engine, if I can recalled correctly derived from joint venture between Chrysler, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai; is relatively brisk for entry level 2.0 NA. Still I got left behind 10 tiangs on traffic light drag with an old school Passat 1.8T. That’s about the only pluses I can say about the car.

The steering feel is non-existence through the turns like an SUV than a hatchback and body control is poor. Straight “As” flop. That’s probably the reason why I won’t bother in illustrating any further like other cars I’ve reviewed.

It’s far too crude and coarse inside out to be genuine rival to Focus, Golf or even Corolla. But for aunties who own small SUVs and not clearly educated on driving quality, this Caliber might make a weird kind of sense.

Journey in meddling with Car Dynamics

Words like control, response, precise, grip etc. are …yeah… very much cliché whenever some blokes blabbering on car handling. But it is undoubtedly the key ingredient in making driving enjoyable enabling you to grin from ear-to-ear as you kiss the apexes after another. And I believe in that absolutely 100x100% before tax and excise duty.

My yuppie driving days started with the Waja, Satria GTi and now coming to 3 years of ownership, the Pocong (Polo GTI), I’ve always trying to meddle with things to get the word like responsive, precise, tenaciously grippy, and adjustable on the limits to be associated with these cars. Because having mediocre technically sounds, things I meddled doesn’t always ended up to be rosy as hoped. Nevertheless, trial & error exercise is a good thing to know which worked and which won’t.

I can still remember the first time I drove the Polo GTI. It was torquey little car courtesy of the ancient but potentially potent VAG 1.8T. But I suspect things just got half cooked plus trigger happy VAG cost cutting exercises, the car’s achilles heels are in the dynamics department. On stock form, it drives with reasonable feel from the steering (mimicking Mk1 Golf GTI which my parent used to own two decades back), city car nippy through the turns and very adjustable on the limits which I love very much. Ok that’s the brownies but now is the BUT part.

At high speeds, it’s just frantically nervous upon lane changes hence the main reason I named the car as Pocong, it doesn’t glide but it HOPS! Reasonable feel doesn’t mean precise or responsive, that’s what the steering feels, and in today’s hot hatch world, it falls back on the loathering line of the people’s mind. And when I had it reflashed for more grunt, Ulu Yam is a scary place to be because it shows how mad it behaves. I had lots and lots of goose bumps as I prayed it didn’t hops or hell somersault into the ravine should things goes south and thanks to stock brakes I always have to second guess whether I can brake on time not to kiss lorries upfront. I even took it to the no nonsense place – SIC. It was worst! But I knew it has the chassis that is good enough to be explored, that’s where the ‘what if change this’ wish lists went on like a disease rotten up my mind and my pocket.

The first thing I did was to replace the stock spring with H&R’s. Cosmetically, it lowers the car by about 30-35mm from stock 9N3 Polo. That’s good. With lower CoG and less axis movement, the car corners flatter, more rapid and precise through the turns just like a normal run-of-the-mill hot hatch is supposed to be. Although H&R’s is progressive by characteristics, because its shorter and stiffer spring rate, it doesn’t gels well with the stock dampers. That’s where it rides noticeably choppy on uneven highways.

Second on the list was the braking. Audi TT’s 312mmx25mm vented solid rotors with ATE 54mm single potter plus steel braided lines brings more stopping power especially from 200+ kmh. Even if the car punches out 200whp, it should do fairly well in assuring me not to kiss cars upfront. Higher temp pads and heavy duty slotted rotors would be a big plus on further complementing this setup. The only gripe for me is the rear. At 232mm diameter, it looks horribly pussy.

Other things like Seat Ibiza’s solid rubber bushings on the front wishbones build up on more solidity feel in nursing the trigger happy torque steer coming from 253nm flat from 3,000-5,00rpm. And more impressive is the Federal 595 RSR. Who would have thought that someone from Taiwan can make good tyres. It’s like this thing has gotten a great spell by the great Merlin in masking Pocong’s achilles heels by instilling very direct response from the steering and provide very very tenacious grips. Throughout my stint with these tyres, I’ve never been in overcooked situation on sunday drives. In fact the more it loosen the thread, the more grip it gives unlike AD07 I heard.

When the car’s mileage went up to 60k kms, I was short on cash for H&R coilovers and reluctantly ended up with SuperSport. It was the cheapest dampers I managed to get hold on to at €200 including shipping. That’s 50% cheaper than originals. What I didn’t know is it does its job unexpectedly well even compared to Koni yellows/Biestein B8. It rides with more immediate feedback through the steering, it corners flatter and cover more ground in terms of lateral grip with more fluidity rather than outright harshness. And speaking of fluidity, I sense that the SuperSport dampers give much more composure dealing with uneven and bumpy roads which means I don’t need to slow down to readjust the music volume and my wife shouldn’t get sick every time traveling on long distance. Well that’s until I ruined it when upsizing the wheels.

I’ve always wanted to copycat Mini Cooper S’s wider chassis allowing the ability to mesh the juice from the engine and it should stick to the road ala AWD rally machines hence the reason why I wanted to upsize the wheels. In doing so, I’ve to admit, this has ruined the ride fluidity, fuel mileage and much more damage on the credit card. But in essence, it does resulting in wider track, it corners with lesser flexes and this setup serves as a good foundation for more lateral grip once I ditch the ‘geli’ RE001 for RSR. Not now but soon.

With all that in place, I’m very much content with the car’s dynamic behaviour on the winding road and it’s ‘liveable’ on day-to-day driveability. Now, it gives MCS-like chunkability when approaching corners, good steering feel and covers more ground in terms of the lateral grip (would be even better with RSR soon). And yet this still retains the adjustability on the limit characteristics in which saves the car few times from t-boning the lamp posts as it tail out at speeds. Having done some joint exercise with friends on sunday mornings, I could sense that the car should be able to smell FD2R’s exhaust fumes on medium-high sweepers of Ulu Yam without being left out too far behind. That’s good enough in my mind as FD2R is a legend precision tool on that area of expertise.

The only problem is to get the power down cleanly on tight sequence of corners like Batang Kali to Genting uphill stretch. That’s where it couldn’t tight up its engine gut to defy the laws of physics unless of course LSD fitted. Second thing is I need to find ways to soothing the mid-corner braking reaction where it just wants to dance, great feeling but can get me a little off-guard. Hmmm…having thing long and hard, should I want to go further on this car dynamics subjects, it would be these things on my mind:

1. Heavy duty solid rubber or PU bushes on rear axle beam, rear spring perch, ARBs.
2. H&R monotube coilovers and get tuned by someone who obviously know what he’s doing and that would NOT be me.
3. H&R ARB 26mm front and 28mm rear.
4. VF Engineering End Links.
5. Wierchers CF struts bars.
6. Peloquin or Quaife LSD with automatic torque biasing.

Hmmm going to have a very sweet and wet dreams tonight!

Journey on fine tuning the dynamics still far and away...

Thanks to Mugil, I've learnt a thing or two on SIC

SuperSport Shocks - Installed & Shakedown

The Pocong finally has gotten itself new SuperSport short stroke dampers to work alongside with H&R spring. But it wasn’t smooth sailing “waiting & be happy job” on Saturday I thought it would.

First off, Alex’s Ever Auto don’t have 36mm axle socket so they can only replace the rear dampers. Decided not to be a patient man, I went to Auto Reign to get the front replaced. Guess what they too don’t have that axle socket hence they need to take out both driveshafts to yank out the whole knuckles to replace the dampers and yes it took them 3 hours. Then only I took the car to Mun Jee to get it realigned and balanced. That’s a good 7 hours of waiting and RM384 of labour charge debited from my credit card…

The outcome was a mixed one. Because the SuperSport casing and its rod is shorter and thicker than original, the ride height went down ~10mm on all for corners. At this point, I was worried whether 1) Is there have enough suspension travel? 2) How am I going to go through speed bumps on full load?

That would have to wait until initial shakedown today. Both me and my brother on Fiesta 1.6S took the tight twisties of old Gombak road towards Genting Sempah and then Jalan Genting Highlands towards the peak.

What I can say now is that it rides with more immediate feedback through the steering, it corners flatter and cover more ground in terms of lateral grip with more fluidity rather than outright harshness. And speaking of fluidity, I sense that the SuperSport dampers give much more composure dealing with uneven and bumpy roads which means I don’t need to slow down to readjust the music volume and my wife shouldn’t get sick every time traveling on long distance.

In all honesty, I doubt SuperSport is as good as the established H&R Cup Kit and Bielstein B12 in terms of sharpness but it should be a bit more comfortable and definitely the most bang for buck upgrade. Having said that, you can’t use it with stock spring as the housing is a wee bit shorter. Next up is FMIC and full exhaust and of course it’ll be done in slow, cheap but definitely special on the Pocong. :)

This Audi 100 Wagon is the grandpa of soccer mum's as it has Porsche 944 2.7 turbo and Brembos all around.

Stock Sachs vs SuperSport

Ever Auto managed to install the rears only

Mun Jee did the alignment trice to get it right :)

New ride height...the rear is wee bit too low

Shakedown of both Pocong and Fiesta went well but that Fiesta needs to get up to pace for more thrilling sunday drive

Very foggy morning in Genting Highlands

Gaga Frog inspired Rocco!

We’ve heard loud and clear by the Bar Council almost putting authoritarian stamp to the government to expedite court cases and of course out of the blue ‘individual rights’. Though in recent years I think Bar has moved into becoming a political joker party in which doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea, but on the expedite cases I honestly applaud them in doing so.

But while they keep on fighting, their members aka lawyers are the crooked lots. Intentionally and indirectly all in the same body language, they still want it to be more or less of the same practices. And one of the readily available examples is convincing the court of postponing cases when things don’t go to their ways. And of course, more delays might means more professional fees further imposed on clients per se.

And that’s what happening to me in recent years till indefinite years. I’ve been slapped with subpoena three times to attend a court hearing as a PP witness and each of the dates given which include today and tomorrow have been postponed again and again. Surely having me ranting about this out loud will definitely be waking up their fangs but hey isn’t that freedom of speech is among the agenda by their ruling body?

Looking back at yesteryears movie like The Godfather, lawyers are there for The Don but they weren’t the war consigliere but guys like Rocco Lampone is. To sum it up, his character is obedient as he’s ruthless and brutal, all in one go. Is that the same case applies to Volkswagen Scirocco? That’s what I’ve got to know this morning.

In an effort not to waste my successfully applied leaves, me and my friend went to VW showroom in Bangsar for him to have a go at Mk6 Golf 1.4 TSI which I drove earlier. We reached there when the sun is just about 40 degrees up and greeted warmly to our hearts and eyes by a out of this world hot looking with model-like body lady SA. If I wasn’t wearing my cheap looking specs, I honestly thought she’s the product we’re window shopping for.

And while we waited for her to get the keys of the Golf, we were busily looking at the cars then her then the car then her again till my eyes trajectory accidentally shifted towards the bay window which overlooked the Scirocco 1.4 TSI. And in a formula 1 split of a second, she’s standing right in front us. Cheeky enough I did asked her if that Roc can be test driven as well and she said YES!

Coming towards the Roc, visually, it’s exactly the same as the 2.0 FSI minus 17” wheels, Merlin fabric seats and of course force fed 2.0 200 hp replaced with the same 1.4 TSI engine as in the Golf. And as for the looks, the Roc isn’t as seductive as MiTo, girly as MCS, far from being beautiful, this Rocco looks like a product of mad love making between a funky Lady Gaga stylist and a frog which in turns transformed into love hate fashion thing. And when it comes to fashion, I’m first class graduate dull!

And the same theme is replicating on the inside. The same stylist has inevitably educated Wolfsburg Ingenieurs applying the same funkiness into the dashboard which origins carried over from Mk5 Golf, weird door handle and seventies rear seats. Typically enough these Ingenieurs still have a common sense in their forehead, ergonomics are still user friendly, all the buttons and levers are being placed at the right place except for the hand brake which is biased to the left and every time I think of touching it, coincidentally nearing that hot chick, a reminiscence of my wife sour face keeps popping up.

My typical habit of beginning a test drive session involves making sure the seating position and mirrors are spot on but this time around I was busily thinking how to make a socialize conversation with this hot SA with her skirt getting shorten by an inch as she seated into conti-Recaro hugging designed seat. And every time, I try to think of something, a vision pops my head of my wife armored with Uzis signaling a WW3 is coming very soon!!

So in my forward defense move, I quickly fired up the engine, slot the transmission to S and line up the Roc to the Jalan Bangsar towards Mid Valley for power and handling so called test. And just like the Golf 1.4 TSI and Polo 1.2 TSI, it hesitates to move rapidly as I floored the throttle. I wonder why this characteristic is in placed for these new VW cars as certainly Mk5 didn’t!

Power wise, I was told this Rocco has 20hp extra than standard which the same thing I heard from SA in Jalan 222 as well. But as floored and I’m sure of that, it looks as though that it pulls exactly the same like the Golf, not an inch different. So a million dollar question is where on earth that 20 horses went? A quick googling habit led me to know that this Roc has the same power figure as the Golf. Given that, I guess probably that remaining horses still got stucked in customs as they negotiating reduction from what already ridiculous 40% tax on CIF for the extra horses.

It’s still a brilliant engine nevertheless as details in the Golf review but not quite punchy and rapid as say R56 MCS. It’s hard to find the reason here but perhaps the gearing is a wee bit longer than ideal? I don’t know for sure. For bone stocker golf is no issue but for Roc, it is. And that’s a bad news for VW because MCS is the obvious competitor in this hairdresser performance car category. Thankfully enough, the price of the MCS is similar to Roc 2.0 FSI.

Having said that, the Golf drives sedately civic but this one is very sporty but obedient. Wider rear width, ACC trickery and 17” giving plenty of grip to fool around and I’ve a hunch the same applies to 2.0 variant as well. Doing 140ish on a sweeping road back towards Bangsar doesn’t upset the stability at all, it just hold on tight its frog inspired body to go through it without much fuss. The steering too has much better positive feel than the Golf but again not quite as engaging as the R56 MCS but close enough and that means still behind FD2R. And in the 1.4, you could hardly get to see the chassis aided by ACC is going to work overtime given the lacked of power.

But unlike an FD2R and MCS, it has way more comfortable ride going through rough patches. And of course you could meddle with the ACC to soften the car a bit more. This I think a real treat for hairdressers before of course devil slipped into their veins to become a complete chucklehead like yours truly.

By no means, it’s still a very good hatch with tidy handling and gives RM40k savings over 2.0 FSI and as mentioned by that hot chick, she prefers Roc over MCS :) As long as you stay away from the 2.0 FSI variant you should be fine but there’s also a devil thought of topping a meager RM10k more for an FD2R for complete chucklehead experience. Not quite a Rocco Lampone experience I’m expecting hence the reason I went to City Karting in the afternoon to burst some steams away by tapauing Italians duo claiming they topped the timesheet of 1.01 min in a 80cc kart. It wasn’t a waste annual leave it seems :)

With the colour and the looks, I can't be wrong right?

Mini Cooper S

I was on leave last Thursday and my morning agenda was to fetch Ajae from the Audi Hangar Glenmarie as he’s sending his Polo for rectification. And knowing him well enough now, it’s never come as a surprise to me that he will always be late in anything (pun intended Ajae! :P). During my initial waiting at the Hangar looking at arrays of B8 A4 2.0T and Mk2 TT 2.0T, it tickers my bell, is a pre-reg Mini Cooper S R56 a bargain now?

There and then, I drove out of the Hangar and head straight to Auto Bavaria which is less than 2 clicks away. Parked the Pocong at the “Customer Only” parking, I strolled into the showroom and meet a Mini Specialist by the name of Adam. Sad to say there’s no pre-reg Mini available because they don’t have problem in selling them! And there’s no MCS on displayed too but there’s one for test-drive….

Honestly speaking, I prefer the looks of its predecessor R53 as I feel the R56 getting too grown up and bengkak front end doesn’t helped either. Interior design funkiness is still not my cup of tea, and why a huge speedometer placed at the centre? Do you want me to get kicked in arse by my wifey for going 1km/h above speed limit?! And why in the god’s world they only bringing in auto?

As soon as I’m driving it out of the Auto Bavaria compound with sport button turned on and DSC off, my none-insured mouth began to shut up. The power feels very natural, responsive almost NA like with torqueyness of unmistakably forced fed. Unlike the 308 turbo which shares the same engine as this, the power doesn’t seem to be tapering off after 4k rpm, it keeps on pulling till it reaches to someway past 5k rpm. Though not as Pocong fast but it’s quick nonetheless at 184bhp and 260nm.

The only achilles heal to this is the auto box, it just doesn’t do justice to this MCS. Although it comes with slightly closer final drive than the 308 (I think), it’s not as responsive as DSG or DCT as what BMW calls it. As a driver’s car, it can only be fun with manual box which like a mechanical watch might not be as accurate and rapid as digital ones but it gives every sense of purity and enjoyment of every tick.

With the wider chassis and tracks, you can mesh almost all the juice coming from the 1.6 turbo going into the corner and it will stick to it. Might now be as JCW level but screw the MiTo, Pocong and Golf GTI, they wouldn’t stand a chance on windy roads, this is inevitable truth. Going really hardcore, you could trail brake as you turn into a corner, instigates a swivel, four wheel slides and the front bonnet should be able to pointing out of the corner very early in its radius. Once getting the hang of it, you can string corners together with dabs here, lifts there at huge amount of speed. And yet this MCS doesn’t comes with LSD.

Equally amazes me is the steering, it just full of feel, pure, quick but none of the artificial fuzziness you’d get from the MiTo. The only downside to this is wider turning circle than maybe a CRV. No doubt that it’s the best feel I’ve got from any road going car I’ve driven. People often enough scoff at the MCS for having choppy, at worst harsh ride but for me it’s OK, yes it’s firm but none of those jarring or harsh. In fact, I think ABT spring-ed Polo GTI would be far worse.

At this moment, maybe some of you would think the FD2R still has the edge over the MCS. In terms of raw pace, definitely hands down and to a certain extend handing too but you’ve to understand, Conti hatches have always giving more adjustability at the limit while the R badge Hondas making full use of its diff to really work with the chassis and give awesome grip in and out corners. Two separate recipes but outcome is pretty much the similar excitements. It’s very much of a case of some like cheese cake while some others prefer good ol apple pie for dessert.

After 15 minutes drive, honestly I don’t want to give back the keys to Adam but two things made me to. First and foremost is the lack of manual transmission in the MCS in here and second is the price of RM239k. It’s really hard to justify the asking amount when the FD2R which offers far more power, space and practicality bar the choppy ride at RM40k cheaper and the same amount can buy you Rocco Lampone inspired Scirocco which is the in-thing hot hatch nowadays. But if you’re looking for classic reincarnated hot hatch which isn’t only about the looks but goes really well too, you can never go wrong with MCS.

Back to me, looking at wifey going into a step higher in her career ladder and me god willing enroute to greener grass, this MCS will be in our radar for long time to come.

Laser blue with white stripes and top is my current favourite colour

VW Beetle - A fashion on wheels

There’s a car I unexpectedly fond after in non-sporting driven way and forgot to write about is the new Beetle. The old Beetle which is one of the last legacies of the Nazis, famed by Hippies, and macho car among the guys because of its flat four boxer engine blabbering has been revived, but the successor remains fame after in the opposite way. Nothing much changes on the design with exception that the engine is now in front, it’s the ladies are the ones crazy after and the moment it was launched, everywhere throughout the galaxy, many people think it’s a more of a fashion statement than a car really.

Truthfully I wasn’t be interested in driving one back then except there’s an unexpected delays on the delivery of the Pocong. Seeing that I was about to burst my tin kosong temperament, Resen my SA suggested me and wifey to do sight seeing in Penang in the company’s reflex silver Beetle 2.0 NA auto while waiting. Well I can’t miss this chance, can I?

With the car brimmed with RM50 worth of fuel courtesy by Goh Brothers, off I went to see how this prima donna will do. The first thing I realised, I was in an egg head with the distance between the steering and the edge of the bottom windscreen like miniature scale of Russia 's sovereignty width and the rear view visibility is just awkwardly weird.

I could go on bad mouthing the car such as the boot space can only store a medium size LV’s shopping bag but the fact of the matter is I was seating properly in a pretty much A-class supportive seats, the plastics in the cabin are just well ain’t plastics quality, well equipped and although the interior designed in funky way, I couldn’t fault its ergonomics even the unmanly flower vase.

A word of caution to all potential owners, drivers and joy riders, this car really attracts attention and I’m not kidding, not the slightest. Ok a perfect example, I was cruising along the Penang Bridge at 60kmh on the left lane and every time a car passes by, they were slowed down a bit and stare at me as if I was the fashion mogul of some kind. It would be worst if the colour of the car was sunflower yellow. But never minds all that, I took the time to stop by at Queensbay Mall just to buy Amy Winehouse CD and plays it in the Beetle as I’m heading towards Batu Ferringhi from Teluk Kumbar. Man I’ve to tell you, the experience was soothing, relaxing, full of eclectic and I’m sure 10-20 years from now on, I could still yawning about it to you folks.

The only mishap to this experience was this prima donna drinks fuel way more than the Pocong, which means I’ve to stop by somewhere in Petronas station nearby to fill another RM40 of fuel. I just don’t get this; a fashion model should be frugal on her consumption that’s why most of them are skinner than strip out chicken goreng. And the power from 2.0 engine isn’t that quick either, I’ve a strong feeling that a bone stocker Satria Neo 1.6 will tawaf keliling the car no problem at all.

And although underneath it is Mk5 Golf chassis, the dynamics is well below average. If you remembered that I was once made an intriguing comment of the Sylphy that it handles like maneuvering a boat, this Beetle then would be about 10-15% worse.

But still, none of these issues can bring down the charm of this Beetle in anyway. People especially the ladies will still buy it; it’s anyhow a fashion on wheels. Who could have argue the fact that ladies shirt is way small than a normal size toddler? And any man as freaking brutal as he may be has the nerve to say to his companion that high heels aren’t comfortable to walk?

I don’t have to look far to twice verify this because my wife, if the asking price can fit all of her cards combined credit limit, I can guarantee you that she’ll buy one straightaway without even blinking. And as for me, I wouldn’t mind driving one again and again so that it can mask my fashion illiteracy from the public point of view. :)

Evolve Polo GTI in Hot Tuner Challenge

Motor Magazine

Polo GTI vs Colt Ralliart vs Swift Sport vs Fiesta XR4

Wheels Magazine Australia

Wheels: Mini Golf

Wheels Magazine Australia

RSR it is!

The stock Continental ContactSport 2s already showing signs of tiredness and all have went past minimum indicator. At 32k kms mileage, funny enough to report, I felt the dry grip is still tenaciously good for all around performance tyres almost like when it was new only the wet traction or specifically aquaplaning resistance were not. Still during balik kampong trip, the car happily cruising at 90-120km/h without much drama during the rain.

Goodyear F1 Asymmetric definitely out of the list not because I don’t want it but because 205/45/16 size is not available, same goes to Revspec RS. Azenis ST115 isn’t available anymore and Ziex 912 isn’t really true successor to it. And original Contis are too pricey to justify. After months of mind juggling, it all came down either Federal 595 RSR or Michelin Pilot Preceda 2 and at the end I opted for RSR simply because the Pocong needs tyres than can mask its handling impurity.

Woke up awkwardly early this morning, had the car brimmed with Techron 97 fuel, pickup up a friend (the negotiator hahaha) and off we go to a tyre shop, non other than Jooi Seng, Klang. I was told I’m in luck because they’ve last 4 pieces available. RM390 per piece of RSR, RM10 for stainless steel valve each, RM24 for alignment and RM45 for dented rim repair which amounting to RM1669 excluding GST and 2.5% credit card merchant fee. Once Malaysian style negotiation ended, the towkay agreed to tone down the price RM1540 after trade the old ones RM100 (I was hoping of RM200!) and some other ‘have-to-discounts’ and no merchant fee!

Installation was no brainer and they even took the liberty of washing the rims completely inside out before fitting it in. Seems like this time around their customer relation is have taken another step better than what already good in recent years.

But my so called luck ran out of pocket when the foreman a.k.a alignment sifu told me both sides of front lower control arms’ bushes have cracked! *Sigh* Whiteline kit is inevitable then! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJaZ4yLCTeg

It started raining minutes after getting the keys. In the wet, capability of this RSR is still a notch down compared to Contis and Vredestein Sportrac. That’s not really a bad thing because personally I rated these two as the best in the wet, better than F1 GSD3 and ST115 which are also ultra performance tyres mind you. For semi slick, it’s darn good indeed. Where the R888 will struggle at 60 kmh, this RSR can still cruise 110-140 kmh without much drama on the wet.

And when the road surface became 80% dry, on the way back home, I started teasing the RSR through a sequence of left-right-left corners from Glenmarie towards Jalan Kemajuan Subang and from there to Federal Highway entrance. For street legal, it’s the best I’ve experience yet! Lateral grip is just phenomenally brilliant and never once felt overcooked. And if you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll know Pocong doesn’t have clean, direct, and positive steering feel but with the RSR I’m amazed it managed to mask this problem nicely. At this point, some may ask if it’s better than AD07. This though I couldn’t answer specifically because I haven’t used one but I do note that AD07 is more skittish in the wet than the RSR.

Road noise is quite well controlled just like Contis but not as serene as the ST115 but I’m sure it’ll get noisier like lorry after sometime. Given that its sidewall is pretty stiff, I’ll be toning down the pressure to 33 front and 32 rear (cold) and begin to learn more about this Taiwanese made tyres and at the same time bedding it properly before having a shiok sendiri sunday drive via Ulu Yam road this coming Sunday to visit my sister-in-law and her two notoriously hyperactive cats.

Freshly made in week 28 2009

Pretty thick!

Out goes Conti to make way for RSR

Installation done ... waiting for alignment

Cracked lhd lower control arm bush

Cracked rhd lower control arm bush

Bedding in time before coming Sunday!

Federal 595 RSR

I guess I was too soon to say that the Contis are doing well. Upon close inspection on the rear tyres, the sidewalls are starting to show sign of tiredness of having too much fun.

Coincidentally, Azdilizan, a fellow Polo GTI owner just changed to Federal 595 RSR and initial finding is very performance oriented akin to semi slick grip with good wet traction unlike AD07. Just that the price went up to RM400 a pop from RM350 previously. Jooi Seng was even willing to take his almost bald tires for RM100/piece. Should I follow suit as well? Hehehe

Is it a bad excuse to change? :p

Very aggressive looking!

Images courtesy of Azdilizan