Not directly Forester-related, but I found it an interesting experiment...
My new Juke Nismo came with Michelin PS3's on it, and I found the ride quite jiggly. (Well, not compared to the FSTi, but you know what I mean). The demo car I'd driven a few days before had ContiSport 5's, and I thought the ride on that one was preferable.
I've now driven both cars (which are identical apart from the tyres) over the same roads. Since it isn't often that there is a chance to do this I also made some measurements using the vibrometer part of the Smart Tools app on my phone.
The data below is from one stretch of fairly rough road driven at the same speed in the two cars:
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The one on the right is the demonstrator on ContiSportContact 5 tyres, the one on the left is mine on the PS3's.
Above about magnitude 4 both sides are pretty much the same. However, the amount of low-magnitude vibration is quite a bit lower in the case of the Conti's - the area under the curve for mag 1 to 3 is a lot less. That's the 'roughness' sort of magnitude rather than 'bumps'.
Subjectively the demo car felt much smoother, but it jolted and bumped over the really bumpy bits in exactly the same way as mine. It was the low-level background jiggling that was absent on the demo car.
Now it could be that the demo car suspension has settled in, or it could be that there is some other difference between the cars. However, other things being equal I preferred the ride of the Conti's. The dealership is swapping the tyres over for me.
Both tyres are excellent performers, but I found it interesting that there is that much of a subjective (and measurable) element to the way the tyre damps the roughness of the road.
Using the app in that way may be of use with adjustable suspension too - those of you with coilovers could certainly try graphing the different settings.
My new Juke Nismo came with Michelin PS3's on it, and I found the ride quite jiggly. (Well, not compared to the FSTi, but you know what I mean). The demo car I'd driven a few days before had ContiSport 5's, and I thought the ride on that one was preferable.
I've now driven both cars (which are identical apart from the tyres) over the same roads. Since it isn't often that there is a chance to do this I also made some measurements using the vibrometer part of the Smart Tools app on my phone.
The data below is from one stretch of fairly rough road driven at the same speed in the two cars:
The one on the right is the demonstrator on ContiSportContact 5 tyres, the one on the left is mine on the PS3's.
Above about magnitude 4 both sides are pretty much the same. However, the amount of low-magnitude vibration is quite a bit lower in the case of the Conti's - the area under the curve for mag 1 to 3 is a lot less. That's the 'roughness' sort of magnitude rather than 'bumps'.
Subjectively the demo car felt much smoother, but it jolted and bumped over the really bumpy bits in exactly the same way as mine. It was the low-level background jiggling that was absent on the demo car.
Now it could be that the demo car suspension has settled in, or it could be that there is some other difference between the cars. However, other things being equal I preferred the ride of the Conti's. The dealership is swapping the tyres over for me.
Both tyres are excellent performers, but I found it interesting that there is that much of a subjective (and measurable) element to the way the tyre damps the roughness of the road.
Using the app in that way may be of use with adjustable suspension too - those of you with coilovers could certainly try graphing the different settings.
