WAY

I was pushing my new 1.8TQM (which at that stage had done about 100km) on a twisty road (downhill), and the tyres started squealing before the car had reached its limit. How do I know the car has not reach its limit? Well, I was following a late 70's Holden (Aussie GM brand) coupe, and he had no trouble. I would expect my '02 A4 Quattro with sport suspension to have more traction than his unmodified late 70's vehicle. My question is, do I need to run in those new Dunlop SP9000? If so, how many kilometers (or miles) can I expect to drive before it will perform to its maximum?

RKA

Well, actually, now that I think about it, was it 200 or 500? Help!

KenK in TX

...into a guard rail, totalling it. (On a suspended drivers license, no less.) Sad part is that I knew better due to my motorcycling experience - new tires need to be scrubbed in before you try to push them.

PossumCowboy

you might check pressure, too.

Ray Calvo

Unfortunately, dry traction/cornering goes up with the amount of wear on the tire. Best dry traction comes when they're near bald.

You will get better traction than new after a few hundred miles and the tires wear down (get rid of molding resin and the mold marks at the edges of the tread sipes). However, don't expect miracles.

RKA

which compromises your handling ability enough that a tire with 500 miles will likely stick better than your bald street tire with 35K miles.