During some recent tire testing, we lowered our MR2 Turbo’s best lap time at The FIRM. We had been running 215/40R17 fronts along with 245/40R17 rears, but for this test we pitted Toyo vs. Falken tires: 235/40R17 fronts and 255/40R17 rears.
While it’s not quite time to discuss the specifics of the test–soon–we do have a hot lap to share. And that lap uncovered an issue.
First, the wiggles under hard braking revealed that we have some additional tweaking to do with the brake bias to balance our front and rear pressures a bit better.
We’re also finding that steering effort goes through the roof as the grip improves. The power steering systems in early SW20-chassis MR2s essentially shuts off around about 35 mph, which was fine on the stock 195mm wide tires. With modern sticky rubber, however, the effort is not conducive to fine corrections. We’re doing some research into some fixes that may improve the steering assist at higher speeds.
[Toyota MR2 Turbo | Buyer's Guide]
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