Just wanted to reply to MarkG about a question he asked as a reply to my post...archived before I could respond...it had to do with what the cornering limits of a stock sport A4 are...<p>Anyway, Mark asked what kind of warning the car gave me as I approached the limit....well, the SP8000Es don't seem to squeal much....but what I did feel is the rear end starting to drift out...kind of weird since there wasn't any noticeable tire squeal...just felt the rear end get loose, and that's when I corrected and slowed down (also I was pretty much at the end of the ramp by then...). Anyone else agree with me on the low-squeal of the SP8000Es ?<p>I also agree with the posted limit x 2 theory....that seems to be a safe limit for most cars...of course my A4 pushes this a bit higher...since I could usually do x 2 in my old car without too much trouble...it was a 1993 Toyota Paseo (don't laugh...it was reliable and that's about it).<p>Yea, and cut down the speed a bit for one of those downhill ramps...especially when they're one of those decreasing radius suckers....scary!<p>Cheers,<br>-Ash Silver 98.5 1.8TQMS

As I posted before, I can safely do 2x recommended speed most of the time. Personally I find that my 8000E do squeal before I start losing the battle against physics - maybe it's just the local off-ramps, maybe my driving :-)<p>My biggest problem with my 2x theory is that I can't accelerate fast enough. Take Palo Alto, Page Mill onto I280-South: two-lane on-ramp. Everyone is in the right (inner) lane, I am outside. Recommended 25, I can do 55 before squealing. But I need to start off slower because the turn is tighter and traffic is merging - even in 3rd pretty much full throttle I can't get more than 55-60 out of it by the time I exit the turn.<p>Downhill ramps I am always much more conservative :-)<p>BTW, it's not the "limit x2" but "recommended x2" - yellow signs. At any rate I used to be quite successful with this math with my old car as well, an 94 Accord with stiffer-than-stock suspension and 205 tires. My A4 can usually do "Accord + 5-10mph" without drifting off. However, with 12k miles on my A4, I think I never pushed the limit as much as with the Accord :-)<p>- Stan<br>

I can usually do a little less than 2x in my '91 Ford Escort (I won't laugh at your Paseo, Ash, if you don't laugh at my Escort ;^), so the A4 oughta handle 2x easily with a decent safety margin.<p>Only one other thing. Remember, lifting the throttle in mid-turn, especially when you're already oversteering, will spin you 8 times out of 10. If your rear drifts, stay on the throttle and countersteer to get out of it, THEN lift. It may seem very counterintuitive to stay on the throttle when you're sliding -- that's why you should only do it if you know what you're doing. Ash, you said that you "corrected, then slowed down" when you got loose. This seems to imply that you stayed on the throttle until you caught the drift, as you should.<p>

That's right Vik, by no means am I a superstar driver of any sort....but I did do as you said, stay on the gas and steer into the direction of slippage (in other words countersteer), and when the car straightened out...slow down...except I was out of ramp by then so it didn't matter anyway! I'll have to go to some kinda driver's school to formalize all this sometime...learning by the seat of your pants is NOT necessarily a good idea! ;-)<p>Thanks for the advice though...and for any of you would be ninja drivers out there (not that I'm one), it's good advice!<p>Cheers, <br>-Ash Silver 98.5 1.8TQMS<p>

My 8000e's squeel very loudly and predictably. In fact they are remarkably predictable, IMHO, for getting accustomed to the handling of this car. I suspect that the unloading of the suspension with the liftoff is soley the problem here.<p>Just drive it hard with part throttle, they will squeel all the way. If it lets go without squeeling it is due to the car being "upset" with a driver input of some kind, not the limits of the car.<p>Have fun