How to avoid front wheel spin

[Martin]

Semi slicks will sort it out, but they make an annoying noise on the motorway due to the tread not being harmonically balanced
Wider tyres won't have much effect - but choose tyres with the lowest wear number (means more grip, softer, wear out quicker)

Another thing you can do is ensure the tyres are warm before doing hard launches - this varies between brand/tyre
My Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 are hopeless when cold
The Bridgestone RE050 were not as bad but still needed to be warmed up
The Michelin PS3 on the other hand seem to work fine when cold

Also - look at the road surface - sometimes it's pointless even trying a quick takeoff

How am I supposed to get a quick take off if I only press the accelerator down partly?

Get the car rolling then gradually increase throttle - with practice you'll work out how quickly and how much you can increase throttle

[noone]

Different Polo, but similar issue. Swaybars, stiffer coils (eg coilovers), anti-lift kits or tuned caster all help.

I run federal semi-slicks on a daily drive, has helped (how much it helps over premium road tyres will vary, works for me).

[Hillbilly]

Drive it like you own it NOT like you stole it may make a difference

[brad]

Driving torquey turbo cars requires a re-adjustment of the mind & the right foot. A bit of finesse & restraint is required to get rolling. Even when moving you need to be aware of the vehicles capabilities. Mine wheelspins in 3rd if the road is slightly damp.

[LunchboxVRS]

Actually wider tyres will not help unless the rubber compound has a higher coefficient of friction.

You can have two tyres on each end of the same axle where one is wide and the other narrow. As long as they both have the same rubber compound, you will find that both will provide the same resistance to slipping. Why racing tyres are wider is because they are made of a softer (partially cured) rubber compound, and the width is to reduce the amount of wear. This is all what F1 is on about now.

The equation of friction is F = uN where F is the force that can be generated between the two surfaces, u is a non-dimensional coefficient of friction, and N is the force normal to the friction surfaces. The trick is to keep the force to a level so that the torque from the engine does not exceed the friction between the tyre and road surface.

Some cars will not break traction because for various reasons the force generated is always less than the friction force.

You can get "better quality" tyres, however to get a higher coefficient of friction, the compound will generally wear more easily and so have a shorter service life.

Everything is a trade off. That is why I suggested not pressing the accelerator as far. Just as you have a bite point with a clutch, you also have a bite point with the tyres as well. You need to feel for that and you are then getting the maximum accelerating force you can.

I thought it was implied Better tyres would mean something with more grip or it would be a pointless exercise.
And if you go an inch wider the extra surface area will aid with your "Better tyres" in getting away quicker. That's not science just a real world fact.

[Nuggos]

I thought it was implied Better tyres would mean something with more grip or it would be a pointless exercise.
And if you go an inch wider the extra surface area will aid with your "Better tyres" in getting away quicker. That's not science just a real world fact.

Yes it is a real world fact however, physics will tell you a much different story, surface area is not related.
Although a larger area of contact between the road and the tyre would create a larger source of frictional forces, it also reduces the pressure between the two surfaces for the given force holding them together (the car in this instant). Since pressure equals force divided by the area of contact, it works out that the increase in friction generating area is exactly offset by the reduction in pressure. The resulting frictional forces, then, are dependent only on the frictional coefficient of the materials and the FORCE holding them together

[Diesel_vert]

The shape of the contact patch will be different, but the surface area of the contact patch may not necessarily increase.

And even if it does increase, the actual amount of rubber touching the road is also dependent on the load (i.e. the mass of the vehicle and the amount of force exerted on the tyre).

In addition, the tyre compound would play a bigger role in determining the amount of grip or traction. For example, it is unlikely that a set of Dunlop SP Sport Maxx road tyres in 215/40 R17 will outgrip a set of Toyo Proxes R888 track tyres in 195/55 R15.

So when choosing a tyre, one needs to consider the type of compound and not just the width, since not all wide tyres have high levels of grip.

[wai]

I thought it was implied Better tyres would mean something with more grip or it would be a pointless exercise.
And if you go an inch wider the extra surface area will aid with your "Better tyres" in getting away quicker. That's not science just a real world fact.

What a wider tyre does is give you a lower contact pressure. So overall, you get no change in grip. It is the same as a narrow eraser and a wide eraser. For the same load or force applied to it, you get the same resistance. The narrow one has a higher contact pressure, while the wide one has a lower contact pressure.

What has to change is the coefficient of friction, and for normal road going tyres, this changes very little.

You can get rubber that has a higher coefficient of friction, however to achieve this, it will almost certainly experience greater wear and so the trade off.

[wai]

So when choosing a tyre, one needs to consider the type of compound and not just the width, since not all wide tyres have high levels of grip.

Exactly. Just because a tyre is wider, does not mean it will have more grip. Just because it is narrow does not mean it will have less grip. The shape of the tread groves is there to let water out. In fact, a wide tyre can have a lot less grip in the wet as the contact pressure can be insufficient to force the water out through the grooves.

In the main, most road going tyres vary little. Don't think that a wide one is better or that a particular groove pattern will give you more grip.

[6RGTi]

Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 - anyone had any experience with them on a 6R GTi?

I'm looking at putting them on mine eventually, but for $1100 for the set I want to be sure that they're worth the investment..