New Tires Improve Shifting?

[Dale]

I've been having tramping problems with my WRX for a while now, trying to
figure out why, after all these years I can't get my feet coordinated to
shift smoothly, especially from a standstill in first. Try as I might to
find the sweet spot of clutch slippage to gas, at least a third of the time
my front tires would start hopping up and down, making that awful tramping
sound reverberate through the car's body.

But I just got a set of new tires and the problem seems to have gone away
completely! How could that happen?

The new tires are Yokohama Avid V4Ss, I've only got about 60 miles on them
so far. Is it something different about these particular tires, or the ones
I had before? Or could the tramping have been because I went through a tight
period where I couldn't afford to buy more than two tires at a time? The
tread on my rear tires was a lot thinner than the tread on the front, mainly
because the last time I bought two tires, I put the new ones on the front
because I like the oversteer.

 

[CompUser]

@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com>,
(e-mail address removed) says...

I've been having tramping problems with my WRX for a while now,

Could you explain what you mean by "tramping"?

 

[Charles Gillen]

At least a third of the time my front tires would start hopping up and
down, making that awful tramping sound reverberate through the car's
body.
But I just got a set of new tires and the problem seems to have gone
away completely! How could that happen?

Perhaps now the tire pressure is correct? Also, tread depth should be
similar on all four tires... read the driver's manual.

 

[Ross]

Could you explain what you mean by "tramping"?

Tramping is when the wheels bounce up and down on the suspension whilst the
wheels are spinning. Its normally caused by faulty/worn shock absorbers not
having the efficiency to absorb the vertical forces generated by the engine
applying power to the wheels. The new tyres may have quelled this problem
with better damping characteristics in the rubber (Your tyres make up part
of the suspension too) OR the old tyres were so poor that they caused the
problem.

Ross