Road grip...or lack of same!
Had my first near end swapping skid on a wet leaf strewn country road at the weekend. It happened under breaking. I was amazed how quickly the back started to come around once skidding commenced..I eased off brakes and luckily it all straightened out. However it has dinted confidence somewhat and would like any advice on the subject. It's a 1990 463 (no abs) on original 16' steel rims tyres- 205/80 Cooper Discoverer A/t. Quite new.
Would a wider tyre help? Any suggestions?
Might be able to get reasonable 2nd hand alloys over here.
leaf strewn road would be the give away. rear wheel would lock up (no abs) and the it would gather the leaves in front of the wheel and you may as well be on ice. I guess the reason why the back end came round was you may not have had the wheel dead straight and there where no leaves gathering up on the front wheels for thos to lock up. When you came off the brakes it left the leaves behind. Dont be worried I'd say you drove well and avoided and accident with your quick reaction.
You may laugh why leaves on rail tracks cause such a problem. Same effect, the trains cant stop because the trains in this country are lighter than those in the rest of europe, (well thats what they tell us.)
Would a wider tyre help? Any suggestions?
Wider tyres could actually make this particular situation worse as they effectively reduce the ground pressure per unit area exerted on the surface by the vehicle making it more inclined to slide on the wet leaves rather than cut through them as narrower tyres should. However, as PP suggests, wet leaves are pretty unpredictable under braking and/or manoeuvring, so you did well to avoid a more serious incident.
personaly, i am a great believer in driving as road conditions dictate.
Good dry straight roads,go like hell! twisting, greasey, icy, leafy roads, dont drive like hell!
had to same thing pulling onto the motorway, off-road tyres dont like long bends at 50mph. it gave me a small rush (i do have an adrenaline problem) but i dont think my girlfriend shared the same feelings. just drive to conditions, and if you dont trust yourself on small lanes buy bull bars, even transit vans jump into the hedges to get out of your way!
Hi Tcylnes,
See if you meet a dirty dull red Galaxy on said small lane, YOU use your bull bars to bull your way thro the hedge, cause I aint chicken, having educated quite a few "school run mummies" in their "jeeps" that they do not need ALL the available road, funny how they cant seem to find the brake pedal on the approach but brake almost to a standstill when it is, or would be, too late.
PS. I know MY width, it has cost me ONE wing mirror, in over 150,000 miles, NOR I hasten to add have I put anyone INTO or OVER the hedge, but why do a significent % of those who choose to drive 4WD's attempt to intimadate other road users -- and then wonder why they get a bad press. :?
PS.
You dont display a " CHILD ON BOARD " sticker do you ? in which case you are obviousley allowed to drive in an inconsiderate/unpredictable/incompetent/unsafe fashion -- otherwise there would be no point in displaying the sticker, would there :?
:lol: :lol:
Marcus
There Buckalec, that should generate a bit of life on the forum.
the opposite, after being ran into the hedges by numerous skip lorries and slammed into barriers on motorways in my 206, the feeling that your not just a bit of grit on the road feels good. of course you cant abuse it, you should see the insurance premium on a 17yo driving a g! but when someone is on my side of the road now, they dont charge at me they pull inbetween parked cars asap.
as for the bad press, its just the same people who key expensive sports cars as they think its a class thing and there jealous. i also see your view that tabatha strapped in the middle of a toyota amazon is unneeded, but when like me you live offroad and off road at the weekend surely its perfectly fine?
Tcylnes,
It's a free country, I have no problem with what people choose to drive, but that is the crux of it, the number of people who BECAUSE of their lack of competence in driving an ordinary car, think they can compensate by driving a "JEEP".
Cheers
Marcus
Here Here!!
Ah bless!!
He's only 17...
sorry for the late delay, bt cant seem to fix internet lines within a month of sundays so logged on at school!
for those interested i was trying to buy a gwagen before i passed but had not yet found said forum for all the help and informatiom. so i put up with the pug, then i was after another merc and was thinking of a gwagen and as backup for my crazy buy (15-16mpg for a school boy) felt that safety was key.
as for those who dont understand metaphors, the transit didnt literally jump into the hedge, it just pulled over instead of making me literally jump into the hedge. on normal roads you drive much safer as small kids running out, or pensioners in the electric buggies wouldnt stand a chance. theres no need to drive agressively, we have a name for these people, the police.
See Tcylnes,
You should come & live in this civilized corner of the UK,
OUR Police have an excellent safety record,
I dont know if can recall that they have EVER
( i ) shot anyone accidently, despite the conditions they have endured
( ii ) or injured other road, or pavement, users whilst driving police vehicles
Marcus
8) or come up to this corner
1, its safer to greenlane as joyriders and police take over the road from 1pm to 5am , they give the police a break between 5am and 1pm to have a sleep and catch up on the bookies,and solicitor meetings :x
agree foneman,
through my girlfriends family i know the notorious les owen, head of met traffic (or was)
he makes comments such 'its ok for me to speed i am trained police driver' this is while hes in his own car (bmw) doing 50 in a busy residential 30
i think i should move to where my bikes gone, the shetland islands, empty and clear!
SWB or LWB for end swapping?
SWB is nearly square (track x wheel base) which makes for low polar moment of inertia .. i.e it is hard to feel it break away .. and hence it spins more easily.
My family had a 240GD swb (Belgian lhd import) and then an offical 300GD (with ti) lwb. The swb was spun 3-4 times at least and ended up at one point on it side after this (having reorganised some solid scenery). The lwb was more stable and generally far more holligan friendly for an 18 yr old :shock:
So lwb is the better for ease of control and hence lack of spinning.. but as said narrow tyres are better on ice and wet leaves.
.. oh dear and I've just got a swb :oops:
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Thanks for that. Can't claim to have great skills in the opposite lock department however a string of rear wheel alfas and a couple of old 911s have left me sensitive to the issue I must admit.
I just suspect that any prolonged sideways movement in a G would end up with it on it's side.