The Motor Forum

ALF · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:41 pm Post subject: Bye bye tyre

I went mountain biking at Coed y Brenin at the weekend, and stayed as usual at a house right up in the forest. Unfortunately, a couple of miles away from it, on a very minor road, I was trundling along at about 30 when suddenly BANG I ran over something - despite myself and my brother not seeing anything in our path. Presumably a rock. Anyway it was immediately obvious something was amiss, so I crawled on to the house (this road was basically it's drive) and had a look - the sidewall of the tyre was totally split. I've never seen anything like it. Naturally it was one of the much fresher Conti SC2's on the front, not one of the 3mm jobs on the back

Luckily the wheel was OK.

nothing much was likely to get sorted as it was Saturday afternoon and we needed to get riding to beat the light - I fitted the skinny spare for the way back and looked for tyre places along the way. Apparently most are shut in rural Wales on Mondays (!) but this was not too much of a hassle as I take a A/B roads route through Shropshire rather than the motorways past Birmingham. I've never used a skinny before but if you keep to 50 and drive like a saint they are fine!

Finally found some tyre places at Worcester, and bought a BF Goodrich for £125 (235/40/18). Conti SC 3's were £185, other premiums were over £150, and anyway I want Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas or Falken 452's next so there was no point getting another Conti, I don't much like them. The BF Goodrich feels very good, in as much as you can tell with one tyre, it feels nice and seems to ride better than the Contis and make no more noise, possibly less. I'll have to consider these too come renewal time - I get through them with the miles I do and want something cheaper, harder wearing, and better riding than the Sport Contacts.

Needless to say there were some Chinese specials at £80 but I would not personally go near these... I know how I drive...

Mark · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject:

Won't two miles of driving on a flat tyre with the rim digging into the sidewall cause that?

I've always been under the impression that you should never drive on a flat tyre except to get out of any immediate danger.

gonnabuildabuggy · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:19 pm Post subject: Re: Bye bye tyre

Roadsterstu · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:18 pm Post subject:

I think Toyo Proxes T1R's from Camskill are around the 120 mark, maybe less?

Slightly smaller size for the '260 was £109 when I last checked.
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PG · Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:19 pm Post subject: Re: Bye bye tyre

Gurney · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:30 am Post subject:

I have never used a skinny and both current steeds rely on the even more inadequate Aerosol.

What worries me is the number of cars you see with spacesavers fitted - on a daily basis. These people seem to be in no rush to repair the damaged tyre and obviously never even read the instructions concerning use.
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Mark · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:46 am Post subject:

I recently changed all four of my Pirelli P Zero's to the Avon ZV5. They've been excellent so far over 2000(ish) miles with wet weather grip and noise being the biggest advantages.

scamper · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:25 am Post subject:

Sounds like you had a snake bite puncture

DradusContact · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:31 am Post subject:

Mines got a full size spare (full size to me, 15inch), i think its disgusting the way manufactuers wont cough up for a full size one anymore.
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TimR · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:08 am Post subject:

Can't have a spare of any sort in the BM due to the exhaust needing the wheel well space.

I got a puncture in it a couple of years ago (drove over some unseen debris) and it split the side wall. Didn't notice and put the foam in which then came out again

I got overtaken on the motorway last year by a Jeep Commander (? 5 door hatch thing) that was doing at least 80, had 5 folk on board and was running on a spacesaver.

DradusContact · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:16 am Post subject:

Why are they so special their exhuast needs the whole wheel well? Im so they can find a way.

Put in on the side if needed

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TimR · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:39 am Post subject:

The M5 has a fairly massive exhaust with a back box for each exhaust (that's 4

).

Check out the 3rd & 4th photos in this for an idea.

http://mukerji.co.uk/2009/01/04/m5-clutch-change/

"him" · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:

Pah, I have seen Saxos with bigger exhausts than that!

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GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:01 pm Post subject:

Jesus.

We've got one box on ours, still passes noise tests...
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:05 pm Post subject:

DradusContact · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:37 pm Post subject:

Yeah, he still comes on here, be careful

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GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:46 pm Post subject:

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"him" · Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:49 pm Post subject:

ALF · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject:

Mark · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:50 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject:

"him" · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:21 pm Post subject:

"him" · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:29 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:53 pm Post subject:

Dr. Hfuhruhurr · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:03 pm Post subject:

But are you lighter than the exhaust system?

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:32 pm Post subject:

ALF · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:33 pm Post subject:

Surely an exhaust system would have to be filled with water or made from lead to weigh 100kg

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject:

I did wonder and there's only a comment about it - the people involved didn't get the scales out.

Perhaps one of them weighs 100 kilos and they had a test-lift comparison

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:33 pm Post subject:

I can believe it - the manifold and all the cat converters weigh a shitload.
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TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:39 pm Post subject:

It didn't include the manifold - just from the 90 degree bend where it starts along the underneath of the car.

Wonder what it's sound like with the exhaust of from that point

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:45 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:04 pm Post subject:

V10s don't do anything for me sadly.

The exhaust on the Fiat split just after the bend - somewhere around my left ankle - and it sounded amazing

It was pretty loud though. I got a headache driving a couple of miles through Perth to get it fixed.

GonnaBreakABuggy · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject:

Something broke on a Fiat?!

Never......

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Boxer6 · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject:

Frank Bullitt · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:13 am Post subject:

Gurney · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:42 am Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:50 am Post subject:

Is that because you drive like a girl?

Turbonutter · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:56 am Post subject: Re: Bye bye tyre

ALF · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:08 pm Post subject:

This will give you a good idea. Please ignore the asterisks, which are where I braked or cornered hard enough to trigger the system

DaveGibson · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:15 pm Post subject:

ALF · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

"Driving Events" as we call them are rated as 1-5 star "events". Bearing in mind the system is really aimed at commercial vehicles more than car drivers, the one and two star events (about 0.3-0.55G) are easily registered in quite normal driving. Most drivers don't often generate three star and above events. 5-star and above (0.75g) are very rare - I've managed 0.97g as a max for cornering, which seems about right - "normal" road cars can't generate much more than that. No-one else has done anything close to that as far as I'm aware.

In our case our cars are our own, so as long as we're not being dangerous no-one really cares, but the application for commercial vehicles is clear - many want to know why some driver's consumables last half the time of the others, or why stuff is getting broken en route!

The thing I've noticed with the reporting is that what I consider "bad" drivers generate a high % of braking events. Almost all the ones I generate are cornering without other vehicles in close proximity. If I generate a braking event, it will be when I'm consciously really pushing it into a well-sighted corner, and almost never on the motorway. But some drivers generate a steady flow of harsh braking events, even on motorways, which is a good way of telling they are not looking far enough ahead and/or are distracted.

Dr. Hfuhruhurr · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:20 pm Post subject:

Spot on - it's one of my infallible signs of a bad driver. I'm always amazed at people who constantly brake on straight well-sighted roads, or in the outside lane of motorway, in neither case with any incident occuring ahead to call for braking.

Martin · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:32 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:48 pm Post subject:

The braking is surely just because nobody - apart from us on here it seems - is able to drive to anything other than the car in front.

That's why you get tailgated down a twisty road when you're behind 10 other cars.

Martin · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:53 pm Post subject:

Turbonutter · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:01 pm Post subject:

TimR · Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:14 pm Post subject:

Gurney · Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:24 am Post subject: