| Archive for The Motor Forum talking cars since 2006 |
| ALF |
Bye bye tyreI 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... |
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| Mark |
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. |
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| gonnabuildabuggy |
Re: Bye bye tyre
My experience too, my most scary journey was 50mph down the m5 on a skinny, constantly being over taken by trucks doing 56. I'd recommend Camskill for the Falken's great price, next day delivery. So cheap that part worns not worth considering. I think Toyo's might be stickier but would be wary on the wear rates. |
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| Roadsterstu |
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 |
Re: Bye bye tyre
My one experience of using a skinny spare was deadly dull. 50 mph on a deserted M40 at midnight (when it was new and there were no service stations on it hence and hence no lorries) and then M6, M54 all the way home. At the start I thought there was bound to be some margin of safety in the 50mph warnings, but the rather bad burning smell if you crept up to 55-60 soon convinced me otherwise. 
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| Gurney |
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 |
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 |
Sounds like you had a snake bite puncture 
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| DradusContact |
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. | ||||||
| TimR |
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. |
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| DradusContact |
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 |
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/ |
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| "him" |
Pah, I have seen Saxos with bigger exhausts than that!
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| GonnaBreakABuggy |
Jesus.
We've got one box on ours, still passes noise tests... |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
Haven't we all! Remember the one with nine pipes? |
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| DradusContact |
Yeah, he still comes on here, be careful
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| GonnaBreakABuggy |
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| "him" |
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| ALF |
When the choice is a mile or two of very slow driving to your ultimate destination then abandoning the car for a weekend of mountain biking, or stopping dead on a single track road with no places to pull to one side and indulging in a fruitless search for a mobile tyre fitter in the land that time forgot, and missing one of the two day's riding of a trip I'd been planning for ages, I know what my choice would be. I'm sure if you drive on at normal speed you shag the tyre, I'm equally sure that 99% of drivers would not notice until too late. Anyway, it was a puncture of the epic explosion variety - there was a massive crash as we went over whatever it was. Since the only type of puncture that can be repaired is one that has very politely and slightly punctured the middle portion of the tread in a certain way, I didn't waste much time feeling hopeful! I did once have one of those punctures, and got the wheel off while it was still deflating, but they are the exception not the norm... PS - the silencers on that BM are freakin' outrageous! |
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| Mark |
I wasn't suggesting anything quite so dramatic. I was more thinking about the vague possibility of changing the wheel when the puncture occured - to prevent any potential damage to the rim, if nothing else (in the OP, it was suggested that the road was basically the house drive, so didn't think it would have been an issue). |
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| TimR |
Yeah and they don't seem to do much. There's a vid on you tube of a yank who has taken them off and the car seems barely louder. It seems to be the resonators (that you can't see in the photo) that do most of the silencing. |
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| "him" |
Surely all they do is maintain the 50/50 weight distribution...
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| TimR |
Can't argue with that. Obviously you'll understand that the much-vaunted 50:50 weight distribution is a major bonus to driving a BMW. It really makes a difference when I'm cruising down the motorway or negotiating Tescos car park
That article that I linked to mentions the exhaust possibly weighing 100kg. That's more than 5% of the car's overall weight. 
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| "him" |
Rather more worrying, is that I am over 10% of my cars kerbweight! 
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| TimR |
I'm not .
That's 1 of the advantages of driving a big, heavy car. |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
But are you lighter than the exhaust system? | ||||||
| TimR |
According to my calculator I am.
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| ALF |
Surely an exhaust system would have to be filled with water or made from lead to weigh 100kg
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| TimR |
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
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| GonnaBreakABuggy |
I can believe it - the manifold and all the cat converters weigh a shitload. | ||||||
| TimR |
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
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| GonnaBreakABuggy |
Stonking on the V10
Custom manifold + a single straight through silencer per bank =
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| TimR |
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. |
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| GonnaBreakABuggy |
Something broke on a Fiat?!
Never......
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| Boxer6 |
That wisnae the noyz pal - that wiz the fyoomz!!! |
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| Frank Bullitt |
Hope you bought the can for the smart, because they have nothing as standard! We've had ours laid up for a few days waiting for a new tyre after a puncture, although some owners spend the £20 on a steelie running the 145 tyres which can be used on the back in an emergency as a space saver. I used a space saver on my first Punto and had to use it once although it was almost as wide as the standard wheels! |
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| TimR |
It does happen occasionally. Of course, the part in question was original and 9 years old but it got welded up for nothing and it's still holding fine at the moment (that's the kiss of death). |
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| Gurney |
Yes, an aerosol of tyreweld and a mini compressor safely stored in a convenient hole at the top of the front passenger footwell. I was looking quizzically at the rubber on the fortwo last week and they still show no signs of significant wear (23,000m) I think age will get em before wear. Having said that it looks as if I will get at least 20,000 out of the Bridgestones on the GTA and that on a fwd tyre chomping monster if you believe the press. |
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| TimR |
Is that because you drive like a girl?
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| Turbonutter |
Re: Bye bye tyre
Which A/B roads did you choose through Shropshire Alf? |
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| ALF |
This will give you a good idea. Please ignore the asterisks, which are where I braked or cornered hard enough to trigger the system
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| DaveGibson |
Alf, at what percentage g does the system record cornering/braking? |
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| ALF |
"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. |
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| Dr. Hfuhruhurr |
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 |
+2 It's a pet hate of mine. Just after I passed my test, my Uncle (a former racer) got me to drive him with a small but fairly tall box on the floor behind the gearlever and made me drive on busy A roads and twisty B roads to see how far (and then fast) I could go before it toppled over. It was in my mums Citroen Visa, so was a challenge with its soft suspension! My dad and I used to have a competition to see how far we could drive his Granada Scorpio before the brake light check light went out (it went off when you first touched the brakes). I probably shouldn't admit it, but now my challenge is to keep the wheels as clean as possible by brakeing as little as I can, which keeps you focussed on whats happening ahead pretty well! |
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| TimR |
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. |
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| Martin |
All 10 of which are tailgating each other, making it almost impossible to overtake 
Mrs M went out for the day with her best friend and came back complaining dreadfully about her driving. Apparently she was on and off the throttle, braking unecessarily and generally being erratic. I told her it was because she was used to my sublime driving.....
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| Turbonutter |
Looks like you came through Churchstoke and onto the 489 to Craven Arms. Don't know if you've ever tried it but if you ever come a bit further down the A470 from the Mallwyd junction with the 458 and take it to Newtown, then take the A483 south from Newtown for a couple of miles, you can get onto the B4355 from Dolfor to Knighton. Excellent road. You can then join onto the 4113 to Ludlow. Broadly similar route to what you have. I'm sure you'd enjoy the 4355 
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| TimR |
I know what she means (well, not about your driving). An old workmate used to drive as if he was tied to the car in front by invisible string and had to always be 20-25 feet behind it. He was always on & off the throttle and sat too close which was worrying since he was a bad driver with slow reactions. I used to enjoy coming home in a 'spirited' manner when it was my turn to drive as he wasn't used to fast speeds on anything other than motorway
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| Gurney |
Undoubtedly. Michelle Mouton
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| DradusContact |
So are we really saying that BMW is real? It must, must be a photoshop! | ||||||
| TimR |
Eh?
Are you talking about the M5 and it's exhaust? If you are then yes it's real. I've had a look underneath mine a few times and the exhaust looks the same as the one in the picture, except mine's still on the car. |
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| DradusContact |
Ah, just looked at it again. I thought the fat part was the tip, only glanced at it the first time
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| Turbonutter |
It's Neil Mukerji's car - he writes in BMW car mag in the running reports section |
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| PG |
In that area south of the A458 and west of the A49 in Shropshire and into Wales there are some great driving roads. Just watch out for tractors
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| Turbonutter |
The 4368 from Clun to Kerry is pretty good too and has a brake-wilting section at the northwest end |
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| ALF |
Thanks for the advice Turbonutter - I'll look out for those roads next time! | ||||||
| Turbonutter |
No problems Alf - you'll probably recognize them - Autocar have used them several times but a lot of people haven't twigged where they are ....... unlike the EVO triangle |