I've been driving almost 20 years in lots of cars and lots of tyres (including some very cheap ones) and have managed not to spin a car for at least 10 years by not driving like a **** which is why I suggested he just buy some new ones if he's convinced twatish driving or car shock problems are not the cause.

You would think they would be crap but plenty people must buy them since they can't afford anything else

Next time you're in a car park have a look about it. Most of the cars have named-brand tyres. Taxis tend to have non-named, presumably to keep costs down. The normal cars that have cheapo tyres are the sheds with 50hp driven by a super-careful mum to the supermarket. Or at least thats my observations.

I've been driving almost 20 years in lots of cars and lots of tyres (including some very cheap ones) and have managed not to spin a car for at least 10 years by not driving like a **** which is why I suggested he just buy some new ones if he's convinced twatish driving or car shock problems are not the cause.

I'm taking a guess that he can't really afford to buy another £300+ worth of tyres that easily. Plus lose 50 quid in changeover costs unless he can get the same place to sell them again as part-worn. Hence he'll be reluctant.

Just to go slightly off-topic for a second, and to indulge in a minor troll…… I had an ancient Cosworth Scorpio a few years back and spent six happy months driving everywhere sideyways. I perfected my technique in a suitably large and obstacle-free car park in the dead of night, accompanied by a hysterically laughing mate.

Sadly, sold it to a guy who lifted out the engine and crammed it into a Capri, where it resides to this day.

Oh happy times!!

The normal cars that have cheapo tyres are the sheds with 50hp driven by a super-careful mum to the supermarket. Or at least thats my observations.

Exactly, but you don't see them spinning all over the place at every opportunity.

driven by a super-careful mum

So you're saying that the op's wife wasn't driving carefully then?

Maybe we just have different opinions on what is twatish driving or super careful then.

Possibly, but thats entirely understandable if the car previously gripped just fine. "super-carefully" is relative to the vehicle as well as the road and conditions. I'd not "gun it" out of a junction in my estate as it would just sit and spin its wheels causing an obstruction, but I'd happily gun it in my GT4 as it wouldn't spin and would be faster and cleaner out of the junction. Its not as easy as is/isnt driving like a tit. And I'd happily gun it (the gt4) regardless of whether I was in a rush or not, if the road conditions allowed.

I'm taking a guess that he can't really afford to buy another £300+ worth of tyres that easily. Plus lose 50 quid in changeover costs unless he can get the same place to sell them again as part-worn. Hence he'll be reluctant

The price of having wife and kids spinning round a roundabout? My money would be on something else wrong with the car or poor driving.

Again, it's not necessarily poor driving, more lack of awareness of a change in the vehicle. If you put crap tyres on my diesel without telling me (or even if you told me and I assumed they were the same quality) I'd quite probably drive it the same as I do with the good tyres, the good tyres allow me to stop in a sensible distance and so I drive to that distance, but my old cheapo tyres would leave me slamming into the back of the car in front with that distance (it took a stupidly long distance to stop with the cheap tyres).

And I'd happily gun it (the gt4) regardless of whether I was in a rush or not, if the road conditions allowed.

Well I hope you are as good a driver as you dream you are. Roads have all sorts of things on them which are entirely unpredictable, you gun your cock extender as much as you like but one day it will bite you on the ass or more likely someone else.

Well I hope you are as good a driver as you dream you are. Roads have all sorts of things on them which are entirely unpredictable, you gun your cock extender as much as you like but one day it will bite you on the ass or more likely someone else.

"gun it" does not mean "drive dangerously". It simply means to accelerate faster than dawdling out of a junction.

And it's not a cock extender, BTW 😉

Ah so that's why you get pissed off at cyclists in ASL's coffeeking, they prevent you taking off from the lights to try to beat everyone else.

Ah so that's why you get pissed off at cyclists in ASL's coffeeking, they prevent you taking off from the lights to try to beat everyone else.

Yup, thats right 😉

But in actual fact my comment, as I stressed on that thread but it seemed to get ignored, was that I did not put anything like the level of stress into the situation as you seem to.

And it's not a cock extender, BTW

Thats not what your wife said 😉

I'm sure you do drive safely but many people dont and many men think they drive fast but safely when in actual fact they've just been lucky. I got through a miss spent youth without hurting anyone but I did learn about sliding cars and spinning cars and how slow they are to stop in the wet. The way I see some people drive (especially on motorways) leads me to believe they have never tried to stop a car quickly in the wet, or they have had their fear glands removed.

But in actual fact my comment, as I stressed on that thread but it seemed to get ignored, was that I did not put anything like the level of stress into the situation as you seem to

mmm but I think you'll find I didn't get pissed off at all by asl use or not whilst you do. Rubbish comeback, must try harder coffeeking.

Thats not what your wife said

Must admit I've never compared the length of mine to anyone elses so it's hard for me to judge! I just enjoy using it (and the car!) and dont worry what anyone else thinks of it (and the car!).

I drive quickly where space, conditions and traffic allow. I.e. rarely, but empty country roads with good visibility and no passengers or nearby likelyhood of pedestrians. I don't like speed, I like acceleration, cornering and stopping ability. My car is set up for control (heavily modified brakes and suspension), not speed. I'm currently considering a gearbox replacement which would give me a redline of 110mph over the 160 it's currently limited to because I never get into 3 figures – not the acts of someone who likes speeding on motorways I'm sure you'd agree. I've done the driving too fast to stop in the wet (first year of driving I slid 6 car lengths up between stationary traffic and oncoming traffic on a single-carriageway road, missed them all with some careful guidance!), I've ended up in a field quite a few feet below the road due to missing a sign in the fog, i've head-on'd a RLJer because I wasn't aware people could be that stupid and had no-where to escape to (many lamp columns on both sides). I've learned from those mistakes and observations. It doesn't mean you have to drive everywhere like an 80 year old with poor sight.

mmm but I think you'll find I didn't get pissed off at all by asl use or not whilst you do. Rubbish comeback, must try harder coffeeking.

Miss-understanding of my comment there I think you'll find, what I meant was I dont get "pissed off" by them, I get mildly put out by their use, whereas you seem to get very worked up by my comments about it, so much so that while I'd forgotten that post even existed, you remembered and brought it into another post 😀

Have you had the car checked for any other problems – did the garage alter the tracking possibly? I'd take it back and ask them to take a look.

it's a false economy, quality rubber is what connects you to the road !!!
would happily spend £304 on 4 x 205/55/R16 91V Bridgestone Turanzas again

most of us wouldn't think twice about spending £100's on bike bits but balk at the cost of everyday items like branded tyres for a car that our kids / wife's / partners drive about in

there's a reason quality tyres cost a few quid more
next time you have to do an emergency stop in the wet or get caught out on greasy road in winter you'll be glad you paid just a little extra

and yes it WILL HAPPEN at some point no matter how great a driver we " think " we are …… even the pro's get caught with their pants down

Only three causes of skidding:

Over-acceleration,
Over-braking,
Over-steering.

and a skid-pan.

Back to main topic, keep us updated on how things go in next few weeks with the tyres. It could be something simple like oil on the road which regardless of how you drive you will spin, especially if you have never felt a car lose traction before. Did your wife back off suddenly, hit the brake, something to shift the weight of the car forward?

Wholeheartedly agree with you dab.

I drive quickly where space, conditions and traffic allow. I.e. rarely, but empty country roads with good visibility and no passengers or nearby likelyhood of pedestrians.

likely is the keyword there isnt it. Your gambling. Its not the purpose of this thread though so I'll leave it.

the_lecht_rocks – Member
HIJACK

radoggair – i have yokohama advan sports on my type r – looking at 4 new ones (225 / 35 / 19)….
any recommendations other than the standard advan sport ?

I'm guessing this is the new type r. My original post was for the last type r, mpv style. I have the newer version just now. opted out of the 19's because A/ ride is harsh enough, B/ the service guys have told me that some have popped off their rims hitting some pot holes etc, C/ the chances of surviving a year with untouched alloys is practically zero ( if driven like it should be) and D/ have you seen how much tyres are??. the do look nice though, that was my only plus point. Tyre wise, i've always found my hot hatches have ran well on Goodyear F1's. The new versions for 08/09 are a bit better as well. When it comes to tyre replacing thats what i'll look at anyway

likely is the keyword there isnt it. Your gambling. Its not the purpose of this thread though so I'll leave it.

You're gambling with your and others lives every time you take the car out. Every time you ride your bike. The risks are unquantifiable and vary continuously in space and time, who can say what the acceptable limit is? I know of a few people who'd say any motorised transport was too much of a risk and we should ban cars. I suspect you think that's ridiculous just as much as I do. To take it to a similar stupid extreme, if I don't get to "play" in my car or on my bike occasionally I become seriously depressed, theres a small risk I'd become suicidal… Feel free to email me if you want to carry on the discussion!

radoggair – you ever seen a good driver o a skid pan? they can drive at a fair pace without losing traction.

hello there,

just a bit of an update really.

it was the first time since the new tires were fitted that my wife drove the car and she said it felt funny on that island!!

i ask her to show me the island in question on the way back from shopping earlier and low and behold there is a car facing backwards in the bushes on the side of the roundabout!!!

looking at the island there is alot of sandy stuff covering the surface about 2/3 of the way around it.

so its obviously something has spilt on the road surface which is why it happened.

so thanks for the remarks about my wife driving like a ***** .

you know who you are.

cheers

steve

While I've attempted to point out it it might not be her fault all along, you've certainly not helped yourself by not thoroughly ruling out the road conditions yourself before posting. You should know by now that STW requires all facts to be stated in the first post or at least clarified by the end of the first page.

everyone knows women can't drive…

🙄

renton – so someone else had been driving like a **** idiot… Spills are pretty damn easy to see.

I totally disagree Groan, spills aren't THAT easy to see, especially on a roundabout!! Depends on road surface,weather (wet,dry etc),lighting conditions.

"Goan – Member
Only three causes of skidding:

Over-acceleration,
Over-braking,
Over-steering.

The government says I'm an expert in this field, I'm happy with that."

Cock?

I'd get the front and rears swopped round, the fronts should be scrubbed in by now. That will make the rear feel a little more stable.
In the hand book ford will give you min and max pressures depending on load set them at the mid point for a week and see how it feels. Then 1/2 that down wards to the little load setting.
That should give you an idea.

yep it was dusk time and not that east to see due to the camber of said roundabout.

goan give it a rest slating my wife mate , ive got bad toothache and not in the mood to have someone saying my wife is a shite driver especially as you have never met her.

thanks speshpaul …. you took the word right out of my mouth

Anyone that spins a car on a public road is a shite driver. End of – it is not open to debate.

oh dear

can i just ask how long you have been driving goan

17 years. Done around 1 million miles and have never even came close to spinning a car.

Are you a Taxi Driver or a sales rep?

well done im very pleased for you ……..

i take it your a driving instructor then ??

Driving instructor trainer.

Goan – 99% of the time you are right about that. Just occasionally it is almost impossible to avoid – and diesel spills are not always easy to see.

Remember you are the trolling zoofighter and a raving maniac behind the wheel of a car because a bike wouldn't get off the road to let you past.

Diesel on the road can be very bad news and I could imagine having a good slide on some under normal driving, spinning right round on some on a roundabout with what I call normal driving would however be unlikely.

so thanks for the remarks about my wife driving like a *****

I'm not sure anyone said that, I said if your sure driving like a **** wasnt the reason then something must be wrong with your car. If you are offended by that I'm sorry.