That time of year....greasy roads

Its sure getting slippy out there..! Some horribly slimy/muddy/damp roads around Bridgnorth here recently.

I put a set of winters on my MX5 earlier this week, 205/45 R17 Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25V2s, replacing some nearly worn out RE050As.

I would not have bothered but I will be driving to a hospital near Oswestry and back a few times in January/February to visit a friend who is going in for surgery, which would not be a fun journey in an MX5 if its very icy or we get any snow....

My decision to get winters was also swayed by wanting some summer tyres with potential for track days...so I've also bought some AD08Rs going on in Spring on some new wheels, but I didn't think they'd be any good at all if we go get a prolonged cold snap (heck last year I almost got stuck a couple of times in the Civic with CSC5s on given some of my more rural journeys). I figure having both sets of wheels and tyres will be a pretty good combination, albeit a very expensive solution.

With the winter tyres it feels perhaps ever so slightly more planted than the worn RE050As, no surprise, but also slightly mushier and slower to respond to wheel inputs, certainly not quite as sharp to drive with these on. I have a few longer journeys over the coming weeks, be interested to see how they how the feel after a good few hundred miles and perhaps some properly cold weather!
 
Do you know something we don't about the weather forecast?

Top quality bandwagoning that, going for winter tyres because you need to pop to Oswestry a couple of times in January :D Presumably given that most people don't fit them the carpark will be nice and empty.
 
Odd putting them on before you need them. It is going to be 10c all this week for example.
 
Agree, extremely rare to see a main route snow covered unless it's at the dead of night. So far this year seen no wintry weather at all, not even frosty mornings.
Saying all this, driving on snow with semi slicks definitely keeps you on your toes, it's not impossible though and not hugely worse than any typical summer UHP tyre. I only know this because I actively seek out driving on snow though, I'm retarded like that :p
 
Duke, yeah its way too warm to see any benefit but my old tyres were getting really low, very little tread left....so I had to change to something. Didn't see the point in chucking AD08Rs on then wishing I had something better suited, if, for example, we get a bit of snow in 3 weeks time.

You are much more experienced with RWD than me Clarkey :)

Currently weighing up if I have done the right thing really, I think back to last year nearly getting stuck a few times down lanes and things, or on the works car park where numerous people took ages to get out even in FWD hatches....and yet I'm fully aware that the tyres I have on now are of no real benefit if it doesn't get very cold or snowy.

But that time you get properly stuck, or end up bending the car or stuck in a ditch somewhere...well I've had enough of knocking into things really (insurance is bad enough as it is), anything that gives me a bit more confidence and ability to get home or where I'm going is a good thing. Whether its worth the cost...well only the weather can dictate whether its a worthwhile purchase, ask me again in March.
 
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scratch said:
If we're being pedantic then I think you'll find it's sole job is to prevent wheels spinning.

What I'm talking about is the amount of time it takes to catch and stop the spin, which I'm finding takes a lot longer than any car I've owned previously; that's probably because this is the most powerful car I've owned, but I still expected it to react quicker than it does.
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You could just accelerate more gently?
 
mattyfez said:
Sctratch: traction control can't predict the future, it needs to detect some slip before it engages. But as you hint, there are variables , how good the system is, as in how fast it can decide to step in, how ferociously the wheels are slipping and how good the tyres and suspension are.
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That doesn't seem to stop some manufacturers trying to predict the future though. In the mazda I drive occasionally you can put your foot down in a straight line and feel the traction control kick in as the wheels start to spin, but turn the wheel as you try and pull out of a junction quickly and it just completely cuts the power before any hint of wheelspin and even with a reasonable amount of accelerator that wouldn't lead to wheelspin normally anyway.

A 160bhp mazda should at least be as fast as my 80hp fiesta out of a junction, but the latter is not stopped by traction control. Or have I got it wrong and this is another system kicking in to keep me from crashing and not the traction control at all?

Only had one hairy moment due to greasy roads so far and that was an easy bend that could probably be taken at 50mph no problems requiring full right lock to get round at 30mph and only just, severe understeer.
 
I was stopped at the top of an incline the other day to give way to a car coming up the hill (you can only get one can through at a time as it is a narrow road) and I could hear what sounded like a scraping noise; I looked in my rear view mirror to find a very old Peugeot 106 driven by a yob sliding right towards me. Luckily he did have the sense to release the brakes so that he was able to swerve around me but then he carried on sliding half way down the hill passing some amused pedestrians.

The weird thing is he wasn't actually going fast and it was well above freezing. I can only guess that his tyres were totally bald! He even had trouble reversing once he finally came to a stop.
 
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PMKeates said:
You could just accelerate more gently?
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Stop the press: Ideal world solution in "doesn't always work in the real world" shocker.

It sounds like a simple fix, but it does diddly squat to help when you're trying to join a busy roundabout and the only way you stand any chance of getting onto that roundabout is by jumping into a brief gap in traffic.
 
It's during winter that I really miss my old Golf V6 4Motion. The GTI is a lovely car but turning into a road at a slippery junction isn't its forte. The 4Mo just used to pull out with confidence. People decry the Haldex system as not a proper 4x4 but I really liked it.
 
Rich1988 said:
cheap tyres on the MX5 = fun in this weather! love this time of year
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I have some fairly rubbish tyres on the supra atm and I'm loving it. I'm sideways everywhere!

although I have very little confidence in it at the moment as too much speed into a wet corner can get unpredictable quickly. I'm looking forward to putting my 18s on with fresh rubber.
 
scratch said:
Stop the press: Ideal world solution in "doesn't always work in the real world" shocker.

It sounds like a simple fix, but it does diddly squat to help when you're trying to join a busy roundabout and the only way you stand any chance of getting onto that roundabout is by jumping into a brief gap in traffic.
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It's really not a problem to sufficiently modulate your throttle when pulling out.
 
Was turning a 90 degree corner at what must have been 20ish when my back end kicked out on Saturday night. It's mild for this time of year but the roads do feel a bit slippy.
 
I got caught out yesterday coming out of a side turning at about half the speed I normally do. The back end completely went and I'm still not sure why - with the tyres I have on it atm it's almost impossible to slide, even if you're doing it deliberately.

Can only assume it was a patch of ice on the road but I didn't think it had got that cold yet!
 
scratch said:
Stop the press: Ideal world solution in "doesn't always work in the real world" shocker.

It sounds like a simple fix, but it does diddly squat to help when you're trying to join a busy roundabout and the only way you stand any chance of getting onto that roundabout is by jumping into a brief gap in traffic.
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The idea that you need to wheelspin away from roundabouts when the roads are greasy to make progress is a little preposterous :p

I find the DSC good enough to just let it get on with things, it rarely feels like it's totally bogged unless you have your foot quite far down, even with a big chunk of torque available. Do you have crap tyres?
 
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PMKeates said:
The idea that you need to wheelspin away from roundabouts when the roads are greasy to make progress is a little preposterous :p

I find the DSC good enough to just let it get on with things, it rarely feels like it's totally bogged unless you have your foot quite far down, even with a big chunk of torque available. Do you have crap tyres?
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I don't actually recall stating that I had to wheelspin away to make progress. It's just that to get the car onto the roundabout quick enough you can't dawdle around and feather the throttle like you normally would to keep traction.

The tyres are Bridgestone Potenza RE050A iirc, but I do have the pressures quite high so it might be worth lowering them slightly. Additionally I've noticed today that the car seems to be in 1st gear when pulling away from stationary, whereas I've seen it reported around the net that some peoples cars start off in 2nd, which would certainly help get the power down easier. I'll mention it to BMW tomorrow when she goes in to the the gear change looked at.
 
pepsilol said:
My 911 is all over the place nowadays, it doesn't have TC either.

So hardcore meme.
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Why I put the Super Sports back on m8, way more predictable and confident inspiring, even when running out of grip.

The Corsa's I find are terrible, they are supposed to be better in the wet than the Michelin CUP due to tread depth. My findings are this is not true, they are only better in the wet if your driving down a motorway full of deep puddles, they are more resistant to aquaplaning. But in wet/damp conditions the CUP's are better and communicate far better and the SuperSports are better again.
 
Phantom Shadow said:
That doesn't seem to stop some manufacturers trying to predict the future though. In the mazda I drive occasionally you can put your foot down in a straight line and feel the traction control kick in as the wheels start to spin, but turn the wheel as you try and pull out of a junction quickly and it just completely cuts the power before any hint of wheelspin and even with a reasonable amount of accelerator that wouldn't lead to wheelspin normally anyway.

A 160bhp mazda should at least be as fast as my 80hp fiesta out of a junction, but the latter is not stopped by traction control. Or have I got it wrong and this is another system kicking in to keep me from crashing and not the traction control at all?
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Our old MK3 MX5's traction control was utterly rubbish because of this, any hint of slip and it just cut all power making it frankly dangerous to pull out quickly from a juntion or onto a NSL roundabout. It made the car feel like the limits were a lot lower than they actually were, with the traction control off you could really throw it into corners and boot it out of junctions with no dramas but with it on it made you feel as if you must be about to fly off the road the entire time the amount it interfered :mad:
 
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