I’ve had P6000s on my TDCi Focus and they are absolutely fine, wet or dry. I’ve driven round Ireland for a week in the pouring rain with P6000s on the MX5 - again no problems. However, I gave the MX5 a tiny bit of welly on a damp roundabout and it swapped ends!
I would say
Going into same corner at 50mph, P6000’s skid a bit while Toyos give me good grip, I am sure this is the difference of tyre performance
I reckon tyres do not act as a life saver, but is only a life saver WHEN NEEDED
Surely P6000’s aren’t bad tyres, they are Pirellis they can’t be bad
But for £50-60 per tyre I prefer to spend £31 on a Toyo
I only push hard when I drive on track, my P6000’s disappointed me couple times on normal road therefore I would not recommand it
I have Toyo Proxes 4’s. They perform well and are nice and grippy up to a point, they do seem to let go suddenly and the back end snaps out. My old budget mix-bag of tyres seem to squeel at lower speeds and give me a indication of when I was on the limit.
Most people seem to have T1R’s. Am I alone in have the Proxes 4’s?
I find it terrifying that so many people are having unexpected slides (regardless of any particular tyre they’re using).
If I can drive safely with cut slicks on the front, snow tyres on the back and a differential that has been welded solid then certainly there is no excuse for anyone to be nearly crashing in a normal car.
Please all of you - get some driver training on a nice safe track so you know where the limits are, then keep away from the limits when you’re driving on the road. And the old “diesel spill at the roundabout” line doesn’t excuse anything either - you know roundabouts near petrol stations are slippery after rain, they always are. Every slide is either intentional (stupid, at best, on a public road) or driver error.
Sorry, I have to disagree with the first statement. Knowing the limits on a dry track with a consistent surface is of precious little relevance to driving on roads which which have bumps, adverse camber, greasy bits etc. You only learn to cope with that by experience, which can be a harsh teacher. I’ve been driving forty years, done about 500,000 miles and before I span my 5, I had only ever slid twice (on black ice, when I did not know it even existed, and wet leaves - I was 19).
Fully agree with the second statement.
I agree than belting round Snetterton (for example) is unrealted to normal road driving. But there are tracks and tracks - Barkston Heath has pot holes, weird slippery mossy patches, expansion joints, rough concrete and some patches covered with rubber. Makes it an interesting place to practice car control, especially when it’s half wet/half dry. And it’s cheap.
I wonder how so many people lose the back end on ‘diesel’ surely the front wheels are going to hit problems first?
I think this has been done before on the old forum.
Basically, P6000’s are a good tyre but more suited to a slightly heavier car. I had a pair on the rear’s on my MK1 a couple of years ago. Pretty good but as they got older I was getting slippage pulling away when even just a little wet.
I think there is also a problem with people like me who jump out of a front wheel drive car into a rwd like the five.
Roundabouts are always greasy and I inadvertantly put the power down a cars length earlier in the 5 - compared to the same spot I accelerate in the wife’s Fiesta. Together with the easy revving, it is a recipe for twitching.
I have to say though, in the wet, the 5 has the twitchiest back end of any car I’ve ever driven. I haven’t become a boy racer overnight. It always seems to be the offside that steps out … wonder if the original Eunos diff is to blame?
Iagree Valient. I learned to drive in old skoda’s The rear engined ones! and being 17 living in the countryside me and my friends all used to drive too fast. I found that I could win on a twisty road despite the rear engine rearwheel drive nature of the skoda. Front wheel drive was easier to drive but when the limits are reached the understeer of the front wheel drive was harder to control than my skoda’s oversteer giving me the advantage.
Modern technology has narrowed this gap to the point that modern front wheel drive cars have very good manners but in doing so I believe that the driver loses a level of involvement and in effect is deskilled. My wife who is no slouch in her Audi A4 ESP ABS etc even on twisty roads in Wales when a year or so ago I was following in my mk1 5. On arriving at our destination I said you were pushing it to which she replied “didnt feel like it”. I worked on my driving and enjoyed the drive my wife had just gone A to B.
My Point being the faster you drive the greater the level of concentration and skill required The greater the risk of things going wrong and less time to put them right. Like a person posted earlier practice makes a person a better driver and the best place to practice is on he skid pan or race track. Once you have the experience you can feel a skid before it starts and take corrective action before you get into a full on skid.
Lastly to get back on point I have a P6000 (os) and a budget tyre(nrs) on the back of my five. The budget tyre is not as grippy as the P6000 and as I commute the same nice twisty road each day definitly notice a difference on left and right turns with the budget consistantly breaking away at slower speeds than the P6000.Both have about the same amount of tread. Incidently in the recent heavy snow I got in to work every day except one when I got up late and althougth I did set off the traffic was already gummed up so I turned round and went home so neither tyre is bad and both give good grip.