I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __
I’ve driven every day since taking the Mx out of SORN in June so no reason not to try the 60mph gusts and a lot of standing water today. It’s good to do it methodically so you don’t panic it you come across a deep nearside puddle unexpectedly. Long story short, it was a lot better than expected and there was a lot of water about to play with! I was expecting the car to be moved about more than was the case. Some cars are vulnerable. My old C3 Picasso and current Audi TT. My Volvo V60 and the MX much less so.
All this scientific testing was stuffed when, towards the end of the drive, I came around a bend with oncoming traffic and couldn’t avoid a short but deep puddle. Doing 50ish the car jinked but it was so easily handled.
Genuinely impressed. I thought with the light weight and not narrow tyres it would have been more of a handful.
Had fun trying to get out of Hereford yesterday to get to London. Ended up taking the A49 down to Ross on Wye. Water was casscading in to the road and running like full on streams on the hills before Huntley making single file traffic in the middle of the road the sensible option in many places. Just before the Higham Roundabout there was a stretch of more than a 100 meters where the road was several inches deep so well above the curb stones. The sensible thing would have neen to turn back but my friend Tony took it on in his Mk4 through and made it, just. With Madge my NBFL being at least an inch or so higher off the ground I gave it a go with my heart in my mouth and also made it with only a short squeel from the belts as the car emerged from the puddle, in complaint, glad I managed to keep the revs up. These really are amazing little cars .
Similar journey to you yesterday evening. Ledbury to Marlow in the driving rain!
The B4213 was flooded in several places near Apperley. The deepest I’ve gone with my ND 1.5, not really looking forward to repeating that. I do like how the car shrugs off potholes and windfall clutter though.
I put my foot down in low gear coming out of the Curbridge roundabout on the A40. Went into a patch of standing water and wasn’t very far from losing the back end.
After that I eased off. There was a definite prospect of aquaplaning on that bit of road. I’m going to have to change my 2018 Yokohamas.
Due for a service, probably in Leominster in the next couple of weeks. What tyres would you recommend for the next 6 months? Thinking about Uniroyal Rainsport 5 but would they be robust enough on a broken-up road surface?
Decent tyres with lots of tread has to be a given. You can’t say xxx tyres are rubbish if they are anywhere near the wear indicators on waterlogged roads.
As an ex hardcore biker my attitude to wet roads is very respectful. I’m loving driving in the wet with a car with good feedback. I’m still a bit timid but starting to get a bit of g-force though wet bends without actually disappearing into the undergrowth.
Tyres are Kumbo 51 with near full depth tread. ( which are B wet rating)
“ Went into a patch of standing water and wasn’t very far from losing the back end.”
The warning signals are quite tricky. Were you close to losing the back end or was the car just a bit floaty for a second and would just have carried on in the same direction regardless? This was my lesson learned yesterday; yes the the car is unsettled but how much do you react? I learnt just hold the steering straight ahead tighter rather than some sudden change of direction if room is restricted.
Read on a dedicated tyre place that 16” are better in the wet and 17” better in the dry. Suites me but could be rubbish:)
I presume you’re running 16" on your ND 1.5, 195/50/16? If so, yes - Rainsport5s would work well, they suit MX-5s well. Around £120 each fitted.
But personally I’d go for the Kumho HS52. A-rated for wet weather performance, same as the Uniroyals. But better value and still well suited to an MX-5 in my experience. A reasonable £95 each fitted, with a further 10% ‘Black Friday’ discount at the moment.
I know what you mean. In a straight line I’m happy with the car skating ever so slightly on a wet or broken up road. It’s envigorating.
However this was me accelerating the car out of a turn. I felt the back go further round than I’m used to. It wasn’t simply the suspension shifting over.
I’m loving my MX5, and it’s fun to learn to drive it better by pushing the envelope when I can. But last night in the dark and the wet was the wrong time to be getting too cocky
In April I bought a set of Goodyear Asymetrics and Michelin PS3’s with a view to doing some sort of track comparison during the summer, but the comparisson never happened consequently I have run up 13,000 miles on the Goodyears.
I did notice the weather was not going to be sunny at the weekend, I only realised the storm had been given a name today, Monday !, but had a look at both sets on Friday and decided the more even, across the tyre, tread pattern on the Goodyears was probably a better bet than that on the on Michelins even with the mileage on so I left them on for the weekend.
I see Blackcircles are doing 4 Continental Premium Contact 6, in the size required for my '02 S-VT, for just over 500 squid which includes a 15% Black Friday discount, I am tempted to have a set fitted to a third set of rims I have.
The Uniroyals are probably just as good a bet, but rated D as opposed to the Continentals C on fuel consumption, not sure how far I’d have to drive on them to save the 100 squid price difference but I am game for giving it ago since I seem to be heading far closer to 20k miles per annum than I anticipated during my first year of retirement.
I’m putting the miles on my car too, as I go West/East and back again pretty much weekly. I’m really pleased with the fuel economy (indicated 50mpg or more) so I’d be sorry to see that go.
The thing that would probably irk me most is extra road noise. Are the Kumho or Uniroyals known to be noisy?
Can’t help on road noise, Motorhead, Hawkwind et al took care of my hearing along time ago, I have the roof down when ever I can and have no baffles in the back box so tyre noise is not something I have ever been much concerned about. Most of the time I am lucky to get 35mpg, when on track much less, so anything over that is a bonus
That is the one I got for Christmas circa 1979 and was definitely a point where my life turned sharp left and left the usual tracks far behind
Getting back on track am looking forward to trying my set of Michelins next summer not least to see if the 1.5 lb difference in weight between the current S-VT 5 spoke rims and the '04 - '05 split spoke rims the Michelins are mounted on is in anyway perceptible.
With those other tyres mentioned, just to say that none of them are available in a 195/50/16 size.
Goodyear offer the EfficientGrip, for Michelin you can the Primacy 4 and Conti do the Ultra Contact.
If you wanted to consider the tyres available from those manufacturers, here’s some BlackCircles info:
Michelin are C/A rated for fuel/wet weather, with a 70Db noise rating. Currently £153 with 15% off.
Goodyear are C/A rated too, with a 69Db noise rating. Currently £155.
Conti also C/A, 69Db, £158 with 10% off.
Just to mention that the Kumho is also C/A rated, with a 71Db rating. £95, with 10% off currently.
You pays your money and you takes your choice - as they say!
So much agree. There are also people coming from the opposite direction that don’t share our enthusiasm and have right to not to be included in our play.
My solution is play after dark. Most of my bends are blind so any indication of anything coming in the opposite direction is quite a bonus.
Warning: You must be careful listening to Motorhead when driving, ‘Ace of Spades’ tends to make your right foot licence shredding heavy, no matter which tyres you use.
. Thank you anyway, all advice is appreciated!
