Eek! Nearly had a rather nasty accident
Discussion
I had to do my first proper emergency stop in years this morning, and what should have been a fairly routine operation became a major scare.
It was very greasy - not the sort of conditions I'd usually choose to take the Chim out - but I was doing a fairly cautious speed at the point an old lady in a Golf pulled out in front of me. I jumped on the brakes and locked the fronts, which seemed odd, but I had plenty of distance to restore grip and try again, only to lock up once more. I actually had the time to think about my cadence braking before trying again, but the limit of adhesion on the front was stupidly low and the damn thing kept slithering along. I should probably point that virtually all my sports cars have been non-ABS and I get to spend plenty of time playing around on track, so while I'm no Stig, I'm not a complete numpty in these matters either. Right at that moment, though, I felt like I was on ice.
Because I bought the car with the itention of changing the wheels and tyres pretty much immedaitely I couldn't even remeber what was on there. When I got back - fortunately in one piece having come to a halt shortly before the driver's door of the rather startled pensioner - I took a look. It's running Wanli S-1099s on the front. The pressures and tread depth are all fine and yet they are unbelievably bad tyres in greasy conditions. They make the Uniroyals on the back seem like ultra-sticky track day specials! I'd noticed the understeer before (and I mean at speeds the car should be utterly unphased by), but it's only when you need to slow down in a hurry that you suddenly realise just how important a good set of boots is... I suppose it is possible I ran over a patch of diesel or something coming up to the junction, but I reckon it's just that the tyres are god damn lethal. Can't wait to get some nice sticky Toyos on there.
Rant over.
It was very greasy - not the sort of conditions I'd usually choose to take the Chim out - but I was doing a fairly cautious speed at the point an old lady in a Golf pulled out in front of me. I jumped on the brakes and locked the fronts, which seemed odd, but I had plenty of distance to restore grip and try again, only to lock up once more. I actually had the time to think about my cadence braking before trying again, but the limit of adhesion on the front was stupidly low and the damn thing kept slithering along. I should probably point that virtually all my sports cars have been non-ABS and I get to spend plenty of time playing around on track, so while I'm no Stig, I'm not a complete numpty in these matters either. Right at that moment, though, I felt like I was on ice.
Because I bought the car with the itention of changing the wheels and tyres pretty much immedaitely I couldn't even remeber what was on there. When I got back - fortunately in one piece having come to a halt shortly before the driver's door of the rather startled pensioner - I took a look. It's running Wanli S-1099s on the front. The pressures and tread depth are all fine and yet they are unbelievably bad tyres in greasy conditions. They make the Uniroyals on the back seem like ultra-sticky track day specials! I'd noticed the understeer before (and I mean at speeds the car should be utterly unphased by), but it's only when you need to slow down in a hurry that you suddenly realise just how important a good set of boots is... I suppose it is possible I ran over a patch of diesel or something coming up to the junction, but I reckon it's just that the tyres are god damn lethal. Can't wait to get some nice sticky Toyos on there.
Rant over.
I have read up on those Wanli tyres and they are truly truly awful - trawl the web you'll find a few reviews. It seems the rubber compound is too hard and doesn't grip a damn thing.
(We just bought a replacement car and the dealer said he would fit Wanli tyres as part of the deal - or we could go for something more expensive and pay the difference, which we did)
Get them off PDQ and get something decent on there before you die!
(We just bought a replacement car and the dealer said he would fit Wanli tyres as part of the deal - or we could go for something more expensive and pay the difference, which we did)
Get them off PDQ and get something decent on there before you die!
Barkychoc said:
I have read up on those Wanli tyres and they are truly truly awful - trawl the web you'll find a few reviews. It seems the rubber compound is too hard and doesn't grip a damn thing.
(We just bought a replacement car and the dealer said he would fit Wanli tyres as part of the deal - or we could go for something more expensive and pay the difference, which we did)
Get them off PDQ and get something decent on there before you die!
Barkychoc talks sense, get them off PDQ.(We just bought a replacement car and the dealer said he would fit Wanli tyres as part of the deal - or we could go for something more expensive and pay the difference, which we did)
Get them off PDQ and get something decent on there before you die!
Chris71 said:
Believe it or not, the feedback and progression are actually pretty good. With an equally crappy set on the rear and an abandoned airfield you could have a great time, but they're truly terrifying on a damp road. Really not a good idea.
Just looked at an Autocar Tyre Test for budget tyres.
Car used was a VW Golf for wet condition stopping distances and they used Continentals as a comparison to a good tyre. Results were:-
Contis - 31.7 metres
Nankang - 33.8 m
GT Radial - 35.8 m
Wanli, Triangle and Linglong - 40.2 m
The Linglongs were still doing 27.8 mph at the point where the Continentals stopped.
I can't imagine anyone on here considering the cheapest tyre they could get for their TVR or shopping car for that matter but it may be worth passing on the word to a brother or sister etc. who may. It's a scary thought that the car behind you could be using these and I think minicabs are big offenders especially since they seem to drive right on your arse.
Car used was a VW Golf for wet condition stopping distances and they used Continentals as a comparison to a good tyre. Results were:-
Contis - 31.7 metres
Nankang - 33.8 m
GT Radial - 35.8 m
Wanli, Triangle and Linglong - 40.2 m
The Linglongs were still doing 27.8 mph at the point where the Continentals stopped.
I can't imagine anyone on here considering the cheapest tyre they could get for their TVR or shopping car for that matter but it may be worth passing on the word to a brother or sister etc. who may. It's a scary thought that the car behind you could be using these and I think minicabs are big offenders especially since they seem to drive right on your arse.
Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff