The Age Old Tyre Debate

Hi George,

I'm not sure that the French guys have recovered even now. They were REALLY scared. However, before someone accuses me of not having regard for my passengers - the deadline [ met incidentally ] was set by them !

Tyres - because of MY peculiar requirements - ie long fast ['ish] Autobahn blinds with trailer, I have taken [ last 30 years or so ] to fitting larger section rear tyres. Works equally well solo or trailer and gives additional peace of mind when towing 2 tons at 100 mph +.

Long John Kickstart - I was priveleged to work with the great man in the '70's.
With racing motorcycles mainly [ he was a committee member of the National Sprint Association ], but later with American Muscle Cars. At that time I owned a US Speed equipment shop in Birmingham [ "Muscle City" ] and was something of a V8 engine building specialist [ Ford and Chevy ] - I liaised with LJKS when he had relevant queries to be answered. Not only was he a fantastic engineer in his own right and a truly learned man, but also a perfect gentleman - old school [ used for once in it's correct terminoligy ].
BTW - did you know the monocle was for effect only?

Beachcomber

Back to the back-end loosing it on roundabouts. Ciaran - are you sure it is not the rear-wheel steering on the Mk2? I don't think the Mk1 has it so it would be a completely different feeling from anything you get in the other.

I find mine does seem to kick in a bit more suddenly than I would expect it to be designed to - perhaps because of ware or similar from the age. It is quite noticeable on roundabouts at the speed I drive but does make the car handle quite well. I had some passengers in the car a while ago and took a roundabout rather fast. They noticed it from the back seats.

Hehe, no din't know about that! Didn't know about the meaning of his initials either -on what inspiration did he constructed this name for himself??-. At least, was Setright his real surname?

G

Hi George,

I think Beachcomber is using a nickname used by readers. His name was Leonard John Kensall Setright.

Derek

aaaaaaah...Tha!
G

Correct Derek,

he was known by that nickname by all and sundry - however I called him "sir" or Mr. Setright. Eventually after about 18 months one day he said - "You may call me Leonard dear boy" - still took me another 6 months to drop the sir or Mr. Setright!

Nostalgia section - I once saw him and Vic Willoughby [ another superb engineer ] riding the George Brown Vincent "Nero" - LJKS simply tucked his trousers into his socks, donned a helmet and was off! Complete with 3 piece suit, monocle - mind you he did leave his ever present brolly behind.!

Beachcomber

I'd always imagined there was a lower limit when towing on European roads like our 60mph one in the UK, but I was disabused of this notion a couple of years ago after an incident on the autoroute near Lyon.

A friend and myself, chugging along in my old 405 enroute to Tignes for a weeks sking, he was driving. We were sitting at 80ish mph, my friend notices a 406 estate closing on us at a rapid pace, at least 110 we reckon. As it goes past we're suprised to see a little 2 wheeled trailer on the back, the load covered by a flapping tarpaulin that looks like it's about to slip it's moorings. As we were speculating how far down the road the accident was going to occur the cover flies off revealing a large sideboard, upright in the trailer. My friend takes avoiding action as the tarpaulin heads straight at us, not to worry it goes over the centre barrier and covers half the windscreen of an arctic going the other way. Then we see that the turbulence around the trailer is sucking the drawers from the sideboard and firing them all over the place. As my internal organs are rearranged by the 405 swerving around the flying debris the rest of the sideboard takes off, rises 10 feet in the air and crashes down onto the tarmac splintering into matchwood. As we immerged from the cloud of timber into clear air we couldn't help noticing that the 406, far from slowing down seemed to be travelling even faster, obviously the weight of all that wood was holding him up.

Thanks, Derek and Dave. I have the 205s on the S2 (on aftermarket TSW Stealth rims) and they work well.
I actually prefer the fat, chunky look in a tyre, and thought the original S1 ones looked a little thin, though I do love the wheels themselves

I tried getting the BF Goodrich Roy mentioned, but he didn't have any in stock, and upon ringing round 3 or 4 suppliers, it seems they're quite hard to get over here, for some reason. Pity, as I really fancied them. There was a 'Carmac' one there with a very similar tread, but I've no experience of those, have never heard of them in fact, so didn't want to get them there and then without finding out a little more.

Derek, what you said about the breakaway point of the Michs is what's particularly unnerving about them. They do grip well, but I just don't know where that ends, and I wouldn't like to find out the hard way!

George, the suspension of this car is very comfy and smooth, if a little too soft in places. When I first got it I was convinced sometimes it must be on comfort spheres or something, as it didn't feel like my S2, but I was later told the S2s are very slightly firmed, plus the obvious implications of H2 suspension.

The S1 is certainly soft, but it doesn't drastically lean or wallow. Theres one particular thing that makes it behave a bit strangely: In a local shop carpark, there are two deep, smooth holes (they're after mounds in the tarmac to accommodate manholes). These holes are one on each side of the car, but the position of them is such that the passenger side wheel goes in first, then the drivers side a meter later. I find that when going through here at low speeds, the car rocks quite noticeably and softly from side to side, moreso than you'd expect even for something soft. But other than that it feels fine. Indeed, when I see other conventionally sprung cars going through the holes, they too visibly tilt back and forth, so I may just be imagining that something is wrong when its not.

I'm fast running out of time to sort this before Wednesday, so I think I may just get a bog standard cheap tyre on the one back wheel to replace the worn one, get it through the MOT, then track down a decent set of tyres when I have more time.

I'm actually quite looking forward to trying some out now

Cheers again for everyone's thoughts, truly a wealth of information in this thread.

Ciarán

Rear wheel steering Rowan? I didn't know XMs had that.... do explain more

You learn something new everyday on here

Ciarán

I think they're hard to get anywhere Ciaran - I always have to order them too. (Usually takes 2 or 3 days.)

Roy

Hi RobMC,

Note that I stated AUTOBAHN blinds - not AUTOROUTE.

Do 60mph towing on an Autobahn and you're likely to get the hurry up from Politzei, not slow down! In fact the MINIMUM speed for unrestricted Highways is 60 mph.

I stick pretty well to the speed limits in France these days since the age of "Internationalism", and of course the upsurge in our favourite cameras - NO not the Revenue gathering ones [ perish the thought ], but the ones that "save lives".

As for your near miss - well there are pratt's in every country, I suspect that load would have been just as dangerous at 50 or 60. And of course NONE of us EVER exceeds a speed limit do we [ towing or not ]? 80 mph 'ish would be what, 130 kph 'ish. - the "DRY" Peage speed limit. Non-Peage Autoroutes are pegged at 68 mph / 110kph. Trailers are pegged at 110kph / 70 mph [ peage ] and 100 kph non-peage A/Route. ALL French speed limits 10% 'ish lower in the wet.

In Germany caravaners have a rough deal - 60 mph is about it ,NO MATTER what road! And the Politzei seem to relish enforcing that.

However, in Germany there is a "green lobby" move towards a universal 130 kph limit. MANY Highways [ A/B] already have a 130 kph limit, and occassionally you'll see everyone standing on their brakes from warp factor 3 to 80 or 60 kph, these are the increasing speed limits set at off ramps - and inevitably have at least 2 cameras in attendance. My friendly village Politzei where I live tells me that more and more evidence is being built up of "foreign" [ read UK ] drivers who think they can totally ignore fixed speed cameras. Oh yes, when in Germany watch out for differing speed limits in different LANES on the same stretch of Highway! On a 4 laner near Cologne there is a stretch where the outside 2 lanes are 130kph and the inner 2 - 60 kph! Figure that one.

As you might be aware - in Germany AND France trailers are registered and TESTED [ mini MOT ]. Now then forget the Continent - I'd like to see that brought into the UK. That still won't stop the Numpty caravaners NOT taking along a spare wheel with inflated tyre when they have a rush hour puncture on the M25 en-route for their hols.

Towing, like any other motoring activity requires a little common sense.
beachcomber

Hi Beachcomber

Had no idea at the time what the limit was when towing in France, that guy was in a tearing hurry to get somewhere but he obviously wasn't looking in his mirrors and must have been deaf as well not hearing the tarpaulin cracking around 6 feet behind him. Gave us a good laugh though.

Bob

Bob,
now if you want something REALLY scary try this one.

In 1996 I was towing a Cobra down for the Le Mans 24 Hour race "Cavalcade" [ Carroll Shelby's parade car in fact ] with my CX Familliale. This time at maybe 60mph on the notorious Peripherique [ Paris ring road / race track ]. It was the early hours of the morning and we were following a French "Builders " wagon.

Suddenly a scaffold board flew off the back, just missing my screen but hitting the front of my "antique dealer's " roof rack. In the avoiding maneouver I clipped the concrete kerbing wall [ 2 ft high ] bursting a tyre on the trailer which caused the whole plot to do 1 1/2 spins ending up facing the other direction! It was 2.30 am and hardly any traffic about - but that got my attention!

The Gendarmes turned up 10 minutes later and just stood around shrugging their shoulders. There was petrol pouring out of a spare can that was in the boot of the Cobra. The most scary part of the whole deal was not the near miss with the scaffold board, not the 1 1/2 spins [ missing all the other kerbs , walls, traffic ] but when the 5 Gendarmes all decided to light up their "Gauloise" fags with the pungent aroma of race fuel in the air!

When we eventually got going again we followed a trail of builders debris that had most likely also come from " Pierre the builder's" wagon.
Beachcomber

Hi Ciaran,

Very easy to check, just remove a front corner one and if the centre orifice is anything larger than 0.6mm or 0.7mm, it's not standard. I think 2lt atmo had 0.7 (or perhaps even 0.8mm, can't remember for sure).

cheers
George

Not sure if it is the same as the ZX or not. I think it is rubber mounts for the rear sub-frame that allow a small amount of passive steering movement, but haven't looked to be sure.

I presume it is designed to make it handle better. It certainly seems to on roundabouts at 40mph.