Board logo

Driving At This Time Of Year
Barkalarr - 16/12/14 at 10:13 PM

So I went out in the Seven earlier today - the sun was shining.... it was awesome to get back out in the car.

However.... it was like driving on ice !.. the roads were damp but no surface water, but the roads were just so greasy it's not funny.
I only drove it like a little kitten, but it was very slippery out there.

skinny tyres + greasy roads = brown trousers

Take note... if you're as stupid as me driving at this time of year, just be careful.

Daf - 16/12/14 at 11:05 PM

I'll second that, I went out on the bike last week and I just couldn't put any power down! Roll on summer!

TimC - 16/12/14 at 11:15 PM

I honestly thought the post would be about driving standards. People seem to have their minds on other stuff and hence are driving like total twunts.

theprisioner - 16/12/14 at 11:44 PM

Last Monday in Scotland

http://www.mscc.org.uk/le-jog-2014-forrestburn.htm

perksy - 17/12/14 at 12:13 AM

Yep, Be careful out there folks

Having previously experienced two 360 deg spins on an 'A' road in greasy conditions its not something I'd want to try again

Luckily all the other drivers had backed off and were watching the muppet in front trying to catch his car and stop it hitting the central reservation barrier

anthony1 - 17/12/14 at 07:36 AM

My mate and I followed Le Jog from Northumberland up to John O Groats , it is our yearly pilgrimage!! Epic trip......the Mk stayed under its cover in the garage and the 'tin top' was used with a set of winter tyres......a little slippy here and there , but steady driving won the day.......until we got out for some refreshment at Tarvie services passage control at 1 AM , it was like a repeat of Torvill and Deans ice dance, we and everyone else had a good laugh about it ...

russbost - 17/12/14 at 08:14 AM

A large part of the problem is modern tyres; once temps drop anything below around 7 deg C, the tyres are pretty useless for anything other than a gentle pootle down the road. I've had wheelspin in 3rd gear at around 85mph - that certainly sharpens the senses & is very good sphincter muscle training!

I actually think it gets worse the wider the tyres & the lighter the vehicle, ie light car, wide tyres = dreadful, heavy car, skinny tyres = not too bad

As said, whatever you're driving, go careful, be aware that roads that just look damp could be covered in black ice, if what you're driving has any significant power then squeeze the throttle gently - do NOT prod or poke it!

mcerd1 - 17/12/14 at 09:19 AM

^^^ what russ said, you want some even skinnier winter tyres.

narrow tyres have smaller contact patches, but that means more pressure - this suits winter tyres/conditions better.

look at the rally cars - on dry tarmac they use very wide low profile tyres - but on snow/ice they use very narrow high profile tyres - they wouldn't do this if it didn't give them more grip

and I know BMW supplied winter wheels & tyres are narrower than the stock ones too

[Edited on 17/12/2014 by mcerd1]

orton1966 - 17/12/14 at 10:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by russbost
A large part of the problem is modern tyres; once temps drop anything below around 7 deg C, the tyres are pretty useless for anything other than a gentle pootle down the road. I've had wheelspin in 3rd gear at around 85mph - that certainly sharpens the senses & is very good sphincter muscle training!

I actually think it gets worse the wider the tyres & the lighter the vehicle, ie light car, wide tyres = dreadful, heavy car, skinny tyres = not too bad

As said, whatever you're driving, go careful, be aware that roads that just look damp could be covered in black ice, if what you're driving has any significant power then squeeze the throttle gently - do NOT prod or poke it!


Yes, I'll second that. Modern tyres do seem worse in cold/damp weather. I used to put it down to modern cars being heavier and tyres wider but even small light cars, on narrow tyres seem to struggle.

When i started driving, we drove all-year-around, on the same tyres, with no real issues. Now, as the original post said, we don't even have to reach freezing and everyone's sliding into things. It's almost getting to the point, where some people consider you irresponsible if you don't run winter tyres. Considering we have a mild climate, we shouldn't really have to!

kj - 17/12/14 at 10:10 AM

Been out the last couple of weekend's you always get the idiot in the Audi or Impretza trying to race, like we would risk it in that weather.

proretro - 17/12/14 at 12:10 PM

But the engine's loving the cooler air .... Grrrr

motorcycle_mayhem - 17/12/14 at 05:09 PM

For me it's not the ice/temperatures that are the issue, it's more the huge heaps of detritus that the councils like to pile on the surface.
Whether it's down to overtime, a need to spend the quota, fear of litigation, or just plain stupidity - there seems to be no correlation between the weather and the vast dumps of salt, grit and gravel.
In summer, there's always the mountain of detritus, crashed car parts, gravel, dressing, diesel, whatever in the centre of a T-junction. You know it'll be there, you can (hopefully) avoid it.

Now, however, a greasy sludge spans the whole road width. I believe it would help if there was a little less muck spreading, the dampness would be allowed to evaporate, rather than form a brine solution.

kj - 17/12/14 at 10:27 PM

If it's not raining at the weekend I am out in the 7 , just love driving it.

proretro - 17/12/14 at 11:05 PM

I hear ya KJ, break up from work Friday and going to wake the neighbours about 7:30 on Sunday