Wet Weather

[Guest Lew]

looks like my exmo's gonna be finished during the winter,

so i was just wondering what the handling was like in the wet?

any coments appreciated,

thanks Lew

[Guest brummy-ade]

who washes you clothes???? need i say any more!!!!

my exmo is not the best in the wet it is rather frightening!!!!!

ade

[Guest piddy]

I've always found my 2b to be ok in the wet, but I’ve had a couple of occasions when the back end has come around in a hurry probably oil on the road.

Ice and snow forget it.

Piddy.

[Peter Bell]

The handling is fine, it is the grip that is a bit lacking at times. It depends how wide your rear tyres are (the narrower the better) and how heavy your right foot is. Drive sensibly for the conditions and no problems, if you have plenty of space you can have a great time, and think about fitting a quick rack!

Peter

[Guest daveg]

Peter

 

I can't quite get my head around that one

the narrower the better

 

Dave

[Guest rizla]

i think he means less aqua planeing effect

[Guest The Rev]

Spot on. When using my Discovery the 235/70 R16's were great on the road and the gravel, but terrible in the deep mud and not too hot in the snow... though the 4x4 was a great help.

 

The narrower standard wheels & tyres put all of the vehicle weight onto the narrow tyre and force it through the crap (snow, mud or water) and contact the road surface.

 

Do not suppose it would look the same but I used to keep a set of old steel wheels and standard (narrow) tyres for my MG and put on the wider tyres and alloys once the snow (and salt) was past.

 

Enjoy your tail-out driving.

 

Rennie

[Guest AWhite]

I find that getting the tracking set up right (stops the wheels fighting each other) and getting some decent rubber makes a massive difference.

 

Helps if front and back camber is straight as well. I have tie bars and these are excellent for the road holding.

 

Fitting wider wheels does not imrove grip it just improves stability (and looks IMO). If you fit wider tyres you are just distributing the weight of the car over a larger area.

 

Lower profile tyres mean there is less flex in the sidewall of the tyre so you will get less 'play' before the back snaps out.

 

Anybody disagree with the above?

 

Andy

[Guest JohnS]

Width of the tyres will not effect aqua planing

if there is enough water to aqua plane, you will start aqua planing at a speed of 9 time the square route of your tyre pressure. and once started you wont stop until your speed reduces to 6 time the sq root.

As we are running at low tyre pressures we will be more prone the your tin top.

eg if your running at 19 psi you will aqua plane at 39mph.

21 psi 41mph

Tin top 32 psi 51 mph

 

Just drive to the conditions but as said they are intresting in the snow!!!

 

Hope that helps???

 

JohnS

[Guest Bernie]

Is that where the square root of negative numbers comes in? To determine at what speed in reverse the rubber looses contact with the road.

 

[Guest joop]

Hi Lew, I also drive an Exmo and mine advice to you is:

Fit a quick rack. The rear end moves faster than you can cope with. Especially with the small steeringwheel.

Fit tiebars and have the car set to: camber Neg. 1 degree and caster POS. 1 degree.

Fit spacer plates between the rear hubs and the rear wheel suspension. (You can order them at www.rsjigtec.com)

Replace the Sierra springs for adjustable coilovers. I didnot do that yet.

Practice a lot in the wet, be prepared for a spin or two and have fun. Greetings Joop

[Guest daveg]

If narrow tyres were better in the rain then the F1 teams would use bicycle wheels...I think not.

 

Also, aqua-planing involves more variables than just tyre pressure otherwise run your types at 100psi (don't!)

 

Aqua-planing occurs when the tyre's tread cannot clear water fast enough. So narrow tyres is wrong and high pressures are wrong

 

What you need are wet weather tyres with a good rate of water displacement running at the correct presures...

 

Dave

[Guest rizla]

our other car is a 5 door suzuki vitara with what is called a fatboy kit on it the tyres are 315 50 15 the car looks very cool but believe me it aqua planes at even the smell of water, before the kit was fitted tyres were 195 80 15 and aqua planeing was hardly ever a issue (what ever anyone says,from exsperiance it aint fun)

[Guest daveg]

Rizla

 

That just proves that the tread pattern on the 315's is crap...as it would be if they were slicks.

 

Slicks are good tyres in the dry but in the wet

 

Dave

[Guest AWhite]

As mentioned before. The wider the tyres the more you are distributing the weight. If you kept the same tyres and added weight to the car it could push through the water easier.

 

Getting wider tyres and keeping weight the same means there is more surface to push through the water with the same weight.

 

Tread pattern obvouisly helps, but it's all down to the weight of car and size of tyres. Oh and depth of puddle!

 

F1 cars don't use narrow tyres because the stability would be crap plus you don't get lots of deep puddles on an f1 track.

 

Were not talking about wet weather grip here were talking aquaplanning.

 

Not sure about the tyres pressure thing.

 

Just my 2p