Hi Kowalski,Kowalski wrote:I can see your point of view and agree with it to a degree but if you can improve the grip your car has you're increasing its safety. When a pedestrian steps out in front of you or a car pulls out in front of you the quality of your tyres could be the difference between an accident or being able to keep control of the car and avoid a collision.
I agree entirely. I'm not for one minute suggesting I'm a fast or reckless driver, and I am definately not a "boy racer" by any stretch of the imagination. (Would I have bought an 8 valve Xantia auto if I was ?
)Absolutely!Exploring the limits of your cars performance and knowing what the limit is good for safety, it means you know where the limit is and its better that you find the limit under conditions you control rather than in an emergency. If you don't know where the limit is, you don't know whether its safe to be going at the speed you are going at, how could you? If you're familiar with your cars behavior under extreme conditions and how to control it, it could save your life one day, knowing what to do when the car starts oversteering because of a patch of ice etc.
Too many people have absolutely NO idea what the limitations of their car (or their driving for that matter) are in certain circumstances, and when they take a corner too fast in the wet and suddenly find themselves off the road in the ditch they are COMPLETELY caught by surprise by it. (Assuming they are still alive)
Braking is another one - how many non technical drivers do you know who were well practiced at doing emergency pulse braking in the days before ABS ? Everybody "knew" about it, but very few people had done the practice necessary to make it an automatic conditioned response to pulse brake in an emergency - most people would just "forget" in the panic and stamp on the pedal regardless of being "taught" to pulse brake. (I was one that did learn to pulse brake properly, in fact I now have to fight my conditioning NOT to pulse brake manually on a car with ABS
)Now with ABS, because people never hear the wheels lock up and skid I think they GROSSLY overestimate the braking abilities of their car in the wet (or snow/dirt/metal etc) in particular.
When recently doing some practice emergency stops in my Xantia (on a long stretch of deserted road in a safe area of course) I was horrified at just how poor the grip of the front tyres is in the wet, and how long the stopping distance was. Sure the edges are a bit bald, but it is pathetically bad, hence one of the impetuses for new tyres.
I think ABS also causes people to take more risks in cornering in the wet - because they never feel any wheel skidding during braking they take corners faster without realising that they actually DONT have that much grip available...
I don't for a minute advocate dangerous driving, but I do think its important that people are aware of the limits of their cars so they can stay within them. I think all new drivers should have to do a defensive driving course on a circuit/skidpad where they can learn the typical behaviour of cars in the wet, when going around corners too fast, stopping distances, learning to pulse brake for cars without ABS, learning how to recover a rear end fishtail, the difference between FWD and RWD handling etc.
Metal roads are another thing which should be taught to people - there is not much margin for error before you find yourself running off the roads, and most people don't know about following the grooves on the road, or know the "rally driver" style of driving metal roads where you use power to help you around the corner etc.
I admit that my metal road driving is fairly poor so I always take it very easy on a metal road, as I don't want to learn through my mistakes on my nice spotless Xantia
(My poor GS suffered two visits to the ditch on a metal road many years ago when I had just started driving, and I have never forgotten that)Because I am aware of my limits on a metal road I don't get into trouble there.
By the way I've already ordered some 205/60/R15 Michelin XM1's, and will be getting them put on today, and its p***ing down with rain today, so I will report back regarding the wet weather grip
Regards,
Simon