Tyres Advice please

bigjl

Strider590 wrote: »

Im sorry but that's incorrect, "booting it" is what you do if the rear of a FWD car starts to loose grip (or oversteer), doing so in understeer will only cause more problems.
However what happens on the race track is they lift off (or apply some left foot braking) so as to throw the car into oversteer first, then they boot it out of the apex.... Which is probably what you mean

Well thats what i get for posting using a Blackberry Storm 2 and not rereading before posting, I wrote oversteering but te Strom 2 has a habit of editing your post as you go. If you reread substituting over for under you will se that the rest of that post is in the contyext of oversteer.

Kilty_2

Strider590 wrote: »

I was just giving benefit of the doubt tbh, the above shape of Micra is the single worst offender for driving on parking lights in the dark, fog or snow. I figured it can't just be down to the driver and surely there has to be a factor, something in the Micra's design which leads it's owners into driving around on the parking lights, apparently oblivious to the danger they represent.

Oh and it was some time in the late 80's manufacturers moved the parking lights from the bumper into the headlamp unit.

I'm sure the light controls are on one of the stalks, a-la the N16 Almera which shares a few parts with this generation of Micra.

bigjl

andygb wrote: »

What the heck does that first comment mean?
I suspect in reality, it means that you consider that you are nearly up to the standard of a police pursuit driver, without having anything to back your claim up!;)

Well if you knew anything atall about how Police and Ambulance drivers are trained you would realise that the Police have different grades of drivers, and the usual way to tell one from the other is that the courses are of different lengths, this is to allow more practical training and more assessment.

The longer the course, then basically the higher the level of training, though we all do skid pan stuff, there are other elements that are only done after the first couple of weeks.

The more basic Police course tend to be around 2 weeks, this driver wouldn't be allowed to pursue anybody for example.

The Police differ in that they do other training during their careers, whereas the Ambulance service, LAS in my case, do almost all the driver training at the start.

Our course is 3 weeks long, and the person that I spoke to, a Police driver trainer, and also qualified to Pursuit standards explained the different levels, and he said that our training was just below the standard of a pursuit driver, I didn't say that, but if you know more than the bloke that trains them to this standard then good luck with that.


You feel free to post rubbish if you want, though it does seem that you are a bit jealous of those you see driving on blues, if you want to then feel free to apply and get the training that I have recieved and the Police have recieved, rather than just posting drivel on here.

Seems a bit sad that in order to make yourself feel better you feel the need to attempt to belittle other peoples skill and experience, don't tell me let me guess, you know more than anybody in any field at any time, even though you have no practical experience.

I am surprised you have the time to post on here with your busy schedule and expertese in all things, I assume you are going to America next week to consult on some big governement project no doubt.

bigjl

Rossy. wrote: »

But isn't that more to do with the driviers control skill than a set of rubber?

I have quite a few categories on my license and have driven a multitude of vehicles including some exotic and i have never had the back sep out on me

Of course all cars are different but driver skill plays a massive part.

An experienced driver will easily be able to suffer less loss of control than a 75 year old granny.

If you have never had the back step out on you in any car then you really haven't been pushing the boundaries of that particualr cars handling and performance.

Part of the skill of driving is being able to judge the amount of grip you have, so rubber is extremely important, though a lot of younger drivers that spend a lot of time driving around the city or say wide straight A roads believe that they can drive much better than they actually can, driving round a roundabout though fun is very easy to do relatively quickly without any real skill or judgement.

Driving with the limits doesn't prove skill, though it does show that somebody that stays within the limits of their particular vehicle. And is able to anticipate well.

Very often in London we will have the "yoof" try to keep up with us when enroute to calls, expecially on the odd twisty section of clear road and dual carraigeway, such as near The City Airport or Aspen Way.

There is nothing we can do about it, the Police haven't got the resources to deal with it and the bosses won't put CCTV facing out the back window to get evidence.

My solution is to drive as normal, as our cars are 120bhp Diesel Auto Zafiras with standard supension, brakes and a load of kit in the back we have no chance to pull away in a straight line, and I won't slow down as then my patient will suffer.

When there is a bend in the road, roundabout or my absolute fave, a sweeping right hander with a dodgy camber and a big dip on the apex. They try to take the bend at the same speed as I do, and always in much better cars, new shape Focus, late model Astra or any number of relatively normal looking cars with very good handling and performance. And even a few more upmarket vehicles.

The result is my exiting the corner or roundabout about three or four car lengths ahead of them, sometimes, actually quite often they go into a bit of a tankslapper, and realise that the car is driving them and not them driving the car, they then back off.

We are talking about a small minority here, the kind of young lad that thinks nothing about overtaking a proper van based Ambulance that is on blues due to them thinking they are smart or skilled.

I learned to drive in the sticks in Scotland, and cut my teeth on cars like Austin A40s and Volvo 340s, back in the '80s, so driver skill played a big part in my learning experience, as did competing in autocross, these cars, in particular the A40 had little in the way of outright grip, and so where a perfect training ground for a driver to really develop their skill.

As an example Tiff Needell cut his teeth in a Moggy which has pretty much identical handling to the A40, sideways everywhere.


The number of RTCs that we attend also illustrates the relatively low skill levels in some drivers, for example losing the back end of aWRX whilst overtaking an Evo, the erason for the loos of control being to harsh use of the steering, resulting in a spin, this lad may have thought he knew how to drive, but seriously he lost control in a straight line!

there are also loads of RTCs with young lads, stating that somebody cut them up, when you can see two arrow straight skidmarks ending where they have hit the armco.

Getting back to the post by Rossy, who do you think has the most driver skill, somebody that has never had a car understeer or oversteer or somebody that can execute a perfect four wheel drift in a WRX.

Have a look at some of the drifting videos on YouTube for some examples of good skill and car control. As part of being a skilled driver is being able to go past your cars limits and remain in control.

Pulling a handbrake turn or wheelspinning in Tescos car park isn't actually much of a display of skill. Not that I would advise doing such just to prove skill.

JQ.

OP, I hope you're ok. If only you'd put the new tyres on the back you probably could have avoided the accident, . . . only joking, not much you can do when you meet an idiot on the road. Just shows those little Micras are tough little cars.

You should do a search on car accidents involving crashes with uninsured drivers - I'm sure there's been quite a few threads on here about it. Whilst I don't know the technicalities, there are things you can do that will minimise you're financial loss.

Hope it all gets sorted quickly.

Bronnie

JQ. wrote: »

OP, I hope you're ok. If only you'd put the new tyres on the back you probably could have avoided the accident, . . . only joking, not much you can do when you meet an idiot on the road. Just shows those little Micras are tough little cars.

You should do a search on car accidents involving crashes with uninsured drivers - I'm sure there's been quite a few threads on here about it. Whilst I don't know the technicalities, there are things you can do that will minimise you're financial loss.

Hope it all gets sorted quickly.

Thank you, yes have spent the morning reading up.

Rossy.

Bigjl i understand what your saying.

I've driven a multitude of cars, some extremely powerful and those like mine now. The most powerful car i've driven is my best mates Skyline R34 GTR. Even though it 4wd, it has a stonking 2.6 straight 6 twin turbo lump that pumps out 500bhp. I've driven it many times and am fortunate to be down as a named driver to reduce his premium. It's stupidly fast and will catch you out if your not careful

bigjl

I believe there is a fund for those hit by uninsured drivers, but as I am Full Comp don't know much about it.

The good thing about small cars these days, such as your Micra and my wifes clio, is that they are very safe, though both cars share a lot of parts, might even be built on a very similar platform, my wifes car was hit on the side in almost the same place as yours, but on the drivers side, it cost a few grand to fix it, but it drives as it did before the bump.

As my mate the pilot says, any crash you walk away from is a good one.

ailuro2

Bronnie, I do hope you're OK and not too shaken up... I notice the same thing in our cars, if I'm driving the 206, people seem to see it as an invitation to pull out in front of me, if it's the Mondeo they wait till I've passed....

I'm glad you got your tyres sorted, and glad you bought Michelins too - I work in the Michelin factory here,as does SH, so thank you for doing your bit for British Manufacturing!:D

fwiw when our cars go in to work to have tyres replaced they get done on an as required basis - the fitter prefers to do all 4 at once, but will do whichever axle is worn and needing it in between.

I assume you've now got energy savers fitted, at least now you've got 4 on they should save you a bit in petrol ( 5 % is the figure bandied about), that might help you cover the rise in next year's no claims bonus. It really bugs me that uninsured drivers still seem to be so common. :mad:

andygb

bigjl wrote: »

Seems a bit sad that in order to make yourself feel better you feel the need to attempt to belittle other peoples skill and experience, don't tell me let me guess, you know more than anybody in any field at any time, even though you have no practical experience.

I am surprised you have the time to post on here with your busy schedule and expertese in all things, I assume you are going to America next week to consult on some big governement project no doubt.

You are the only one shouting about what they can do, other people such as myself simply sit back and read it with incredulity.
I don't know what you mean when you say "your busy schedule and expertise in all things". Have I made outlandish claims about my ability in any field?
You certainly have.:)