I wonder if they repaired the indicators at the same time as the tyre?
Bad morning commute
- Thread starter Yank
- Start date
You have my sympathy. I did the same mis-judging a bollard island tvurning right and the damage blew out the driver's side rear tyre. Fortunately there was a bit of rough ground to pull onto off the country lane that I was on so that I could change the wheel.
Of course it was raining. Arrived at work late, dirty and damp.
Of course it was raining. Arrived at work late, dirty and damp.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
I still say they ride better now.
My Merc was fine in deep snow while the (245) rear tyres had depth to the tread, but once they were down to about 5mm, yeah, cue winter wheel/tyre purchase.
There’s a good video with Monkey Harris in a C63 with space saver tyres all round. He loved it, but only on the private test track. We have to remember that wide tyres are needed now that so many of us have a big dollop of torque available under our right foot. And braking 1.5 to 2 tonnes with 1980s 185-60/14 tyres could be interesting!
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Here we go. Reminds me of my time on a wet skid pan in a Mk2 Escort with bald remoulds fitted. Brilliant fun.
-alan-
pfm Member
Not sure if it will - the nose of most of the A*dis round these parts appear to have been welded to the rear bumper of the car in front..
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
I wonder which is the section of a run flat tyre
PhilofCas
pfm Member
Yep. Like I said, they *look* cool.I must be a sucker then, because I think they look wicked
a lot of company cars come without a spare so that the driver doesn't attempt to change it and damage something. Including himself. No spare means that if the gloop fails you ring the breakdown service that you pay for.
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
The company car isn't the sort of institution in the USA that is is in the UK. A car is not usually provided unless you actually have to travel in it during work hours. And even then you're more likely to just get a mileage allowance.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
We've had several CLKs and they were all good (but not a 500 / 55), I was sad they stopped making them. The E-class coupe was OK but just never felt as special.
I bought an Audi A4 2.5TDI Quattro Avant many years go and the dealer had to put four new boots on it to get it through the MOT. Although the 2.5TDI is not a lot oh HP, it had a load of torque which, combined with rock-hard Chinese ditch-finders, was dead easy to lose traction on all four tyres on the way home from buying it so I had to take a detour to the tyre place. They'd never heard on 'Triangle' tyres either...
Yes, so I understand. It became a thing in the UK in the 70s as a tax dodge and then acquired a status way in excess of its monetary value. By the 80s if you didn't get a car you were a nobody. Since then it has become less of a benefit, the tax system has caught up. It's now a better deal to buy your own car and bill mileage, but some of the status remains. After all, the neighbours can't see your payslip but they can see your driveway and if your employer ponies up for you a Beemer then you are a force to be reckoned with.
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
I just bought a lemon, lots of electrical gremlins, quite a few relating to the gearbox, some relating to the engine (I think the loom to the coil packs was cracking and causing some real serious running issues, it went into limp mode quite a few times, there was an ignition control module which died and needed replacing, along with a new set of key fobs, that was expensive, and to add insult, left the driver’s window stuck open, and the recovery company/garage left it outside where it got drenched... and then the issue where it refused to budge above first on the M6, a real frightening experience pulling out into a live lane of a motorway to find you can’t go above about 30mph, luckily there was some hard shoulder to ditch into, but you still feel very vulnerable. That journey was the fourth one which ended on the back of a recovery truck. I love Mercedes, I’d always wanted one and when I got one, I went big, and then had a load of rotten luck. My brother had a 320 which was quite a bit better but still had a few gremlins, mostly a really hard to trace battery drain issue, but to be honest, the biggest issues when that one was corrosion in the arches. Both were absolutely great cars when they were working properly and the guy that board mine probably got a fantastic deal, because it’d had loads done and was sold working properly... but I’d lost faith.
I do kind of wish I’d stuck with it because it was an utterly brilliant thing to drive, brutally quick but absolutely the smoothest and most relaxing drive I’ve ever had, it just ate miles effortlessly, closest thing Ive experienced was a Jag XJR, but the Merc was even better because it was more airy and spacious. I’ll have another big Merc at some point, my dad has an E class estate and I love that. They are in a class of their own when it comes to ride quality.
I’ve had several Audis and VWs and despite not coming close to Mercedes ride quality, I have always been delighted with them, but yeah, I had an A6 2.7TDI Quattro for a while and that could break traction with decent tyres, Chinese ditch finders wouldn’t have cut it. I’ve never skimped on tyres, they’re what puts the power on the road, steer you and stop you, pretty important. Mine are getting on on my Golf GTI, still well above the legal wear limit but I can tell they’ve degraded in performance when new, they’d easily cover another 20k miles on a shopping trolley, but on a 225BHP fwd hot hatch, not good enough. My friend will stick them on his drift car.
-alan-
pfm Member
At one cocky stage when I thought I was a bit of a driving-God in the making, I bought a set of Chinese made 'Hero' brand tyres - much to the amusement of all the fellow Lotus jocks. The plan was to use them primarily on track to see first hand what the real difference between good and bad rubber was when you were really trying, and have a bit of fun trying to drift the exige. (You can't btw - it just doesn't have enough power and has too much grip at the rear).
Anyways - the choice of tyres caused much scratching of heads and puzzled looks when I rocked up at the local Kwikfit in the exige. Not much was said, until after I had paid the bill, until on the way out - when one of the Polish lads who worked in the garage came over and stuck his head in the window and said quietly "You know, these tyres - in wet, not so good.." He certainly wasn't joking ..
The track outings were educational. As regards grip, in the dry there was really relatively little difference between the comedy tyres and other 'premium' ones. In the wet, they were absolutely fkn horrenjous. God help anybody who ever needed to do an emergency stop in the wet with those things
linnfomaniac83
I bet you can’t wheelie a unicycle!
Yes, in the wet is when I can tell my tyres are ageing, it looks like there’s loads of tread left but they just don’t grip well in the wet, it can be entertaining pulling out of a tight and busy junction, it’ll easily light a tyre up and can spin them in second going in a straight line if you’re trying. I can still drive in the wet without drama but you have to be careful, it’s quite a lively little motor!At one cocky stage when I thought I was a bit of a driving-God in the making, I bought a set of Chinese made 'Hero' brand tyres - much to the amusement of all the fellow Lotus jocks. The plan was to use them primarily on track to see first hand what the real difference between good and bad rubber was when you were really trying, and have a bit of fun trying to drift the exige. (You can't btw - it just doesn't have enough power and has too much grip at the rear).
Anyways - the choice of tyres caused much scratching of heads and puzzled looks when I rocked up at the local Kwikfit in the exige. Not much was said, until after I had paid the bill, until on the way out - when one of the Polish lads who worked in the garage came over and stuck his head in the window and said quietly "You know, these tyres - in wet, not so good.." He certainly wasn't joking ..
The track outings were educational. As regards grip, in the dry there was really relatively little difference between the comedy tyres and other 'premium' ones. In the wet, they were absolutely fkn horrenjous. God help anybody who ever needed to do an emergency stop in the wet with those things
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I agree, so I hedged my bets:
In fairness, I thought I'd bought a track car but, happy accidents and all that.