On Sat, Oct 22, 2005 at 12:15:27PM +0100, Chris Stoddart wrote: > > On Fri, 21 Oct 2005, William Robb wrote: > > > >> Neither of the BMW's that I have owned handled especially well in the > > >> wet............ > > > > > > Obviously ~ wrong tires... > > > > I'm not sure if I can blame the equipment. I have a bad habit of overdriving > > the conditions. > > But, I tried both Contis and Michelins on both. Neither would keep the > > vehicle on the road the way I tended to drive at the time. > > Yep, Keith's right; tyre/tire choice is critical. Over the last decade > I've tried several makes on my E30s > > Michelins - arghhhh, like driving on grease > Continentals - average and expensive > Pirelli P6-somethings - not bad, would have them again > GoodYear Eagles - current fave > > Of course tread patterns and rubber compunds in North America might bear > no relation to those in Europe, which I am sure are designed more for > wet, curvy roads? Ditto the car suspension? Also bear in mind BMW's are > meant to be a bit tail-happy because they're all about the driver being in > charge, not the car :-)
Tread & compounds are pretty much the same - the biggest difference in the domestic vs. import car market is suspension softness. Even there the American manufacturers seem to have come to the realisation that a sports sedan works better with stiff shock absorbers. My (1986) Mustang came with GoodYear Eagle "Gatorbacks" as OEM rubber. They were pretty good, but I found that Dunlop D40 M2s worked even better. Nowadays it's getting pretty hard to find anything to fit it; later models went to lower-profile tyres. Since the car is about due to be replaced, and I do less than 5000 miles a year, I jusp picked up something cheap-ish last time - the new Dunlop SP 5000s (a set of 4 set me back around $500). I'm pretty impressed - I opted for the Z-rated compound, and it sticks to the road amazingly well on dry asphalt, and it's not too bad in the damp. I haven't had a chance to try it in full wet, but the tread pattern looks to be able to handle just about anything short of a monsoon.
