Topic

Ken will be having a great time as some dirty weather has moved in. It will be real extreme at Mount Kosciuszko.

Apart from having a new headgsket fitted by Russell, I have just had two new tyres fitted.
I got a couple of brand new budget tyres for next to nothing, so I thought I would trial them. It didn't take long to realise that although they were fine in the dry they were a little lacking in the grip department on wet roads!
The are Event WL905.

In comparison to the Nexen 6000 tyres I have on the back they were abysmal in the wet. My car became very understeery in wet conditions!

I have fancied trying Uniroyal rain sport 2 for a while so opted for a pair of them.

So far they have performed very well and my car has stopped being an understeer monster

Ahhhh David,

The wheels I recently bought have those Event tyres fitted and at the moment a pair are on the back of "Elsie" my VVC. I did get wheel spin up an incline in heavy rain onto a round about coming off an industrail estate in Newark the other week. It was in that torrential rain and we had to go an pick up a Rover 75 Club 2.5L.

They have been on her now for a few weeks and so far apart from that horrendous wind and rain have not had any problems. Am hoping to get my other LE MUltispokes re-furbished and ten new tyres on them but that will take a little while due to the costs involved. Of course my "Elsie" is an MGF running standard ride height and I don't know if this makes any difference.

It's what you're used to I suppose.
In comparison to the Nexen 6000, the Event tyres were lacking.
Interestingly now that I've had a good play with the car on wet roads the Nexen 6000 on the rear seem to be likely to give up before the Uniroyals on the front!

Just to add that all this activity was in preparation for the MOT today. Passed with flying colours!

Having fitted a quality catalytic converter after last year's MOT struggles, I am happy to report that the emissions were perfect. Without an Italian tune up or any other special preparation. Last year we really struggled to get it through with the relatively new cheap cat. That proves to me that cheap cats are not worth fitting.

Last year

Ist fast idle - fail

CO 0.61%
HC 42ppm
lambda 1.004

2nd fast idle - pass
CO 0.1%
HC 19PPM
lambda 1.031

Natural idle
CO 0.5%

Scraped through, basically..

This Year

Fast Idle - pass
CO 0.01%
HC 12ppm
lambda 1.004

Natural Idle - pass
0.00%

I think those figures speak for themselves really.

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

It's what you're used to I suppose.
In comparison to the Nexen 6000, the Event tyres were lacking.
Interestingly now that I've had a good play with the car on wet roads the Nexen 6000 on the rear seem to be likely to give up before the Uniroyals on the front!

David,

The Events are on the rear fronts are Runway Enduro 916's that were one the project VVC when I bought her. I am running the 16" LE Multispoke wheels (75th Anni/Freestyle type) so have never had her on "Good" tyres and I don't hang about when the chance comes.. Once we gett the rest sorted out and one set of these wheels refurbished then we shall be on the hunt for new tyres.

"Event Tyres" a poor choice of name for tyres, I'd prefer not to have an "event" caused by my tyres.

Let's see so far this week:-

Fitted S/S under floor pipes
New coolant (see above)
Oil and Filter change
Removed MPi air filter box and bracket.
Fitted TF 135 air fitler bracket
Repaired a broken wire by boot hinge.
Changed rear discs
Cleaned and paint caliper carriers
Cleaned and painted calipers
Am about to go down to ECP for a set of rear Pagid pads.

Still to do:-

Fit new rear pads
Change front rubber flex hoses for new HEL Yellow PVC sleeved braided Stainless hoses.
Clean and paint front calipers
Fill braking system then bleed

Plezier wrote: wrote:

David Aiketgate wrote: wrote:

It's what you're used to I suppose.
In comparison to the Nexen 6000, the Event tyres were lacking.
Interestingly now that I've had a good play with the car on wet roads the Nexen 6000 on the rear seem to be likely to give up before the Uniroyals on the front!

David,

The Events are on the rear fronts are Runway Enduro 916's that were one the project VVC when I bought her. I am running the 16" LE Multispoke wheels (75th Anni/Freestyle type) so have never had her on "Good" tyres and I don't hang about when the chance comes.. Once we gett the rest sorted out and one set of these wheels refurbished then we shall be on the hunt for new tyres.

I too am on the multispoke 16s. I have always been happy with the grip of the Nexens and when 'playing', corner with the expectation of that level of grip. I found the Event tyres on the front went 'light' when trying to take the same corner at the same speed.

I'm willing to admit I may have got a little carried away using words like 'abysmal' to describe the tyres, rather I should have stuck to factual descriptions as above. The Events are not bad tyres, they just had less grip than what I was accustomed to. I have always lauded the Nexen 6000 and the 3000 before it. The level of grip in most conditions was very good especially considering they are also a budget tyre.( about £60 fitted/balanced for a 215/40-16)
Having now experienced the Uniroyal Rainsport 2s ( £75 for the 215/40-16 fitted/balanced), I can say that they have more grip than the Nexens and will switch to Uniroyals all round when the rears need replacing. (Assuming that they give reasonable mileage) They also have the popular V groove tread pattern!

The low mileage returns of the popular Toyos has always put me off using them.

I think the important lesson is to know the limits of your particular tyres and drive accordingly.

For £60 a corner the Nexens are excellent value for money, (actually only a couple of pounds more than the Events) and I will continue to recommend them as budget tyre of choice.

The thing is Daviod that I have not bought any tyres for the MGF's ................................................................. yet. Am only using what came on the car or wheels.

I also expect that renewing the lower arm bushes including the compliance bushes have helped "Elsie" in the handling department. Fitted new shocks to "Blue 33" today so it will be interesting to see how the improve things. Plan on checking and replacing bushes on her too in the not too distant future. She will need tyres before long but is on 15" Five spoke VVC rims.

Hi, dropped the front subframe today. Went quite well considering I only have a drive, a jack and two axle stands. One rear mounting bolt rounded but a hammered on socket got that. Snapped one other rear bolt so I guess I'm drilling that and fitting a nut and bolt.

john and Jake the dog wrote: wrote:

Hi, dropped the front subframe today. Went quite well considering I only have a drive, a jack and two axle stands. One rear mounting bolt rounded but a hammered on socket got that. Snapped one other rear bolt so I guess I'm drilling that and fitting a nut and bolt.

If your drilling then drill smaller and then re-tap or use an "Eazi" out with lots of porper penetrating fluid. I had to to three on the project VVC but managed to get all those undone on "Elsie's" rear monnts on the front sub frame when fitting new mounts. I see some one has drilled and put a bolt through at least one of the rear sub frame front mounts ......................... bodgers Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Drill size for the 8mm tap is 6.8mm. I used a proper centre drill (No3) to start the drillling in the correct spot (centre of bolt) then a small 3mm ( about an 1/8") as a pilot hole then opened it up to accept the eazi out.

Really it's not as difficult and many make out. have also drilled out all the broken disc retaining counter sunk screws and re-tapped the holes 6mm for new screws. The replacement used front sub frame that I re-furbished had three broken screws in the front hubs.