Tyres - Grip. MAJOR PROBLEM

jaybo1

Hi

I bought a honda integra 96 a few eeks ago... First register in Ireland- as in off the boat. Drove it a good bit since... goes very well.

Yesterday, it rained. Drove home from work.

Now, the car had absolutely NO grip. I mean dangerously so. Wheel spin at take off (no i wasnt flooring it I have been driving integras for 8 years), and serious issues braking. I mean skidding like in snow. I had to break quite hard from about 70kmph and skidded for about 20 feet. The tyres are not new, but they are in good nick and grippy in the dry.

This is a serious issue because i cannot afford 4 new tyres at the minute, and the car IS dangerous. I cannot drive it, when it cannot be stopped safely.

I was wondering if it was an issue with tread or rubber compound ?

I presume those are the tyres that were on it in Japan. Does anyone know if they use a different compound or what the issue could be? The tyres have a sort of an odd cross hatching that i havent really seen before but apart from that they look normal enough.

Any help appreciated

J

MarkR

Those are probably the equivalent of racing slicks. When it heats it sticks great, in the wet they are lethal. You need all weather tyres for the wet.

RobAMerc

Jap tyres = crap tyres

I have driven a prelude that was just of the boat in the wet and that was the same.

Jap, and US tyres do about 100k miles but have crap grip - they are made more of plastic than rubber so they will last longer.

New boots for it should sort it out.

jaybo1

They certainly arent slick lol.....

RobaMERC - was it like almost having to lock up in the rain to stop?

fletch

Yep sounds like you need new tyres alright. Guy before me had cheap rubber on my car(lots of thread left, just a crap compound) and it was dangerous, sliding at ridiculously slow speeds and ABS kicking in under light braking. A set of Goodyear Eagle F1's and the car was transformed!

jaybo1

I just dont get it

They are bridgestone and have a good tread.

i dunno ill have to get new ones i suppose..

fletch

Check all the pressures too, can have a massive effect on economy too if you're underinflated

Andrewf20

RobAMerc wrote: »

Jap tyres = crap tyres

The Toyo Proxes T1R's are a good tyre. I have never had a competent set of tyres in the USA mind you from half a dozen rental vehicles. In the wet they are scary.

jaybo1

on a side issue, the radio is tuned to a lower bandwith than irish stations.

I know i had to get this done before with other integras but it was part of a few changes, so i dunno how much of a deal it is to correct as an indivual thing.... or how much..

MercMad

Does the car have modified suspension, it may be set too hard. Believe it or not if the rear suspension, particularly the anti roll bar is too hard, you will have very poor grip at the front !

Ice_Box

My friend got a merc e-class jap import and had the same problem. ABS was always coming on, he felt the car was almost undrivable in the wet. The tyres looked fine but he got new ones anyway and the problem vanished. Defo the tyres.

Healyc

Bought an Evo two yrs ago and it came in with SNOW Tyres. It drove similar as the OP said and due to the power it was v.scary. You will tell when there snow tyres as they have big chunky threads and they look like jeep tyres.

I put on a good set of Kumhos (Thought they would be really bad but were suprisingly good!) and the car handled and braked like a dream.

ambro25

RobAMerc wrote: »

Jap tyres = crap tyres.

Try Yokohama

Then again you might have been referring to tyres mounted in Japan, and if that be the case, do please ignore.

For ultra-safety this time of year, get some Michelin Contacts - but they tend to rack up €-wise and would get rapidly chewed up if/when fitted to a performance car.

MercMad wrote: »

Does the car have modified suspension, it may be set too hard. Believe it or not if the rear suspension, particularly the anti roll bar is too hard, you will have very poor grip at the front !

QFT. Had a factory-lowered Hyundai coupe years back, handled like a kart on the dry but you'd have to drive softly-softly as soon as it rained.

Other factors to consider - how long had it been since the surface you drove on had been rained on last? If a while, then dirt, HCs and all sorts of other coumpounds accumulate on a road surface, which at times can become nearly slick as black ice as soon as it rains, until the crap is eventually washed off.

For what it's worth, I found that there was an inordinately high amount of cars with slippy tyres (when setting off from lights) in Dublin city center day before yesterday, but not so at night.

OldmanMondeo

Irish and most european cars are fitted with all weather tyres, Jap cars are fitted with Dry weather tyres. You will need to go spent a few quid on a decent set.

MarkR

For the radio you need a band expander.

daedalus2097

Yep, sounds like dry tyres alright. Especially soft compound tyres just can't get the grip in the wet. All weather tyres are the way to go in Ireland...

RobAMerc

Sorry - I should have explained what I mean by Jap =crap for tyres

I don't mean the Jap made tyres we get in Europe are bad - I mean the ones they put on their cars are rubbish and almost un-driveable here.

I know Yokohama and Bridgestone particularly are excellent.

JHMEG

Are there aftermarket alloys on it?

Has the suspension been lowered?

kleefarr

I bought a set of these off eire tyres over a year ago.

http://www.starperformer.net/index.html

UHP Type

I had used two sets of goodyears eagle f1s before, but I was willing to try something else out. I'm very impressed so far.

jaybo1

Thanks everyone

Looks like new boots. I dont think the car has been modified (suspension) would i have to get a mechanic to check?

Also this "band expander" - does it need fitted or is it a plug in?

Alun

I'm a bit confused about this .. it rains in Japan as well, quite often and damn hard sometimes, so why don't they use the same kind of rubber as in Europe?

NBar

All tyres for Irish and European roads are "E" rated for a reason so if the tyres have not got this symbol on them then they would not be suitable for Irish/European roads, different compounds etc