Apparently 20mph straight over a wet roundabout is too much.

Now needs a new bumper and 2 new grilles, and a new headlight, plus some tcut and white spray paint

It's not the first time this is has happened, just this times there's actually a considerable amount of damage.

Anyone else get very bad understeer in wet conditions at safe speeds?

Aquaplaning? If so Id look at better tyres especially if its not the first time

I Use to in the wet with economy tires so I purchased some low profile Pirelli p zero Nero tires 205/45/R17 have much less of a problem they stick like ? on a stick good in wet but grip like hell in dry, looking at £110-120 a tire but its worth over the damage u have payed out,, ?

Looks like you were lucky nothing else was on the roundabout or you'd be facing a bigger bill. Buy some better tyres and learn to do your braking and accelerating in a straight line before/after cornering. Your tyres are male so they can't multitask very well; they can either produce longitudinal force or lateral force but struggle to do both at once.

kyle96 said:

Anyone else get very bad understeer in wet conditions at safe speeds?

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Erm that doesn't make sense. If it's a safe speed for the conditions then you won't understeer

I would be looking at your tyres. a gp is good at putting its nose into the corner so shoudln't understeer unless your going wayyyy to fast or your tyres are ditch finders. (aka budgets)

glad everybody in the car including your self is okay!

As the others have said, it sounds like your tyres may be pants (or you didn't learn your lesson the first time).

What make and model tyres are on the car?

Never had a problem on the 175 65 r15 tyres (oem Bridgestone b250's ) on my last 1.2 gp. And will be going that size on my new EVO 1.4 shortly when the alloys go to bed for the winter...

remember roundabouts especially near filling stations are often bathed in diesel.....

Slow in fast out

Also remember in winter the car in front might have winter tyres and if you just follow blindly you might come unstuck .. ask the Audi driver that tailgated me a few years ago (i was on 175 15's snowtrac tyres then and he fell off the road and I didn't :devil:

GYoung87 said:

Aquaplaning? If so Id look at better tyres especially if its not the first time

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Yes That was what happened, the car literally just went one way (sideways) as I came into the roundabout, I turned into it and it spun round, hit the kerb and kit the crash barrier face on.

Reuuk said:

I would be looking at your tyres. a gp is good at putting its nose into the corner so shoudln't understeer unless your going wayyyy to fast or your tyres are ditch finders. (aka budgets)
glad everybody in the car including your self is okay!

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I was awaiting some 17 205 alloys / good tyres, this happened before I could afford to pay for them though
And thankyou! It was just me, the 1.2 doesn't like more than one person in the car, it wasn't that much of a shock to me, last time some propper damage happened I had lost a wheel :/ Everyones going to call me an awefull driver now haha

Juggers2k said:

As the others have said, it sounds like your tyres may be pants (or you didn't learn your lesson the first time).

What make and model tyres are on the car?

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The makes are all different and I don't recognise any of the names, I believe they're shotty budgets from the dealer that sold the car.

kyle96 said:

The makes are all different and I don't recognise any of the names, I believe they're shotty budgets from the dealer that sold the car.

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Well that's your answer then... What's the thread on them like as well? cause even budget tyres wouldn't aquaplane at 20mph!
what they will do is wear out a lot and unevenly... One side provides more grip than the other and boom!

kyle96 said:

The makes are all different and I don't recognise any of the names, I believe they're shotty budgets from the dealer that sold the car.

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That's probably the problem then. It's not good to have different tyres on one axle (let alone all 4 wheels!), as they can behave differently - particularly under braking - leading to one side of the car trying to slow down faster than the other, leading to a spin.

One of the few decent bits of regulation that the EU have brought in in the last few years is the tyre rating information.
Most budget tyres come in on an F or G rating for wet grip, and most tyre fitters make no effort to tell you that.
It's worth doing some research before you get tyres and see who can get the tyres you want, rather than accepting what the fitters offer you.

When I replaced mine the last time I hadn't got money available for premium brand stuff, so I went for some Kenda KR23's. Still budget priced tyres (£46 each fitted IIRC), but they're C-rated for wet grip, and have handled everything that Swansea can throw at them so far!
The fitters didn't hold them in stock, but were happy to order them in.

D'oh!

Crap tyres + lack of talent () = crash.

Surely you should have known the budgets were on and adjusted your driving accordingly? Even still common sense would say drive carefully especially in the rain.

Remember, only YOU can crash your car, nothing else. Whilst there may be contributing factors, ultimately you are in control (unless the steering column sheers or something) but in this case, there is nobody to blame but you.

Drive safer!

Hi all,

I've been hovering around for quite some time now but have never posted. I've seen this post and this relates very much to my first Grande being written off, I was going round a roundabout in the soaking wet (Wasn't going that fast really) and the back end just went... as mentioned above, this roundabout did happen to have a petrol station on the side of it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short the car actually managed to end up on its roof and even when I called the police, they were confused how I managed it! just lucky that we could all just open the doors and get out. This led me to get another Grande as the car was very sturdy even whilst on it's roof.

The tyres on the car were new from January however I can't remember what brand they were as I wrote it off in about May time this year!

I do have some pics but I think I may have to post so many times before i can upload.

Also RE your topic title: Narrow tyres are less vulnerable to aquaplaning because vehicle weight is distributed over a smaller area, and rounded tyres more easily push water aside. Further, wet conditions reduce the lateral force that any tyre can accommodate before sliding.

And it should also read Rain + Roundabout + Speed = not good

glenn91 said:

Hi all,

I've been hovering around for quite some time now but have never posted. I've seen this post and this relates very much to my first Grande being written off, I was going round a roundabout in the soaking wet (Wasn't going that fast really) and the back end just went... as mentioned above, this roundabout did happen to have a petrol station on the side of it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short the car actually managed to end up on its roof and even when I called the police, they were confused how I managed it! just lucky that we could all just open the doors and get out. This led me to get another Grande as the car was very sturdy even whilst on it's roof.

The tyres on the car were new from January however I can't remember what brand they were as I wrote it off in about May time this year!

I do have some pics but I think I may have to post so many times before i can upload.

Click to expand...

Well you were going too fast then. If that happens you should plant the throttle and pull the car out of the tailspin (unless it would put other road users in danger)

Hi kyle96 I am really sorry to see your car the way it is at the moment mate I am just pleased the car is the one smashed up and not you.

I do have to agree with what the lads are saying though. I have only been driving a short time myself and I see young lads flying about in the rain. I am not saying you were speeding. But, given you have had this happen before one would have thought lessons would have been learned. I also think you should stick a good set of branded tyres on your list of things you car now needs.

I hope it is not going to cost you a fortune to get it fixed mate take care.

Stephen

Montypaks said:

Well that's your answer then... What's the thread on them like as well? cause even budget tyres wouldn't aquaplane at 20mph!
what they will do is wear out a lot and unevenly... One side provides more grip than the other and boom!

Click to expand...

Thread is 4mm+ I believe, it's something like that I may be wrong, and they did though

Magic Johnson said:

D'oh!

Crap tyres + lack of talent () = crash.

Surely you should have known the budgets were on and adjusted your driving accordingly? Even still common sense would say drive carefully especially in the rain.

Remember, only YOU can crash your car, nothing else. Whilst there may be contributing factors, ultimately you are in control (unless the steering column sheers or something) but in this case, there is nobody to blame but you.

Drive safer!

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Indeed I did, and i drove accordingly, Maybe i was 5mph more than i should have, I dont know, but I don't expect the car to react how it did, it was pathetic, yes a bad worker blames his tools, however I don't see the problem with how I took the roundabout, i drove into it and took the straightest rout possible, had low speed, no gas while turning slightly, but still the car completely lost it, it felt like pushing a trolly too fast and aquaplaning on a wet tesco floor, it was that pathetic.
I do question my driving considering the severity of the understeer even though I don't see what I did wrong. Most traffic was going faster than me, knowing what the car is like though I adjusted my speed to no avail.

Magic Johnson said:

Also RE your topic title: Narrow tyres are less vulnerable to aquaplaning because vehicle weight is distributed over a smaller area, and rounded tyres more easily push water aside. Further, wet conditions reduce the lateral force that any tyre can accommodate before sliding.
And it should also read Rain + Roundabout + Speed = not good

Click to expand...

I have always assumed that winder tires would mean more grip on the road, just natural assumption I suppose.

Magic Johnson said:

Well you were going too fast then. If that happens you should plant the throttle and pull the car out of the tailspin (unless it would put other road users in danger)

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I did my best to control it, this all happens in a split second though, I could have probably handled it better. I feel like I could have saved it.

SJB1985 said:

Hi kyle96 I am really sorry to see your car the way it is at the moment mate I am just pleased the car is the one smashed up and not you.

I do have to agree with what the lads are saying though. I have only been driving a short time myself and I see young lads flying about in the rain. I am not saying you were speeding. But, given you have had this happen before one would have thought lessons would have been learned. I also think you should stick a good set of branded tyres on your list of things you car now needs.

I hope it is not going to cost you a fortune to get it fixed mate take care.

Stephen

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Thanks for the nice post mate!
Yes it's surprising how different it is in the rain, I learnt my first time coming off a roundabout when I had just passed, I caved my wheel in hitting the curb and lost my undertray, from then on though I take every corner with caution in the wet, shame it didn't pay off this one time

Some good tires are definitely on the list, and so are some 17's, the money for them is being spent on fixing the car at the moment now though,

Snapping away sideways sounds more like you hit a patch of spilt diesel to me. I once had a big sideways moment at about 15mph, couldn't believe it so walked back and saw the oily film on the road.

Lift off oversteer perhaps! My gp can get this sometimes even when driving slow in greasy or very wet weather. You'll learn which different road surfaces that have different amounts grip around where you live as you go along but it sounds to me the tyres aren't helping matters either. Good luck with the repairs

Sam