General A few questions about my new Panda

[Bigjawa]

Hi, Newbie here, I've just bought a 1989 Panda 750L as it's too cold for two wheels, it's my second Panda, my first was a £20 1000S that was more rust than metal, although it was used as a general workhorse and would not die!

This one is almost immaculate, just a couple of minor dings and no rust anywhere, 41000 miles and a FSH. I have a couple of questions though:

1.) The tyres are the standard 135 section jobs, the handling is a bit vague, would a change to 155 or 165 tyres help,

and

2.) In the morning it takes about 7 minutes to reach 60 degrees on the temp gauge, is this normal or have I a dodgy thermostat?

Apart from that, I'm very pleased with the wee beastie, My girlfriend and I originally went to look at it so she could buy it, but she didn't like it, daft woman! She went out and bought a fiesta the next day, and I bought the Panda for myself, the fiesta was £70 more expensive and is rough looking, the battery died the same day too, whereas the Panda, is clean, more economical, and basicaly a lovely car.

1989 750L Formula

 

[PandaManPaul]

Hi! And welcome

Glad to hear you're happy with the Panda.

With regard to your first question:

1.) The tyres are the standard 135 section jobs, the handling is a bit vague, would a change to 155 or 165 tyres help,

Possibly. I have 135s on my 900, but JohnH has the larger tyres on his 1000CLX so might be able to give you a far better answer.

2.) In the morning it takes about 7 minutes to reach 60 degrees on the temp gauge, is this normal or have I a dodgy thermostat?

In this weather, I can believe that . I wouldn't worry for now.

Enjoy your car

 

[d miller]

in answer to your question on tyres i have 165 s on my dance and handling is still a bit hairy .

 

[John H]

Originally posted by PandaManPaul
I have 135s on my 900, but JohnH has the larger tyres on his 1000CLX so might be able to give you a far better answer.

The wheels were swapped over between the CL and the CLX, but as Paul says, I have access to 2 Pandas with different width tyres.

Anyway, there are 2 common sizes on Pandas:
135 x 80 section
155 x 65 section

and one uncommon size
145 x ?? section on the 4x4

An "unofficial" size which is relatively cheap (compared to 155 x 65), and doesn't alter the gearing enough to worry about (makes it about spot on, instead of under-reading) is 155 x 70 section.
I think this size fits older Fiestas (spit), and is therefore mass market, and cheap.

IME They all go on the same wheels ( which are mostly 13 x 4.00B rims, although there are some 4.50B about).

The ride is improved a bit on the 155's, but I'd imagine in terms of absolute grip and handling you're at the mercy of how good your particular brand of tyres are, and how clapped your shocks are.

But.. Even with everything spot on, there is a design flaw/feature:
it's a lefthand drive design, and the driver and the engine are both on the same side - which doesn't really match the weight of the gearbox and spare wheel.... so the front passenger wheel has very little weight on it, and always locks up (and spins) first.

With a larger, heavier, wider car it probably doesn't make such a big effect, but I can still remember taking our first Panda onto a brake tester to find out why the one wheel always locked up: if you leant on the wing the tyre gripped and the machine showed the braking balance between the front wheels was OK (which was to be expected, as it was only a few months old at the time).

It also affects the cornering near the limit too - you get the back lefthand wheel in the air around lefthand bends, which tends to frighten off anybody following you :I

Regarding the temperature - you might be in the market for a new thermostat: likely to be teens of UKP.
Should get just short of an indicated 90 deg while driving about, if everything is OK.
The time it takes to get there depends on how cold it is, and how heavy you are on the gas.


Regards


John H

 

[PandaManPaul]

Originally posted by John H
The ride is improved a bit on the 155's, but I'd imagine in terms of absolute grip and handling you're at the mercy of how good your particular brand of tyres are, and how clapped your shocks are.

:I I'd forgotten that you've got the 135s and that you fitted the 155s to your daughter's CL [8)] FWIW, I've got Goodyear GT2 tyres, which [Fast Show mode] is nice [/Fast Show mode]

It also affects the cornering near the limit too - you get the back lefthand wheel in the air around lefthand bends, which tends to frighten off anybody following you :I

[:0] As far as I know, I've never done that!!!

 

[sixwheeledbeast]

On the 750 and 1000 the standard sizes are 135/80/13 and 155/65/13 as john h said.

On the 4X4 the standard size is 145/80/13.
I have 145/80/13 pirelli winter's on the sisley,
and 165/80/13 colway m/t's on the "working" Panda, the plastic guards have been removed in the rear arches so I don't know if they fit standard?
But they grip! It handles so much better on mud and tarmac! which is nice!