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13" tires; bane or boon?(just bought 155 R80-13)
I picked up a set of Kuhmo SOLUS KR 21 155R80-13 tires(640 treadwear, traction A, temperature B 85,000 mile guarantee; a good near top of the line Chinese made tire) yesterday and drove to Seattle and back that afternoon and evening(about 180 miles) then this morning after some rain later last night after I got back.
I let the salesman talk me out of even thinking about the same tire in a 175R70-13(which would've cost considerably more I'd of gladly paid) he'd told me would hydro-plane more easily, and have less control during a skid while braking.(he'd referenced European rally tires for wet weather being characteristically much narrower...)
This morning I had an experience braking while making a quick turn into a parking lot off a major arterial,(deciding on my move at the last instant) where I'd gone into a skid though at a slow speed-due to standing water on the mostly dry pavement; leading me to think the arguments for getting these really narrow tires bogus.(They replace a set of Toyo SPECTRUM 155R80-13s that though the same size feel appreciably wider; with the Kuhmos having a more skittish feel even at the 30 psi the dealer inflated them to,[compared to 42 front and 38 rear unless heavily loaded with the Toyos-which wore perfectly true and even, so reasonable as the proper enough inflation!] also noticeable on the freeway coming home as I'd been tired and more apt to allow the car its own head)
I'm really bemoaning my decision now, since in retrospect though I'd thought myself willing for economy both in purchase price and gas mileage(we all love those fantastic mileage figures) to go with 155R80-13s, now I'm thinking not only of crucial handling characteristics cornering, braking and stopping, but the two major mountain passes east of Seattle and the north-south highway between them on the other side of the mountains which are roads all thoroughly trashed by studded tires and the huge volume of interstate trucking, skiers and other varied types of traffic often heavy though relatively wide open spaces; where driving in the Festiva with the Toyos was unbearable due to the heavy surface damages to the roadway, exhausting after even a few minutes to have to endure if one has been traveling interstate; which I'm certain would improve a great deal with a wider tire.(and the much better ride and control generally traveling on the open road I seem to do plenty of, or streaming fast large urban freeways often seemingly at least bumper to bumper well over 70 mph; both of which are likely much more tiring and exhausting with narrower tires?)
I also noticed coming back from Seattle with the wind wiped up pretty strongly I was feeling buffeted around more than I seemed to feel with the Toyos; and which also seems as if something wider tires would greatly improve upon too.
The reason I was so easily led to buy as I did, besides the economic factor; was an experience October of 2003 driving from Eureka, CA to Olympia, WA when the weather had been particularly nasty, raining heavily through Portland and north of there so that some where between Kelso, WA and Toledo, WA which is a fast stretch of often little traveled 70 mph freeway on I-5; I'd been bipping along around three in the morning during a heavy rain with the road all to myself at about an indicated 80 mph or as I reckon 82 or 83.
I'd felt fully in control, but was terrorized when I noticed the speedometer's needle jumping I'd never seen before I'd at first thought a slipping clutch which happened once before though without the speedometer needle jumping, so that after stopping at the famous Toutle Creek rest area(once buried under Mount Saint Helen's ash) to adjust my clutch, the idea soon dawned on my refreshed by the stop brain, and hands on think through of the clutch system; that clutch slippage couldn't possibly make the speedometer needle jump which the only option for was wheel spin from slippage with my foot nearly to the floor on the throttle as I hydro-planed.*(funny story; at world famous Seattle jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson's 80th birthday party two nights ago 11/10/08[whose arranger and pianist the late Jack Percival, as a '76 music student in exchange for lessons, I used to copy parts for] I'd taken twenty minutes to figure out 13% of the two dollars paid for coffee that night for a tip, two times thirteen, duh!: Since playing flute occasionally with the jazz combo while a singing waiter at Many Glacier Hotel in GLACIER NATIONAL PARK in Montana in '75, I've always tipped the 13% we were told to tell customers was an appropriate amount; which is a little cheap and about what I can afford always so despite the strain to the brain doing the math, this has been my habit a challenge most of the time to figure out...try it sometime, but don't blame me if you get a plate of rainbow trout or a pot of coffee in your lap, eh?)(there was a guy working his way through Harvard law school, known for such antics when stiffed...I'd guess sang off key?)(you can tell the really good mathematicians since they don't ever wear shoes...come on, thats easy; you can count all the way to twenty!)(hey Ernestine, if you were a grandmother in your mid '50s in '76?)(trumpeter Miles Davis, now deceased, had a composition called "Eighty One" I guess was to reflect on what was called "the eighty first lash" meaning you could take eighty, but on the eighty first assuming means you'd draw lethal blood from a jugular, commence the revolution, commit suicide or whatever; and I remember reading too somewhere, that if you are a really savvy person with math and likely another science or two, you can demonstrate that everyone in the world is eighty first cousins...hey, now everyone in the place has their shoes off!!!)
So, now I'm wondering if in fact there would be a greater tendency to hydro-plane with 175R70-13s and if they will corner any worse in wet weather, brake less effectively or in any other way be inferior to let alone greatly exceed what the 155R80-13s have to offer.(I'm also deeply convinced there is a sort of capitalist "status" pecking order in effect; the constant abuse at every turn, where as someone on assistance I'm discouraged from having what is perceived as the finer experiences available in life not to mention more or less the tendency to euthanization I perceive as either a defacto event or covert design; like looking along the horizons and sighting the distant enemy much more powerful than yourself you hope you can avoid drawing notice from, like a lizard already less a tail)
*I did get a speeding ticket for 80 in a 55 zone on the barren two lane highway along the north shore of the Columbia quite aways west of the Tri-Cities(Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, WA) early in December of 2005; when the cop and I were the only vehicles either of us had seen in the past half hour though in the middle of the afternoon, so that though seeing the squad car pull out after me from his speed trap just past a rise in the road I crested, I only slowed by barely perceptible increments just to show some attitude knowing I was caught and that he should try to find better things to do with his time than abusing a citizen more than willing to abide by the intent of the law-deserving of the right to blow out a little carbon; which in fact was somewhat the case since he could've nailed me for going 100 mph-if he'd thought anyone would've believed him at least and which he may've been doubtful of perhaps I'm not so sure about myself over such a distance in time-though we both knew 80 was much less a rent to my pocket book than could've been allowed.(I used to be real savvy about instantly dropping down a gear or two to slow rapidly without a flash of my tail lights and the cop even wondered why I'd not done so then thinking me a sporting veteran of the road, who he could've let off with maybe only a warning had I shown more of an attentive respect I guess is within reason to think would be a good reward for my thus demonstration of precise attention and control though decades since my joy in simply being behind a wheel has promoted such a state of mind which is a good measure of how really far from the prevailing culture of automobiles my head is anymore so that I easily recall thinking as many as fifteen years or even a few more ago that I'd never be able to learn the driving skills I have accumulated given the society I most pursue to be a part of now;[NYC's vs. LA's styles?] while also reflecting on the difficulty of learning to drive well generally and what a huge segment of anyone's attention and resources this demands with such immense liabilities to oneself and if you are not too concerned about that individual; at least maybe others of the chance cooperative collectives of the road?)
I let the salesman talk me out of even thinking about the same tire in a 175R70-13(which would've cost considerably more I'd of gladly paid) he'd told me would hydro-plane more easily, and have less control during a skid while braking.(he'd referenced European rally tires for wet weather being characteristically much narrower...)
This morning I had an experience braking while making a quick turn into a parking lot off a major arterial,(deciding on my move at the last instant) where I'd gone into a skid though at a slow speed-due to standing water on the mostly dry pavement; leading me to think the arguments for getting these really narrow tires bogus.(They replace a set of Toyo SPECTRUM 155R80-13s that though the same size feel appreciably wider; with the Kuhmos having a more skittish feel even at the 30 psi the dealer inflated them to,[compared to 42 front and 38 rear unless heavily loaded with the Toyos-which wore perfectly true and even, so reasonable as the proper enough inflation!] also noticeable on the freeway coming home as I'd been tired and more apt to allow the car its own head)
I'm really bemoaning my decision now, since in retrospect though I'd thought myself willing for economy both in purchase price and gas mileage(we all love those fantastic mileage figures) to go with 155R80-13s, now I'm thinking not only of crucial handling characteristics cornering, braking and stopping, but the two major mountain passes east of Seattle and the north-south highway between them on the other side of the mountains which are roads all thoroughly trashed by studded tires and the huge volume of interstate trucking, skiers and other varied types of traffic often heavy though relatively wide open spaces; where driving in the Festiva with the Toyos was unbearable due to the heavy surface damages to the roadway, exhausting after even a few minutes to have to endure if one has been traveling interstate; which I'm certain would improve a great deal with a wider tire.(and the much better ride and control generally traveling on the open road I seem to do plenty of, or streaming fast large urban freeways often seemingly at least bumper to bumper well over 70 mph; both of which are likely much more tiring and exhausting with narrower tires?)
I also noticed coming back from Seattle with the wind wiped up pretty strongly I was feeling buffeted around more than I seemed to feel with the Toyos; and which also seems as if something wider tires would greatly improve upon too.
The reason I was so easily led to buy as I did, besides the economic factor; was an experience October of 2003 driving from Eureka, CA to Olympia, WA when the weather had been particularly nasty, raining heavily through Portland and north of there so that some where between Kelso, WA and Toledo, WA which is a fast stretch of often little traveled 70 mph freeway on I-5; I'd been bipping along around three in the morning during a heavy rain with the road all to myself at about an indicated 80 mph or as I reckon 82 or 83.
I'd felt fully in control, but was terrorized when I noticed the speedometer's needle jumping I'd never seen before I'd at first thought a slipping clutch which happened once before though without the speedometer needle jumping, so that after stopping at the famous Toutle Creek rest area(once buried under Mount Saint Helen's ash) to adjust my clutch, the idea soon dawned on my refreshed by the stop brain, and hands on think through of the clutch system; that clutch slippage couldn't possibly make the speedometer needle jump which the only option for was wheel spin from slippage with my foot nearly to the floor on the throttle as I hydro-planed.*(funny story; at world famous Seattle jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson's 80th birthday party two nights ago 11/10/08[whose arranger and pianist the late Jack Percival, as a '76 music student in exchange for lessons, I used to copy parts for] I'd taken twenty minutes to figure out 13% of the two dollars paid for coffee that night for a tip, two times thirteen, duh!: Since playing flute occasionally with the jazz combo while a singing waiter at Many Glacier Hotel in GLACIER NATIONAL PARK in Montana in '75, I've always tipped the 13% we were told to tell customers was an appropriate amount; which is a little cheap and about what I can afford always so despite the strain to the brain doing the math, this has been my habit a challenge most of the time to figure out...try it sometime, but don't blame me if you get a plate of rainbow trout or a pot of coffee in your lap, eh?)(there was a guy working his way through Harvard law school, known for such antics when stiffed...I'd guess sang off key?)(you can tell the really good mathematicians since they don't ever wear shoes...come on, thats easy; you can count all the way to twenty!)(hey Ernestine, if you were a grandmother in your mid '50s in '76?)(trumpeter Miles Davis, now deceased, had a composition called "Eighty One" I guess was to reflect on what was called "the eighty first lash" meaning you could take eighty, but on the eighty first assuming means you'd draw lethal blood from a jugular, commence the revolution, commit suicide or whatever; and I remember reading too somewhere, that if you are a really savvy person with math and likely another science or two, you can demonstrate that everyone in the world is eighty first cousins...hey, now everyone in the place has their shoes off!!!)
So, now I'm wondering if in fact there would be a greater tendency to hydro-plane with 175R70-13s and if they will corner any worse in wet weather, brake less effectively or in any other way be inferior to let alone greatly exceed what the 155R80-13s have to offer.(I'm also deeply convinced there is a sort of capitalist "status" pecking order in effect; the constant abuse at every turn, where as someone on assistance I'm discouraged from having what is perceived as the finer experiences available in life not to mention more or less the tendency to euthanization I perceive as either a defacto event or covert design; like looking along the horizons and sighting the distant enemy much more powerful than yourself you hope you can avoid drawing notice from, like a lizard already less a tail)
*I did get a speeding ticket for 80 in a 55 zone on the barren two lane highway along the north shore of the Columbia quite aways west of the Tri-Cities(Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, WA) early in December of 2005; when the cop and I were the only vehicles either of us had seen in the past half hour though in the middle of the afternoon, so that though seeing the squad car pull out after me from his speed trap just past a rise in the road I crested, I only slowed by barely perceptible increments just to show some attitude knowing I was caught and that he should try to find better things to do with his time than abusing a citizen more than willing to abide by the intent of the law-deserving of the right to blow out a little carbon; which in fact was somewhat the case since he could've nailed me for going 100 mph-if he'd thought anyone would've believed him at least and which he may've been doubtful of perhaps I'm not so sure about myself over such a distance in time-though we both knew 80 was much less a rent to my pocket book than could've been allowed.(I used to be real savvy about instantly dropping down a gear or two to slow rapidly without a flash of my tail lights and the cop even wondered why I'd not done so then thinking me a sporting veteran of the road, who he could've let off with maybe only a warning had I shown more of an attentive respect I guess is within reason to think would be a good reward for my thus demonstration of precise attention and control though decades since my joy in simply being behind a wheel has promoted such a state of mind which is a good measure of how really far from the prevailing culture of automobiles my head is anymore so that I easily recall thinking as many as fifteen years or even a few more ago that I'd never be able to learn the driving skills I have accumulated given the society I most pursue to be a part of now;[NYC's vs. LA's styles?] while also reflecting on the difficulty of learning to drive well generally and what a huge segment of anyone's attention and resources this demands with such immense liabilities to oneself and if you are not too concerned about that individual; at least maybe others of the chance cooperative collectives of the road?)
Steve GT
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