I once fitted a set of Cheng-Shing tyres to an already ill handling Triumph T140 Bonneville. Nothing cured me quicker of crap tyres on bikes. I was 19 and had rebuilt the engine, put a hot cam in it, ported the heads with a Dremel and stuffed ram pipes on the carbs. The tyres were so crap that it would light the rear wheel up comfortably in the wet. Obviously I thought this was great fun until I ran out of talent on a wet corner in Staffordshire. The aftermath was a dinged headlight, tank and a few bent bits. I bounced for once, no broken bones and just a sore foot for my troubles.
50 years ago, people grew up driving Morris Minors on crossply tyres. Grip levels were low, sometimes scarily so in the wet. A premium was placed on cars that actually handled and were predictable when they did slide. Driving a car on tyres like this now makes you acutely aware of stopping distances and corner entry speeds. To be honest I love the challenge and enjoy the interaction which all happens at much slower speeds. Yes, they’re more dangerous but I frequently drive cars without mandatory seatbelts so it’s all relative.
In cars though I love a classic set of ditch-finders. I bought a 330i on “Evergreen” tyres, it was hilarious, no traction at all. I collected a Jaguar XJS on 20yr old Pirellis, it remains one of the easiest cars to drive sideways I have ever been in. Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, BMW, front wheel drive or rear it doesn’t matter. Fit terrible enough tyres and the underlying dynamics of the car reveal themselves to you, generally at about 15mph on a slippy roundabout. If you want to learn about car control and vehicle dynamics then driving on crap tyres will teach you.
Now here is the hypocritical part, I may enjoy a car on crap tyres but I don’t fit them when I come to change. But why? I always think who wouldn’t want their daily driver, their wife’s car or their child’s car to stop and steer as well as it possibly could? Mostly, what crap tyres teach you is just how good modern ones are. Decent tyres are still fun and often a damn sight more progressive, crucially they grip when you run out of talent. Something that hardly ever happens, until it does…
The Driven Wheel 