Handling In The Wet

[GLASGAMR2]

Just wondering what the mr2 turbo owners think of the car in the wet weather. it doesnt take much to start to feel it sliding. also accelarating hard in the wet it feels like its not too clever. had no problems in the dry. any ideas? tyres are all good. thanks for the help

[Bibbs]

Good tyres, proper suspension and a few strut braces should sort it out.

Rarely had the rear sliding in my car .. and I used to drive like I stole it. But I never used to just "boot" it ..

[spotipus]

i dont think it matters what your driving at the moment mate roads are very greasy at this time of the year

even my transit van is wheelspinning

[djskylineuk]

Yeh as spotipus said cars tend to slide more in the winter season as apposed To the dry Season...But my MR2 Slides alot in the wet as well even with wide 17" Tyres on...Will soon need to lower her and put on some antiroll bars...I would recommend..Going for a suspension upgrade...strut brace and what not does help alot...

[ricomr2]

Tubby's are very tail happy mate, Just be a little less agressive when you accelerate and be carefull on slippy roads. Remember all the weight is on the back so if it starts to slide, you'll have a job getting it back!

[GLASGAMR2]

struts are in tyres are good. suspension has been lowered. i had a problem with my back spacer for the alloy the outside of it sort of worn altho nothing too serious. the drifting isnt happaning at jsu thigh speeds. as low as 20 or 30 ive felt it. what yous think? go to my garage and check the geometry? cheers again

[ricomr2]

Could be worth while getting it checked but it sounds normal to me.

Handling of a mid engine rwd car is totally differnt compared to fwd, you'll get used to it mate.

[GLASGAMR2]

Well ill get it checked out if i get the time or its sliding about too much. thanks for the help, hopefully not end up in a field

[djskylineuk]

lol lets hope you dont run a cow over ;) <<jokes>>

[msherry21]

mate, get your geometry checked, wheel spacers arn't great things to use really. The back end will step out when you boot it out a corner....its expected with a rear wheel drive mid engined car, but as rico said, beware, they are not easy to get back in once sliding.

p.s don't lose the thing before I get a chance to see it. :-)

Michael.

[jaxx]

i dont think it matters what your driving at the moment mate roads are very greasy at this time of the year

even my transit van is wheelspinning

very....

i took mine round the block today and clogged it up my street only for the back wheels to wind up through 2 gears

must have looked good though

[GLASGAMR2]

im sure youl see me out and about soon enough michael. and again hopefully ill not be in the field when you see me!!

[System~G]

You say tyres are good, but are they a good brand? Toyo Proxi's or Goodyear F1's only mate

Might be an idea to get your alignment checking over - propper 4-wheel alignment - not just tracking ;)

[TOYMOTA]

Here's some info off MR2OC. BTW i've had mine sideways on a round-a-bout doing about 20mph in the wet:

So what makes the MR2 handling so different to a normal front engined car?

A great bonus of a mid engined car is its neutral weight distribution and the way the engine weight assists the rear tyres grip, by applying a greater load on the tyres under acceleration... Great for getting of the line!

Now take a few moments to consider what forces are at play whilst driving. The engines weight acts like a kind of huge pendulum. Imagine swinging a rope with a heavy weight on the end. If you try to stop the rope swinging, it'll keep on going because of the momentum stored by the weight.

That is exactly what can happen with the MR2. Think about these 2 scenarios...

Scenario 1

Road is wet. You enter a fast sweeping left hand corner, but have neglected your tyres (they're cheap and low on tread). Your half way into the bend when the rear end steps out. You try to steer into the skid, but a combination of poor grip from the tyres and the momentum of the engine make the car swap ends in an instant. Before you know it, you can only see where your going by looking in the rear view mirror! Add a kerb, and it's bye bye offside rear wheel and suspension. Add a lamp post or worst still, a tree, and it's bye bye car!!

Scenario 2

You approach a bend that is located on the crest of a hill. As your climbing the hill you are hard on the throttle, as you reach the top of the hill the road starts to turn to the right. The rear of the car is pushed hard into the tarmac because the acceleration of the car is thrusting the cars weight onto the rear wheels. As you enter further into the bend the car/engine weight if transferred into the near side rear tyre. You notice the corner tightens. In an instant, you decide to lift off the throttle as you think your going too fast. The sudden deceleration shifts the engines weight from the near side rear tyre towards the front of the car. This sudden weight transfer reduces the grip on the near side rear tyre (the tyre with the greatest grip at the fraction of a second before you lifted off the throttle) This causes something known as 'lift off oversteer' The back end steps out, and just like the previous example, the engines weight is now helping the car enter into an unrecoverable spin.

It takes alot of skill to input the right amount of corrective action, to recover from these situations. A common result is the 'tank &#33;Removed&#33;'. This results from steering too far into the skid, causing the car to swing violently in the other direction. This is often followed by another excessive correction with the steering wheel, thrusting the back end of the car in the other direction. It's only a matter of time before you spin completely.. or hit something!

The MR2 is not a dangerous car. It absolutely fantastic. It's novices who try to push the envelope on the road, who help to keep a steady stream of MR2's heading towards your local breakers!

Your tyres are one of the most critical components on your car. Remember that your car travels everywhere on only 4 small patches of rubber!

Brand

There are a wide variety of tyre brands on the market place. Prices vary dramatically. A cheap, unknown brand of tyre may appear to perform well during day to day driving, but when the roads are wet, things can change dramatically!

There are a large number of MR2 owners who have been either lucky or paid a heavy price, because of a loss of grip in the wet. Look here to learn more about the MR2 handling characteristics.

Tread depth

Keep a close eye on tread wear. The legal minimum tread depth is 1.6mm. If is advisable to replace your tyres once the tread drops to 2mm. An inexpensive depth gauge can be purchased from your local car accessory store. Badly worn tyres will make driving in the wet very dangerious.

Acclaimed tyres for MR2's

The following tyres are recommended by many MR2 owners.

Falken 451- Good dry performance. Hard wearing.

Toyo Proxes T1-S / Goodyear eagle F1- Excellent dry and wet grip. Attractive tread patterns.

Bridgestone Potenza S02 / S03 - Outstanding wet and dry grip. Market leader. High wear rate.

Thanks MR2OC!!

[GLASGAMR2]

well the tyres are all good condition. 3 are bridgestones and one is a potenza. ill try the geometry and if thats not the problem it will have to be f1's or soemthign i guess. Il let you know how it gets on . cheers

just read there bridgestones are potenza's? the 3 other tyes must be another bridgestoen tyre. if that makes a difference? cheers

[Tegan]

I find the mr2 very slide happy but the again i need new tyres

only advice would be to be constant with the power - dont 'go hard' round a corner then decide to wimp out - because it will bite and land you in the hedge ;)

[GLASGAMR2]

there must be a problem with the geometry because from what you are all saying it takes a certain amount of power to move the car or a tight corner. i havent done any of these, im talking about normal roads or even roundabouts at normal speeds and i feel it. garage is getting a call tomoro. thanks for all your help

[Bibbs]

the MR2 is not a 50/50 weight distribution car .. all the weight is in the back .. tyre pressures will do the same .. make sure that they are all arround 30 .. more pressure will make it more skittish ..

[TOYMOTA]

It's about 43 front / 57 rear if I recall a previous post correctly.

You're basicly driving a fast pendulum!

Have fun, but take it easy till you properly know the limits of the car!

[acf8181]

tyre pressure should be 30psi front, 35psi rear (well, thats what it says in the glovebox of my uk rev2 n/a)

[Penelope Pitstop]

....yeah mine hadnt been handling very well in the wet ,,then i got home and realised i had a puncture ,,,,,arghhhhh :!Removed!:

[MissMR2]

like most peeps have said, mr2s are good sliders..

took me a while to grasp this when i got mine, from having a 1.2 vauxhall corsa.lol

jst dont boot it too hard lol take it easy. lol

[Jesus]

tyre pressure should be 30psi front, 35psi rear (well, thats what it says in the glovebox of my uk rev2 n/a)

...on standard size tyres for that year (probably even brand dependent too... certainly is for some car manufacturers)...

[__Nick__]

like most peeps have said, mr2s are good sliders..

took me a while to grasp this when i got mine, from having a 1.2 vauxhall corsa.lol

jst dont boot it too hard lol take it easy. lol

Was it a red/fading pink LS model corsa? - if so, you will know my pain!

[System~G]

just read there bridgestones are potenza's? the 3 other tyes must be another bridgestoen tyre. if that makes a difference? cheers

Will make a huge difference.

When I had my Rev3 it had two different tyre tread patterns fitted on the rear when I bought it and it was all over the place. I replaced all four tyres to Goodyear F1's and never had a problem unless seriously provoking the car B)

Personally I avoid Bridgestone but some people like them. You really need quite a soft compound together with a directional wet weather tread on the rear - similar to what the Goodyear F1's and Toyo Proxi's offer. I found little difference between the two brands of tyre except price - the Toyo's are a fair bit cheaper.

I couldn't get Toyo's in the stock sizes for my MKI and I was going to re-mortgage my house for F1's - so I ended up going with a full set of BF Goodridge and find them pretty OK. They have survived winter so far as well as a couple of track days B)