Hey all, have had my fabia for just over 5 months now, and noticed that is doing like cornering in the wet. 

 

I know the car is lighter than my Seat Leon but it seems to have next to no front end grip in the wet. 

 

Tyres are fine as they still have plenty of grip left in them. 

 

Yesterday I lost it on a relatively straight forward corner at 45mph and nearly faceplanted into an oncoming Ford Focus. Thankfully I managed to catch it in time to get out of it but it's certainly made me question the reliability of the handling. 

 

How does everyone else find theirs. Is this common, or is it possibly an issue with my car. 

Tyres may be fine tread wise but are the pressures okay and what is the brand of tyres? I’ve had some near misses due to budget tyres before. 

Welcome.

They sound as though 'plenty of grip' in the dry, which is not safe if not in the wet when driving to the conditions.

So what tyres are on, make and size and what pressures are they at?

 

PS

Currently in Sunny  South Ayrshire where the torrential conditions are catching many out.

Edited 29 June, 20205 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

The one I got replaced the other week is Riken, purchased from McConnechy's. The other one, I'll need to check as it was on when I bought the car. Will need to double-check but I don't think it's a budget. 

Riken a brand owned by Michelin.   A new green unworn in tyre ane mixed....

So what else is on is important and pressures especially important.

It's 215/45/16

 

Pressures I'm not sure, I got the garage to do them all when they replaced my front passenger. (Due to blisters on the wall caused by North Ayrshire's pot hole division)

Do not trust you and others lives to pressures some tyre fitter chooses.

& reset the TPMS.

 

Is there one new and one old tyre on the same axle?

So, on the front, I have a Riken and a Kormoran, both in terms of tread depth are very similar. Riken only on last weekend. 

 

Never heard of Kormoran tbh. 

 

There is a pair of Dunlop's on the back, tread not ass good as the front but they are probably the better brand. 

 

I'll check pressures when it's not torrential. 

I usually set my pressure when I'm doing it myself to 2.1

 

Edited 29 June, 20205 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

1 minute ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

19 minutes ago, Lamont1980 said:

So, on the front, I have a Riken and a Kormoran, both in terms of tread depth are very similar. Riken only on last weekend. 

 

Never heard of Kormoran tbh. 

 

There is a pair of Dunlop's on the back, tread not ass good as the front but they are probably the better brand. 

 

I'll check pressures when it's not torrential. 

 

If you want grip in the wet, buy some premium brand tyres with a good Wet Grip rating.  Personally, I'd replace all four while I was at it.  As the only point of contact between your car and the road, cheap tyres are a false economy. 

 

You'll get a set of Uniroyal Rainsports in 215/45x16 for about £400 from somewhere like Black Circles or Oponeo. 

What's the suggested pressures?

3 minutes ago, Lamont1980 said:

What's the suggested pressures?

 

Should be listed inside your fuel filler cap and the handbook.  

34 minutes ago, Lamont1980 said:

What's the suggested pressures?

2.1 bar for 16 inch wheels and up to 3 passengers iirc. 
 
 

id be inclined to try the Dunlop’s on the front and see if grip improves. Either way it is going to be a fault with your current setup and not the car in general, these things are designed and tested 

Don't put the Dunlops on the front or you could lose your back end and spin completely out of control. Understeer is safe, oversteer is dangerous.

 

You might want to try something like good 185/60R15 all-season tyres. Good all-season tyres usually have sips in the tread so that in slippery road conditions (grease, mud, gravel, etc.) they grip much better than summer tyres without sips.

Or just good tyres on the wheels he has rather than splashing cash as you always suggest on smaller wheels and narrower tyres.   That is s recurring theme....

7 hours ago, Carlston said:

 

 

You might want to try something like good 185/60R15 all-season tyres.

OP has 16 inch wheels 😑

Some tyres are fine in the dry, and awful in the wet. Back in the early noughties Dunlop tyres had a real problem with wet grip. No idea why, but I experienced it across a number of cars, even able to compare the same model on different tyres as I was on short term leases with them. A new Micra we had came with Dunlops, and it was transformed by some relatively cheap replacements (Courier I think).

 

So I'd agree, the first point of call is to get some half decent rubber on the front.

As for the losing the back end and spinning off into ditches.  Yes this can happen with crap tyres on the rear, but if the Dunlop's are not gubbed I would put them on the front for now to help steer and brake and have control of it pees down again today.  After all a Mcconechys fitter sent the car out with the 4 mix and match tyres it has on now.

The main thing imo is having matching tyres on front and back, to have overall balanced grip and improved handling and feel.

The other thing i'd suggest is having your steering alignment checked. If the toe is off, that won't help steering. Make sure it's a place with a laser machine though.

 

I ran my tyres at 33psi with the 16", and 35psi with the 17" (to try to protect the alloys a bit more).

 

Since you have missmatching tyres, you want the better pair of tyres on the front, they're what does the steering, puts the power down, and most of the braking. If you start to lose the rear end, you can accelerate (or countersteer in extreme cases) out of it relatively easy.

If you're understeering, you have to let off the loud pedal, that itself can upset the balance of the car and can make the rear end swing out, then you need to press the loud pedal, and if you're still cornering too hard you might lose the front again, it's not too pretty, done it myself on a roundabout, ended up in a different lane.

10 hours ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

Or just good tyres on the wheels he has rather than splashing cash on smaller wheels and narrower tyres.

 

You might be able to get good 15" tyres and rims for less than the price of good 16" tyres without rims. The OP would then have his 16" wheels to sell.

 

These 6Jx15 ET29 steel rims off the Audi A1 don't look bad, and would fill out the wheel arches nicely with 185/60R15 or 185/65R15 tyres. 

 

6Jx15 ET29 Alcar 7415

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/alcar/14750602

 

Continental PremiumContact 6 185/65R15 88H

https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/continental-premiumcontact-6-185-65-r15-88-h#303478659

 

Apart from 215/45R16 tyres being expensive, they don't look right on the Fabia when viewed from the rear. The Fabia has quite a narrow track being a small car. In order to get the 215/45R16 tyres to fit within the wheel arches you have to use a narrower track than you would with narrower tyres.

 

The 215/45R16 is fitted to ET46 rims. This pushes the centre of the tyres towards the centre of the car thereby reducing the car's front and rear track. By using ET29 rims, the centre of each tyre is moved out by 17mm from the centre of the car, thereby increasing the car's front and rear track by 34mm. When viewed from the rear, this gives the car a much wider and more purposeful looking stance.

 

Additionally, the choice of tyres in the 215/45R16 size is very poor. Continental summer tyres are a particular case in point. There are no PremiumContact 6 tyres in this size, or even the older PremiumContact 5 tyres. You have to go back to PremiumContact 2 tyres which really is quite an old tyre now. The reason is that the 215/45R16 size is not common and top brand manufacturer's are deserting this size, which gives a much reduced choice.

 

Here's an old Continental PremiumContact 2 215/45R16

https://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110&cart_id=Xf87CLZDjIqW03rp.110.110966360&sowigan=So&Breite=215&Quer=45&Felge=16&Marke=Continental&ranzahl=4&Herst=Continental&rsmFahrzeugart=ALL&search_tool=standard&Label=E-B-71-2&details=Ordern&typ=R-265707

 

Not only that, but the ride on 185/65R15 tyres is really good, and the ride on 215/45R16 is really bad.

 

Bridgestone Turanza T005 is a competitor to the Continental PremiumContact 6.

 

Bridgestone Turanza T005 185/65R15 88H

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/tyres/bridgestone-3286340889919-8899

 

Bridgestone Turanza T005 185/60R15 84H

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/tyres/bridgestone-3286340890717-8907

 

The 185/60R15 size is more expensive than the more common 185/65R15 size.

Edited 30 June, 20205 yr by Carlston

& you can buy stuff from BRISKODA for sales or swap or do lots of things, but if you bought your Mk3 Fabia Monte Carlo for looks because you were never getting one because of the performance on offer straight from the factory.

Rally Inspired and DNA, and connectivity was the selling point from Skoda.  

Show and no go, so maybe just as well have it look like an old buddies shopper mobile.

Or like a Care Worker / NHS / Social Work / Council Fleet car with Steel Wheels and no wheel trims.

 

PS 

Lighter by 60 kg average was another Skoda spin story and wider with more width of track was another.

the Mk3 got 215's where the Mk1 & Mk2 only ever was offered with 205's.

Edited 30 June, 20205 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

Honestly, i think most of the comments are missing the point, OP *seems* to be asking if we think it's an issue with his tyres or the car itself.

 

OPs Issues:

1. They're struggling for grip in the wet.

2. They have miss-matching less known tyres on the front.

 

My comments on these issues;

1. Unless the alignment is out (which i'd assume they'd have had done after the pothole), it's most likely down to the tyres.

2. The front is the important axle, most of the load goes through the front tyres, braking, steering, accelerating, almost all of that is through the fronts, you want the better tyres at the front.

 

Continuing on that;

The 16" wheels OP has already, are a good compromise between good handling and good ride quality/comfort, going down to a 15" with 185 width tyres is less rubber contact, less grip, that's not going to help OPs issue.

The Dunlops (i'm assuming SP Sport Maxx) are among the better ones in terms of grip and handling, so there's no need to change them really.

Ideally, you want the same tyres on all 4 wheels, failing that, you want a good matching pair on the front.

 

So that leaves two main options;

Swap the fronts and rears over, so the grippier dunlops are on the front, where they matter.

Replace the existing fronts with new dunlops, so OP has matching tyres on all corners. OP can sell on the part-worn ones to make a little money back.

 

Final consideration;

Roads *can* *sometimes* be quite slippery when first wet after a long dry spell. I don't know what the weather's been like leading up to OPs incident, but that could play a role.

New tyres don't necessarily grip well "straight out of the box", the tyre may be coated in something to preserve it in storage (like some brake discs are) or just to look pretty, the very first time I had my front tyres changed, i almost went into the middle of a roundabout from spinning the wheels up trying to pull away quickly and understeering badly.

Ist job, or equal first.

Check what pressure the fitter sent the car out of McConacheys with.  Fronts and rears.

& maybe see if you can loosen the wheel nuts / bolts with the tools in the car.

 

PS

Weather in the Sunny South West of Scotland and points further east west north and south has been terrible after high temperatures and junctions and roundabouts are letting out grease / diesel etc etc.

Treacherous conditions even with the best of tyres and AWD if not driving with care.

Edited 30 June, 20205 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot