But Friday mine saved my bacon!
I was doing 65mph on the M4 in Llantrisant in the inside lane going up hill, out of nowhere a massive river appeared in the middle of the road. Two cars infront started braking, i did the same, lost grip and my back end stepped out. ESP light flashed (by the time I am straddled over two lanes facing rhe hard shoulder) and the ESP done it's thing and applied the brakes at the right time straightening me back out. There would have been no way I could have recovered from the slide without it and I would probably have been talking to you with wings and a harp right now.
About 2 seconds after I straightened up my father rung me to warn me about the water on the M4
I think people are far too quick to slate driver aids and people need to start realising how helpfull they can be when you are a situation beyond a humans ability to sort out.
Thinking about it now, I won't get another car without ESP.
2020 BMW 520d MSport Touring My Daily
2017 Dacia Logan MCV 1.5DCi Laureate Wifes
1996 Land Rover Defender 90 County SW 300TDi My Toy
2003 Ford Mondeo ST220 3.0 V6 My Other Toy
omega wrote:sorry but if you had left a safe distance between you and the car in front you wouldnt need any other driver aids!
There was a perfectley safe distance, they started braking so I had to do the same.
2020 BMW 520d MSport Touring My Daily
2017 Dacia Logan MCV 1.5DCi Laureate Wifes
1996 Land Rover Defender 90 County SW 300TDi My Toy
2003 Ford Mondeo ST220 3.0 V6 My Other Toy
Welly wrote:That'll be your worn tyres coming in for an appearance
3mm Dunlops on the rear, you're probably right!
Got brand new Goodyear Efficientgrips on the front
2020 BMW 520d MSport Touring My Daily
2017 Dacia Logan MCV 1.5DCi Laureate Wifes
1996 Land Rover Defender 90 County SW 300TDi My Toy
2003 Ford Mondeo ST220 3.0 V6 My Other Toy
I've been keeping the better treads on the back of mine for two reasons: they look better when plod pull up behind you and they perform better under heavy breaking - less likely to create over-steer.
Most dealers would change a tyre at 2.5mm
My fronts are just about on the limiters but have worn very evenly across. I'm just waiting for my Winter tyres to leave the 'Hotel' and I'll be all good again.
Cars in my care:
2021 Kia Spottage 1.6 Pez Turbo Dual Clutch Gearbox Trickery
2013 Renner Twingo - donkey work
I remember watching a test where they showed braking with a new pair and a pair with around 3mm on, very much like your current set up, and the conclusion of the test, was to have the better tyres on the back, one of the things was to prevent the back end from stepping out.
If I remember rightly they did the test with some other worn tyres as well, and the conclusion of that, was whilst 1.6mm is the limit, once you get to 3mm, the braking effeciency of the tyres is greatly diminished.
1999 D8.5 HDi GLX - Sold
2007 Mondingo Zetec - I seek forgiveness Bring back my 406
Completley agree thats how I usually do things.
When the front wear out, put the rears on the front and get new shoes on the back.
Was weird, was like the back end was on sheet ice! Was just sliding sideways in slow motion.
2020 BMW 520d MSport Touring My Daily
2017 Dacia Logan MCV 1.5DCi Laureate Wifes
1996 Land Rover Defender 90 County SW 300TDi My Toy
2003 Ford Mondeo ST220 3.0 V6 My Other Toy
Without drawing any conclusions (as none of us apart from Bailes were actually there ourselves), I'm fairly certain that I can say the river across the road did not appear out of nowhere.
Not to be a proverbial river across the road of your newfound and quite understandable love for ESP, but I think the situation could have been avoided by scanning further ahead and keeping longer following distances. Not just on your part, but on all parts.
I know ESP saved my bacon a couple of times in my old car, but looking back I am fairly certain that all of these situations happened because of overconfidence on my part. Going too hard round wet bends, going too fast in the winter on the motorway with spots of ice and snow etc.. In one particular instance I can remember the back end of the car feeling ever so slightly loose as I was going along on the motorway, but I ignored it because I thought it didn't mean anything. Suddenly the back end just started stepping out to the left due to black ice as I was going dead straight ahead at about 90km/h, but the ESP kicked in and got me back on track. I slowed down to about 60km/h after that.
Then again, in my first car (a 1988 Corolla), there was no ABS, no ESP, no anything. I managed to get through some hard winters in that car, probably because I knew it wouldn't save me in a bad situation, so I took it easy instead of becoming overconfident due to driver aids.
So it's not that I don't like driver aids, I think they're brilliant and should never be switched off on public roads. But riding a motorcycle has also taught me the enormous value of scanning far ahead and keeping long following distances. If you skid in a car, you'll probably be a bit shaken, but OK. If you skid on a bike, you will go down and it will hurt. So now I drive my car as if I was riding a motorcycle. Seems to work :-)
Anyway, enough of my babbling. I'm glad you're OK, ESP helped saved your bacon as it was designed to do. As always in a situation like this, take it as an opportunity to learn and improve your driving.
