<VV> Notes

[Tony Underwood]

Group:

This weekend I had the opportunity to perform a hard-harder 
examination while moving, aka the impromptu emergency stopping 
distance test.    I was going down a 4 lane divided highway, daughter 
and one of her teenage associates in the car doing what teenage girls 
do while riding in my '60 4-door...  mostly ducking when they saw 
boys and going "Eeww" every few seconds.

Then came the dumb-ass dog which is likely soon to be, if not 
already, street pizza... silly little moronic canine strolled out 
into the street, crossing the road directly in front of me.   I stood 
on the  brakes.

They locked up and all four tires screeched and the 4-door slid to a 
stop, blue tire smoke swirling around as the stupid-ass dog ambled 
his way to the curb, never even glanced in my direction.   I shoulda 
run over his ass, but I decided to stop.    Now:

The car didn't stop as quickly as I think it should have.    The 
tires are almost new, Goodyear radials, 185x80/13s.   The  brakes are 
in good shape, recently got some preventative maintenance.   The car 
stops OK in normal driving, no pulling or anything else unusual in 
everyday operation.

This is the first time I actually did what's regarded as a "panic 
stop" at any speed (about 35-40 mph).     My other 'Vairs stop better 
than that.   The Corsa ragtop will practically stand on its nose in a 
panic stop.    Then again, it's wearing 235-60s on front, 265-60s on 
the back...

The other 'Vairs here generally have tires half again as wide as the 
tires on my '60.   The black marks on the street behind me looked 
about right, not too narrow considering the tire size, or uneven etc, 
so the tires were planted reasonably well on the pavement.   I'm 
running higher than "factory" tire pressures, around 36 in back, 
about 26 in front.   The car rides well, and it doesn't present any 
handling irregularities that aren't expected for a '60 4-door.    I 
would wager the car would have stopped quicker if I'd been running 
"factory" pressures, but I've driven 'Vairs with those pressures and 
they handle like a rowboat.

The tires just didn't seem to present as much "footprint" on the 
ground as needed to stop the car any quicker.   I do believe that the 
car could have stopped in a shorter distance if it had been wearing 
wider (or stickier) tires.

This may well be something to consider if you have a daily driver and 
you mount tires on it that may not be up to gripping the road the way 
modern wider tires do.




tony..