<VV>Notes

[Padgett]

>The car didn't stop as quickly as I think it should have.    The
>tires are almost new, Goodyear radials, 185x80/13s.

1) 185x80x13 is not now, never has, and never will be was a size for 
performance tires. Near as I can tell, the only 185x80x13s Goodyear makes 
now are trailer tires which are much harder than car tires so are either 
these or "NOS" that may have been sitting in a warehouse for a while.

"slid to a stop, blue tire smoke "

2) As soon as the wheels lock up, you lose stopping power, can feel like 
the car is going faster instead of slowing, but few modern tires will lock 
up at all so you may not be used to it. In the bad old daze "all four tires 
and the driver screaming" was common.

When I bought my Monza it had 185x80x13 radials from BFG, a size I learned 
to hate on my first Fiero. They are really not very good tires and most are 
"loss leaders". Best thing you can say is that they are close to the size 
of a 7.00x13. They were designed as the base tire for the new FWD X-bodies 
in 1980.

Have since added 195x70x14s to the front (also BFG) and 215x65x15s to the 
rear and it stops much better now.

One thing about Corvairs: they have a light front end which means for best 
result you need to ease into the brakes and as the weight transfers forward 
add more braking until you reach the maximum.

Padgett