James May on: low-profile tyres
#1
MBWorld Fanatic!
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James May on: low-profile tyres
Originally Posted by BBC
The problem among young women these days, apparently, is the damaging influence of the fashion and modelling businesses. Faced with page after page of doe-eyed streaks of bats' urine in glossy magazines, they starve themselves into a coma so that they, too, can have the allure of a sexless teenage android.
From this, it's a small step to an eating disorder and the waste of a young life. It's a serious matter.
Now, I don't want to seem fatuous or as if I'm trivialising all this, but I see another issue here, and this time it's aesthetic. Because I'm quite modern and metrosexual these days, I realise that women don't necessarily try to look the way they do for the benefit of men, but, even so, as a lesbian tragically born into a man's body, I can't help taking an interest in these things.
I've just never been very keen on really skinny women because they don't look very friendly. Comfortable, even. They look like those chairs we had in school assembly and about as robust. I prefer women with what is sometimes termed ‘definition'; you know, the ones who look as if they've been inflated properly.
I wonder if things were better in the early Sixties, when a more fulsome type of model was fashionable. Maybe then there were complaints about women in their twenties bingeing on pies and fry-ups to increase their famine stores. What happy days they must've been.
Anyway - tyres. I'm not suggesting this is a directly related topic and yet, in a way, it is. A few days ago, I was looking at a slightly tricked-up Nissan sitting on tyres that had about as much give in them as a supermodel's elbow, and I just didn't fancy it at all. Didn't look like it would keep you warm at night.
Then, in America a few weeks ago with Jeremy, we saw a Dodge Charger (the new one) on tyres that had obviously been up vomiting all night, and that looked really uninviting. I mean, the wheels looked positively unwell. Terrible, it was.
It's been going on for years, this sort of thing, and I think it's time we cried ‘enough'. Some tyres are now so thin it's difficult to tell what they actually are. It's fashion, obviously, because really low-profile tyres are of no benefit outside of the racetrack and only make the car steer and ride badly, so it will probably pass. I think this may be about to happen, and I do hope so.
I like a phat tyre as much as the next person, but I like to think in terms of the distance between the wheel rim and the tread, rather than the width. A car wearing a decent amount of rubber isn't being swayed by fleeting trends. It's a car that looks comfy, and forgiving. It looks like it will still make me a bacon sandwich when I'm old.
Let's take the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Now there's a car whose tyres haven't seen too many salads, and rightly so. Back when this car was launched, a man from the factory spent a long time explaining to me why the relationship between the size of the wheel and the size of the tyre was not merely important for relaxing progress - which is what a Phantom is about, after all - but actually established in the eye of the viewer the essential attributes of a Roller.
I think he was right about this. I see a Phantom, I want to climb aboard. I see an AMG Mercedes on spray-ons, and I think I'd rather just go to the pub and maybe watch a war film later on.
It's now happening in the world of motorcycling. Consider the Harley Davidson Sportster. It's a bike that's been around in one form or another for ages, but it's never quite been my sort of thing. Now, though, I am overcome with a visceral urge to mount it. Why? Because I've discovered the Forty-Eight model, which simply has smaller wheels and bigger tyres, and it looks lovely as a result. American youths call this sort of thing ‘old skool'. I call it more than a handful, and that's a result.
Thin is so mean, and so last-season. Fat is the future, and a decent depth of rubber is the way to get there. I know we supposedly have another problem with obesity, but what is that, exactly? Let's not forget that society offers
no privilege greater than the opportunity to get a bit tubby.
So let's dish up some decent depth of sidewall and remind ourselves how lucky we are. Not with me yet? Look at this picture of the Harley Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight. Look at the boots on that baby. Wahey!
From this, it's a small step to an eating disorder and the waste of a young life. It's a serious matter.
Now, I don't want to seem fatuous or as if I'm trivialising all this, but I see another issue here, and this time it's aesthetic. Because I'm quite modern and metrosexual these days, I realise that women don't necessarily try to look the way they do for the benefit of men, but, even so, as a lesbian tragically born into a man's body, I can't help taking an interest in these things.
I've just never been very keen on really skinny women because they don't look very friendly. Comfortable, even. They look like those chairs we had in school assembly and about as robust. I prefer women with what is sometimes termed ‘definition'; you know, the ones who look as if they've been inflated properly.
I wonder if things were better in the early Sixties, when a more fulsome type of model was fashionable. Maybe then there were complaints about women in their twenties bingeing on pies and fry-ups to increase their famine stores. What happy days they must've been.
Anyway - tyres. I'm not suggesting this is a directly related topic and yet, in a way, it is. A few days ago, I was looking at a slightly tricked-up Nissan sitting on tyres that had about as much give in them as a supermodel's elbow, and I just didn't fancy it at all. Didn't look like it would keep you warm at night.
Then, in America a few weeks ago with Jeremy, we saw a Dodge Charger (the new one) on tyres that had obviously been up vomiting all night, and that looked really uninviting. I mean, the wheels looked positively unwell. Terrible, it was.
It's been going on for years, this sort of thing, and I think it's time we cried ‘enough'. Some tyres are now so thin it's difficult to tell what they actually are. It's fashion, obviously, because really low-profile tyres are of no benefit outside of the racetrack and only make the car steer and ride badly, so it will probably pass. I think this may be about to happen, and I do hope so.
I like a phat tyre as much as the next person, but I like to think in terms of the distance between the wheel rim and the tread, rather than the width. A car wearing a decent amount of rubber isn't being swayed by fleeting trends. It's a car that looks comfy, and forgiving. It looks like it will still make me a bacon sandwich when I'm old.
Let's take the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Now there's a car whose tyres haven't seen too many salads, and rightly so. Back when this car was launched, a man from the factory spent a long time explaining to me why the relationship between the size of the wheel and the size of the tyre was not merely important for relaxing progress - which is what a Phantom is about, after all - but actually established in the eye of the viewer the essential attributes of a Roller.
I think he was right about this. I see a Phantom, I want to climb aboard. I see an AMG Mercedes on spray-ons, and I think I'd rather just go to the pub and maybe watch a war film later on.
It's now happening in the world of motorcycling. Consider the Harley Davidson Sportster. It's a bike that's been around in one form or another for ages, but it's never quite been my sort of thing. Now, though, I am overcome with a visceral urge to mount it. Why? Because I've discovered the Forty-Eight model, which simply has smaller wheels and bigger tyres, and it looks lovely as a result. American youths call this sort of thing ‘old skool'. I call it more than a handful, and that's a result.
Thin is so mean, and so last-season. Fat is the future, and a decent depth of rubber is the way to get there. I know we supposedly have another problem with obesity, but what is that, exactly? Let's not forget that society offers
no privilege greater than the opportunity to get a bit tubby.
So let's dish up some decent depth of sidewall and remind ourselves how lucky we are. Not with me yet? Look at this picture of the Harley Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight. Look at the boots on that baby. Wahey!
http://media.caranddriver.com/images...-s-520x318.jpg
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
Not to insult anyone but James May is the last person in the world I would get advice from.
Even though he's position in Top Gear is quite an achievement I still think he's just talking like an old fart.
If someone wants low profile tires, go for it.
If you want more comfort, pick ones with a higher sidewall.
Even though he's position in Top Gear is quite an achievement I still think he's just talking like an old fart.
If someone wants low profile tires, go for it.
If you want more comfort, pick ones with a higher sidewall.
#3
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Mercedes C230 Sport Sedan
Low profile tires
James,
Interesting metaphors in your thread on low profile tires. In principle, I agree - about the tires, not the models.
Spray-on tires are asethically not pleasing, ride like their made of stone, and unless you live somewhere that has roads as smooth as tabletops, they will beat you to death. Not to mention, cost you thousands in tire replacements and bent wheels.
Unless you have a section width of 305 mm, anything less than a 35% aspect ratio is just too thin. They make the car look silly as it isn't in proportion. Consider the extreme example of something I see regularly. Someone will be driving an 80s example of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo with 26" dubs on it. They are so out of proportion to the rest of the car, it looks like a high school experiment gone terribly wrong.
Even if you ignore the obvious, how can you look at your car with zero profile tires and say, "Yeah, that looks good!" Can't see it. Laugh like hell when I do.
Jeff.
Interesting metaphors in your thread on low profile tires. In principle, I agree - about the tires, not the models.
Spray-on tires are asethically not pleasing, ride like their made of stone, and unless you live somewhere that has roads as smooth as tabletops, they will beat you to death. Not to mention, cost you thousands in tire replacements and bent wheels.
Unless you have a section width of 305 mm, anything less than a 35% aspect ratio is just too thin. They make the car look silly as it isn't in proportion. Consider the extreme example of something I see regularly. Someone will be driving an 80s example of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo with 26" dubs on it. They are so out of proportion to the rest of the car, it looks like a high school experiment gone terribly wrong.
Even if you ignore the obvious, how can you look at your car with zero profile tires and say, "Yeah, that looks good!" Can't see it. Laugh like hell when I do.
Jeff.
#5
MBWorld Fanatic!
My mother always said "don't be the first one in on a fashion, and for gods sakes dont be the last one out".
Good advice I think, whether it be clothes or cars. If you dont want to constantly be investing in your car dont go chasing the extreme edge of a current style. No 22" wheels. No 20 series rubber. Dont do the whole car in Carbon Fibre. If you like it, and its worth it to you then go for it. But don't sell your soul for matte paint. It may stay, it may not. Act accordingly.
We are a "faddish" culture. Rap music will never last, and neither will the internet.
Good advice I think, whether it be clothes or cars. If you dont want to constantly be investing in your car dont go chasing the extreme edge of a current style. No 22" wheels. No 20 series rubber. Dont do the whole car in Carbon Fibre. If you like it, and its worth it to you then go for it. But don't sell your soul for matte paint. It may stay, it may not. Act accordingly.
We are a "faddish" culture. Rap music will never last, and neither will the internet.
#6
MBWorld Fanatic!
i do agree to some degree. There are some RIDICULOUSLY low profile tires out there, and they do look silly. But a good 30 or 35 profile tire still looks pretty good in my book.