"Dangerous" Wheels on a 95/N Ford Fiesta?

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Oh, gawd, yes.....

Having had front and rear flats, I would agree that the front flat is a lot less pleasant. However, to quote the Pirelli site, "...and since it has now been established that rear deflations are more likely to cause loss of control..." It would seem that despite the experience being worse, front deflations are safer statistically(according to Pirelli at least.) I wouldn't mind betting that these tyre wallahs have done some serious analysis of accident data, and that's the only way to establish what is actually safest. In some circumstances it's probably true that the advice given will worsen the behaviour of a vehicle, and maybe even cause accidents, just as seatbelts undoubtedly cause certain injuries and fatalities - but that's no argument against seatbelts, which overall save lives.

Bob Davis (bob snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Proof positive that this is advice for numpties - the kind of driver who won't notice that a rear tyre is flat until the shredded remains flail around...

You laugh, but I've seen it.

Driving along the M60 in heavy traffic, we could hear "flapflapflapflap.." (you know the noise) from _way_ in the distance. Couple of minutes later we see a woman toddling along in L2 (quelle surprise!), rear passenger tyre almost in shreds, delightful smell of burning rubber.

We mouthed to her that her tyre was flat, and she seemed surprised.

We could hear this noise a quarter of a mile away, inside another car.

The damn thing was 4 feet from her head, and she was _utterly_ oblivious.

Pete.

It's pretty difficult to do by accident. You have to accelerate into the corner and completely lift off. To catch it you just floor the accelerator. I used to do it all the time, but not by accident.

Well that depends on the car and what generation you are from.

Tony Houghton wrote: [Driven]

That doesn't sound like their style. They'd be more inclined to choose a Range Rover over a Micra because you could fit more suitcases in the back.

Thank you ALL for your helpful and informing replies. It's been very useful.

The wheels dont stick out from the side of the car - they are within the width of the wheel arches, so from that aspect, I understand that they are not illegal - correct?

I will get some more information about the wheels - It's dark outside now and I aint faffing with things in the dark :)

As for knowing the wheel nuts are in correct - I would know the differance between a wheelnut and a small hamster. They look straight and correct to me - why others didnt notice, I dont know.

So, the general concensus is that fundementally the wheels are not dangerous in themselves, and barring caveats such as fuel consumption, tire wear etc, they are fine on the car?

One person expressed concerns about rubbing - I havn't noticed any against the body work. How would I check for the cable rubbing etc? Stick my head under the wheels? As I said - the wheels were on the car when the last owner bought it, and that was about 3 years ago now.

I'll post the information and other pics as soon as I can.

Yours, Dominic