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I am about to embark on my first road trip in my newly acquired C6 (2011). As the car just turned 7000 miles it is still clad with its original Goodyear tires, all of which have good tread remaining.
So here is my question. If I run into any heavy (or for that matter moderate/light) rain on the way should I have any handling concerns above and beyond implementing the same prudent driving measures one should follow any time it rains?
Long and short of it - I don't want to wrap the thing around a road sign, nor do I want to unnecessarily worry that I might.
just watch the back end.Don't drive like it's dry when it's wet and you'll be fine.Bring an inflatable boat, however, in case these cars really do melt in the rain.
Just keep in mind they are wide tires designed for dry roads. That's not to say they cant be driven in the rain safely, just be careful of the hydroplaning and slow down a bit.
I've driven in some heavy rain before. It's the only time I'll leave the AH/TC on.
As stated before, be smooth on the go fast pedal. Watch out for standing water as that's where you'll hydroplane, the wide tires will want to stay on top of the water more than a narrow tire would.
Aside from the width, the compound in the GY's isn't really well suited to aggressive driving in wet or cold conditions, there are much better choices for those conditions. But all you need to do is take it easy and you'll be fine.
Yesterday in Houston on the way home from work, I had a ton of grip on concrete, I got on asphalt and had none, I got sideways in 3rd real easy seeing how much grip there was.
Just drive easy if it gets wet, my EX never understood why I was trying to find how much grip there was, yeah I pissed her of in the rain and in the snow, but I always knew the traction limit.
On my trip last year I drove the Oregon and California coast hiway on my last two days. For more than half a day I was in a torrential downpour! Helluva storm. Lots of curves and elevation changes on 1 and 101 and I had no problems. Of course, I did put the top up.....BTW I have Firestone RunFlats.
The night I purchased my GS I had to drive it almost 100 miles home in a torrential downpour. Surprise, the car did not melt ! Seriously though, just drive carefully and you will be OK. I would just check to make sure that you have enough tread left on the tires to channel the water properly.
The night I purchased my GS I had to drive it almost 100 miles home in a torrential downpour. Surprise, the car did not melt ! Seriously though, just drive carefully and you will be OK. I would just check to make sure that you have enough tread left on the tires to channel the water properly.
This is a coincidence because the exact same thing happened to me. I bought my car on a Saturday afternoon and when I started home the bottom fell out and it was dark! I had a 100 mile trip at night in the rain on roads I wasn't familiar with.
Take it easy on wet pavement and watch for standing water and you should be fine.
Drove in some heavy rains with some standing water on way to work this morning. Just have to go some what slowly and keep some good distance between the car in front. No problems. Although I think I will call my vette ARK after this one.
Rain, all depends on what tires I have on the car.
I have a set of Kumho SPT's that I use for winter burner time tires (don't drive the car unless it 50* plus out, so lets just call them light rain tires), so light rain is not a problem at legal speed limits (so long I keep my head on straight and don't do something stupid).
Summer time, run Super Sports, so anything more than a light sprinkler, and I sitting the rain storm out at a under pass. Super Cups/Kumho XS/ R6's on the car, then it's under pass sitting time until is stops raining, then a slow drive to the closest coffee shop until the road dry out again.
Simply, if you have the car set up/tires up for a dry-hot high grip, then these tire are not going to be rain friendly (hydroplaning).
If you have the car set up as a Rain DD, then you just gave up a lot on hot dry grip, and my be better off driving a Buick instead.
Just keep in mind they are wide tires designed for dry roads. That's not to say they cant be driven in the rain safely, just be careful of the hydroplaning and slow down a bit.
Not to be mean but if you have to ask "how to drive in the rain" on an internet forum......
K-
You missed my point - I was not asking "how to drive in the rain." I was asking in effect how a C6 Corvette with stock tires handles in the rain.
By way of background, my last car was a Porsche Cayman, and before that a Jag XK8, just to name a few. I've driven thousands of miles in both rain and snow. Yeah, I have some idea what I'm doing, which is exactly why I asked. For me does not seem particularly prudent to just wait for it to start raining at 80MPH to find out how this one, a completely different car, might want to act...
I daily drive my GS, and have never once had any issues in the rain. Drive it reasonably (i.e. don't pretend you're a race driver...leave the nannies on), and you'll have absolutely no problems.
The biggest issue you'll ever have in the rain is getting in/out of the car. When you open the door in heavy rain, the outer 1/3 of the seats will get rained on. My advise is to pack a towel to mitigate the problem as best you can (i.e. as you exit the car, spread the towel on the outer edge of the seat to soak it up so you don't end up sitting in a puddle).
Beyond that, the "post rain" wash just make sure you rinse with high pressure all the dirt off so you don't scratch the paint with your rags.
I've autocrossed it in the rain as well. To be honest, I was surprised at how well the car performed in the rain. My most competitive times of the day (relative to guys I race every month) were all during the rain.
The only real hazard during the rain for me is washing my car out in the pouring rain between autocross practice day and race day. My neighbors all must think I'm nuts. My excuse to the wife was I didn't want to stick my numbers on my dirty car. To be honest, I probably would have rinsed all the dirt off even if I wasn't putting the numbers on.
I'm just talking about "torrential" rain, just raining, no problem.
I drove through Georgia in torrential rain with the stock Goodyear Eagles with
7,000 miles on them.
I was VERY lucky to discover when doing 70 mph, I moved the steering wheel
for a slight curve and "Nothing Happened!"
I started slowing down, moving the wheel and the car would just go straight, no
steering at all.
At 45 mph with the 4 ways flashing it was steerable, any faster was suicide!
18 wheelers were passing me at 80 mph and I had to make it to the next exit.
<WHEW very scary>
I'm a professional driver, and I had never drove anything as bad as a C6 in the rain.
Again I'm talking torrential rain.
I learned to watch for water puddling on non-grooved pavement.
Just keep testing your steering response on the straight sections and slow down for
the curves.
I now have Mich Pilots, they are much better but I still don't push it.
Regular rain is no problem, just when it puddles.
09-18-2014, 10:25 PM
Vettes in the Rain
