Last set I had to order thru Discount Tire about 3 months ago..Yokohama has reduced production....but they have not dis-continued them as far as I understand....

Rich

 

If you need tires buy them. These cars can be tricky in the rain. You are dealing with a high horsepower rear wheel drive vehicle. It is a completely different driving experience from a front wheel drive 4 cylinder car. A mistake can kill you in that vette so be very careful. You need to learn how to drive the car it will handle, accelerate, and stop a whole lot different than a modern front wheel drive car.

Take your time and respect it if you don't it can come back and bite you hard! I don't like the idea of a young inexperienced driver driving a vette but if you are going to drive it you have to get it safe(tires,brakes,steering) and learn how it handles in different conditions.

 

dont let it get wet except when you wash it

 

I can't believe how many are acting like a '77 Corvette, or any C3 Corvette, is some wicked car in the rain. Try an '80s Mustang if you want wicked in the rain. But a Corvette is a decent handling machine.

It isn't like anyone is driving on old hard Goodyear Wide Tread F70s or Firestone Wide Ovals F70s now. You probably have some decent radial tires unless you bought some no-name discount special. Remember that the only thing that keeps you in contact with the road is your tires and so you never cheap out on them. This is a MAJOR rule in motorcycles, and it is just as important in any high performance car.


My 100 mph runs on slicks were with a '66 Corvette, the same chassis as any C3 up to 1979. If it can run 100 in the rain on slicks, you can run 70 on treaded street tires. And as to horsepower, it had a 600 hp 427 in front at the time.


Saturday night I was coming home from Deerfield Beach, FL and it was raining on the turnpike. I was still running around 75-80 in the rain in the dark in a Camaro. You know, another rear wheel drive car with 305 hp in front.

And it gets worse. I picked up a rabbit, some guy in one of those new Pontiac sedans, and he got up to 110 in the dark in the rain with no handling hassles. I backed out as I decided it was too rich for my blood, meaning I didn't want to find an FHP in the median at that speed and not be able to see him first. It had nothing to do with a rear wheel drive car in the rain, as it was quite comfortable at that speed.


So if you are having problems, look at your suspension alignment, how much offset your wheels have (your avatar looks like custom wheels) and the tread pattern and depth on your tires. If your tires are old, they get hard and don't grip as well, so you might consider getting new tires.

Setting a bit more caster than normal helps to keep them pointed straight, although it makes turning harder, but with power steering, you really aren't going to have a hard time anyway.

Many alignment and tire shops in Florida want to align differently on left than right, to "correct" for the crown of the roads. Tell them to set it straight, the same on both sides, and that you only run on the interstate where there is no crown. That crown stuff is nuts unless you only run the older state highways in the middle of the state with a canal on one side. Everything else has little crown if any, as evidence by all the puddles you see built up in the road.

Until the late '80s, the C3s were driven a lot in the rain, and there was no big epidemic of crashes or lost control. Find out what on your car is not set right, and fix that. Then drive it all you want.

 

My approach is different....I just try to miss the puddles.

 

well i make sure i can handle the conditions if i am riving in the rain. i only go as fast as i am able to handle the car under these conditions. this is probably why my parents allowed me to buy a vette. i've been driving it every day for 2.5 years, so driving in rain like this is nothing new here in FL. knowing all the mods that pop up on the forum, i figured maybe someone came up with something different...

 

Keep it covered ,and give it aspirin if it gets a headache ,and never have fun.

 

Life is too short not to enjoy the vette regardless of outside weather. I'm a driver not a collector. I got stuck in Chicago for a couple of years with only a C3 and a C4. I drove the C4 year round so a little rain isn't going to hurt anything.

 

You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Yes.

It's a car, not a sugar cube.

 

.....leave it the garage with your skirt, panty hose, knickers and the rest of the washing....or just learn to drive it in the rain like a man

 

Yeah ok......Mr "MAN"..... you could'nt keep my car on the road in the DRY........
let alone "RAIN"

 

Big difference between driving a $5,000 / '77 in the rain compaired to a frame off $75,000 '68-Big Block.


The difference is...........if yours desolves / melts like a sugar cube noone would care !!!

 

I think you're over rating the power of your Tri-Trouble.....there's a big difference between listening to it idle in your garage as opposed to actually driving it

And BTW, the OP asked for advice on how to improve handling in the rain, but did not ask for advice on how to improve parking in the garage

 

It must be painful to have a car of that value that doesn’t work in the rain. I’d try a different tire..

 

yeah i'm just wanting to know of any mods that can keep from the rain turning the steering wheel...like how more modern cars are. does this have to do with something like the power steering box? would a box out of a late c4 maybe do the trick?!?

 

It is to bad you got burned so badly on your frame off ,but I don't think you should put others down because of it.With that kind of coin into it you should be all the more determined to have a little fun.
Only my $0.02 worth.

 

Hey 427, what tires are you running? I had some off brand 225's on my 68 (427/390) for a while and it was always a little squirrelly, but when I switched to 255/60/15's the problem seemed to cure itself. Not sure whether or not it was the tire width or just happened to be a better tread pattern that made the difference (probably both), but the traction problems went away with the bad tires. Looks better too, IMHO ... the wheels look too skinny with a 225.

 

man this thread has me a bit worried about my dunlop gt qualifiers. I'm making a 2 hour trip tomorrow and it's calling for rain/snow mix all day. I guess it's time to acquire the skill of handling this car in bad weather. What's worse is gonna be handling my girlfriend who has a panic attack if the car gets squirrely lol. She calls it dangerous I call it fun!!!!

 

I'll keep that in mind the next time I see a $120k or Porsche out in the rain.

It must be painful to drive your car anywhere, having to be paranoid about the slightest bit of dust hitting it. I'm happy with my 77 that I can drive to work, on a date, to a baseball game or just out for a Saturday drive in the country without having to worry about it.

It's also rather sad that your self-esteem is so tied up in the price of your vehicle that you have to brag about it and belittle others on the basis of relative values.

My advice still stands: it's a car, not a sugar cube.