I was driving home from a road trip and a rain shower hit. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being a mist and 10 being the hardest rain I have seen. This shower was about a 3 or 4. I had to have my wipers on low during the hardest of it. I was doing about 75 (in a 70 zone) when it hit. I slowed to about 65 just to be safe. After the road started to get pretty wet the back end started wiggling. I felt as if i was about to loose it. I slowed to 50 and still had it wiggle a few times. I slowed to 45, put on my hazard lights and and drove in the slow lane for about 10 miles untill the rain quit. My car only has 8000 miles on the tires. I don't remember ever having this happen before. But I don't think I have been on the interstate doing 65 in the rain before this so i am not sure if this is new or what would have happened on brand new tires. Anyone else know if this is normal? I know the stock Z06 tires are not great in the rain but i would expect to be able to go in a straight line at 60 in a moderate rain shower. Maybe not though. Guess I'll be getting some Michelin Pilots sooner than I thought. Thanks in advance for comments.

 

Pavement gets a little oily when first wet and it takes a few cars driving over it to break things down, Had the same feeling in a drive into rain the other day it went away after I hit a heavily traveled portion.

 

Thats why I sold my tires f1s and got KUMHO'S MX's. People say the tires arnt that bad, but the F1's SUCK in the rain, I was scared life less a few times in the rain with the stock tires doing 60 in a 70 in the rain. I would go buy some different tires, I sold my stock tires in fair shape for 250$ on ebay.

Just my 2 cents.....

 

no performance tire is going to be good in the rain when worn down, and 8000 miles on the supercars is often very worn down.

I think a lot of the hoopla of MX/Pilot sport performance in the rain is from people going from worn down supercars to these other tires =)

The stock tires are one of the greatest tires ever made for dry performance. If you want hydroplane resistance, there are much much better options.

if you were REALLY serious about wet weather performance, get some non z06 sized wheels and some narrower all seasons =)

 

That behavior is normal for Supercar tires with more than 5000 miles on them. They are awsome tires in the dry but they SUCK WIND in the rain. Brigdestone Potenza S3s for example are much better in the rain and still have the AA dry traction rating.

But the bottom line is that the best dry weather tire will hydroplane more than a tire that is more of a compromise. It is simple physics: more rubber on the road in the dry means more surface area to skip on top of puddles and less room for water evacuation channels (ie, deeper tread with larger water channels have less rubber on the ground at one time).

The Z06 is light, has tires with very shallow tread, even when new, and has very wide rear tires for the weight of the car. So picture a nice flat rock you use to skip on the survace of a pond...

I can drive my Lexus IS300s in rain at 80+mph in conditions where anything above 45-50 mph in the Vette is sheer lunacy (the IS has Bridgestones and they are NOT 295s).

As for replacements, I'm not sure which tires would work better without giving up too much in the way of max dry weather performance.

:cheers:


[Modified by Bertrand, 5:32 PM 8/11/2003]

 

My car hydro planes also in light rain. My C5 with the run flat aqua treads were the way to go. IMO. When it rains I just stick to the city roads.

I was just talking to my Brother today about that and we both commented on how useless the car was in the rain. :auto:

 

I am not interested in dry performance at all. I don't race it at all and don't plan on it. I don't want to spend more mony on Non Z06 wheels either. I just want the best rain performance that will fit what i have. So does that mean the Pilots or the kumho or Bridgestones or aquatreads or Toyo's or what?
Thanks.

 

I don't think 8000 miles on F1 is worn down. Mine have great tread at 12,000 miles. They flat out suck in the rain and it isn't the initial oil slick either. I had the same experience running into a rain storm. Car was absolutely scary/unstable above 50 mph with the hydro planning and alternating pulling right and left. Not sure if traction control was playing a factor, or just the uneven hydro planning. Later the rain approached about an 8 on a scale of 10 and I had to slow to 20 MPH and place the emergency signals on. Many others had to also, but the car was useless even in a normal moderate rain.

I intend to get a better wet tire when the F1 are worn. Daily driver and not a racer. George

 

Tires are always a compromize. Road racers use slick tires for dry weather and rain tires (with tread) in the rain. The F1's are best when very new on dry pavement. If you drive smart you can get home in the rain. You can give up dry traction for better rain traction. If you don't drive your car hard in the dry you will probably never know the difference in tires.

 

Yep same thing here... gonna wear the rest of these tires out,,, then new one of another type will be put on... its a bad feeling when you start "the wiggle"

 

The stock tires handle great in the dry and on wet pavement, but on standing water it hydroplanes a bit. I just slow down to 55 in those conditions. I have 22,000 miles on mine and the tires are near the end of their life, but it still handles satisfactorily.

I had a 1996 Dodge Viper GTS for 34,000 miles before this car with two other brands of tires and it still hydroplaned in standing water. Bottom line wide low profile tires will hydroplane in standing water. :sad:

 

If you think those are bad in the rain...........the RH tire, yep RH tire has more tread on it than the cars rears have now!
We only had one hydro plane moment going to the CI.

I hope to have a set of Yoko AVS Sport RFs on the back by this time next week :D

 

i still can't get over how many people complain about the wet performance of the stock tires. we've been getting dumped on with rain this summer here in western PA and i've got 15k miles on my Z and i've never had a problem running 70 or more in the rain. granted if you hit a bunch of standing water i can feel it get a little loose, but no worse than my mom's 300M Special Edition. it's got 245/45/ZR18's all around with pilot sport's and i drove it back from the mopar nat's in columbus this weekend, in and out of rain the whole way and it didn't feel like it gripped any better-- hit some standing water and you could feel it getting loose. i'm sure there are better rain tires out there-- i believe the tires that came on my 02 Z28 were five star rated in rain-- they were goodyear eagle's i think....

 

I had 1,500 miles on my F1's and switched them out for Kumho's with chrome rims. Here in Florida, it rains every afternoon and I had terrible traction in the rain and even on just wet pavement with the Goodyears. I no longer have that problem with the Kumhos and they have 3,000 miles on them. I didn't like the F1's... just my 2 cents.

 

I have 22,000 on my original tires with about 1/16-1/8 in tread left, so I know I'm due for replacements. Most of my driving is dry, but I REALLY watch it in the rain. Here in NE FL we have rain almost daily.

The road surface makes a big difference. Many older roads have large ruts that puddle the water and can be very dangerous even with better tires, where some road surfaces drain fast without puddles.

I usually keep an extra interval, don't switch lanes, and keep my speed at 55 or below. It's unusual to have more than 5-10 miles to drive in heavy rain, so what's a few minutes, compared to your safety and the car's "good health".

Like in most things about driving, it's driving to match the conditions and being heads up. I think nothing about hitting 100-110 for a short sprint in dry conditions, did it just yesterday catching up to a vette on a local 8 lane bridge, but you couldn't pay me enough money to try that even with a damp road!

If you don't care about dry conditions, maybe the Z06 is too much car for your "needs". The stock tires do add to the car's performance and handling in dry conditions. Less expensive cars with cheaper tires might serve just as well, if you don't push the Z more to its limits. The bottom line, however, is your safety. If you want to be safer under ALL conditions, and you need to drive faster in the rain, mabe different tires are the answer for you.:flag

 

@ 17k miles my tires perform fine in the rain.

Maybe it's the road type?

- JeffMc

 

Piranha, I would go with the kuhmo MXs or the Toyos.

Here is a review on the MXs: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=606497

Just a little talk on the rain use, but look at the tread on them.

 

I can't get over people like you! Don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping your case, I just can't believe that there are people out there with your experience with these tires.

I can only assume you have great roads - or that we will be reading about you in the obits...

The physics are that the Supercar tires are half slicks/half high performance dry weather tire. They are NOT even close to good in standing water.

My favorite all around tire was the Michelin Pilot MXX3 which they no longer make - it was great in rain and UNBELIEVABLE on dry pavement.

It still amazes me that people can have such drastically different experiences with the same equipment.

 

It's rained a lot here this summer, and only when I notice a heavy buildup of water does it seem to want to hydroplane, Other wise at 60-70 it feels fine.
I also had a chance to AutoX it on the F1's in the rain last year, even in the wet they had a lot of traction, nothing like on dry, but it still stuck pretty good.

 

Look y'all the main problem is not the tires, I did 100+ all the time with the F1s in Germany in the rain, it's the roads! The German autobahn is very flat, i.e. no ruts to hold water, drains very well, and has hydroplain warning signs in the few bad spots. BUT it does rain a lot there so for winter I got the Toyo proxies and the are AWESOME in the rain, not bad on the track, and I took my first 1st place in autocross with them, also with the higher tread depth they lasted 13K vs 9K I got out of the F1s. I drive and race very hard and fast, so for our rutted highways I say get the Toyos and you'll have performance and piece of mind.