dryadsdad

The thread has me worried. I have been in rain many times in my C6 and I can see nothing that would make it less likely to have an 'adventure' such as the OP myself. I have the same tires and the OP's had plenty of tread as do mine. It's not like he was negligent in any way yet he ended up with a totaled car.

4SUMERZ

The OP was very lucky that he is OK.

When I first got my car, they had the Summer High Performance OEM GY F1 Tires on it, with about 10k miles on them, and lot's of thread left(over 1/2). We get a lot of rain in the spring, and in the summer as well, and the highways tend to have a small hollow where most of the tires travel and leave an indent ....Needless to say, the first time I was in the rain, and at highway speeds, it started to hydroplane...I had it down to 40 mph, and it was still tricky...BTW, the GY tires were very noisy as well on dry highways.
A few days later, I replaced my almost new OEM tires for a set of Summer high performance Firestone Indy 500's, and never experienced that again, even in heavy rain while on a 3 week road trip. I was travelling 60 mph, while it seemed everyone else was just crawling. Even when the Firestones were down to 3/32" thread, they still were good in the rain.

Now, I always look for tires that have wide middle thread grooves, and wide exit grooves on the sides, just to make sure as much water as possible will be released from under the tires. Needless to say, I'm on my 3rd set of Stones, and over 75K miles and many road trips on the tires...in rain



When my wife bought her Pontiac G6, those OEM tires were also GY, and guess what? With the 17" wide tires on that thing, it would hydroplane like crazy as well...Needless to say, we changed out those tires for all seasons that had wide threads, and no problems since.

dryadsdad

So far I've not seen any hydroplaning with my GY F1's. I am greatly annoyed by the huge amount of road noise though and will replace them with quieter tires when they wear out.

The dealer put new tires on when I got the car 4 or 5k miles ago so I'm disinclined to toss them for new one now. I'm glad for this thread because w/o it, I may have been caught unawares in a rain. At least now I'll be alert to the possibility of hydroplaning.

TomcatMF

Sorry about your car, but I'm glad you're OK. Whenever it rains hard I have to slow down to about 45 MPH or I will start hydroplaning. Ever since they did the grinding on the concrete of the freeways to smooth them out the drainage has been very poor. When I lived a good distance from work I always dreaded driving in the rain in my Corvette due to its tendency to hydroplane at freeway speeds. White knuckle driving for 30 miles is no fun.

RocketDawg

I don't drive often in the rain, but when I do I don't feel like my Vette is subject to hydroplaning any more than my other cars. I have Michelin Pilot SS tires. When I had the Firestone Super Car tires, I didn't have that feeling.

But a really wide tire on a fairly light car makes for a tricky situation ... fewer psi's on the ground.

4SUMERZ

^^ Of course you meant the GOODYEAR Supercar tires.

Not So Fast

Is your Vette a GS Paul ? I was thinking about going run flats because I'm too friggin old to be out there trying to plug a tire. But I don't think the Firestone makes a tire for the GS, or do they, I couldn't find them
NSF

Tonylmiller

Sorry for your loss, but glad to hear you are ok. I guess I'll be sticking by my policy of not driving my C6 in the rain.

4SUMERZ

Bobby,

I have a coupe, regular sized tires, so it is much easier finding a tire for it. They are still plenty wide, but not quite as wide as a Z06 or GS tire.
The difference is:
Front Base-9.8" GS-10.9"
Rear-Base- 11.4" GS- 13.2"

.....and because I have a base model, I will only have a limited (1 week) membership to Hammy's Grand Sport Bar & Grill.

Mr.Nubain

I've heard from my friend from South Florida who had the unfortunate opportunity to move to Los Angeles County that when it rains the roads are slippery because they are loaded with oil/debris/all tons of crap because it doesn't rain much and the drainage sucks. South Florida rain driving is different compared to LA rain driving, interesting I thought.

Not So Fast

I will sponsor you for an "honorary membership", I'm sure the clan will approve Paul

AORoads

First of all, I'm glad you're ok even if the car took the total "hit" for you to be ok. Second, no matter what you do, thanks for the lesson for/to all of us.

But lastly, I'm a bit uncertain of what you had for tires by your last post where you state "...My tires were fairly new. I would say 80% on the front, 90% on the back. Fronts were only about a year old and rear stock...."

Why am I wondering? Because it seems to mean that the fronts were replaced with non-stock (brand/size?/model) tires while the rears were still the stock brand/size/model. This could mean that, in addition to more power from the add-ons, you also had different tread design, compound, and wear and handling capabilities from one axle to the other. Then you add in the additional weight of a supercharger on the front end which lightens the load on the rear and may have also changed the overall handling characteristics of the car.

If any of this is inaccurate, my apologies. I just don't know how to factor in all the variables above including the wet road puddle, but I am glad with the others that you came out of this ok. In the C7 Z06 (which has a supercharger), I can only imagine how much engineering went into that car to make sure it was able to handle under most conditions.

airmed2

All cars will hydroplane. It's not a Vette only attribute.

RocketDawg

Ha. Yes, I did. Had just read the post above about his Firestones I guess.

4SUMERZ

^^ that be true, but the wider the tire, the more susceptible that it will happen. On a wider tire, the gap between threads needs to be wider than most to get rid of water, or it will tend to lift on the cushion of water between the tire and road.
Regardless, care must be taken when the roads are puddling.

Proud Owner

I feel ya. Other day driving in the rain I did a little hydroplaning myself. Our problem is the wide tires. They are like water skis. Good to here you made it out ok.

kpride

I dont want to over worry you either. It was a unusually deep rain puddle and i think that is the primary reason. My opinion is that if it is raining and you CANNOT SEE the road, dont go over 45mph on fwy, even if they honk at you lol. i was going 60, and that is the difference i believe. If i was going 45, i don't think i would have hydroplaned. so if you slow down you should be ok. I had driven my car in rain before and it was actually ok many, many times... this time the difference was that it was early in the morning and the road was pitch black and I went 60. should have went 40 or so and it would have been fine. So do enjoy your car! just be careful.

kpride

actually it was the kumho ecsta series. car was great on dry pavement. i dont think i listed the actual tire brand. thank you!!

kpride

No actually you are right. Very sharp of you lol My tires aren't the top notch stuff.

Yes it is true that my front is replaced with another brand, and i am actually incorrect saying that rear is STOCK, as it should have been said UNCHANGED since I bought it. They are actually kumho ecsta's and those performed well and fairly cheap too. The rear really never wore, because I actually drive pretty gently on my vette. front was already low when I bought it, so i replaced it. hence you get the figures i gave. Thanks!

kpride

True but vette is FAR MORE SUSCEPTIBLE to it. If it rains pls be careful. I NEVER THOUGHT this would happen, and even on this day i was going only 60 mph (other cars were actually faster than me) so pls be careful, cannot say this enough. Once you start to hydroplane in fwy speed, forget it, you will crash into something.