Driving in the Rain on Cup2's
 

Can someone advise on just how difficult this can be. Considering taking my Z06 on a short trip but still running the Cup 2's. How dangerous is this with the tires?

Its not a problem. The cup 2s won't do well in standing water as you will hydroplane somewhat easily but overall they are good enough in the rain. Leave extra stopping distance and be gentle with the throttle - you will be fine.

I lower the pounds two or three on long rainy trips. But no provable data to enter here.

Obviously can only speak for myself, but it was damn scary for me the one time it's happened.
I got caught on the SB 15 in a shower last summer. Summer showers down here don't happen often, so I'm sure the greasy roads didn't help... I felt it hydroplane a couple times so I was seriously babying it...maybe 55 mph...there's a very slight bend where the 15 and 215 come together... Well, the car decided it just wanted to go straight.
I just kept slight pressure on the wheel and lightly let off the gas until I was off the throttle. It hooked back up once I reached the rumblestrips.
Could have been more of a function of adding a shower to a hot greasy road than anything else, but it was definitely hydroplaning and I had a pretty good pucker going.

thats really silly gm or a tire manufacturer doesn't offer a better tire for more real world street conditions for the car in c6z or c7 z sizes. So what if it's a second or 2 slower around a race track.

The good year gator backs were excellent in rain or snow from back in the day when I had my c4 zr-1. Even the mpss don't cut if in cold , rain or heaven forbid a light dusting of snow. Just plain idiotic

Remember the Weather setting for the car. At Spring Mountain we experienced the power of the Weather mode on the skid pad.

:iagree:
Any rain, I now use Weathermode religiously after attending Spring Mountain. It makes a big difference.

Absolutely no control at all, none.

Weather mode is really remarkable. But once you lose traction on all four corners, weather mode is not going to do anything to help.

I took my my cups off and put ona more streetable tire.

It's perfectly fine, like any other tire. Just be aware and drive normal and in weather. If you're worried use weather mode and you will forget you have track tires on there. If you drive like it's dry out and get in it, yea then you're the problem not the tires

I have a fair amount of driving on ice and snow (but not in a high performance automobile). It sounds like I just need to drive like I would if on a road with spotty ice.

There is no one size answer here. If they are hot then they will grip relatively well as long as they stay so and there is no standing water. The big question is how good the drainage is on the roads you will be driving and the chance of rain.

They have very little tread so they will hydroplane sooner than any other new tire if you hit standing water. Your worst case scenario is where you have standing puddles and just one or two wheels hit the puddle and hydroplane. That can cause the car to pull to one size which can be an issue if you're on the highway with no shoulder and a jersey barrier.

Weather mode will help with power delivery in the wet but I don't expect that will be too much of an issue at highway speeds where the lack of tread on the MPSC2 creates a greater hydroplaning risk.

Psc2 tires are not bad in the rain. Stay in the right lane and take it easy. They can be dangerous if it is raining really hard and there is standing water. Then put car in wet mode and really be careful or stop and grab a coffee and wait for rain to slow down. I have two sets of wheels and I'm going to put pilot super sports on one set when I drive on the street or for track days when it rains.

:thumbs:

When it is raining the truck drivers will understand that you have to drive slow in order to maintain control. I have been in this situation and was amazed how courteous they are on the highways.

Any standing water and you are right at having to call your insurance company to report a one car (hopefully) accident. And that means even a 1/4 inch. I use the Cups in the summer when it essentially never will rain in SoCal.

Although it is an adrenalin filled experience actually doing several pirouettes across 5 lanes of traffic on a San Jose Freeway and watching the wide eyes of the drivers behind you as you spin facing them is not something I want to experience again. And that was a simple rain shower in my Camaro with tires that were about 5/32ns but with real tread. The Cup 2s come with between 5 and 6 32nds but with little tread on the outer half of the tire, so will hydroplane incredibly easily. And it doesn't take long to get them down towards 4/32nds and being a good similarity to a racing slick.

In my incident I was on the way to a 1 pm meeting and in the fast lane of I215 going about 65. The rear stepped out first and in catching it the front came into the concrete barrier and that turned me around across all 5 lanes with about 3 360's. I gathered it up in the far right lane. Was able to pull over and look the car over and other than some scrapes and bruises on the front and rear fascias I was good to go, so drove on and made my meeting. But it easily could have been worse if I didn't have the room to spin across the freeway without somebody else hitting me on the way. Wasn't even a hard shower but apparently the freeway had a low spot with poor drainage at that spot and away I went.

Yep I agree ......that was one of the best safety things to learn at the class.... it works!!!

I've driven mine in rain in Seattle. Contrary to what most folks believe, it rains up here a bit. Anyway, folks on here recommended Weather and Track with Wet PTM. I've been driving up here in Track with Wet PTM and had not issues. Just chill, leave yourself a way out, and enjoy the ride.

It's not difficult at all, can be dangerous if you get on it as you will get hydroplaning at high speeds. I got caught in a very heavy downpour this past Sat. On the New Jersey Turnpike. This was my first experience driving the car in the rain. I simply reduced my speed and switched to weather mode and maintained the speed at about 55 mph. What I really had to worry about more was the poor visibility. If you really think about it, even if you had good tires... would you really be driving at 80 miles per hour when the weather conditions or heavy rain are a factor.? Most of us will not even think about driving our cars in the rain or when it's forecasted. But a little common sense will go a long way.... safe driving to ya !

Put the car into weather mode and if you have a chance increase tire pressure about 5 pounds. That reduces the amount of tire touching the surface and increases the pressure on the area that remains in contact. As the tires bulge outward in the center the contact patch goes from being wide to being long (like bad weather tires). That can help reduce hydroplaning affects. New the tires have enough tread to get through the water. Put 5K miles on them and it gets more exciting. If the car hydroplanes remember not to make sudden corrections in steering, throttle or braking. Just letting off the gas suddenly can spin the car, especially if it has a manual transmission. Every thing has to be done smooooooothly.

I can tell you that brand new the tires do well in heavy rain at 75 mph. I picked up my car at a Raleigh dealership and drove it 167 miles home in a driving rain storm. The biggest issue I had was on a section of I40 where the truck tires had grooved the pavement and I kept hitting puddles that pulled the car one way or the other. I slowed to 65 mph for that section but made it easier by moving the car out of the center of the lane so the wheels were riding on either the left or right side lane markings. No reason to drive in the low spots when the high spots are a couple of feet to the left or right.

Bill
Bill

Drove in rain once!!! Will not do it again! :ack:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
this is 100% dead on balls accurate

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...aa5492b4d7.jpg

first C7Z I ever drove was this one. An A8 Z07. And it rained and at 50mph I felt like I was gonna die. You hit the slightest puddle or road with a groove from heavy traffic and its a catastrophic panic attack. On the garden state parkway on way to Millville from Lakewood.

That's why I had ZERO interest in the Z07 when I started looking. Those tires serve one purpose. Dry track attack thats it.

Zo6/Zo7 with Cup2s is my daily driver. 25k miles. I drive in the rain with no problem. It if gets heavy rain, I'll put it in weather mode.

Only issue is occasionally with deep puddles. Then again, I've hydroplaned in deep puddles with SUVs, so not much difference.

NOT a big issue at all if you slow down to 55mph.

Lol. Well traveled road at 35mph in steady rain is a white knuckle event as the car just floats on .5 inch of water. Can you do it? Yeah it can and has been done but it's no where NEAR not a big deal. Those tires are best and worst there are.

I hated the Cups, took them off after 50 miles or so, heard too many stories of people going off the road in rain or bad weather conditions.

I don't know how tread plays into this formula, but hydroplane speed is 9 x square root of the tire pressure. 30psi = 49mph.

I drove in the rain, on curvy mountain roads and on the Hwy with cup 2's and lived to type this message :yesnod:

turn on weather mode, take it easy on the go fast pedal(slow and easy) and you will be fine. :thumbs:

I regularly drive the Z in the rain on the highway and side roads. After 25k miles doing so I've not dinged my car or anything else nor am I too scared to drive it again in the rain. NOT a big deal in the rain.

I guess others may feel differently but the sky doesn't fall nor does the Z head to the nearest ditch/tree/light post once the road gets wet.

These tires definitely don't like heavy rain at speeds above 55 or so. Have never had issues with past Corvettes, no matter which tire, but these have to be babied, especially in sudden, but frequent Florida squalls. Will have to try weather mode next time to see if there's an improvement.

There are 1000's of car driving all around you with far less tread on their tires than cup 2's have...just saying

Interesting how some people can't keep the car on the road and others can bomb down the highway at 60 to 75 mph in heavy rain without an issue.

What puckers some butts doesn't even tickle others.

Bill

I think a lot of it has to do with road condition. Tire grooves that collect water, and propensity of rain. If you live somewhere that it rains a lot, the roads will generally be cleaner. If it rarely rains, the roads will be oily and dirty...and slippery as snot. (kind of like getting into the marbles on the track)
Driver experience also plays a big part - but I grew up in the midwest, driving in rain, snow, and ice... when you're truly hydroplaning, you're really just along for the ride until it catches traction again. ...The PSC2's are a track-ish tire, probably not developed to expel water, either.

Picked up my Z06/Z07 at Kerbeck last month and drove 1,600 miles back home to Dallas, and about 1,100 of those miles were in pouring rain sometimes heavy enough that visibility forced me to slow down. Ran in Sport mode the entire way, thought that would prevent cylinder de-activation during break-in and of course varying speed and gear selection as the manual says but mostly at 75+, and never felt any loss of control. What rain does do is force one to pay attention to the car and its surroundings and actually drive. As a long-time HPDE instructor it's been my experience that tires and/or road conditions are less an issue in the rain than lack of situational awareness i.e. not looking far enough ahead and anticipating what might be coming up, and over-driving the car along with herky-jerky inputs to the controls. As Connman said, driver experience plays a big part.

Wow, talk about opinions at both end of the spectrum. I am wondering if you guys who drive in the rain without issue have a better wheel alignment than those that have the really bad experiences.

Thanks for the comments.

Wet roads are ok. However heavy rain with standing wet is very dangerous. The car totally hydroplanes so reducing speed is required. A short trip is ok but better to wait out any heavy downpours.

Always use weather mode in rain! Agree if you stay 50 to 55 it is not too bad. However it sucks to be on the edge of control and trucks and cars are flying by at 80. In my opinion if driving in rain is a regular think get different tire.

Bought my 2017 M7 Z07 with the cups. Live in SW FL and it really rains here. Drove it home, called the tire store and put on some Pilot Sports, sold my cups the next day to a buddy whom tracks more than me. I think it would be insanity to drive the cups here in Fl any time when in rains.