WTF! How can my tires be THIS bad in the rain?

[PlatinumGold]

1. real skinny tires

2. most likely the tread is worn down

3. no anti-lock brake system

Actually Skinny tires are BETTER than fat tires.

you ever gone skiing?? which are faster longer skis or shorter ones??

the longer they are the faster you go because there are fewer lbs/in. same principle applies to tires. the skinnier they are (within reason) the better wet weather traction you will get.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

1. real skinny tires

I would think that skinny would actually be preferable. Less surface area to spread across the water to hydroplane. Narrower tires will dig into the water better, I would think. Same thing on snow/ice. Narrow is better since it cuts in better.

I know from experience that my wide performance tires on my old GTi were a terrible hinderance in the rain, and that car hydroplaned like no car I'd owned before.

If you're going fast enough to hydroplane, I don't think you should even bother braking for the pedestrians.

 

[AdamK47]

I have 275/40ZR17s and my tires will spin taking the clutch out in first with any amount of rain. When the road is wet, I use second gear from a stop.

 

[Phuz]

1. Skinny tires...
2. Light car....


I've got the same problem.

 

[JEDI]

New tires at Walmart $40 + $10 mounting/balancing/etc

just need 2 for the front tires since they do 70% of your stopping

 

[notfred]

I think the major problem here is that you don't know how to drive. Seriously. Have you ever driven in the rain before?

 

[d33pt]

your tires

look how cheap new tires are in your size... i would just buy new tires and not worry about the rain.. your tires are probably real old and the rubber compound has hardened over time so you dont have much traction.... you can tell if you look and you'll see tiny cracks in the rubber. so even if you still have some tread, you'll be sliding all over the place

 

[Ultima]

Originally posted by: notfred
I think the major problem here is that you don't know how to drive. Seriously. Have you ever driven in the rain before?

Notfred, please don't talk about things which you don't know about. I will admit I am an inexperienced driver (less than a year exp.), up till monday I didn't know about pumping the brakes because I've never driven a car with no ABS before, but I do know about hydroplaning and I know that that is not what is happening. I skidded when taking off, accelerating at a normal pace, with a 93hp auto (no power at all between 0 and 2, either). When I almost hit that jaywalker, they were about 150 feet in front of me and I was going about 35mph. I wasn't sure where they were gonna be when I reached there or what they would do if they say me coming so I braked instead of swerved, because I know my braking distance sucks and if I went to the wrong place I would hit them. I braked as hard as I could without skidding and it still took me the 150 to stop. Without the rain I could probably stop in about half that distance. I've driven in rain lots of times before, hell I've driven in snow before, granted with ABS cars but I still had no problems stopping, ever. In fact in those cars I didn't notice a difference in stopping distance in the rain or in the dry. That's why I think it's the tires.

I know you may think I was going as fast as I would in dry weather or something but I wasn't. I used to with other cars but since I got this car I learnt I can't take those risks with it.

Anyways, I might rotate them today cause the ones on the back have more tread.. that may help a little

 

[iam4u2nv]

Actually I think you are right about skinny being better. I just got a GrandAm GT and it has the very wide 50 series tires where my GrandAm SE had regular all seasons. The new tires are much worse in the rain and I have no idea how they will do in the snow here in Michigan. I am not looking forward to that at all.
I love the look of the car though and it fits in my budget... yahoo.

 

[geno]

Dodge Shadow! W00t That was my first car...and the 2nd one is in my sig

Anyways, my gf's car was acting weird in the rain for a while...to the point where I was scared for her to drive it. Then, all of a sudden, she blows a tire...lucky I was with her to change it. A couple weeks later, the other side goes flat.... I finally notice the problem, her camber was WAY off, and the inside of the tire wore down to the point it broke, but the outside showed a good amount of tread left... Give a real good look under your car and make sure your tires are wearing evenly, check the air pressure in them, and if it's still acting weird on you, I'd suggest new tires of a better brand Hope this help! Good luck.

 

[vi edit]

If you're going fast enough to hydroplane, I don't think you should even bother braking for the pedestrians.

I drive old 2 lane highway to get to work. It's starting to get some terrible ruts worn into the concrete. If it was raining out the ruts would start filling up with water. The wide, low profile tires of the GTi would cause the car to hydroplane if I ended up in the ruts. None of my other cars with narrower tires have had this problem.

The car was terrible on snow as well, as I mentioned.

 

[Ultima]

Originally posted by: geno
Dodge Shadow! W00t That was my first car...and the 2nd one is in my sig

nice I wish the paint wasn't going on mine... with clean wheels and good paint the car can look pretty good actually.

 

[Freejack2]

Get some Bridgestone or Firestone tires with Uni-T or Uni-T AQII. With the Uni-T these tires consistently get high handling ratings wether it's dry, raining, or snowing, irregardless of tread wear. Their tires without Uni-T suck but the ones with it are worth every penny and then some. Check out tirerack for good prices on tires for your car.

 

[Ultima]

I dunno what I'll get.. maybe I'll wait until winter first because I only work part-time and tires are f*****g expensive as hell. Maybe I can get some cheap (but better than what I have) ones from a junkyard or something.

 

[DougK62]

Some of you are pretty confused on what makes a good rain tire. It has nearly NOTHING to do with the width of the tire. Nothing. It has a little to do with the tire compound, but the biggest player in wet weather traction is tread design. Width doesn't matter. For winter I use generic all-season 185 tires on spare wheels. They are horrendous in the rain. During the summer I use 225 Potenza RE730s and they are superb in the rain. In fact, the wet traction isn't too different than the dry traction unless the roads have major runoff.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Ultima

Originally posted by: notfred
I think the major problem here is that you don't know how to drive. Seriously. Have you ever driven in the rain before?

Notfred, please don't talk about things which you don't know about. I will admit I am an inexperienced driver (less than a year exp.), up till monday I didn't know about pumping the brakes because I've never driven a car with no ABS before, but I do know about hydroplaning and I know that that is not what is happening. I skidded when taking off, accelerating at a normal pace, with a 93hp auto (no power at all between 0 and 2, either). When I almost hit that jaywalker, they were about 150 feet in front of me and I was going about 35mph. I wasn't sure where they were gonna be when I reached there or what they would do if they say me coming so I braked instead of swerved, because I know my braking distance sucks and if I went to the wrong place I would hit them. I braked as hard as I could without skidding and it still took me the 150 to stop. Without the rain I could probably stop in about half that distance. I've driven in rain lots of times before, hell I've driven in snow before, granted with ABS cars but I still had no problems stopping, ever. In fact in those cars I didn't notice a difference in stopping distance in the rain or in the dry. That's why I think it's the tires.

I know you may think I was going as fast as I would in dry weather or something but I wasn't. I used to with other cars but since I got this car I learnt I can't take those risks with it.

Anyways, I might rotate them today cause the ones on the back have more tread.. that may help a little

Ok mister "I've only been driving for a week, but I swear I know everything", you go drive around for 2 or 3 years, then come back and tell me, honestly, that you knew how to drive the first week you had your car. You won't be able to do that.

Anyway, be more careful in the rain, learn how your car handles. If it takes you 150 feet to stop, make sure you're atinciptaing things far enough in advance that you'll have 150 feet of extra space in front of you. I didn't say you were speeding, I didn't say you were driving carelessly, but the fact is, even though you think you know what you're doing, you'll later realize that you don't. skill comes from experience, not from knowing the definiton of hydroplaning, and experience is one thing you don't have yet. You'll get better with time, like most people do.

 

[Ultima]

Just checked the tires on an online database.

Traction: B
Temperature: B
Treadwear: 280

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/UTQG/tires.cfm