wasmith

First of all, let me say that I've been driving rear-wheel drive vehicles for nearly 15 years. Some even more powerful than my lovely 350Z. I have never, ever experienced a vehicle that hydroplanes as easily as this car.

Perhaps this car is meant to be pampered on a wet road, like many on this forum have pointed out. But, what I experienced is just down right spooky.

Here's what happened:

We just had a torrential rain, here in St. Louis, about 30 minutes before I was to drive home from work. It's all highway between my office and the house. Speed limit is 65 most of the way and the roads are wet with some puddles here and there in the low spots on the roads.

Nearly every car was going 65+mph and I *thought* I was being careful by going 60mph.

Everything was going well until I hit my first puddle of water. I immediately felt my back end slip to to the right, then left. So, I quickly let up off the gas (just as you should when hydroplaning) and didn't touch the brakes. The car settled quickly and stuck to the road.

After catching my breath, I slowed to 50 to be even more careful. By this time, people were just flying past me as if I were in a Yugo or something. I didn't care. I just wanted to bring my beautiful Z home safely and in one piece.

Then, it happened again. Only this time, I was watching for puddles. The one I just hit, looked to be very very shallow. Regardless, the car, even at 50mph, started to fishtail. Once again, I was able to get it back under control by simply lifting my foot off the throttle.

I ended up dropping to 40mph all was well from there on out. But, it was quite embarrassing. lol

Now, this is an '03 Touring (that I bought in December of '06) with stock protenzas on it. I just replaced all four tires (with 17k miles on them) with brand new stock tires about 2 months ago. The tire pressure is at 36psi all around.

Other than, "don't drive during the rain" (which is just unavoidable at times), what advice can you give to help avoid this sort of thing with this car?

What concerns me the most is my wife loves to drive this car to and from work at times. And I know for a fact that she'd be in a ditch or even worse if this happened to her. Even though I forbid her to drive it in snow or rain, I have to ask myself. Is this car worth keeping if it's this squirrelly on wet asphalt?

Considering my wife is pregnant, I'm very very close to just selling this wonderful car because it doesn't appear to be safe enough to keep.

Or, am I missing something? Would some all weather tires make a significant enough difference?

Please help me understand this car guys... I love it and don't want to get rid of it at all.

Kegsbane

Ewww... put some Michelin PS2s on there and you won't have any trouble.

My Z is my daily driver and I drive in the rain all the time. Yesterday on I-64 it was raining so hard you could barely see the road, and I was still stable.

Michelin rocks in the rain. As always, your mileage may vary.

iStan

iTrader: (29)

I would venture to say it's the tires as well. Even on dry pavement, I can get the back end to break loose on me... Look into replacing the set of tires for DD

Flee0588

iTrader: (4)

+1 on the tires. The stock Potenzzas are straight up pieces. Ditch them right away. You really shouldnt have gone back to them when you bought new tires, but live and learn.

DeanZ07

I have to agree with previous post, the car has very little to do with gripping the road. It's the tires!
DeanZ07

Flee0588

iTrader: (4)

Sorry, didnt read the whole thing, stopped after you said you bought Potenzzas again.
The car is EXTREMELY stable. The problem are 100% tires. Change them up and regain faith in your car.

wasmith

OK thanks. Good to know. Do any of you have some recommendations for a daily driver?

Kegsbane

Again, it's hard to beat Michelin PS2s. They might not make them anymore, whatever Michelin's all-season tire is these days should do great for you if it's anything like mine.

People also seem to like Bridgestone and Goodyear's ultra-high performance stuff.

Fluid1

iTrader: (19)

You must not know how to search yet.
There's tons of horror stories about Z's in wet weather. The stock tires are not the best.

Philly350z

iTrader: (4)

i would definetly get better tires those potenza are not the best swapped mines out for avon 550 and drive on them everyday without a problem

wasmith

Actually, I do know how to search. Hence I've been a member of this forum since January and have only posted a few times. I search and read. At least a few times a week.

However, I didn't find an answer that satisfied my concerns 100%. Plus, I wanted to tell my story.

sno

iTrader: (4)

Don't be such a search-****; the guy had a story to tell and a question to go along with it.

ZBigDog

Scary, I guess roads in Florida are just set up to handle rain that much better. I've been running the stock potenzas that came on my Z since I bought her in December of 06 as well, not even close to one problem or scare in the rain.

When I do upgrade, which will be this summer, I wanna go with Ps2's

Flee0588

iTrader: (4)

Yeah!! lol.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

I don’t get it. I drove in rain with stock tires for 20,000 miles. No problem.

06blueZ

iTrader: (10)

Hey Billy! Iv noticed that I hydroplane more if I'm on asphalt compared to Concrete... Happened to me too the one time I had to drive in the rain. It's only going to get worse once I wear out the stock tires and go wider.

<-- Mike, Eli's friend...

ravensaxe

iTrader: (2)

I would say BF Goodrich TA-KDW
GREAT in the rain and dry, awesome handling tires and in a comparison in sport compact car I believe they got third in dry and first in wet.

pln2311

iTrader: (2)

I was going 65 once on the highway in light rain and did a 180 into a ditch. No dammage, but I think the bridgestone potenzas were to blame

Kegsbane

Well, whatever you do, don't get Nitto 555s. If you're that anxious to kill yourself, jumping off a tall building is more reliable every time.

bdavids1

iTrader: (2)

Your tires are 2 months old? Check the tread. I'm guessing your wife been out doing doughnuts while you're off at work.

Seriously though, it probably has a lot to do with tires. I've got 2 sets of wheels, one with Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS's and the other with Goodyear Eagle GS-D3's. I have driven both in the rain and haven't had issues.

I did do a 180 once in the rain with the original tires, although to be fair to Bridgestone, the tires were close to bald and I was accelerating a bit too enthusiastically making a left turn from a stoplight that had just changed green. I blame myself, rather than the tires for that incident even though I seriously doubt it would have spun if I were driving with either of my new sets of tires.