It is clear the OEM tires are dicey in snowy/icey conditions.

What about rain & rain slick roads?

Anyone having any problems keeping the rubber hooked to the pavement in rain-storms?

 

I always drive with VDC on in the rain, because them damn Potenzas just stink on anything but dry pavement.

 

it is 100% drivable, you wont drive down the road and suddenly get sideways. if you try to drive it like you would in dry weather, obviously it wont be pretty.

you will hyrdoplane a bit easier than most other cars by nature of the wider tread than most cars. I never noticed an issue.

 

I've driven in the rain several times without issue but, as I was driving thru a real deluge yesterday on I 80 with 18 wheelers inches away, I begin questioning how much grip I really had.

Anyone driving with the usual caution in the rain had a spinout (or worse) on OEM tires?

 

you have to be very careful in the rain or anything cold or slick, i went around a corner at 20 mph and put it into 3rd which i guess i should have went into 4th, and did a complete 360 in the middle of the road, was just cruising not even getting on it, scared the **** out of me, but i dont have VDC, just TCS!

 

yeah but i've lost traction in my wrx at 15 mph and 45 degree turn. it just depends on a lot of things and you have to be careful in any car in the rain.

 

You shouldnt be downshifting in a turn anyways, throws the cars balance off. Even in the dry...

 

indeed, never switch gears in a turn, high speed dry, or low speed wet, any little shift in the cars weight can send it into a skid. you would have been better to keep steady speed in 2nd gear than try to shift at all. of course if things were that bad, you really should have done 10mph around the turn in 1st if need be.

 

just keep the VDC on in the rain

 

The stock tires seemed fine in the wet until I had a scare recently (it rains here all the time in WA).

One day I was approaching a green left arrow and I knew it'd turn red soon. I sped up a bit, braked before the turn and I'm pretty sure I kept light throttle during the turn. (I've taken a class at a racing school before.) Suddenly, my car started sliding and my 90 degree turn became a 270! Woah. No VDC available on autos. Oh well. It saved me from the scare and embarrassment. Luckily, I stopped far away from any cars.

It wasn't THAT cold out (about 42-44F) but I'm guessing that I took it a bit too fast coupled with it being a downhill left turn so there wasn't much weight on the rear tires, so they broke free.

Now I'm real cautious when it's wet out.

 

the stock tires suck...last nite coming home with a light dusting of snow, and i was all over the place....
the rain sucks as much...
dry sucks as well!!!!!!---in the cold.....need to let them heat up.
dry HOT is the only condition these tires are good in.
so who wants to buy my potenzas? 17"s.

 

seriously take it to an open parking lot and press on that pedal. you'll see how many donuts your car is able to do should give you a glimpse of our power and traction...you'll start driving slower in the rain guaranteed. from my experience the tcs is amazing for the amount of effort it does to stop the car from going insane.

 

Yup, even with the best traction system (AWD), it all boils down to the friction between the tires and the asphalt.

Always be careful in rain/ice/snow/cold conditions with a sports car.

And IMO our first "mod" should be to dump the high performance rated Potenzas for all seasons high performance rated tires (Florida/California and all other southern states excluded ).

 

Downshifting doesn't throw the "balance" of the car off.
Downshifting abruptly make your rear wheel spin slower, thus make you slid in a corner.
Kinda like pulling the hand brake.

 

if you were accelerating or even keeping pace, good chance even putting the clutch in will cause the acceleration of the car to change slightly.

a rough shift is beside the point. if you did manage a perfectly smooth shift through the turn, you would be mostly ok. but thats tough to do.

 

I had to drive the car on the 2nd night I had it from nyc to NH in a rain/sleet/snowstorm, and it was ok. Just gotta stay near or below the speed limit and be careful. Any car will handle like poo in the snow/rain. Just be careful out there...

 

never had a problem, even drive a bit over the speed limit at times. does not seem to lose traction or hydroplane at all

 

The stock tires are fine in the rain. I wouldn't drive it in a crazy fashion, but as for just getting around town, it's fine.

I have once spun while giving gas as going around a turn. It was dumb, I had the VDC/TCS off.

 

When you guys talk COLD how cold really?

Temp < 30F
or
Temp > 30F

 

I've driven at 0F and in sleet. Just don't get stupid and you won't have problems with the OEM tires. It ain't that difficult, guys.

WayneTN