No, this isn't the usual I spun out in the rain thread... but rather a *good* exprience in the rain...

Last night as I was coming home from Dallas(to Houston) I encountered some serious down pour for a good 20 miles and then heavy rain for atleast another 20. I have to say the S2000 performed great. At one point the rain was so hard that you literally cannot see more than 3 ft infront... that's when I pulled over and parked it on the size with the rest of the freeway. The top didn't leak, the car didn't spin out, and everything was great.

One thing to note: I am not using stock S02's but rahter Kumho 712s...

Oh and my car started up again this morning... no ticks, no rear end problems, and no grinds...

 

Great post!

So shingles
- have you driven your car on the S-02s?
- how many miles do you have on the Kumho 712s?
- how would you compare them to S-02s if you can?
- any other insights you might like to ad?

I'm going to replace my tires next year and I have been thinking about the 712s a lot.

 

Good to hear that someone else had a good experience in the rain with their S2000. I have had no problems in the rain as well, even on stock tires.

How do you like the Kumho 712s as compared to the S02's?

 

TripleH:
I've driven in the rain(heavy rain at that) with the S02. The exprience is the same. The car tracked fine and no strange twitches... I generally try not get drive in the rain, so usually it's by suprise... I was damn suprised by the rain yesterday.

I have about 1000 miles on the 712's now...

As far as performance in the drive, the S02 is king... my 712's are 18s but... I doubt the size would matter. I would say the 712's will perform much better in the rain compared to the S02.... I know the down pour yesterday was probably a little harder than the other one (heavy one) that I can remeber in the S02.

The 712's are great if you want something that will wear a while... that really was my main goal. I wanted something that would last a while and I was willing to give up grip because I don't typically drive the s2000 very hard. Plus the price point was right... If you want all out grip, look else where... this isn't the right tire.

The one thing that is nice about the 712 is that it seems to be pretty progressive on the break away. I've never actually completely lost it but I've been able to get it to step out... and it's pretty predictable when it'll step out.

Bottom line... they don't perform nearly as well as the S02... but will last a while longer.

 

GOOD POST!

 

Thanks Shingles.
Your comment above seems to be what I've been hearing. For me the objective is to get something that lasts a bit longer. I can afford to go a bit slower on the streets because the money I save on the S-02s will give me the money I need to almost buy all 4 Kumhos for the track.

 

Drove 230 miles home Saturday with my wife following in the Porsche 968 Cabriolet she just bought. We got caught about 100 miles into the trip in a hellacious thunderstorm, of course we both had our tops down and boot covers on. I gotta tell you hail hurts at 80 miles an hour when it hits you in the forehead. We finally pulled over with about 150 other cars, ripped both boot covers off and got the tops up. Thank god the S has a fast top. Both cars had over an inch of rain on the passenger seats by the time they were closed up. It took about 15 minutes for the defrosters to clear the windshields then we drove the majority of the next 130 miles in thunderstorms. Both cars handled great in the rain through the mountain roads but man is it loud in the car when rain is beating on the top. In fact it is amazing how loud everything is with top up. Luckily both cars survived the hail undamaged although I don't know that my S has ever been that dirty. Sunday was wash the outside and dry out the inside of the cars day.

 

great info on the 712's shingles. It's looking more and more like I will get them when I have to replace the rears. Do you mind me asking how much you paid for the rears?

 

Drive in the rain all the time. Stock tires even....

I live in Oregon and it's my daily driver. I can't figure out why people have problems. Treat it with respect in the rain just like any other car and it's fine.