Anyone who thinks S02's -- with several thousand miles on them -- are good in the rain is fooling him or herself. Take it from me. I've been driving RWD cars for close to 40n years. My S was only 2 1/2 months old when I was going around a broad curve on a two-lane country road heading over a bridge over a creek when the car hydroplaned right into a guard rail. $8,000 of damage! There was NOTHING I could have done to control the car -- I tried. I wasn't going fast. It was just that we had the first light drizzle that morning after a long period of drought and the pavement changed to from old to new for the short stretch leading up to the bridge. There was a small amount of standing water. Suffice it to say, I will NEVER use the S02's again. They're in my basement. If I ever track the car on a dry day, I might use them. But that would be it! I'd rather lose a bit of handling and avoid not having my car for over a month or more. Just my opinion and experience . . . .

 

the first light drizzle that morning after a long period of drought . . . . [/B][/QUOTE]


T'warn't water you skidded on. It was days of accumulated oil lifted up by the "light rain". You hit a stretch of oil and ain't no tires gonna cope well with that. I found the OEM 02's to be fine, actually great, in all but the cold. Coming home at night with the temperature in the teens, up on the highway at speed the car felt like a hovercraft. My only complaint with them other than they wear so quickly.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cape Cod
[B]T'warn't water you skidded on.

 

You guys are right, of course. I knew about the oil lifting factor. The only difference is that it rained pretty hard for a couple of hours in the morning on that day. It had stopped raining a few hours before my mishap, which occurred around 4 PM. It very damp and humid. I still think it was the wet new concrete that did me in more than the oil. In any event, this was the first time in my life that I totally lost control of a car because of hydroplaning or whatever and I will not do it again. If the tires contributed in any way to that loss of control (and intuitively I believe they did), I just ain't gonna use them anymore!

Marc

 

OK, maybe it was a moderate rain :-)

 

Sbeal, I don't know if the tire fairy is responsible or not, but your experience is certainly different than mine. I suspect that if you find yourself in an even moderate rain storm with those tires, you will notice a difference between your safe speed and that being driven by everyone else. With ~9k on my rears, I found myself driving at 50 mph on an interstate, tail twitching all over the place, during a storm while many other people (mostly in SUV's ) were blowing by me at 70. As others have said, their traction on a damp road is just fine, but their ability to channel water out from under the tire gets pretty bad when they're worn.

 

Therein lies the major issue (IMO). Trying to "keep up" to other vehicles that have a completely different driving characteristic. They most likely have all season radial tires stuck onto a vehicle that weighs around 2 tons. That, combined with the fact that their tire width is much narrower by comparison to car size and weight, why would anyone think that you can perform the same in the wet when you are rolling on "race" type tires that are wide relative to your car's size and weight? Just as the SO2's provide amazing performance on a dry road course, would you think those SUV's could keep up to you?
It would be the same as if you complained about not being able to keep up with me in the snow when I've got my Blizzaks on and you with your SO2's on. Not only would you NOT be able to keep up with me but you will have trouble just getting going. There is no shame in lagging behind just because the SO2's are built to be driven a bit slower when they are not in their element.

 

Shame, no, but the amount of "lagging behind" is in itself an additional source of hazard. Not only did I feel unsafe just getting my car to go in a straight line, but the large speed differential between me and those 2 ton SUV's that I was forced to maintain put me and everyone else at much greater risk. Imagine the makeup-applying, soccer-mom, SUV-driver barreling through the rain at an unconcerned 70 mph, when suddenly she comes up behind little ole me traveling 20 mph slower....could get messy. So, are worn SO-2's safe to use in the rain? Sure, as long as you are in a situation where it is safe to reduce your speed to the point where they can shed water...because that speed is going to be way lower than every other vehicle on the road around you. Maybe we should amend our recommendation to: Don't drive on worn SO-2's in the rain ON THE HIGHWAY.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tedow
[B]Shame, no, but the amount of "lagging behind" is in itself an additional source of hazard. Not only did I feel unsafe just getting my car to go in a straight line, but the large speed differential between me and those 2 ton SUV's that I was forced to maintain put me and everyone else at much greater risk. Imagine the makeup-applying, soccer-mom, SUV-driver barreling through the rain at an unconcerned 70 mph, when suddenly she comes up behind little ole me traveling 20 mph slower....could get messy. So, are worn SO-2's safe to use in the rain? Sure, as long as you are in a situation where it is safe to reduce your speed to the point where they can shed water...because that speed is going to be way lower than every other vehicle on the road around you.

 

I'll to that!