Rain sports destroyed the handling

[ChewyB]

Just fitted uniroyal rainsport 2's after reading the really good reviews they get on this forum.
Just been out to try them and my clio feels s**t the car wobbles at high speed bumps and when you corner the car just drops down and feels so sloppy the sidewalls must be so soft.

The car just isn't fun to drive anymore

Anyone else find the same problem with these?

 

[bertieg]

i had exactly the same problem on my old VTS. chopped them in for some Kumhos pretty quick, and they were a HUGE improvement

 

[Lal B3N]

Mid range tyre imo. You want high performance grip and decent sidewalls then I would be fitting the likes of Pirelli Pzeros, PS3s, Kumho KU31s, etc.

 

[Corby G]

i wouldn't go to silverstone with pirellis on

 

[ChewyB]

What about all the reviews on this forum about how good they are? Loads of people recommend them. I've even read somewhere about people using these on track and rating them! I can't imagine how shite they will be with more heat in! The sidewall must completely give up.
Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on here

 

[NorthloopCup]

The clues in the tyre name mate. Rain sport. And I'm not meaning this in any disrespect either. Good for the wet trackdays shite for the dry. All my opinion of course.

 

[Daniel]

They're a good tyre for the money. If you want top performance then pay top whack And buy better tyres.

 

[ChewyB]

I know mate I understand that they're a 'rain tyre' but it's just all the b****cks on here and other forums about these being good in the dry to.

 

[ChewyB]

Thing is Daniel the tyres that were on previously were all budget kumho/nankang and honestly the car felt better on the 'dry road' with those tyres. I thought the rainsport would be an upgrade.

 

[imprezaworks]

Very strange

 

[NorthloopCup]

I know mate I understand that they're a 'rain tyre' but it's just all the b****cks on here and other forums about these being good in the dry to.

They may get better when the tread blocks have worn down mate, but I can't confirm this. For every review I've read on these tyres there's been an equal amount of positive comments and negative comments.

 

[.GAZ.]

I love Rainsports!!!

 

[ChewyB]

I'll give them a few hundred miles but personally I can't see them getting much better. The biggest gripe is the way the sidewalls collapse it changed the character of the car and makes it less fun. They actually feel like a Yokohama parada spec 2 another awful tyre I tried and binned.

 

[Cup_Phil]

Where exactly did you read they are good in the dry?

They are a fantastic wet/winter/autumn tyre, I have them on mine and can easily drive around people on track in the wet.
But if you hammer the hell out of them then they do overheat and go off.

They're nowhere near as bad as you make out though - I'd check tracking/pressures etc..
1:55 lap of Cadwell in the damp with them on mine

 

[is1]

For road use, they were superb on the Trophy and on my Yaris T-Sport. The Trophy previously had Michelin PE2s and although the sidewalls are softer on the Uniroyals, there wasn't that much in it given they were half the price.
Give them a few hundred miles and dare I say it, an alignment check/adjustment?

 

[.GAZ.]

They're nowhere near as bad as you make out though - I'd check tracking/pressures etc..
1:55 lap of Cadwell in the damp with them on mine

Why was your gran driving round Cadwell, Philip?

 

[ChewyB]

Where exactly did you read they are good in the dry?

They are a fantastic wet/winter/autumn tyre, I have them on mine and can easily drive around people on track in the wet.
But if you hammer the hell out of them then they do overheat and go off.

They're nowhere near as bad as you make out though - I'd check tracking/pressures etc..
1:55 lap of Cadwell in the damp with them on mine

Can't remember where I read it might have been on here or through a google search.

I didn't buy them to do any trackdays just wanted a decent all weather road tyre.

1:55 is good going in the wet I suppose I'm at Cadwell next Thursday if it's forecast rain i will take the clio and try the rainsports round there.

I'll try upping the tyre pressures a bit see if they feel any better they might stiffen up a bit. They're all at around 30psi cold now I'll try 35.

 

[Paul182]

They will feel better in a few hundred miles. I was not impressed at all with mine when i first had them put on but now they are great.

 

[Adamm.]

My hankook v12's were the same as first so I upped the tyre pressure slightly and they seemed to settle down much better.

 

[Northy 8]

As said there a v pattern wet tyre
Terrible things
I put the federal 595rsr on and am very impressed
Only £71 DELIVERED

 

[Amos91]

They will never be great and that's why they are cheap.

 

[DaveDreads]

Not read the whole thread because i'm in a lazy mood today.

But when I had Rain Sports they were like driving on ice for the first week or so,
they will grip well once scrubbed in, but on a mild dry day expect them to cover the side of your car in rubber.

They're amazing in the wet, but they are very soft so a few decent B road blasts can shred them,
good rain/winter tyre, sh*t dry weather tyre if you want them to last longer than a year.

 

[Willo]

Never tried them but as a few have said above, have a play with the ture pressures. Youd be surprised the differece it can make to the xharacteristics og a tyre and how they heat up.

Out of interest what pressures are you running?

 

[MG cup]

Not read the whole thread and no disrespect but if you think a rain tyre will offer performance your nuts, just another CS misconception.

 

[Cup_Phil]

Why was your gran driving round Cadwell, Philip?

Hahaha it's not a bad wet time when your tyres are hitting the arches, you don't know the track and you're on rain sports



I wouldn't call them crap

 

[Cup_Phil]

Looking back at the video there's easily another 3 or 4 seconds to be gained if I had any idea where the corners went lol
I can't wait to get back there - leaving the rainsports on for now as hoping to do a few february/march sessions when it will no doubt be snowing knowing this country

 

[ChewyB]

Not read the whole thread and no disrespect but if you think a rain tyre will offer performance your nuts, just another CS misconception.

I went off the reviews on this forum and others. I expected them to be better than my budget nankang/kumho combo and nobody mentioned the mass sidewall flex. I'll give them a few weeks if the don't improve I'll get some proper tyres not the end of the world.

 

[DaveDreads]

Federal 595's (not RSR's) are good budget/mid range tyres, (£55 each)
not amazing in the wet but good enough if you don't go mad,
grip like f*ck in the dry when they're warm though.

Kumho KH31's and KU31's are a decent cheap tyre too.

Rain Sports just have to soft a sidewall.

 

[R-Sport.]

Awful tyres- had them on the PH1 for about 2 weeks & sacced them off for PE3's.
Still they are not as bad the worst tyre in the world - Avon ZZ3's.

 

[Daniel]

Awful tyres- had them on the PH1 for about 2 weeks & sacced them off for PE3's.
Still they are not as bad the worst tyre in the world - Avon ZZ3's.

My dad had zz3's on his Saab and it would spin up in 3rd entering the motorway slip road! Lol.

 

[MG cup]

I went off the reviews on this forum and others. I expected them to be better than my budget nankang/kumho combo and nobody mentioned the mass sidewall flex. I'll give them a few weeks if the don't improve I'll get some proper tyres not the end of the world.

Yeah not the end of the world, I learned to stop taking advice off here except from the select few on things like tyres, brakes and suspension about a year ago.

I found it best to try at least two forums for reviews as you get the fan boys of certain products and others follow off the back of it. A lot on here couldn't tell the difference between a rubber band and a slick which is fair enough as 75% are just daily drivers.

 

[imprezaworks]

Tbh if I wanted road tyres I would have done what josh has done and bought rainsports as the reviews seem great. Live and learn I guess.

 

[Chip-mk1]

I know mate I understand that they're a 'rain tyre' but it's just all the b****cks on here and other forums about these being good in the dry to.

Ive not seen anyone on here raving about them as a performance dry tyre TBH, in fact quite the opposite.

They are fine as a road tyre as in for safely going shopping etc and then use for trackdays when its wet, but you sound like you want to drive like you are on a trackday on the road, which means you will want a performance tyre.

 

[JMR]

I had same problem with my rainsport2 I had fitted a month or so ago.
I had the tracking checked twice by different people as the handling was terrible. It was spot on though.

If you sort of slalom across the road to check how it felt it was like the wheels were loose or something.

I think in the short term you might find the reason the handling is sh!te is because of the depth of the tread pattern.
If you pinch the tread in the middle of the tyre, you will be surprised how soft it is and you can easily bend it from left to right.

If any of you read EVO magazine, Harry Metcalfe had exactly this problem when he had his custom made Pirellis for his Countach.

Bit more air in the tyres could help a bit

 

[Detail Chris]

Two things to add briefly.
All true what the others have said, Rainsports have massive tread block depth(?) to help disperse water. Obviously this flexes and makes the car feel shite. They will improve as they wear but they are not sport tyres lol.
I can recommend hankook v12 as a very reasonable tyre for the clio. I've had and tried all the most notable tyres on a clio and still rate them highly!

 

[Fred@BTM]

utterly s**t tyre, cannot stand them

 

[SkidMarx]

Awful tyres, Grip feels ok but my 172 overteers badly on these. Will go back to some good old cheapo Paradas.

 

[peanuthead]

I did the same after reading how good they were on here. Soon found out they were shocking! Only done 1500 miles in them and will be binning them very soon.

 

[Wick]

I really like these in the wet. Perfect tyre to fit as we move into winter.

 

[ChewyB]

Should make this a sticky to warn other people so they don't fall for the false reviews lol