Last night I drove from California to Arizona 450 miles and it was crazy. It started raining and my car became a surf board. I could barely drive it. I landed up going 35mph in 75mph zone and soon gave up and spent the night in a hotel till the storm past. I have never been in a car that was that bad in the rain. WHY? Is it because FWD, light, and I'm slammed on coilovers? Or is it just my alighnment, I'm running arbout 2.5degree of negative camber on all four corners. I hope I can fix this problem.
Mario

 

camber is the issue.....you're not riding on the full surface of the tread while driving straight.

 

What size wheels/tires do you have? What suspension? I live in the midwest where it down right pisses on a regular basis, and I've never felt "unsafe" going at or above the speed limit.

 

I'm in phoenix and it was raining all day yesterday and today, had no problem with the rain, even went out drifting.

 

Is it just the rearI need to worry about? I need some negative in the front to clear the fenders because of the drop. What setting camber and toe would you do on front and back?
Mario

 

Are going on the Mini run tomorrow?

 

What tires are you running? Have any tread left? MINI handled FL down pours without issue and was steady and streaight as a rock at unpostable rate of travel in the middle of hurricane Wilma, with a very significant crosswind.

 

There's a run tomorrow? I haven't checked out the phoenix group because i'm moving to vegas in Jan, but i don't think I will, got school work to do.

 

I'm running 215/40/18 Yokohama S drive and they are about 2 months old. Lots of tread left. Something is wrong. The car is undrivable the way it is now.

 

A few Qs:
What tires?
Current tread depth?
Was this the first rain in the area for some time?
Being from LA, have you ever seen rain before?

 

Have you checked the air pressure in your tires? I'm sure the camber isn't helping, but if your tire pressures are low that'll make the car hydroplane at lower speeds.

 

Jerome? DMC run?

 

Mine handled fine too. The rain came down like **** out of boot. good stuff today. incredible for the desert.

 

Yes it did, it rained very hard today, I loved it so much i opened my windows in my room all day.

 

your tires suck in the rain (and your camber hurts too). true story. don't believe me - EVO mag did a review of summer tires and S.Drive finished dead last. I'll post the quote I wrote out about them in another thread.


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...2&postcount=10

 

Wide tires aren't the best in the rain. My guess you were experiencing hydroplaning. The only thing you can do in that situation is to slow down, which you wisely did.

Some tires are better than others. Sounds like the ones you have aren't very good in the rain.

 

with your camber problem for the rear i know if you drop more than 2 inches you need differant control arms i think.

when you fix your camber in the front you will most likely be rubbing tire when turning so you can either roll the inside of the bonnet or try a smaller back spacing on the rims. with a proper alinignment and decent tires with tread your mini should be fine.

even in the rain i try to push my S to the limits and i just think with my toyo proxes 4's it handles great i still cant find a weak point of the car in the dry. but i get around great in the rain ........ snow is a differant story.


this is all IMO and previous experiance being a car tuner. i am an autobody tech not a mechanic

 

My old kumho 711's were so near bald after a 1500 mile road trip they hydroplaned a lot in a rainstorm on the way back. Might have been an inch or two of standing water on the road. I had to go maybe 25mph on the interstate, but this was typhoon like rain...in kansas I think. Everyone else had to slow down just to see/avoid hydroplaning.

When I got back I ordered new tires.

 

brand new S.Drives suck in the rain. Or dry. Or anywhere. As good as the Parada Spec-2 is, it's amazing how bad the S.Drive is given it's brand new. What's the target market? People who want summer tires who don't care about performance?

 

i drove around that whole day with no problems...and i was puttering around the mountains...the problem lies in your camber adjustment...you need to readjust to get the best contact patch...i have fuzion zri tires in 215-40-17 on R90's and bumbles just plows through the rain...even the other day when it was pouring rain it just right motored along...they even work well in snow as told by my parents when i was gone to iraq

 

the problem lies in camber and the tires. in the test I mentioned, they stopped 38ft longer than Goodyear F1's in the rain. Add to that a less than optimal contact patch and that = trouble

 

oo...the yoko's are no bueno in the rain....those channel grooves are too small and narrow...they arent gonna push water away well at all

 

i feel ya on that one. i got summer street tires on and when it rains (like it did yesterday) i let the mini sit and drive the X5 instead. trying to drive in the rain with the mini feels like driving on ice, but the X5 feels like its not even raining, even with the beefy 4.6 wheels and low pros.