why is my car all over the place when it rains
 

I have a 92rs lo3 t-5 and when it is raining i can hardly take off from a stop without spinning,if i give it gas in any gear under 5th while driving it will break loose..and also when im driving down the interstate in 5th at 50mph the car is all over the road hydroplaning and everything...i have done nothing to the cars suspinsion since i got it last year except end links(poly) and rear lower control arm bushings(stock0...the tires are a stinger name brand size 235/55/16 and are pretty good shape...all i know is my other camaro i had i could drive in snow, rain ,ice ,whatever...and i am literally scared to drive this one when it rains...i had a big rig blow me completly in to the grass outside the emergency lane on the interstate...any suggestions...thanks for any help guys...

If your rear end doesn't have positraction, that will be the biggest reason you don't get traction in slick conditions. A few months ago I swapped rear ends in my car to gain a higher gear ratio and a posi, and i'm curious to see the difference it makes driving in snow. Other than that and tires with enough tread on them, that's all I can think of.

i would have to say it is the tires. i just put on a VERY used set of mechilian piolit tires and they are sooo much better in the rain than the cheap tires with good tread. after all that is the only thing that actually touches the road.

keene

all about tires

tires are they old and worn out

Get some new tires ASAP. Before you wreck and total the car.

Don't go driving in the wet with slick tyres ;) In the UK we are supposed to change the tyres once they get down to 1.6mm tread depth.

Mark.

Yep tires are the first thing I would look into since they are the part touching the ground. When you go to buy tires check the ratings and read on how well they handle in the rain. It is probably the most scariest feeling a person can have. All you can do is sit there and hope for the best once you start to hydroplane.

Tires.

JamesC

thanks guys like i said the tires seem to be in pretty good shape but they were on the car when i got it so i think i will start there.my other car had some yokohama tires on it and they were awesome so i may check into them again.i would also like to put a posi unit in it too..again thanks alot

its the tires without a doubt

tires tires tires They could have full tread on them and still give you problems just due to the tread design or hardness of the rubber. I drove in the snow with nearly bald tires one day a freak snow storm rolled through town. Did have a little trouble getting up a hill but I still made it home on my own. As far as not having a posi, think of how many cars and trucks are out there without a posi. That is not your problem. Yes they do help but can also hurt you in some situations.

I would say more than likely tires, tires or maybe its the tires.

I recently bought cheapy Sumitomo's, 75$ a piece at tirerack. I do recommend them for nice tires as far as grip while accelerating and when it is raining.

They do suck for transitions, like swerving lane to lane though. I would have spent real money, but that is waiting till I am employed again and have the dough for some 275/40-17 for my Ronal R15's that are just sitting new in boxes :-(

But as cheap as they were, I like for low noise level, ride and wet traction. Just hate them for cornering maneuvers with transitions. Oddly enough if I'm doing an onramp or the like, they are fine, just the quick stuff and left to right to left that they bite it for

later
Jeremy

I thought he was talking about accelerating from a stop or while moving, in which a posi can help in rain or snow conditions. If you guys are bringing up problems during turning or quick maneuvers, then better tires will help a lot.

On a side note, the same week I replaced my bald tires with some decent used ones, I had to make a hard turn in the rain to avoid a car turning into me and then turn back again to miss a guard rail now in front of me. I was in control in that little bit of time, but I know for certain if I was still running those bald tires, that I would have hit something that day.

So I guess the general consensus is to buy good tires. Plus they are way easier to change than a differential to a posi.

i was talking about all of the above...im going to look at tires today...maby i can find a steal somewhere..(yeah right)

Its just our cars plain and simple they suck in the snow and are okay in the rain you can buy different tires and it will help but they're always going to suck.

tires, amigo.

I had the same problem with my RS when I got it I was always sliding all over the place( mainly because of lead foot) yeah but get new tires quick believe me hydroplaining sucks. I slid through an intersection and almost hit a semi:doh: also rearended a BMW but got lucky no damage to their car just chipped some paint off my bumper.:bs:

never had a problem in the rain, any powerful rwd car will get loose but thats the drivers fault assuming mechanicals are fine. Good tires are a must on any car, in our case i think the fact that most run summer/dry weather tires or cheap tires helps with the bad rep. I have driven my car, 383 with 5speed through several really bad winters. I once got stuck in 4" of snow with yoko avs's. I quickly bought snow tires and with them could out accellerate most 4wd suv's and drive around them in a blizzard. After the AVS incident i bought all season tires, (kdws) gave up some dry performance but gained a more practical daily driver that was much safer year round.

last time it rained hard here, and i mean poured so hard i could barely see the road, i had absoutely no problem getting around on my older michelin symetrys that i have on the back of the car, i was extremely impressed, and even pused my luck a little that day and the back end didn't try and kick out and i didn't hydroplane. its all in the tires.

Ive always had that problem with my l98 but it was more a driver thing then anything...

it isnt just about good tires but it has a lot to do with the width of your tire. a wide flat tire has to move a lot more water [even with good tread depth]

I used to live in the rain capital of North America driving a 3rd gen with Gatorbacks :doh:

I was never sure what the car was going to do in the rain and a mistake usually meant a visit to the curb or a ditch.

The only real solution is a set of tires with siping -- a rain friendly tire. In other words a 245/50 16 that is designed for traction in the wet and not just the dry.

That cuts out about 90% of the tires that fit our cars. I can say this -- I found that the sticky tires, those with a UTOQ rating of 200 or less work best in the rain when traction is an issue. This assumes they have a tread pattern that is anti-hydro-planing.

i always found gatorbacks to be great in the rain, they had the tread pattern similar to the aquatreds that came out years later. in fact it was supposedly derived from formula 1 rain tires

we must have different rain than where you live :D

we may have our tires confused. The gatorbacks don't look much like the aquatreds -- atleast to me they don't.


The gators have non-siped puck like rubber blocks. Great for dry roads. The block spacing is good enough to prevent some hydro-planing as well. Nothing to write home about. Basically it was a flat non-siped rubber block with a UTOQ of 320 that is going to slip and slide around in the wet.

The gator replacemengt, the GS-Cs and GSC-EMTs have a UTOQ of 220 (180??) which is why people rave about them in the rain. Of course they don't last very long either but you can't have it both ways.

treadwear was 220, they were billed as being derived from formula one rain tires. The tread pattern was designed to move water. Sipes do help in the wet but don't help with hydroplaning. Sipes are very helpful on snow and ice. They also reduce the stiffnesss of the tread blocks and cause the tread to squirm and deform under load. Attached are pics, of the vr and aquatread. The pattern is something of a goodyear trademark. I'm not trying to be an argumentative schmuck, it's just that for almost 20 years i've heard how bad 3rd gens are in rain and snow. My brother used to drive his 84 through blizzards on vr's and at sustained high speeds in the rain. i learned to drive in it and now have a 383 cid 84 that i drove for 15 years. never scared me in the rain except for bald tires. I think the bad rep is from tpi cars that had touchy throttles. I had a freind hit a bridge while racing a "K" car in the rain (true story) his tires were worn and his 87 had a tpi 305 (he was also a moron). All the tpi cars i have driven have seemed to have abrupt throttles, probably worsens as car needs a tune.

aquatread

I had absolutely no problem in the rain as long as i didnt get into the throttle too fast... 55-60 mph in a 45 in heavy rain was no problem with my iroc... not to say that i speed often but it was very stable

Tires and bushings should be addressed

thx for the pics.

We think the same I figure the 3rd gen is or can easily be one of the best handling cars on the road. No doubt in my mind.

Any idea where could we get a pic of a gator from 1985-89? I am thinking they changed the tread pattern since then. Reason I say that is a guy I used to hang with had a players challenge car. We used to get the tires shaved down (on a new set of tires) before a race. I spent alot of time afterwards staring at the treads looking for deformities and seem to recall a different block than that shown in the pic. Could just be memory playing tricks.

The VRs I had on my '88 scared the crap outta me a few times, they behaved unpredictably under benign driving conditions. I switched to Comp T/As. These days I use Cooper Xeons. Everyone finds what works for them and settles there.

BTW did someone say they couldn't get GSCs anymore?

FYI I saw them on Goodyear's web page looks like they are still available?

These are the original ones that came on my 87, I just took them off recently ;) :

Actually, the fronts came off with plenty of tread still on them, and they really are the original Eagle ZR's that came on the formula when it was new, I'll get a picture of them when I get back from the gym.

tread looks a little shallow.

:iagree:

yea, well, it's really not that bad for 18y/o tires... I decided to look for something new to put on those rims when the carcass rubber started showing through the tread rubber
;)

Anyway, here is one of the fronts:

Somewhat similar… the GSC’s use the same basic pattern with an offset center line and asimetrical tread block sizes (smaller on the inside)… I still have the original ones off of my ’97 WS6 if someone really wants to see them

:doh:

My Formula has 31k miles and new Goodyear 245/50/16's on all 4 and she is slippery when it rains, it sucks! I bought her with 8900 miles and it had the original Gatorbacks from factory and she drove better , but tire was too old and not safe so I bought new ones, I really feel ripped off by the new Goodyears being a heck of a lot thinner in width too, does not look like Formula tire, but stuck now with the crap---don't buy anyone! Andy

I bought these:

http://www.coopertire.com/us/en/Prod...itle=UHP+Tires


Very sticky. Too sticky for my 15 year old rear-end...

Like glue in the rain.

Nice side wall for curb rash the tire will hit before the rim.

by not having a limited slip it shouldn't be that bad though.
this guy has something else going on here I would say

I'm going to guess and say you do a lot of drag racing and shaved the tires to make them into racing slicks right?

i just park the car when it rains... lol