I'm in need of a set of rain tires for my E class 951 S and am curious what others are using with success. I've been using a set of Bridgestone S-03s but haven't been overly impressed with their performance in the rain.

What are you using & what would you recommend?

Thanks much,

Rick

 

Full tread depth RA-1s - scrub them just enough to take the sheen off. Work well in all but monsoon conditions.

 

Agreed, go with the toyos.

 

Doesn't Hoosier have a DOT rain tire? I haven't used them but I did have some RS03's handgroved one time and they were awesome in the rain. Not even comparable to street tires.

 

Another vote for the Toyo's, would even consider narrower width to resist hydroplaning under the big footprint.

 

I like the Pirelli P-Zero Corsas.

Richard

 

Goodyear sells a tire with a very soft compound, gatorback pattern, full tread. Excellent rain tire, but a little pricey. It's DOT approved, but really too soft to run anywhere but the rain.

http://www.racegoodyear.com/products/racect34.html

 

Hoosier does now have a DOT legal (and pca legal as far as I know) - however, I belive they are big $$$.

As I run shaved toyo's in the dry anyway - I keep a fresh set for rain, and then rotate a new tire (or tires) in for the most abused of my fronts...keeps the big hit to my wallet down.

 

I was driving in the rain at Mid Ohio last May and, while the grip was a bit dicey, I was able to blow away most of the field with my MPSC-shod C4. However, on the back straight I spotted a fast-mover in my rear view ... a 951. So as I headed into "Madness" I decided I would bring down the hammer and put some distance between me and this uppity two-wheel drive p-car.

Before I knew it, this wicked car was on my six and had me driving for all I was worth. Heading into T11, I had my sure-footed porker right on the edge ... er, check that ... beyond the limit and spun her. The 951 sidestepped me and headed on home without missing a stride.

Of course, I needed to find out how a boosted, front-engined car could make such quick work of my AWD speedster. After he stopped laughing, the driver explained that he was running Yokohama A032's on his mom's racecar.

Since then, I've confirmed with a number of drivers that these are indeed an excellent rain tire. Now, I didn't ask if they were shaved (sorry) nor do I know how they compare to the Toyo's (perhaps someone can chime in) but what I can tell you is that if you are looking for some great wet-weather grip, you could do a lot worse than the Yok's.

$0.02

 

Where do you buy Toyo RA-1's?

The only ones I could find cost more than the Hoosier rain tires.

When I go to Mosport or Mont Tremblant, lots of people are running Toyos, but in the northeast US, I rarely see them at the track.

 

www.radialtire.com (PCA Club race sponsor) or www.bobwoodmantires.com (NASA sponsor)

Radial is in MD, Bob Woodman is in SC. There may be others closer to you

 

I have run A032s on my car and they were not all too bad. Never had toyos, although I hear good things. Also I drove pilot sport cups in the rain with my s2000 and they were awesome.

 

My vote would be the YokohamaParada Spec-2

Thay have AA Traction Rating yet still an incredible dry tire.

 

Rick,

If you want to be competitive in the rain, you should run Hoosiers. I have run multiple tires in the rain - Toyos, Yokos, Bridgestone S03's, Hoosier, etc - and there isn't anything close. The one that I have not driven was the Goodyear and I hear that they are good. I live in Seattle so have quite a bit of rain experience under by belt. ;-)

To give you a comparison, at Thuderhill I ran a set of full tread Toyo's back to back with Hoosiers last year. There was a 2.5 second difference per lap and with the Toyo's I was driving at 11/10ths. With the Hoosiers, I could stay under control (as much as you ever can when you are driving hard in the rain) and go much, much faster. And yes, they make a DOT rain tire now. It's based on the R3S04 and is machine grooved, not hand grooved like the RS303 rains.

That being said, the Hoosier is a full rain tire. This is not an intermediate and if you use them on dry pavement you will destroy them quickly. As for the best intermediate tire, I think the full-tread Toyo is a good choice and I have used it successfully that way.

Success in the rain depends SO MUCH MORE on driver skill than it does in the dry. But, if you want to give yourself the best chance possible to be competitive, the Hoosiers are the way to go (or maybe Goodyear) in rain conditions. You'll still have to drive your *** off to win. :-)

I'd love to hear other views if people have found different results than I have. As I said, I live in Seattle so having the best setup possible in the rain is important as we can have anwhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of our races in wet conditions in a given year.

I'd also be happy to discuss further offline if anyone is interested.

Steve
'87 911 PCA E #94

 

I agree on the Hoosiers, whatever you do, don''t run street tires. I would rather run Hoosier slicks than street tires, even the softest are too hard.

Bill Seifert

1987 944S Race Car