SHRKBIT

I'm trying to sort out what tires to mount on a set of rims for wet weather DE driving in my '86.5 928 S (to complement Kumho Victoracers in the dry).

Is the Yokohama A032R a decent wet tire? How well does it deal with standing water? Heavy rain?

TIA,

Curt

James Achard

I would not recommend these tires in the wet. If you are looking for a full wet tire for DE I would get a good quality street tire. I used the AO32's in the rain at Limerock once and it was a frightening experience. I spun in the left hander on the warmup lap going 25mph. Mind you, it was the first session and it was a steady rain. Still I was expecting them to hold a bit better.

Cheers, James

Russ Murphy

I hate to have a conflicting viewpoint, but there ya go. I drove A032R's for a year both on the street and on the track (two DE's). They're easily as good as any street tire in the rain, probably better. If it's 35 degrees F and pouring, well, there not so great, but in more moderate temps they're great. A lot depends on how much depth you've got left on the siping.

Adam Richman

I have had similar experiences to Russ with them. I have run my Ecsta 712s and Potenza RE71s as rains as well as A032Rs and thought the A032Rs were much more grippy in the rain. I do believe the Toyo full tread is a better intermediate tire but I thought the Yoko was pretty good (as in pretty close).

SHRKBIT

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Russ Murphy:
<strong>I drove A032R's for a year both on the street and on the track (two DE's). They're easily as good as any street tire in the rain, probably better.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">My road car has S-03s on it, and it's been my experience that they don't even twitch in standing or running water on the highway. It's truly hard to believe the A032R could evacuate as much water.

Adam Richman

Problem I found is that street tires (event the RE71s which I thought were phenomenal for street tires) don't get much heat in them in the wet. All the tires are pretty much useless in a wide rivulet or large puddle but aside from that, the A032R, (full tread) RA1s do get heat in them and that's what helps them stick.

My point of reference in the wet is out of a half a dozen spins in the wet, all were on street tires, none occurred on A032Rs or RA1s. I have 3 rain races on the RA1s and they have been fantastic (never raced in a deluge though where they definately would not be as good as a dirt stocker).

Scott in Texas

I used these the Yoko A032 tires as wets on my 944 T car in SCCA and PCA races and found them to be a good choice. I do notice now several folks going to the Toyo Proxes RA-1 as wets but I have no experience wiht them yet.

Glenn from Denver

Why not use full tread VictoRacers?

They do a competant job of water evacuation in the wet. If there are large puddles, I would go with a street tire.

The added benefit to the Kumho is that it won't overheat badly at full tread so when the track starts to dry out, you keep going!

mm86911

Ran fresh AO32Rs in rain at Road Atlanta last April - was very impressed. Was passing many cars running street tires.

James Achard

Hmm, I guess I read Curt's post as inquiring about heavy rain conditions. If he is already using a tire that is good for dry to damp conditions, I would use a street tire for my wet setup, then you have all your bases covered, IMO. I will say that the Yokos I had were about 10 track days old.

CHeers, James

Mark G

Curt, The A032R's have been my rain tire for the last 2 or 3 years. Other than snow(!), they work well in wet and very wet, but nothing works in deluge mode except a light foot and luck. If it's a drying track, you're probably better off with Hoosiers because in my experience, they become greasy after a couple of laps. Overall, a very good wet tire. By the way, it does rain up here a little.

Mark

SHRKBIT

Thanks for the input, guys.

As I originally stated, I also run Victoracers. Living in the Pacific Northwest, it might be a fair bet that I could buy a new set of Victoracers in November and run them as wets through spring (summer is generally dry). However, my Kumhos are quite wide and don't stay at full tread depth for long on my 928.

Given that the car isn't on the road much, I've ordered a set of A032Rs to try out. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks much,

Curt

Bill L Seifert

Street tires SUCK, I have the dents and squished fender to prove it. I like Kuhmo Victoracers, unshaved. The best is the Hoosier Dirtstocker, but you can only use them in SCCA, for some idiotic reason, PCA won't let you use them, at least not in PCA club racing.

Bill Seifert
1983 944 Race car