Hey guys,

On the way home from school on Monday, I had a little trouble in the rain. My car was hydroplaning, and it almost did a 360 in the middle of traffic. I went up a curb and got mud all over my car. I know I was going a little to fast, but I'm wondering if my tires had any effect at all in this situation. My car was also sliding on a small patch of ice in my neighborhood that I feel I shouldn't have happened yesterday. I definately thought I should've had control in that particular situation.

On the front of my car, the tires are 215/55R-16 Continental ContiTouringContact EcoPlus Tires. On the back, they are P215/55R-16 Mastercraft Avenger G/T Tires. Are these good tires for rain and snow driving? I never had a problem in dry weather, but now that it is winter time, I'm considering getting a set of all-season tires.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for any help.
-Nick

One quick note: I had nothing to do with the selection of these tires. The previous owner of the car put the tires on the car. If I was choosing, I'd have the same tires on all four wheels.

[Edit]
I forgot to say that there was no damage to my car in the "incident" that I mentioned above. My car was shaking at 40+ mph after, but I stopped at a body shop on the way home to make sure and he said everything was fine. The shaking was caused by all the mud on my wheels, tires, and under the car. I jacked the car up and washed it all out when I got home, and everything is ok now.
[/Edit]

 

I don't know but if you live in an area where you a prone to drive in bad weather, you should always buy all-season tires for your vehicles.

 

Go to Tirerack.com and read the reviews on the tires you have on your car. Personally I don't like Continentals.

Mastercraft Avenger?

I'm running Dunlop Sport A2's Great tires, wet traction is excellent.

 

you know, when it comes to tires, I personally think they are the most important component on a car. And as in most products out there, you get what you pay for. Mastercraft tires? I dunno about those, but when it comes to tires, the bigger the company, the more money they have, the larger the reputation and the more money they divert towards research and development. There is a lot of technology that goes into tires these days (newer compunds, water dispersal treads etc) and usually the big names put in the money to develop those tires.

So, if the tire company has been around and hasn't made a niche in this market yet, chances are they haven't gotten thier act together and sell quality products. Just my $.02...

 

Str8ridin, I like those wheels!!

 

Yes, I completely agree that tires are one of the most important parts to a car. These tires were put on by the cars previous owner, so I have no idea how good they are.

 

Seeing how you have a whole bunch of suspension mods that reduce understeer, putting 2 different makes/models of tires on the front and rear is chancey stuff. By that, I don't necessarily mean "dangerous", but the grip and performance of the two pairs of tires relative to each other is totally unknown.

Let's say the Mastercraft tires have crappy grip and wet traction (probably a reasonable assumption), and the Continentals are good tires. With all your suspension mods, the handling of your car should normally give minimal understeer or be neutral. But put a slippery set of tires in the back though, and you might get that 360 spinout you had. Make sense?

I wouldn't worry so much if the car was stock, since stock suspension has lots of understeer dialed into it, but your car is modded. I would just assume the "never-heard-of-it-before" Mastercrafts are sucky and put them in the front. This will just make the car understeer at the limits (like stock) rather than the oversteer it seems to have now, and will tide you over until you can get 4 matching tires when these wear out or you get fed up with them.

EDIT: okay, a mod to reduce understeer! (thought I saw springs in there somewhere ) The above is still true though.

 

i have the continental eco tires on all 4 tires they are still fairly new like 3 months old and i have burned out a couple times, they still have great traction and like 90% tread left.

 

while you guys are at it, anyone have any experience with dunlop SP sport 5000 ? & VR speed is $5 more than the HR speed, but is a lot of tread life reduced going from HR to VR?

 

Ok, I guess I was beating around the bush and being polite with previous post. uhem...Mastercraft tires really suck and Conti tires kinda suck and mixing the two different tires and technolgies on your car maske your handling suck. Fortunately, you had some pretty damn good driving skills to not wreck your car , but you never know somethimes when it's wet. Get a good all-season tires if you can.

p.s. njmaxseltd....Thanks!