Guys,

I have 97 I30. On Tuesday evening when there was slight rain in bay area, CA, I was coming back home and while making left turn at light at 30 MPH my car lost traction and spun. I tried stopping with brakes but ABS kicked in and didn't let me stop in time. I ended up on the upcoming traffic side of road but luckily there was no on-coming traffic and I had time to change direction real quick. Cop pulled me on side and after I told him what happened he let me go with warning to drive slow and careful when it is raining.

This has never happened to me before. I had been taking the same turn at same speed for last 5 years. The only difference from last rain season is I did get new BF Goodrich Touring T/A tires installed from Costco last year September. Have about 20K miles on those tires. And also got brembo D/S rotors and PBS ceramic pads.

I also felt that while i was taking off from my work my front tires spun little bit before getting traction.

Are my tires bad? Or is this an issue with struts or tie rod something?

I am planning to replace struts with KYB GR-2 end of this year once I save enough money for those. Alignment shop suggested to replace tie rods while I took my car for alignment in June.

I will appreciate your help. Can someone tell me how good those BF Goodrich tires are if this is a tire issue?

 

glad your okay man, i had a similar situation when i was 17...scared the hell outta me. i cant really answer the question about the tires, but i know with my stock Turanzas, not not even crummy Potenzas, i had to be really cautious in the rain, it didnt feel sturdy at all.

 

that almost happened to me once, except i was taking a turn getting off of a highway at 20mph...i had my blowtenzas then and i swear if i wouldn't have been going as slow as i was, i would have been dead...the car just started sliding and wouldn't stop..the only thing i could do is let off the gas and the brake and wait to regain traction, which happened just before hitting a car in the oncoming lane....

i don't know how good your tires are, but a good indication is the wear on them...do they have a lot of tread? Hopefully you learned from this to drive a bit slower in the rain, because these kind of things can happen to anyone...just glad nothing happened this time and nobody got hurt..

 

Did it just start raining recently? The streets become really slick once it starts raining as all the oil and dirt in the asphalt are washed away. It all comes to the surface of the road. Especially dangerous if it has been a while since it last rained.

 

Thanks for replies guys.

Yeah it rained after quite a while. I feel tires spinning recently whenever it is wet. I think it is time to replace those suckers. Tires have about 60-70% tread left since those are only 20k miles driven.

But I can't take the risk for couple hundred bucks. I will get them replaced as soon as possible. All I want to make sure that this is not related to something else like worn tie rods or non-efficient struts.

If I get a feeling from this thread that this is surely because of tires then I will replace them next week.

What tires you guys recommend for rain/wet conditions since it rains for over 4-5 months in bay area most of the time? I have following choices in Costco.

Bridgestone 930
Bridgestone 950
BF goodrich touring T/A V-rated (Currently I have H rated)
Michelin HydroEdge
Michelin MXV4+ (too costly with about 140 per tire)

 

yes this what happened in my situation last month. ive been driving on that road for years, at the same cautious speed, but it just started to rain, i didnt think nothing of it, i went on the turn a little too fast, and the car just understeered into the curb...

glad your ok, its just a warning to be carefulin the rain

 

Look up the tires available at CostCo at tirerack.com - they have plenty of good reviews and traction information.

 

before you change the tires make sure it really is bacause of the tires. 60% - 90% of thread is when you tires berform the best

if you have any suspension mods, improper setup could be the reason to your spinout.

P.S. what ever the reason is, go out to a large empty parking lot and practice to recover from slides. Couple years ago when I did not have my own car I was stupid enough to get my father's minivan to oversteer on the highway exit and then to recove (inches from the wall)

 

I have the same tires as you do. However I've noticed my traction is typically BETTER in wet conditions than dry, so I haven't got any advice for you

 

I would rotate the tires before i went and bought new ones. I would think it was a tire problem but im not sure. You might have dry rot, or they might not be wearing properly (check the insides) also tire pressure.

 

I'm no expert but sounds like tires to me. I almost ditched my Mom's Subaru last month when I lost control around a sharp corner on my highway. Not a nice feeling! Those Yokohama's are garbage...I can't believe I survived through a winter using them!

I've got Michelin Hydroedges on my Maxima and they rock! Excellent traction in the rain and where I used to hydroplane all the time (we have a very uneven road), I have no problems now. They have a really long treadlife too and I'm very satisfied with them.

 

I think this is driver error. First you even noted that they slip on take-off, that is the first indication that you are not used to these tires. If you had been used to them in the rain they you would expect them to spin a little and compensate with less throttle. On top of that, you should have tested the tires out better by starting the turn that you'd taken so many times at a slower speed with these different tires on until you knew the real limit of them. Anytime you get new tires they are going to have different characteristics then the last set you had, its best to find out what these characteristics are before you do what you did.

BTW what were the tires you had on there before this?

 

Make sure all your tire pressures are correct. Also put the tires with the most thread in the back. That way you're car will be more prone to understeer rather than oversteer if you had the tires with the most thread in the front.

When your car just starts sliding, brakes probably aren't the best idea. Since when you hit the brakes the weight of the car moves forward to the front tires and off the rear, sending it into a spin. Best thing is just to stay on the gas.

 

Its easier to correct understeer than oversteer in a FF application.

 

Get the RE 950s. Ive have 2 sets of them on my 00 and they are awesome in the rain. Ive never hydroplaned in them at all and have awesome all round traction. Nothing like the 92's.

 

Ok I take back what I said about these tires being better in the rain. It was raining decently here today and my front tires spun like crazy no matter how much throttle I gave it. It was almost kind of fun, but gets annoying after awhile...not to mention it's not really safe. I could also basically break the rear end out at will

 

At will, you can induce oversteer in absolutely any car lol

 

Some easier than others. My car in the rain on these tires though, VERY EASY. My emphasis being that it was really, really easy for me to.