[NorCALSpeed]

so how bad are the stock wheels on STis in rain or (god forbid) snow? reason i ask is if by the graces of science (ha southpark) i sell my jetta before monday i can drive it home to show the rents and fam. just move my plane ticket. anyway im going to get snows for chanukah and wouldnt want to drive 2000 hwy miles on them. so how bad are the stock tires in the rain? id have to go over hwy 80 tahoe (if weather forcast is decent) but if it snows i dont want to wreck the new sti. i drove 3 yrs in CO winters with kuhmo ecstas on my fwd jetta and never spun or had a close call. but i dont want to be the "stupid noob" trying to do something dumb.

[Ikon]

not sure havent tested them yet but rain its pretty awesome.. i havent had any problems

[NorCALSpeed]

oh ok. this kid at work's friend said he never drove in the rain because the tire is so summer aggressive it ges no traction.

random but do the 06 wrx rims fit STis? i ask cuz my roomy has a new 06 and maybe hed swap rims for 4 days. im sure he wouldnt mind.

[vandersti]

Originally Posted by NorCALSpeed

so how bad are the stock wheels on STis in rain or (god forbid) snow? reason i ask is if by the graces of science (ha southpark) i sell my jetta before monday i can drive it home to show the rents and fam. just move my plane ticket. anyway im going to get snows for chanukah and wouldnt want to drive 2000 hwy miles on them. so how bad are the stock tires in the rain? id have to go over hwy 80 tahoe (if weather forcast is decent) but if it snows i dont want to wreck the new sti. i drove 3 yrs in CO winters with kuhmo ecstas on my fwd jetta and never spun or had a close call. but i dont want to be the "stupid noob" trying to do something dumb.

Its amazing how this gets asked alot. I am not flamin just so you know, but the stock Potenza tire is a summer tire. With that being said, is it possible to drive the Potenza's in the snow? Yes it is, but what kind of traction? I drove these in about 1inch of snow. I had about 80% tread life left on them. Was traction good? NO..why, well with big contact patches of rubber to snow. Water form between them. I went slow, I made it to where I wanted to, but I stayed on roads that were slow. Acceleration was slow, and breaking was minimal. Summer tires are called "Summer tires" for a reason, same with "Winter tires", and the same with "all season." Now for Rain... well the tire doesnt have water channels, so depending on how hard it is raining, and how fast you are going. You will find out how fast you can go real quick. Hard rain, on level road I started to hydroplane at 65MPH. Nothing horrible, but that being said; always play it safe. Go slower. IF your tence while driving, you are going to fast. Dont wreck your new STi. I know you will do fine.


VAN

[SonicBoom]

[NSantana]

+1 on the whole "take it easy in the rain".


Science speed selling the Jetta (and congrats on the new STI)

[wdb]

300HP + RE070's + snow or ice = doom.

Get H- or V-rated winter tires and drive them as much as you want on the highway. They'll outlast the RE070's in that kind of situation. Plus your drives to Tahoe will be an absolute blast instead of a white-knuckle cringe session.

[evilSTi7]

the tires are fine in rain (as long as you don't drive like and ass). Snow... enjoy your $30,000 paper weight.

[NorCALSpeed]

yep after i posted this i found a thread allll about it. so sorry for the old subject. i plan on getting snow tires its just whether or not i could get them before i drove home for turkey day. but thats assuming i got the car monday or so. the same kid is selling his snows on stock bbs's i think so ill ask how much, i could prob just resell em at the end of the season without losing much $.

[vandersti]

Originally Posted by NorCALSpeed

yep after i posted this i found a thread allll about it. so sorry for the old subject. i plan on getting snow tires its just whether or not i could get them before i drove home for turkey day. but thats assuming i got the car monday or so. the same kid is selling his snows on stock bbs's i think so ill ask how much, i could prob just resell em at the end of the season without losing much $.

I am not the usual advid poster that says your stupid, but its better to ask than find out and put your self and others in danger. I am not going to lie to you, but it was a little funny to me that you asked that. Anyways I hope you are more informed now, and go to TIRERACK!!!!! They have TONS of "SCIENTIFIC" data. Not, the usually poster who rights up, "They a good tires." Tirerack will give all better data than that.


VAN

[NorCALSpeed]

yeah ill be doing research like ihave wth the car and the future mods.

[ImBack]

Most of you guys are smoking crack...these tires are FINE in the rain as long as you dont go overboard like 100mph in a downpour...doing 65 and hydroplaning i dont think so...iv been in downpours on them doing 65-70 and drove fine...its a summer tire meaning great dry traction...but how do you expect to drive a tire just on dry unless you live in the desert its gonna rain...never once did i hydro on these tires and i had them on for 2 summers from april, may to oct, nov...and i live in NJ where it can rain alot...normal highway driving speeds in the rain you'll be fine around town stop and go driving your'll be more than fine in the rain just dont try to beat and land speed records in the rain.................

[Muffnbluff]

I never had a problem with the potenzas in the rain, I thought they handled quite well. I did for ****s and giggles attempt to drive around my neighborhood in the snow. It took about 70 feet to go from 15mph to stop. Didn't try that move again.

[JiveMasterT]

In rain I've not been able to get mine to break free by doing lower speed agressive maneuvers. Looking at the tread pattern, they will definitely suck at high speed in heavy rain. As far as snow, yeah... I don't plan on trying that one.

[fourseasonsandles]

I have had the stockers slide sideways in the rain before.. I did it on purpose to see what they would do in a parking lot. I have also had they hydroplane on the highway. Like others have said, snow is a no no. I just played a bit on the day after I got my car in the driveway in the white stuff. There was 0% traction in the snow. It was actually pretty scary not being able to stop from a 5mph run.