Topic: Impression of Conti DRS in heavy rain

[diamoney]

I drive in all sorts of weather.  NA and GXP.  I will admit that I have driven neither car with stock tires.  Between the two, I have about 145,000 miles under my belt in Kappas.  I drove the 2.4 home to TN from FL in a rainfall that caused standing water on the interstate- GY Eagle F1 GS D3- never a care (remember, no traction control).  Except for winter use of BFG GForce (which had a bad belt so limited use), this car has only had GS D3s and Riken Raptors on it and I have always felt safe and in control of my Solstice.

Labor Day weekend took the 2.0 (formerly known as Intruder) to St. Louis shod in Continental DRS rubber.  I cannot say if it is because of the 275x19s on the rear or the ~7000 miles of treadwear (surely more than 2/3 life left) that caused the car to get close to squirrelly on several occassions, but in retrospect, I DO suspect that without Traction control, I would have been spinning down I-24 in moderately heavy traffic at 35-40 mph and less than 50 foot visibility rain (wipers and defog on high)!

I understand the Contis are rated well as all season tires, but I sure am glad for the technology of traction control.  Drive safe.

[ophidia31]

What are these DRS you speak of? I know theres the DW and DWS lines. Im guessing you mean DWS. It might have to do with the size of the tire because of the cars that Ive had them on and friends also, you can plow through standing water with no issue. The wider tire might have issues evacuating the water fast enough because of the extra distance to get out from the treads?

[nomead]

I'd agree with ophidia31,
I'm also assuming you meant "Continental DWS" instead of "Continental DRS"?
If that is the case I'm surprised you have had that much trouble.
I bought those tires for my Sky after nearly spinning out on a rotary in the rain with the stock tires; I was so impressed I now also have them on our Astra & Impreza. I've driven in all kinds of weather in all these cars - including torrential downpours with standing water without incident.
I wonder what is causing the issues you're reporting?

[critter]

I'd agree with ophidia31,
I'm also assuming you meant "Continental DWS" instead of "Continental DRS"?
If that is the case I'm surprised you have had that much trouble.
I bought those tires for my Sky after nearly spinning out on a rotary in the rain with the stock tires; I was so impressed I now also have them on our Astra & Impreza. I've driven in all kinds of weather in all these cars - including torrential downpours with standing water without incident.
I wonder what is causing the issues you're reporting?

I totally agree wih this assessment on the DWSs. I put them on about 2 months ago and had heard that they were awesome in the rain but never had a chance to feel them firsthand. Anyway, we had some very heavy rains here in Chicago maybe 2 weeks ago so I purposely took the car out while it was still raining quite hard and with a lot of pooled and standing water on the streets. The othe thing that was nice was that there were no other cars - nice for what I was going to do. So, I tested out these tires and threw rooster tails like you would not believe. I was taking 90 degree corners at some pretty impressive speeds and the car never moved or even hinted at starting to slide or shimmie. I got what I needed to know firsthand - these are well designed for water and the wet. Glad I have them under me. I have confidence in them and I would recommend these without hesitation - BTW they are quiet and smooth in dry conditions as icing on the cake.....

[diamoney]

Yes, you are right- I was thinking, "Dry, Rain, Snow," when the designation refers to "Dry, Wet, Snow!"

As I stated, I had never driven on stock rubber, so I can imagine that these are far superior to the RSAs and Eagle F1s (NA and GXP respectively).

I'll put it down to wider/taller because there was definately "pucker power" at work in that rain storm.

[nomead]

Yes, you are right- I was thinking, "Dry, Rain, Snow," when the designation refers to "Dry, Wet, Snow!"

As I stated, I had never driven on stock rubber, so I can imagine that these are far superior to the RSAs and Eagle F1s (NA and GXP respectively).

I'll put it down to wider/taller because there was definately "pucker power" at work in that rain storm.

DRS - I figured as much ;o)
The size difference may be the culprit - on all three of my cars the tires are smaller than that.
Does your car also have wider tires in the rear? If so, that may also be a factor.

Does anyone else run this size (275x19)?

[diamoney]

DRS - I figured as much ;o)
The size difference may be the culprit - on all three of my cars the tires are smaller than that.
Does your car also have wider tires in the rear? If so, that may also be a factor.

Does anyone else run this size (275x19)?

Yep, 245/45/19 up front, 275/40/19 on rear.  275s on front WOULD make it more Formula One-ish!  Then again, I would need to de-flair the rear fenders to re-expose more tread in back- that would make it look like a life-sized slot-car!