Lightning Rain Performance
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Joined: Sep 1999
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From: San Antonio, Texas
Lightning Rain Performance
Today was raining cats & dogs with some fog thrown in for good measure. When I went to lunch around 1pm, visibility on the freeway was barely 1/8 mile, less with the spray kicked up by some of the semis. Fortunately, the roads were pretty empty as nobody wanted to venture out in the mess. This gave me a great chance to test the wet weather performance of the new potenzas.
The quick summary is that they are as good or BETTER than the goodyears. The goodyears have dual aquachannels that vacate water out behind the tire. The potenza instead has curved tread channels that arc out to the sides of the tire from the center. I found that this method was VERY effective. Looking out my window, I could see the water being Blasted out the sides of the tire. It made one heck of a racket (like a plane taking off) but I could go at highway speeds through standing and running water without hydroplaning. In fact, I found that a slight (2%) INCREASE in throttle through deep spots didnt loosen the rear tires but instead caused them to expell water violently to the side and bite down. I also think that because the front tires were blowing water out to the side rather than linearly behind like the goodyears, it cleared out a dry(er) surface for the rears to grab onto.
I tried a few stoplight starts as well and surprisingly, I didnt have to treat the throttle as gingerly as I am used to. They just bit and held on.
I admit that I was never more than 30% on the throttle or above 65mph, but given the conditions, I should have been white-knuckling it.
My only concern was the idiots in the SUV's who thought their traction control or 4x4 gave them a license to drive like maniacs. Funny how in adverse conditions, most of the wrecks you see are SUVs and 4x4. Gee, I wonder why ...
The quick summary is that they are as good or BETTER than the goodyears. The goodyears have dual aquachannels that vacate water out behind the tire. The potenza instead has curved tread channels that arc out to the sides of the tire from the center. I found that this method was VERY effective. Looking out my window, I could see the water being Blasted out the sides of the tire. It made one heck of a racket (like a plane taking off) but I could go at highway speeds through standing and running water without hydroplaning. In fact, I found that a slight (2%) INCREASE in throttle through deep spots didnt loosen the rear tires but instead caused them to expell water violently to the side and bite down. I also think that because the front tires were blowing water out to the side rather than linearly behind like the goodyears, it cleared out a dry(er) surface for the rears to grab onto.
I tried a few stoplight starts as well and surprisingly, I didnt have to treat the throttle as gingerly as I am used to. They just bit and held on.
I admit that I was never more than 30% on the throttle or above 65mph, but given the conditions, I should have been white-knuckling it.
My only concern was the idiots in the SUV's who thought their traction control or 4x4 gave them a license to drive like maniacs. Funny how in adverse conditions, most of the wrecks you see are SUVs and 4x4. Gee, I wonder why ...
