Tires...what are you running?

As @kenny_h found out for us last year, the stock tires actually do quite well in the twisties. I just went to track day with my new, stock, base Sling. I had no problems taking corners as fast as everyone out there. You do get more tire squaking on the really tight ones, but they hold.

And yes, I had Nitto 555 when I totalled mine. I would agree with many here, it doesn't matter what tires you have in wet conditions. It's a gamble. If you went through one heavy storm with your tire, it doesn't mean it will make it through the next one. That I know first hand.

I like those Conti. @Shack, I'm still trying to pick a tire.

Quote from iNewton

the problem with wet performance is this:
Most guys want to get a larger rear tire for added grip, but this goes the other way in the wet. You can't have best of both. So of course if you run a 315 in the rear, I don't care what brand or thread, its gonna suck.

Double with 300hp and a turbo.

You want good wet traction, go slim. Dry traction, large. Stock size is good compromise, can't have both.

Honestly, I do value your opinion iNewton, you have been a wealth of information. And I understand that a lot of issues with traction are truly hard to pinpoint exactly what happened, but I am running a 345 Toyo T1R out back and have had it in the rain several times and drove pretty aggressively to get a feel for the limits of the tire and had absolutely no issues. Infact, I would say traction was only nominally affected by the actual rain. Now of course I am on Texas roads that are well maintained and in a particularly up scale area I suppose so there is probably less oil and debris on the roads I'm on but I am positive that the 345 toyo t1r is handling vastly better in the rain than the thinner stock kendas.

Quote from WOLF

As @kenny_h found out for us last year, the stock tires actually do quite well in the twisties. I just went to track day with my new, stock, base Sling. I had no problems taking corners as fast as everyone out there. You do get more tire squaking on the really tight ones, but they hold.

And yes, I had Nitto 555 when I totalled mine. I would agree with many here, it doesn't matter what tires you have in wet conditions. It's a gamble. If you went through one heavy storm with your tire, it doesn't mean it will make it through the next one. That I know first hand.

I like those Conti. @Shack, I'm still trying to pick a tire.

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Hey Brother - I see you made it home safe. If I were you I wouldn't change a thing - you were smoking fast all day.
It was great to finally meet you and I hope we get to ride together again soon.

@lokati, stock kendas are cheap, crap, hard tires, so they suck in all situations imo.

I am not saying that a wide tire can't have decent traction in rain, but a wide tire will have less traction on slippery surface than a slimer tire, if comparing the same tire. Of course you can get better grip from one tire to the next just by using a different compound and tread pattern.

But in general, in the wet, wider tire has more change for hydroplaning than a slimer tire because the same weight is being pushed on a larger surface, so less pressure per inch on the wider tire. Now this can be altered a bit by thread design etc, but normally, a great dry tire will not be very good in wet conditions and vice versa.

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Quote from iNewton

@lokati, stock kendas are cheap, crap, hard tires, so they suck in all situations imo.

I am not saying that a wide tire can't have decent traction in rain, but a wide tire will have less traction on slippery surface than a slimer tire, if comparing the same tire. Of course you can get better grip from one tire to the next just by using a different compound and tread pattern.

But in general, in the wet, wider tire has more change for hydroplaning than a slimer tire because the same weight is being pushed on a larger surface, so less pressure per inch on the wider tire. Now this can be altered a bit by thread design etc, but normally, a great dry tire will not be very good in wet conditions and vice versa.

image.jpeg

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Yeah, I agree all variables the same a thinner tire will have better wet traction than a wider tire. Just wanted to point at that not all wide tires are bad. Personally, I think there's something going on more than just traction in a lot of these hydro planing. The SS does some weird things with its electronic traction control, stability control, abs and throttle management.

@Shack, what Wheels and Wheel sizes are you putting those on?

Pirelli P Zero Nero GT - f: 275/30/20, r: 315/25/22

Goodyear Eagle F1s
Pro:
Much better than stock, though that's not too hard. Hated stock.
Noticeable difference in rain.
Can get very sticky in hard rides.
Long life. ~13k miles on my first rear before replacement.

Con:
Not happy at track day. Might have just been me. Just the rear...

Just put these on today...BFG Sport Comp 2slingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/3073/slingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/3074/

Quote from Flybuddy

Just put these on today...BFG Sport Comp 2slingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/3073/slingshotinfo.com/wcf/index.php?attachment/3074/

Flybuddy - you will love those tires I have been running for a while. Great on the track and te street. Bit of warning watch the pressure in the rear you will have to drop lower than recommended. I was running at 30lbs cold and hot they stayed around 32 (recommended) But the tire wore in the center only not evenly. My guess was over inflation. Just ordered a new rear and plan to drop down to 28lbs.

Be Safe

I can heartily second MACAWS' suggestion. Thanks to the positive experiences he and other fast machines in our Turbo Posse have reported with these tires, my crew and I just put a set on a customer's SL. The stock wheels were retained, on which we duplicated the stock tire sizes in BFG Sport Comp 2, summer compound. The difference in the machine was striking. Significant increase in grip, yet the machine's dynamics remained fairly neutral in that all three tires tend to slide at the same time when pushed, making it very confidence-inspiring.

P.S.: I'll have a thread up on this particular machine's build soon!

I always wanted to be a member of a posse!

Thx guys for the benefit of your experience...I will lower the pressure

Took @kenny_h recomdation and purchased a pair of Sumitmo 265 35 18s for the front and I will be ordering a 285 35 18 for the rear.
I have the 18 in rim from the rear in the front as well.

I posted my history on the old site, but here is a summary. I wanted to go fat on the back so I went with proxies 345/35/20 and went with Nitto 555 on front for a consistent look.

I have ordered new wheels and I have ordered Michelin Super Sports to put on them. We will have them on in time for SSITS. Spud

Quote from MACAWS

Flybuddy - you will love those tires I have been running for a while. Great on the track and te street. Bit of warning watch the pressure in the rear you will have to drop lower than recommended. I was running at 30lbs cold and hot they stayed around 32 (recommended) But the tire wore in the center only not evenly. My guess was over inflation. Just ordered a new rear and plan to drop down to 28lbs.
Be Safe

I went ahead and lowered the pressure today. While doing so I checked the sidewall for info. It's a 50 psi tire that we're already running underinflated. The sidewalls are simply 2 plys of polyester and the tire is relatively soft. On the Can Am Spyders we all had an issue with the stock Kendas having excess wear in the middle of the rear tire regardless of high or low tire pressure. Video showed that the center of the tire tended to egg out at higher speeds.
Another consideration is how tire pressure affects hydroplaning. The quote below is from the NHTSA.gov website:

"Skidding and/or loss of control from hydroplaning
The conditions that influence hydroplaning include speed, tire design,tread depth, water depth on the road, load on the tires, and inflation pressure. At low speeds (less than about 50 mph), if your tires are under-inflated, youactually have more tire touching the road. However, hydroplaning does notoccur very often at speeds below 50 mph, unless there is deep water (usuallystanding water) on the road. As you get to about 55 mph and the water pressuregoing under the tire increases, an under-inflated tire has less pressure init pushing down on the road and you have less tire-to-road contact than aproperly inflated tire as the center portion of the tread gets lifted outof contact with the road. As speed increases to 70 mph and above and waterdepth increases due to a severe local storm with poor drainage, the under-inflatedtire could lose 40 percent of the tire-to-road contact area compared to aproperly inflated tire. The higher the speed (above 50 mph) and the moreunder-inflated the tire is, then the lower the tire-to-road contact and thehigher is the chance of hydroplaning.
Tread depth has a substantial impact on the probability of hydroplaning. Ifyou make a simplifying assumption that the water depth exceeds the capabilityof the tread design to remove water (which most likely would occur with veryworn tires), then an approximation of the speed at which hydroplaning canoccur can be estimated by the following formula:
Hydroplaning speed� = 10.35 x inflation pressure ^[25]
Under this assumption of water depth exceeding the capability of the treaddesign to remove water:
This is presented to show the relative effect of inflation pressure onthe possibility of hydroplaning."

Quote from Slingrazor

Took @kenny_h recomdation and purchased a pair of Sumitmo 265 35 18s for the front and I will be ordering a 285 35 18 for the rear.
I have the 18 in rim from the rear in the front as well.

@Slingrazor How do you like the sumis so far?