I had some Uniroyal Rainsport 3’s fitted on the rear of my 2 litre ND this week as the original Bridgestone Potenza’s had worn out at 21k miles.
I went for the Rainsports after reading some positive reviews here and elsewhere . Particularly as we do get a lot of rain in Yorkshire and my 80 mile plus round trip commute is on some pretty badly drained B roads & motorways.
At speed (lets just say slightly above the UK limit) in anything other than a straight line the rear of the car now feels as if it moving from side to side . Any slight input in the steering causes the rear to wiggle. It hasn’t lost grip, but feels horrible and quite scary.
At slower speeds it is OK. I’ve checked the pressures using two different gauges and both tyres are at the recommended 29psi. Also checked for anything obvious like loose wheel nuts. The tyres have been fitted correctly with the water displacing grooves to the outside.
Anyone else running them and suffering the same effects?
I’m going to try adding more pressure to see if that firms up the sidewall, but not sure if this is the issue, or just a bad choice of tyre. A bit annoying after shelling out £180 for the pair. Wishing now I had just replaced like with like.
Well trying different pressure made no difference and the handling didn’t settle down after putting a few miles on the tyres.
So yesterday I moved the part worn original Bridgestones from the front to the rear and put the new rear Rainsports on the front.
I could tell on the first stretch of motorway that the handling was back to how it should be. No wandering at the rear and full stability restored.
The Rainsport’s seem fine on the front with tons of grip in both the wet and the dry. Steering is very positive with no wandering whatsoever. Took a number of tight bends at pretty high speed and the car turned in very crisply with no drama whatsoever.
So unless I’ve ended up with a bad pair of Rainsport 3’s my advice to anyone with an ND is don’t fit them on the rear.
After this experience, I think I will stick with what I know and replace the two remaining original fit Bridgestone Potenzas with the same again when the ones I just moved to the rear wear out.
Would still be interested to hear from anyone who is running 17" Rainsport 3’s on the back of an ND and if your car handling seems affected b them.
I’m with IanH on this, I always rotate, well move front to rear ever so often for even wear. That way I replace the 4 tyres with the same brand.
I do believe mixing brands has resulted with some member reporting odd handling from there cars, you have found out that I guess with moving your tyres front to rear.
Can’t comment on the Rainsports 3’s although it was a decison to have either those or Kumho fitted to my Mk3, the Kumho won that one.
I did have the RS2’s fitted to my Mk2, they were excellent.
I’m committed to fitting 4 new rainsport 3s on Monday replacing 4 Rainsport2 which I’ve had for 6 yrs and have behaved superbly during the intervening years.
last September I had an MOT advisory that I should replace them because they had developed age related cracks. I don’t do much mileage these days but I thought I should change them before my next MOT.
I hope the 3s are as good as the 2s. The maximum speed I have done many years ago was 110 mph , I’ve never had any disturbing moments with them in any weather conditions.
Thanks Mick for the link, I shall ,very gently introduce the instructions to the tyre fitter taking maximum care not to upset him or her.
As others have said I would not want to mix tyre types front to back and definitely not Rainsport 3’s with their tread pattern.
I have just fitted 4 Rainsports 3’s to my Mazda 3, and what a difference, superb in wet and dry, and rock solid at well over the national speed limit.
My MX5 has Pilot Sport 4’s fitted which are superb also, so much confidence in the wet as well as dry, and no issues on the track. I’m off to the Ring in a couple of weeks which may finish them off, so depending on the difference in price I might fit a set of Rainsports 3’s next.
Good point Mick on making sure they are fitted correctly.
It was the 1st thing I looked at when I wasn’t happy with the handling. And they do look strange with the water draining grooves on one tyre on side of the car facing in the opposite direction to those on the other.
But definitely correctly fitted with “outside” facing outwards on both sides.
More than happy with them on the front after another day of some pretty fast motoring on the motorway and moor roads to work & back today.
But I won’t chance putting a matching set on the rear once the Potenza’s are fully worn down.