First Ryde In The Rain, Front A Little Slippery

[mark4Jesus]

This morning while taking my RTL for the 9300 mile service I found the only rain storm in East Tennessee! Wasn’t bad at first, but finally got bad enough I stopped under an overpass and put on my rain gear. It was coming down hard and I was on I-75. Found out that when I I got above 50 the fronts (Federal Evos) wanted to hydroplane. They were on it when I got it and look pretty new, lots of tread to go. Traction was fine until it got really heavy. Not sure any tire would have done much better in that. Other than that very happy with the ride in the rain.

What have others experienced with fronts in heavy rain?

(P.S. Doing this on my phone, hope it comes out understandable!

[Saluda]

Post showed fine. Stock tires on my Spyder. Heavy rain a few times, speeds were up there. No problems experienced. There are different levels of heavy rain though.

[Flamewinger]

Curious what psi you have in the tires? The Kenda’s should have between 18-20 ish. Maybe too high a pressure makes the tires harder and not ride so well in certain conditions.

[MNBK]

Stock tyres on my 2016 F3T and rode about 450 miles in medium to frog drowning rain at freeway speeds and no issues.

[gkamer]

There are different levels of heavy rain though.

Not to mention different definitions.

[mark4Jesus]

Curious what psi you have in the tires? The Kendra’s should have between 18-20 ish. Maybe too high a pressure makes the tires harder and not ride so well in certain conditions.

Set them to 16 yesterday. Manual said 15 +/- 2. Would it be different since they are Evo’s?

[mark4Jesus]

Not to mention different definitions.

True! Lots of water was coming out from under the sides of the fenders.

[SpyderAnn01]

What rear tire do you have?

[mark4Jesus]

What rear tire do you have?

Kenda with 9k on it. Close to replacement. I have been trying to decide if it was the rear, but don’t think there was any fish tailing. Just felt and looked like the front moved. Have 28psi in the rear.

[SpyderAnn01]

Kenda with 9k on it. Close to replacement. I have been trying to decide if it was the rear, but don’t think there was any fish tailing. Just felt and looked like the front moved. Have 28psi in the rear.

Hmmm, I usually felt that the hydroplaning was caused by my rear tire. I had the Evo with a Kumho on the rear and that was not a good combination on wet roads. I run the Federal Firmoza with a General Altimax and don’t have hydroplaning issues, unless there is a lot of standing water-then it doesn’t matter what you’ve got for tires.

[mark4Jesus]

Hmmm, I usually felt that the hydroplaning was caused by my rear tire. I had the Evo with a Kumho on the rear and that was not a good combination on wet roads. I run the Federal Firmoza with a General Altimax and don’t have hydroplaning issues, unless there is a lot of standing water-then it doesn’t matter what you’ve got for tires.

Was surprised, I would have thought the rear would before the fronts. While I was waiting on mine, looked at the fronts on the new ‘18’s and they looked like they would be better at moving water than the Evo. There was a lot of water on the road, probably some standing. Two hour ride home now. If I hit rain again we will see. Looks clear now.

[Bob Denman]

ride in The Rain.jpg

[ARtraveler]

I have also experienced hydroplaning when going through water at over 50 mph. After "nanny" saved my bacon twice, I figured out not to go to fast on roads covered with water.

I run OEM Kendas.

The manuals (2011 & 2014) have a statement about hydroplaning somewhere. BRP did the usual CYA.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

#1..... ALL tires will Hydro-plane at some speed .......... #2. you want to delay that as much as possible, so decrease the PSI's ( in a car tire ) to 14 ..... yes you can safely do this ..... #3. what a tire looks like is really meaningless ...( except for DOT legal race day tires - or if they are bald ..... #4.... the weight bias front to rear ( if not exaggerated ) is not as important as over-all vehicle weight, this is for mostly straight line running ( tight curves change things ) ...... #5.... as Ann pointed out - it's possible it was the rear tire that Hydro-planed. ................. Spyders are probably more likely to Hydro-plane sooner than a two wheel Mtc. when the roads are wet ..... Braking not accounted for ..... Hopes this helps ..... Mike

[crazycanuck]

ride in The Rain.jpg

one time riding home from Colorado there was lightening on both sides of the freeway with no overpasses or exits in site; finally after about 20 miles of this nonsense I see a exit and a motel 6, i literally had to dive in to the front door

[RapidSpyder]

one time riding home from Colorado there was lightening on both sides of the freeway with no overpasses or exits in site; finally after about 20 miles of this nonsense I see a exit and a motel 6, i literally had to dive in to the front door

That would make for a little bit of a pucker factor.

[Chupaca]

especially on the tire pressure as you have much stiffer sidewalls on the car tires. But it seems you did quite well in the downpour

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

T

What have others experienced with fronts in heavy rain?

Hydroplaning!!!

[Bfromla]

Know my rear has on crappy Louisiana black top in the ruts around 55-64mph only time nanny has appeared, stock tire over pressure & simi bald was replaced shortly there after (16k m) no problem with fronts (also stock) except for dodging roadkill first the few thousand miles thankfully. Up to 44k m now might need a rear tire mid season Ryde it till I do, it's doing ok.

[mark4Jesus]

I have also experienced hydroplaning when going through water at over 50 mph. After "nanny" saved my bacon twice, I figured out not to go to fast on roads covered with water.

I run OEM Kendas.

The manuals (2011 & 2014) have a statement about hydroplaning somewhere. BRP did the usual CYA.

Was it on the fronts or rear?

[ARtraveler]

Was it on the fronts or rear?

Thinking a combo of both. Nanny kicked in real quick and kept me from doing a 360. We have grooves from studded snow tire use and they fill up with water quickly.

[mark4Jesus]

I base my thoughts on tread pattern for wet on Formula 1 tires. They have a pattern that pushes the water out away from the center of the tire, whether the intermediate or full wet. The Kendas and Evo have that similar pattern.

F1 Full Wet.jpg

akspyderman, you made a comment about Nanny. It got me thinking, when I first pulled back on to the interstate, it felt as though it was missing. I thought to myself, has the rain got into the engine somehow. But now, I believe the Nanny was backing me down at first. I was still getting some aquaplaning (The way the Brits say it).

[Bob Denman]

hydroplaning can happen to virtually any vehicle on the road during a decent storm.
Slow down, and watch for deepest collections of water: you'll always be fine!

(But the 225 rear tire DOES make the Spyder just a bit more susceptible to it...)

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I base my thoughts on tread pattern for wet on Formula 1 tires. They have a pattern that pushes the water out away from the center of the tire, whether the intermediate or full wet. The Kendas and Evo have that similar pattern.

F1 Full Wet.jpg

akspyderman, you made a comment about Nanny. It got me thinking, when I first pulled back on to the interstate, it felt as though it was missing. I thought to myself, has the rain got into the engine somehow. But now, I believe the Nanny was backing me down at first. I was still getting some aquaplaning (The way the Brits say it).

Seeing is not necessarily believing. As I said earlier what may look good can fool you ...... I base my wet road thoughts on Science ......... and if you really want better wet road handling get - skinny Snow tires .... also those tires pictured above have more to do with the rubber compound than the tread pattern - the FULL WET tire has a very high " hysteresis " formula in their rubber compound .... they will wear out much sooner when driven on dry roads ........ Mike

[mark4Jesus]

Seeing is not necessarily believing. As I said earlier what may look good can fool you ...... I base my wet road thoughts on Science ......... and if you really want better wet road handling get - skinny Snow tires .... also those tires pictured above have more to do with the rubber compound than the tread pattern - the FULL WET tire has a very high " hysteresis " formula in their rubber compound .... they will wear out much sooner when driven on dry roads ........ Mike

The compound does wear out quickly due to heat when run in the dry. However, the tread patterns are designed to disperse water to keep traction in the wet. The tread patterns are different depending on conditions. This is from the Formula 1 website about the Pirelli tires: "At full speed the Pirelli intermediate tyre can disperse up to 30 litres of water per second, while the full wet tyre can disperse 85 litres per second." 85 liters is a little over 22 gallons, pretty amazing to me.

So it is obvious that tread patterns do make a difference in water displacement and, therefore, traction on wet roads. It can be too wet even for the full wet tires, although I've only seen that happen a few times.