It amazes me sometimes that people can get a license without realizing that you adjust your speed according to conditions, not necessarily the speed limit.
How long since youāve had your steering and suspension components checked out? All it takes is one bad tie rod end and your car will wander all over kingdom come in the rain at highway speeds. If nothingās ever been checked or replaced there, itās long overdue.
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Biglou, the make and model of the tire is PRINTED ON THE SIDE OF THE TIRE!!! Just read the letters on the sidewall, and put them here. If your not sure what you purchased, Iām willing to bet that they are El Cheapo brand, known for not safety testing tires, and designing good wet weather traction.
Another thought. If the tires are uni-directional, but mounted backwards, this is a sure sign of a crappy dealer and a dangerous situation. BTW, a unidirectional tire, designed to be mounted in only one direction on the rim, will have a rotational arrow printed on the sidewall, as well. Mounting these tires backwards will cause the tire to pump water into the center, guarantying a hydroplane condition.
Get the info off the side of your tires (for example, my Mazda 3 has Goodyear Eagle RS-A, 205/50R17) and look up the tires on this website www.tirerack.com
Once you do this you can look up reviews and survey results for your brand of tire. You may find the unknown tires you bought are low mileage and generally behave poorly on wet roads. Then look under best sellers and you may find a tire thatās better suited for wet weather.
This at least gives you a data point that may convince you the tires are the problem or if not pursue some of the other advice youāre receiving (alignment, shocks,etc)
If you look up my tires youāll see theyāre considered a poor performer in wet/snowy weather. Although they only have 16,000 miles on them theyāll be gone before next winter. I wonāt have them on the car for another Michigan winter.
Iāve made a reference on this board before about the worst performing wet road tires Iāve ever seen in my life and that was a set of Kellys that were on my Lincoln.
The roads did not even require much measurable rainfall at all to send that car all over the roadway.
Driving on a damp road surface was like driving on ice and pooled water was never a factor.
Returning from Tulsa on the turnpike (posted 75 MPH) I was doing 50-55 MPH with both hands on the wheel and sweating it out even then.
That was the last road trip on those tires. They got ditched.
Whatās left?
While I agree speed and poor tires whether over or under inflated cause handling problems, just for the hell of it Iām going to toss out the possibility of worn sway bar bushings or bad shocks.
Tyres: Remaining tread depth, tyre design, age of the tyre (old is not good) and tyre pressure (too low or too high)
When was the last time you checked the tyre pressure. What is the recommended pressure for your tyres (hint, the number on the side of the tyre is not the recommended number)? What pressure is in them now? Check each tyre.
JosephāI suspect that the OP has left us because he/she was getting answers other than what was desired. Hopefully I am wrong, because the OP can definitely benefit from what has been suggested.
But, on the other hand, I have noticed a disturbing trend of people dismissing anything other than what they wanted to hear in the first placeāin this case, that it was something other than the tires and the speed at which he/she is driving. And, of course, that leads to the inevitable question:
If someone is not prepared to listen to all of the opinions offered by others, why ask for those opinions?
Without a doubt sub par tires in the wet or worn down enough tires are the culprit. If a tire has <5/32" tread depth it is compromised in all conditions except dry roads.
Is there any chance that you have ādirectionalā tires on this vehicle and one or more of them is not rotating in the correct direction?
As for the alignment, I had our 97 Accord in three different shops and none of them got it right. I ended up doing it myself in the driveway with a homemade jig. The rear wheels have to be aligned first and that seems to be hard for some shops to do.
My wifeās car used to do the same thing. It had cheapo walmart douglas performance GT-H tires. They were fine until they got down to 6/32 then would hydroplane like crazy. I stopped letting her drive it in the rain because it terrified me when I drove it in such conditions. Luckily, the engine blew before those tires had a chance to kill me.
I have a 2002 Honda Civic and it does the same. Iām convinced itās not my tires. The tread on them is still pretty good and the personnel at Discount Tires say they donāt need to be replaced. I had my front breaks replaced about a year ago. Iām wondering if the back breaks may make the difference. Or, is there such as thing as callobrating the brakes? I have yet to replace the shocks or struts and my car has about 150,000 miles. Any information to either post would be greatly appreciated. -ee
The crew at Discount Tires has a conflict of interest. By telling you that the tires are not the problem, they deflect criticism for selling you cheap tires. Also consider that these workers are not engineers. They are clerks who happen to work in a tire store.
Letās think about the title of this thread: āCar slides around on a wet freeway.ā If your car [i]slides[/i], how could tires not be the problem? It certainly isnāt caused by your brakes. Unless they have flipped over, or their wheels have fallen off, cars donāt [i]slide[/i] on anything except the tires.
Both you and the OP are in denial. The tread patterns of cheap tires can lead to hydroplaning even when they are brand new. When a car āslides around on a wet freeway,ā the obvious place to look is the tires. If you are going to eliminate the tires as the cause, I suggest you find more scientific methods for evaluating the possible causes.
When it comes to cheap tires, you get what you pay for.
Well said, Whitey. Of course, there is another possiblity that is related to the tires, namely overinflation. If āeeā is one of those confused people who inflates his/her tires to the pressure listed on the tire sidewall, rather than what is listed on the placard on the driverās door jamb, then the tires are GROSSLY overinflated and they will give substantially less traction on a wet surface.
To clarify for āeeā, while the tires may not need to be replaced on the basis of the remaining amount of tread, if you are sliding around on wet roads, then they definitely need to be replaced. Or, would you like to be pulled out of a wreck, while still repeating, āIām convinced its not my tiresā. Trust meāthe problem IS your tires.
Until you get them replaced, be sure that they are inflated properly (as per the placard on the driverās door jamb), and be sure to slow down to a speed at which the car is not sliding around.
Well boys and girls, ābiglouā aināt a-comminā back. So weāll just debate this to death amongst ourselves.
As much as I think itās really the tires, and so do youall, I wonder if thereās any chance that TWO hondas ( biglou & ee ) are being driven by just one axle ? This seems horribly un-likely but something that might show a dry/wet difference such as in a rear wheel drive vehicle with bad axle teeth on one side.
hmm.
I guess that this is a possibility, but if the cars in question were being driven by only one axle, wouldnāt there be one HECK of a case of torque steer when accelerating? Surely at least one of these two people would have mentioned torque steer also, wouldnāt they? (Then again, maybe not!)
Youād-a-thunk.
The customer with the rear axle issue told of it reacting to the same side each time, hence our clue-in that only one axle was pushing.
Just an idea I tossed out there. I still think itās the tires/driver myself.
Bro my car is doing the exact thing but only when Iām on the highway and itās raining. Ever since I
Got an alignment from the dealership.
Like wow dude, you need to slow down in the rain.
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