The duration that it takes for the water to get under the oil is defendant upon the variables: volume of oil, oil density (which is calculated from all the different types of oil that are in the road), volume of water, the asphalt, amount of cars that are driving over (the pressure from the vehicles help to push the water through the oil), and how saturated the road surface is with oil

 

New York is just as bad, it drizzled two days ago and there was a five car pileup east bound on the Grand Central. What pissed me off Is I was going West bound and all these jackasses in front of me wanted to stop and watch. Unless your a doctor or EMT... keep it movin.

 

Rubberneckers suck!!!! I hate it when it starts to rain just a little hard, and everyone slows down and puts on their flashers. so annoying

 

heh, a few years back i spent a couple weeks in Saratoga Springs up above Albany. Dead of winter, ~15" of snow on the ground.... people absolutly refused to let some snow stop them from where they were going, it was awesome. People drove surprisingly well, but it was funny as **** to see some vehicles that were not meant for that trying their damndest to make it around town/country roads

 

yup it is lol

 

My first car was a Camaro, and I used to love it when it snowed!!! Fishtail city!!! But I would get stuck on snow mounds, like in my friends driveway, and I would have to get my buddies with trucks to yank me off. Happened a lot actually.

 

^ nice

 

Rain and snow are why I replaced the OE tires on my car with Continental ExtremeContact all-season ultra-high performance tires. I've had those tires on other cars before, and along with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S I've also had (great tire but expensive), they're great year-round, real-world tires.

Yes, they're not as "pure" of a performance tire as summer-only rubber. But, realistically, in street driving (which is what I do, I don't track or autocross the car), there really isn't that much difference between the ExtremeContact or Pilot Sport A/S and the OE Potenza's (at least not enough that my butt dyno could ever feel).

But there sure is a HUGE difference in the rain. The Conti or Michelin mean the difference between being able to safely cruise at 75 mph in a hard rain vs. white-knuckle hydroplaning. I've run those tires on other cars in the winter, and this year will for the first time try them on my RX8 through this winter. For me personally, I would rather have tires that have *most* of the dry-weather performance of a "pure" summer performance, but that let me drive and enjoy the car - safely - year-round and not just in sunny nice weather (Potenza's may be fine in California or Florida, but here in the northeast we get so many rain and snow days, I don't want to give up the car half the time!) (and I run Potenza's on my S2000 for strictly sunny day fun).

Anyone else running all-season tires on their RX8?

 

I am, involuntarily. I bought the car used about 6 months ago, and the previous owner had Falken Ziex something of anothers. They've been alright, but I can't wait to replace them with summer tires to maximize grip and really test the limits of the car. I've heard people say all-seasons are a compromise, implying that they would be decent in the rain and also in the dry. I've stepped the tail out accidently on a rainy day, and have also tested out if the title of "all-season" is true. It's not. Believe it or not, California does have snow here and there, and I made the mistake of trying to go explore it. Won't be doing that again.

The next tire I'm thinking about getting is the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo. Even though they're supposed to be performance summer tires, they pull a very respectable skidpad grip in the wet (.87g as opposed to .93 in the dry). I know a lot of summer tires have a higher tradeoff between dry and wet traction, but I'm wondering what the advantage of all-seasons are for someone in my position.

Anyways, keeping on topic about bad California drivers, here's one. It wasn't even a rainy day, but last week I saw a beautiful blue Bentley Continental convertible downtown that sort of romped and stomped over a cement median separating lanes. I heard a lot of scraping and nastiness... poor guy.

 

Try coming to the east coast
According to GMAC, California didn't even make the top10 in '08. (Yeah i know its @ years ago, but an example)

My state NJ has some of the worst driver in the land, scoring number1 in the tests.

All you Cali. guys come out this way in late Jan.- Feb. in 6 inches of snow. It can get sporty out here that time of year. haha

On another note I can only imagine the type of drivers out in Cali. with all the traffic and whatnot.

Here's the article:

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com...-U-S-Live-in-/