I’m still a “new” owner of the RX-8, only had it about 2 months now. Anyhow, last night I was caught in the rain on the way home from the ball park. Has anyone else had some VERY uneasy feelings about the 8 on wet roads? The whole back end was shifting and jerking side to side about 5-8 inches while going 55mph down the freeway. .. Currently I’m running BFGoodrich tires in the front and Kumos in the back. They’re all relatively high rated tires (however I didn’t buy them). They’re all factory spec tires too… any ideas?

Is it the traction control system?

Should I take it in for an alignment?

Are Kumo tires ghey?

 

Sounds like a tire issue. I'm firmly planted on wet roads.

If you want really good wet traction, try the goodyear F1's.

I'm using Kumo SPTs right now, no issue either.

 

Alignment might not be the issue. Get some good rubbers next time.
I too have Kumho's ECSTA SPT's and love them.
Might move up to Kumho ECSTA MX next time I need some new rubber.

 

Which Kuhmos are they? Kuhmo SPTs are pretty good in the wet. I've used them as a rain autocross tire for my Miata and they're pretty darn good for the price.

Shouldn't be squirrely. First check the amount of tread left on the rear tires, then tire pressure (should be 32psi), and then take it in for an alignment.

 

It could be that there is nothing wrong with your tires at all. Is this the first time its rained?
You know all kinds of deposits are on the ground IE;dust oil crap crap ect ect, and if you did not burn out befor the drive home that may have done it lol jk. But yeah all kinds of crap is on the roads out there. I hate it when it rains where I live. People drive like crap. First drops of rain and everyones all over the dam road!

 

First thing to check is that you have similar tread depths front and rear. If the rear tires are a lot more worn than the fronts, you could have been hydroplaning with the rears.

I wouldn't normally expect a problem going straight, but if you had a tire with good wet grip on the front and one with poor wet grip on the rear, the car would get very hard to drive in the rain.

Michelin, for example, does mixability tests when it considers a change to a tire. If they want to tweak the compound even a little bit, they do dry and wet handling tests to make sure that if either the old or new flavor has less grip and ends up on the rear, that the car will still handle safely.

Mixing two different tires isn't recommended, and I'd be especially leery of tires from two different manufacturers. I know of two people who purchased E36 M3s with OE Pilot Sports on the front and inexpensive Kumhos on the back and bent suspension components when spinning into a curb. The previous owner had bought the cheaper rear tires to save money in both cases. I had another friend who bought an M3, also with that same setup. He was a better driver, and had fun with the oversteer, but still was impressed when he got the right tires on both ends of the car.

If you get a tire that's really good in the wet, you'll be amazed what you can do. My favorite is the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2. It's great in the dry and the wet. The Pilot Sport A/S is pretty good in the dry and amazing in the wet, and lasts quite a bit longer, though it doesn't really cost much less. It would be my choice if I lived in Seattle. I haven't had a set of Yokohama Neovas yet, but they are supposed to be similarly all-around excellent.

I justify spending money on tires by looking at the cost per mile over 25,000-40,000 miles. It's really not that expensive to run really good tires.

 

My guess is that the staggered and separate brand tires are upsetting the balance. Which Khumos? I am running the Khumo 245/40 ECSTA MX. They are great in the dry and ok in the wet. After about 50% wear though, they are quite slick in the rain as the large tread blocks lend themselves to hydroplaining.

First, get all 4 of the same tire.
Second, get a tire that fits your driving style and weather concerns.
Third, know that you are driving a rear wheeled car and that means the rear will kick out in the rain if your not careful (or have turned DSC off)

 

You may just want to double check your tires to make sure they are both the same type of tire. ie. Summer Tread, or All Season. Make sure they all are one or the other. It may also be a condition of new rain. If it has not rained in a bit. this could cause the slight loss of traction. If all else fails.. Get Toyo Proxes T1R tires. They will do the tirck..

 

Shedding some more light on this, the rear Kuhmo's are Ecsta STP's and the fronts are BFGoodrich g-force. They're all 225 45Z R18's. The Kuhmos have about 7mm of tread on them, and the BFG's have about six hundred miles on them, brand new. I'm off next tuesday, I'll probably have the alignment checked then.

As for road conditions, it had rained hit or miss off and on for 3 days prior, and had pissed on us all through the ball game, so i'd think most oil/grease and other related road hazards would have been washed off fairly well. Could be wrong though.

I noticed this once before on a wet road, but wrote it off because it had only just rained and it was some back road out in the middle of nowhere.

 

Ooooops, scuze me, factory is 40, not 45. anyhow, close enough

 

nope, factory is 45.

 

I am will to put money on the rears being much more worn. If fact if you just bought the car it is VERY COMMON for a dealer to replace worn tires and mount the new ones up front. Reasoning is that the car will ride almost 50% better with only two new tires on the front. In alot of cases you can almost eliminate a vibration in the steering wheel (indicator of front tire issue) by just moving it to the back. Of course this is only masking the problem, not actually fixing it.

 

Car was bought off an individual. I put the penny test to it and it came to the top of ol' Link's ear on the rear tires, and to his nose on the front. There's plenty of tread, and as far as I can tell, no unusual tread wear. Going to have it put up on the racks Tuesday anyhow. I want to see what this jack-*** did to me. (This is a whole other subject on me being a "red-neck pickup driver hater"

Anyhow, as for being a hater, hows this for size, I was going home yesterday, and as the road widened from 3 lanes to 4, this guy in a white ford dually was in front of me, tailgating this other guy. I had already popped into the new lane, dropped to 4th gear and threw the coals to it, I had to slam the brakes to keep from colliding with his double wides as he swerved into my lane. I blow the horn at him and flip double birds from the steering wheel. All I can see is a cowboy hat through the aluminum grate in his back window and a grin between his fu manchu mustache. He goes from 66 and tailgating to poking along at 72 in the hammer lane. (does anyone know how to mount .50 cals to the oil radiators?) anyhow, so I ease over 3 lanes to the slow lane, and pass him and the whole pack of slo-mo's and end up in stop and go traffic about another 10 miles down the road. he works his way through traffic and ends up in front of me. no biggie, its not him being a ***** at this point, its luck of the draw.

Later I'm closing the gap between me and this red Ram pickup and guess who's in the lane next to him. I close in and put my blinker on to get into the next lane soon to open (sound familiar?) dick-instine swerves over hard just in time to clip this splintered 2x4 in the road and it flipps up, chips my front air dam and splinters under my car. I was ready to castrate this fu motherfugger and feed him his own ***** and then drill a hole in his head. anyhow, Immediately after he swerved into my lane, he jumps back and crosses 2 lanes to barely hit his exit.

road rage... where does it come from.... am I wrong for being a hater?.... why do 90% of the ****** I meet drive trucks? Oh... wait ... this is Texas... 99% of the population drives trucks... ggrrrrrrrrrrrrr