I never even knew this section of the forum existed untill i accidently pressed End

Anways;

Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0 TDi PD

Done about 2,000 miles on my new Uniroyal Rainsports and i love them, as they are really designed for the wet they are obviously going to be better then most (if not all) in the rain compared to tyres in the same budget margin. £90 per corner (225/40/18Y) and the grip is immense, im still going into corners edging that little faster each time and they grip without a doubt. Standing water is dealt with easily via the huge directional tred grooves. Offer really positive feedback and feel secure when the temp dips below 3 degrees (where my old tyres started to really lose grip)

Shall be buying again!

I never even knew this section of the forum existed untill i accidently pressed End

Anways;

Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0 TDi PD

Done about 2,000 miles on my new Uniroyal Rainsports and i love them, as they are really designed for the wet they are obviously going to be better then most (if not all) in the rain compared to tyres in the same budget margin. £90 per corner (225/40/18Y) and the grip is immense, im still going into corners edging that little faster each time and they grip without a doubt. Standing water is dealt with easily via the huge directional tred grooves. Offer really positive feedback and feel secure when the temp dips below 3 degrees (where my old tyres started to really lose grip)

Shall be buying again!

I have these all round on my Ocataia Vrs and I've been telling folk about them for ages

"" Awesome in the Dry, even better in the wet""

You will not be disappointed

Good Call Emma

Yeh, I have to fully agree. The Rainsports are the best in the rain and damp conditions we unfortunately seem to have here most of the time! They aren't quite as good as the best tyres in the dry however and the Michelin PS3's are almost they're in the wet now also IMO.

Wow where food you get them for that price

Sorry about the predictive text misspelling

Yeh, I have to fully agree. The Rainsports are the best in the rain and damp conditions we unfortunately seem to have here most of the time! They aren't quite as good as the best tyres in the dry however and the Michelin PS3's are almost they're in the wet now also IMO.

Wow where food you get them for that price

The PS3's are about £120 per corner arnt they? Wet/damp conditions they are best, dry roads they are still really good but there will be better

Camskill.co.uk

Have to concur, got Rainsport 2's fitted a fortnight ago on the arse on the Furby (replacing life expired SportContact 2s) and it's totally changed the handling balance of the car, turn in is a lot better and the rear end is a lot more stable in the wet - although it means I am having to adjust my driving style and "relearn" the car as it were. Got Vredestein Sportrac 3s on the front, which are a similar price to the Uniroyal's but much harder to get hold of. They seem to be wearing quite quickly but they work well in all weathers too.

Edited 11 May, 201214 yr by ckyliu

Glad you got the Rainsports to the rear of the car not the front.

As for wear i have not actually looked properly, mine is lowered so theres not much of the tred i see and she does not get washed as often as id like :(

The PS3's are about £120 per corner arnt they? Wet/damp conditions they are best, dry roads they are still really good but there will be better

Camskill.co.uk

Yes, PS3's are more expensive but they last longer from experience. I also used to notice a marked deteriation in performance as they wore; by 3mm they would be swapped out on my car. The initial purchase price is very reasonable indeed though. Both are great tyres and the Uniroyals make a lot of sense with our climate. I used to run a very powerful fwd car and you could definetly take more liberties with the accelerator pedal in damp conditions when it was shod with the Uniroyals.

I have these all round on my Ocataia Vrs and I've been telling folk about them for ages

me too used 1's and 2's for a long time however I'v just gone for rain expert the tread looks a bit like a mud and snow- they have a "which" award which I think has driven the price up but time will tell

Had the two fronts on my Fabia VRS done on 8th May (205/45*16 83W). First impression is of a very soft sidewall. Steering seems a little heavier, not sure of the car's balance as I haven't <ahem> caned it around any corners recently. Previous tyres were very worn so difficult to comment on the sure footedness of the new ones.

Planning to swap them to the rears anyway as my rears are old and refuse to wear out back there.

J.

After reading this thread I decided to get two for my boggo MK1 Fabia VRS after I got a nail through a sidewall. So far I've done about 1500 miles over the space of 3 weeks.

Pros -

Not too expensive (black circles - very good service from the Ford Dealer the tyres were fitted at)

Great grip, especially in the the wet - so good in fact I really wished I had some on the back as well the other day as the rear started sliding.

Cool looking tread

Cons -

I suspect the rubber is softer than some tyres - will only be able to tell when I've done another few thousand miles.

They whine - I thought it was my gearbox at first as the missus had been driving my car the time before I first noticed it (took about 750 to 1000 miles to start) and she has a bit of a track record with breaking cars. It's worst at motorway speed on rough tarmac, although it's not too annoying - I just turn the stereo up.

Overall I'll be getting them again for the rear as long as I get a decent amount of wear out of the fronts.

I think the compound is abit softer then most all season tyres, iv dont about 4-5k on these now and they are starting to go down quickly.

As for the whine, all directional tyres do this, or so i have noticed. Directional seems to have a whine to them and blocked tred has more a rumble, the quietest tyre you will find will be a slick tyre, i think ill live with the whining

I think the compound is abit softer then most all season tyres, iv dont about 4-5k on these now and they are starting to go down quickly.

As for the whine, all directional tyres do this, or so i have noticed. Directional seems to have a whine to them and blocked tread has more a rumble, the quietest tyre you will find will be a slick tyre, i think ill live with the whining

Interesting - The last car I had directional tyres on was a Volvo T5 and didn't notice the noise but then that car had far superior noise suppression. Oh the other hand it weighed about twice as much and I struggled to get more than 15 to 20 mpg unless on a long run driving like a funeral director.

I think I'll live with the whining too.*

*I could make a joke about significant others there but I'd better not.

I only managed to get 7k out of mine when I had my Colt CZT. I had 3 sets over 3 years and they were all the same.

Brilliant tyres though in the wet, which is what you need in England and is the reason I always went nacho fur the same tyre.

Just how loud is the whine on these in a Fabia?

I'm about to order some, but I hate droning tyres :(

I've got them on mine Sam, had them on the old one too. Can't say I've noticed whining or droning at all. Grip is very good in all weather, particularly impressive in the wet as you'd expect and they do well in the snow. Hard wearing too, had many thousands out of them.

From what I remember, the set of four I last bought a few months back were about £345 fitted, tracked and balanced.

Ah that's good to hear then

Just how loud is the whine on these in a Fabia?

I'm about to order some, but I hate droning tyres :(

It depends what road surface you drive on, theres only one road i noticed it on and its the smoothest road going, normal roads you dont actually hear it.

TBH if they do wear out after 7k i might look into buying something else, i do about 15,000+ miles a year, just sat and worked out that ive only had mine on about 3-4k not what i thought.

Just how loud is the whine on these in a Fabia?

I'm about to order some, but I hate droning tyres :(

Michelin tyre's don't drone (soft sidewall's) so you could look at BF Goodridge, made by Mich. .

Ah that's good to hear then

I only notice it when in a high gear for the speed - ie "fuel economy mode" - and as Ema_jane says it's only on smooth roads.

Uniroyal rainsports 2's are used in the vw beetle fun cup racing series and they nail them around race tracks including the Spa 25hrs with good results! Can't go wrong with this tyre but they get the performance from a slightly softer compound than some road rubber.

Had the fronts replaced last year on my mk1 fab vrs with the rainsport 2

previously had the kumho ku39 ecstas which i swopped to the rear

the sidewalls on the rains are slightly softer but that difference is more than made up by the extra grip and the lower road noise

no more noticeable droning although the old tyres are on the rear so maybe my ears only work towards the front

the grip in the wet though is outstanding

there are some tricky junctions and roundabouts with some vast camber changes which the kumhos struggled with in the wet at times bringing in the tc but the rainsports just grip

wear wise they are also doing better than the kumhos

with approx 12000 miles under their belt the rainsports are still going strong

i dont drive hard though and do some long distances so if you are a bit of a nut job as i used to be (i also used to circuit race at such as Cadwell donington croft) then i would prob look for something else as they would be to soft in the sidewall for me and whilst a softish tread compound they are a compromise between grip and wear and not an out and out circuit tyre

those are just my thoughts though

what do you think?

had a set of pirelli's on the front before and i think maxxis on the back or vice versa and both were just awful dry and wet. so was going to get a set of rain sports but didn't have enough money so got maxxis on the front due to the wear on the old tires and they were okish. but wouldn't recommend them tho. so got the money put the maxxis on the back and finally got a set of rainsports on the front and the grip is fantastic but of course not really had enough dry weather to test them fully but grip in the wet is just awesome and will be buying them again in the future

vrs180

going off on a tangent for a mo

many many moons ago had a MG Montego turbo the petrol version and fitted p zeros all around they were amazing

had a 300zx twin turbo manual a few years back and decided to do the same again p zeros all round

whaqt a mistake that was, they were at best truly awful, couldnt waqit to wear them out

It just shows that what works for one car is not necessarily the best for another

I have found the rainsports excellent for my use but they do have their limitations

Its all about what you want from a tyre that matters, once you know that then you can start looking for something that will do that.

Something excellent in the wet is going to be softer in the wall and have a softer compound so its dry hot summer wear ande hard cornering roll will suffer as a consequence.

depends if you drove it like you stole it or are sympathetic.

in my racing i have used full wets, inters, cut slicks and full slicks of various compounds dependant upon prevailing conditions on the day and the difference in grip between compounds on the same day can be vast

This said i found the rainsports the best all round tyre for my fab as yet considering the cost and arnt considering any other when i need to get some more