Across 121 reviews, the Uniroyal RainExpert is widely praised for outstanding wet-weather grip and strong resistance to aquaplaning, with many drivers also reporting confident dry handling for a mid-priced tire. Comfort and refinement are frequently highlighted (smooth ride, generally low-to-moderate noise) and value for money is a recurring theme. The most common drawbacks are soft sidewalls that can cause vague steering/roll unless pressures are increased, plus reports of reduced fuel economy and faster wear on the front/driven axle for some vehicles.
What owners mention most counted across 120 reviews
These are a great tire. Without pushing really hard i have never come unstuck in the wet. Even when it was raining very heavily with very strong winds on the motorway, i have never had a hint of aquaplaning even at 70+- a few mile an hour. In the dry they are also very good again never really getting out of shape unless pushing hard. I do mainly motorway miles travelling to and from home at the weekends. I have had these tires fitted for the last 16 months and have covered over 18,000 miles and they still have mountains of tread. So with regards to some reviews saying they are poor wearing they have either had a poor batch (unlikely if all tires are wearing quickly) or not looking after them correctly E.g not keeping them correctly inflated or overloading without adjusting tire pressures.
The tires are awesome. They really do have better wet grip than any other tire I have ever tried. There are no signs of aquaplaning when driving from a dry road to a wet road even at the motorway limit. After coming through deep standing water the tires begin to grip immediately after and you can feel the tires beginning to really bite.
I shall definitely fit these again.
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Just suffered a blow out on the front off-side, tried to replace the General Tire but the local dealer didn't have them. Afer some discussion, I had two Uniroyal Rain Expert tires fitted on the front (front wheel drive V70 Volvo) what a difference! 60% less road noise, better quality of ride, sticks to the road like glue! Excellent tires, I'm going back next week to replace the two on the back (even though they don't really need it yet!)
Good alround tire, but very poor in the wear department. Rear tires have done 32,000 with 5mm still left, front only did 17,000. Most of my driving is Motorway at 60mph, with very little cornering as such. very poor wearing.
Wanted to use RainSport tires for the wife's car since I was so impressed with them on mine. However, they didn't do that size and so I chose these. Very happy with the decision.
They are not as progressive as the rainsport, but they do what my wife needs; they stop you perfectly in cold, wet, conditions. I bought 2 when her OEM tires wore out and noticed an enormous improvement. I'll be buying 2 more when the winter tires get swapped off in a week or two.
Naturally enough, I have tried punishing them more than my wife does, and they do grip pretty well in the dry and very well in the wet. Highly recommended for the smaller car.
These tires are amazing! Fist test they were put through was ice and snow and they absolutly blew all previous tires away!
In the wet these are like many reaosnable tires are oin the dry.
I have yet to see how they are in the full heat of summer - maybe they will be a little softer than my previous Conti PC2's - but so far they equal or exceed those. I suspect they will have a softer turn in on hot tarmac. But they feel lovely - comfortable and respond perfectly without the harshness I normally associate with this level of grip. Wait to see how well they wear - in therms of rating they have the same AA Traction and A temp and 280 treadwear the Conti's have.
87%
Member
Toyota
165/70 R13 T
4,000 miles
Mostly Motorways
Average
I bought a full set of these from Event Tires to replace the budget 145 80 13s which had been on my (newly bought) car for the last 8 years. No comparison can be made here as these out performed the old, hardened tires in every way!
These tires need a bit of running in and I found that they really start to shine after about 500-600 miles of regular use. The sidewalls feel a bit soft but that might be because I have soggy, standard suspension and OE size tires!
I commute on the M60 for 200 miles a week, over the winter it can get cold and it frequently rains throughout the year but these tires can cope admirably with all of these poor driving conditions. They give you a feeling of security in the wet and if driven correctly, leave you with a wide margin of error if the unexpected happens on the motorway when at reasonable motorway speeds. Standing water is not a problem for them and they are resistant to aquaplaning.
They fare pretty well on a b road too and quickly highlighed the limitations of my suspension.
They performed well on ice and snow when driven properly (engine braking, starting off in 2nd etc). When I wanted to lock up my non-ABS car for giggles on snow, they dug in and gripped very well.
Having gone from 145 budgets to 165 Uniroyals, I've noticed a slight drop in economy (got 53mpg on 145s, and could only muster 50mpg on 165s on the same long run), there are other factors at play as well as the extra width and resistance but it's not enough to get in a tizz about.
These are quite noisy tires but V shaped tread pattern tires usually are (think Vredestein Sportrac 3s or Toyo T1-Rs).
They are wearing well after 4000-odd miles.
Summary/TLDR
Buy them if you value a good summer rain tires at the cost of road noise, a possible reduction in MPG over other 'eco' tires and a bit of ultimate dry weather grip.
I fitted set of these on my rear in the spring 2011 and left the old Fulda Cerat Exellaro on the front. Now with my old Fuldas on the back my rear side tented to brake out at moderate speeds in the coreners, especially in the wet. Fulda do not do well in the wet. Thatswhy I bought these Rainexperts(mine were made in Slovakia). Instantly after changing the tires my rear end stayed exactly where I wanted it. They are like glued to the road. Now before the winter came I also changed the front ones since I read here that they are not that bad in the snow. When I replaced the front ones, there was a lot of wheel spin. I didnt understand whats going on since the rear ones were like glued to the surface and these were well... bad. All 4 were bought at the same time, the front ones were in my garage waiting to be mounted. But after 1000km the front ones became as good as the rear ones. I dont know why, they just did.
The temperatures here (Croatia) are now -10°C and they are apsolutly great! When the road is dry the low temperatures do not represent any problem for these tires. They also cope well in the recent snow. Of course, they are NOT winter tires but they do wery well. I am not one of those guys who never have driven a winter tire and then say oh this one is great in snow. Actually I always had winter tires up till now. I also tried other summer tires in the snow and these outperform those by far. Just few days ago it was snowing and I was on the motorway going 100km/h when I had to do an emergency maneuver due to some guy that was driving only 50km/h on a motorway. My heart almost stopped but thanks to these tires I managed to avoid a colision. The car wabbeled a bit but nothing dramatic. I only wish the braking distance in the snow would be a bit shorter (I mean when you really slamm the brakes), but I guess I cant expect these to be perfect in all conditions (ABS was working overtime). All in all I would recommend you to try these first before you buy a set of winter tires. For summer - a definitive must have.
Changed from GY Optigrips at 52K (see reports 04May10 and 18Feb09) as last 2K miles were very floaty and insecure to Uniroyal Rainexpert. Changed front axle set Nov, rear axle set Dec!
Prices cheaper than GY and reviews on this website indicate positive and just as good performance in rain. with 1K running, car feels resonably good in rain but dry performance below wet. Shall monitor and advise full feedback afterwards; this is to set the benchmark.
