Wet grip is the clearest strength of the Uniroyal RainSport 2, with 133 positive mentions against two criticisms, followed by dry grip at 95 against eight. Comfort is also more often praised than criticised, while tread life is closely divided at 43 positive comments and 32 complaints. Around one in six criticise soft sidewalls, and smaller minorities mention imprecise steering or noise, with noise itself nearly evenly split. Repeat reviewers mostly remain favorable, but their scores and mileages do not show one consistent ageing trend. With an 81.4% average across 210 reviews, the strongest agreement concerns grip rather than long life or sharp steering.
What owners mention most counted across 207 reviews
I've used these tires almost exclusively for about 3 years but have now had to change to a different brand. In general these tires work very well. They're soft so tend roll a bit on corners but at the same time grip very well both in dry and wet. In the latter case, wet grip on slow, tight corners (such as roundabout) are the best that I've ever experienced. Wear rate also seems good as they are well priced. The perfect tire? Unfortunately not - they suffer from one major flaw; they do not tolerate potholes even at low speed. I have destroyed about 8 of these tires in 2 years after driving over potholes. In the last week, I've wrecked 3 of these tires. They always blow at the side-walls which are clearly very weak. Perhaps they are made this way to allow the tire to roll and maybe this helps grip. Nonetheless, I can't afford to replace tires at this frequency even if they are cheap. I've tried to inform Uniroyal about this but they are in denial at the moment. Perhaps once they receive the 5 tires that I've destroyed in the last few months they might listen.
Been looking forward to to trying these on my 4x4 Scout. The OEM Dunlop Sport SP were pretty average overall and seemed indifferent to the car's characteristics. It seemed difficult to exploit the the Scout's virtues of excellent roadholding. Fairly noisy too.
The replacement Bridgestone Potenzas 050As have been a disaster! Aside from only lasting perhaps 6,000+ miles, the handling was decent in the dry but proved skittish and uneven on the limit often inducing substantial oversteer in fast sweeping corners. Vague with any moisture in the air, they seemed unpredictable in rain and downright dangerous below about 5 degrees - even without snow (and yes, these are all summer tires). I have been amazed at how poor the wear rate has been. One tire nigh on shredded to pieces in the middle of the tire, leaving the edges intact. Go figure.
So far, the Rainsport 2 feels like a real contender. Strange, since it can be had much cheaper than the Potenzas. Very, very comfortable ride and quieter than either previous tire. Prodigious grip in dry and yes, confidence-inspiring in the wet. Braking distances are far shorter than with the Potenzas. I drive swiftly rather than very fast (it's an estate/avant after all) but a, finding that the Rainsport 2 has quietly changed the Scout into a rather devastating cross-country weapon. Seem well-suited to the 2.0ltr/high torque TDI crowd and maps the Scout's performance well.
Very pleased so far. If I get any hint that they may be discontinued, I'll be several sets to keep in the garage.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
I can only compare these tires to 'driving on balloons'. Good tread pattern, excellent ability to disperse standing water, quiet and quite grippy in a straight line but that's it. The tire walls are so thin that they provide no directional stability whatsoever, even with increased air pressure. The car wobbles when stationary if you give it a push from the side! I am just glad I have not needed to tow a trailer with them fitted. Two of the tires recently ruptured (at slow speed) on potholes on different roads. I have just replaced the set with Pirreli P7s. What a difference. If you just want to go shopping and have to drive to deep puddles to get there, these will be fine. The term 'sport' should not feature in the name of these tires.
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I have had these for 22 months and they are now worn out (mostly on the edges).
They replaced Goodyear Excellence and are much better than those or Goodyear F1 GSD3.
I will buy a new set of 4 tomorrow.
They have excellent wet weather grip, excellent feedback. Good at everything else, but a little noisy and less comfortable than others. Snow traction is also poor.
They have worn well, and I did rotate them front to rear on the same side as they are directions.
They seem resistant to punctures but (unless they changed it) have no rim protection rib which is a shame.
I've been used to Pirrelli P6000 and Goodyear NCT5 prior to trying the Rainsport 2 and I am so won over that I am going to bin my new Pirrellis on the rear and fit two new Rainsport 2's as this tire is highly underated.
Wet grip is better than I could ever have expected and very similar in dry.
Put these on my Laguna 2 Sport Tourer V6. Much better grip than the previous branded tires I had on the car. Put them on all four wheels just as the cold weather started in November and felt immediately safer driving in the snow and wet. Noticablely better breaking in wet conditions. Too early to determine wear, though every brand seems to wear quickly on the front on this car - heavy V6 engine/ power steering probably. Pleased with them so far anyway.
replaced csc3 with these as were great price and got good write up on here.Very impressed with roadholding and ability in the wet and dry have had them on car now for 14k miles and have 3mm of tread left on fronts, was looking to replace them like for like in near future unfortunately a puncture made it happen now,sidewalls didnt like being run flat for 1/4 mile.kwik fit offering £100 each fitted. All in a great tire especially for a turbo diesel with lot of torque.
Fitted these to my Audi A5 2.0T (Petrol)8 speed multitronc Front Wheel Drive after the Bridgestone Potenzas that came as new on the vehicle wore out after 9000 miles !!! (front). Although these have only now done 2000 miles they are amazing. The grip especially in the wet is like nothing ive used before. Also in snow and ice they were very good..... Now I know this is a bit of a bloke thing but I wanted to see just how good they were, so, on a very quiet, very wet road I decided to deliberately take an island too fast. The grip was so good that my "front wheel drive" car actually over steered causing my rear Bridgstone Potenzas with apx 5mm of tread to loose traction. (Im sure you all know that while not impossible, it`s quite hard to get a front wheel drive car to over steer. So, my verdict.... Will definitely buy again, and although I don't yet know what mileage I will get from these compared to the Bridgstones the fact that they are as good in the dry but a mile ahead in the wet is good enough for me. In fact, I cant think of a single fault I can pick with them.
Excellent tire. Just cannot find fault. Superb grip in dry, tremendous grip in wet - driving through roadside puddles/flooding inspires confidence as tires just do not lose grip. Aquaplaning is a thing of the past. Have had the tires a year (about 8000 miles) and they appear to be as new. Their impact on fuel consumption is negligible and there is no noticeable increase in road noise. Bought four new tires to replace previously fitted Pirellis that came fitted on the car when new. The Uniroyals are in a league of their own - I'd not want to purchase any other tire in future.
VW put these on the front at its last Service and First MOT. Didnt really care what they put on as long as it was a good all round trye as i do 20k+ miles a year.
Never noticed much to start with as i was doing alot of city driving but the other week when going down to Dumfries on the back roads i really noticed. Especially since i was making similar time on wet slushy roads as i was in the summer with the Hankooks that were on the car. I was realy surprised at the grip.
Car never wheel spins away anymore when it did on the tires supplied with the car. and laterly the Hancooks.
Whats more surprising is the price. Managed to get a rear pair them from Kwickstitch for £215 which was way below VW (£260 and a fair few online "cheap sites")
great to have all the same tires on the car again.
Great tire. I don't usually buy tires if they're not from Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone or Pirelli. 200BHP and 300lb-ft rear wheel drive could be a challenge for most on 205/50. Had all four tires changed. Once they were run in they were comfortable, predictable and very good traction in both wet and dry. Right up their to challenge the Pilot Sport 2/3 and Eagle F1 Assym.
I read some reviews on these tires before buying and honestly still didn't expect them to be as they are!
the dry grip is very good
the wet grip was unbelievable
i have them fitted all round on a 170bhp 306 gti-6 and barely get any wheel spin in the wet nevermind the dry!
only down side i have found is the wear, my fronts have lasted about 6k miles, im guessing this is due to my driving style, i just love country roads! the rears however are perfectly fine!
however, i am currently paying for another pair as i write this!
