Uniroyal RainSport 2 Reviews - Page 13

I have already written an extensive(!) review after having these fitted to our Fiesta Zetec S a few weeks ago, so a quick review here as I've also had them fitted to my 2001 Audi A4 Avant.

All I can really say is that the RainSport 2 is frighteningly good!

Why? Well a couple of weeks ago I had to drive down to Dorset from North Wiltshire in torrential rain and thought that the tires weren't actually living up to their name when I hit some deep standing water - until I checked my speedo and backed right off...

The Rainsports allow you to drive as if the road were dry; they are exceptionally grippy and just don't want to let go of the road.

Combine this grip with low road noise and high levels of comfort and I think they could easily get you into trouble.

Obviously the comfort and noise levels come with a trade-off in feedback, however this doesn't detract from the overall performance of the tire.

I can't comment on wear yet - my fuel economy has gone down, however I'll put this down to the extra confidence the tires have given me!

On my old Conti Sport Contact 1 previously fitted (see the end of my last review, as these were old), the traction control would kick in at the drop of a hat, and this has all but stopped since fitting the RainSports.

Overall, a cracking tire that I would happily recommend to anyone.

Went from Avon ZZ3's to these tires and they are absolutely excellent. What shocked me the most was the grip in wet, and that is exactly what you need when driving cars in England.

I always felt the Avon's wore out too quick, but the RainSport 2's proved that to be right, as they last much longer.

Will defiantly be buying these again.

Just had the tires put onto my vauxhall astra 1.9 cdti the drive of the car has changed considerably. The grip in the wet is phenmonal tires stick to the road like glue. Overall Tire seems good will comment in a few months time re wear. From what i have seen of them so far i would buy these tires again.

When my Pirelli P7's cam to the end of their life I went to the tire shop looking for a tire that would give me more snow grip after having a terrible time during last winter. I bought 2 tires and decided to run them in on the rears as recommended by Uniroyal. There was a sever conflict with the Pirelli fronts. ABS kept activating when cornering above 50mph, and rear of the car developed a mind of its own on any campbered bend, even at low speeds. Quite scary. Had them transferred to front that made the drive bearable, but very soft and spongy. After 600 miles I went back to the Pirelli shop. Note also these tryes have a much bigger diameter (about 1.25 inches bigger) than the Pirellis. A very expensive mistake, don't do it.

Just had these on the front. Steering feel was a bit vague for the first 1500 miles but then got better and better. Seem to be wearing fairly quick but they get a hard time.
Swapped them to back ready to buy 2 more for front, meanwhile 2 cheapos on the front. Understeered straight on twice in a week with cheapostires on front. So must have been driving like a tw*t with Uniroyals on the front! Very good, looking forward to getting new ones on the front and having them all round. Highly recommended.

OK, a little bit of background first. The car, a 2008 Fiesta Zetec S TDCi is on 40,000 miles and it's 3rd set of tires (I always rotate the tires to wear them evenly, and replace at about 3mm). The factory fitted Continental Sport Contacts were OK, but really noisy, and from memory needed a bit of time to warm up. I replaced these with Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 at 17,000 miles and found the car was much more fun to drive, more economical and quieter (and they lasted another 6,000 miles...).

After checking out reviews on here and getting some fantastic information from Uniroyal technical, I decided to order a full set of these as the car is now only used for weekends and rainy days when my girlfriend doesn't want to do the hour long walk to work!

Going from premium Michelin Pilot Exalto 2s, I was a little dubious about going down to a mid-range brand, but just couldn't justify the cost of the PE2s again.

Initial thoughts were fantastic as I drove out of the fitters with drastically reduced road noise, however this did turn to a little bit of dissapointment after a couple of miles...

I don't know if it because the Michelins were worn, however feedback, feel and noise were reduced so much on the Rainsports that it didn't feel like the chassis was attached to the wheels; there's a lot more grip and turn in, and on a couple of roundabouts I found I was aiming into the roundabout rather than going around it!

Luckily, we had a week off work not long after and decided to use the Fiesta as the hack for the week - I know tires have to bed in a bit, so thought this might help.

It's done a few hundred miles now, and I can say I could feel the transition when they started to come to life! I was getting really worried that I'd bought a set of tires that had taken the life out of the car, but luckily not!

They are a very smooth and progressive tire, giving confidence when having fun on twisty country lanes, and with significantly reduced road noise when motorway cruising. In comparison, the Michelins felt very grainy and crashed harshly in bumps and potholes; none of this is evident with the Rainsports. I think there's a little more flex in the sidewalls than the PE2s, but it doesn't detract from the overall positives.

I haven't driven the car in the wet yet, however my girfriend informs me that the car feels a lot safer than it did before (she's really not interested in what I do to the car, and she made this comment walking through the door one evening without being prompted).

I also can't comment on wear either, so we'll just have to see.

Would I buy again? Yes! And in fact I have my 2001 Audi A4 Avant booked in to have a set fitted on Monday.

This will be interesting as I bought the car a few months ago and it had a 'new' set of W rated Conti Sport Contact 1s fitted to the front and had a V rated Bridgestone & W rated Pirelli on the rear. Against my better judgement (I've never got on with Contis), I ordered a pair of CSC1s for the rears to get everything matched, and it was only after a few weeks I discovered that the tires fitted on the front were obviously old stock and are over 8 years old!

I haven't been overly impressed with how the car drives and am sure it's down to the tires - I've had new shocks (Bilstein B4), springs and most of the front control arms replaced, so the car itself is now sweet, however the tires don't inspire confidence and I've lost traction in moments when I shouldn't have.

I will post comments on my findings in a few weeks as I cover 500 miles a week minimum, so the Rainsports will bed in quickly!

If you're still reading, many thanks!

Had pirelli rosso on the front, poor grip especially in the wet. Researched on this website and decided on the Rainsport 2 - Fantastic, please God let them make them forever. Changed them last year in the snow and ice in North Yorkshire, superb traction in the snow and in the wet, they give you so much confidence. The biggest difference was pulling away from a standstill in the wet, no wheel spin, amazed, the pirelli's would spin up so easy, was considering getting rid of my car. Car has been re mapped, so got in excess of 250 bhp, doesn't phase the Rainsport 2's, so impressed, cut through standing water so effortlessly, now look for the puddles for fun!! Great tire, defo recommend for the hot hatch in the wet UK.

Have done over 10k on these tires and they still perform better than the previous P6000, with minimal tracking.

I fitted these to my Ford Focus 2006 model after reading reviews on here, and I am glad I did read the reviews, these tires are outstanding, they are great in the dry and excellent in the wet (as we live in England, I would recommend these tires to anyone)

I used to go through tires really quickly (Avon ZZ3's) but have had these tires for quite a while now, there is loads of tread to start off with on these tires, but also has a fairly hard compound, but does not mean it doesnt grip in the dry, because it sure as hell does.

I cannot fault these tires at all

Amazing tire. Great water dispersal capability. Excellent dry handling. Worn out at 12,000 miles of average driving though but that is not too bad for 2 years of tire. Only complaint I had is at the time they were not offering the reinforced version but now it is more widely available. Exceptional tire that really does grip in the wet. I also used these in the snow in 2008 and they were still gripping away up a steep slope. Its a tire I can trust in, won't let me down and I would recommend this and buy again. Shame it is not available in a 185/60 r15!! But the rain expert are and I have yet to try those.

Only had the on the front from start of the year until Sept poss Oct when I will have to replace them due to wear. Cant fault the tires in the dry or wet, quite quiet and comfortable. The wear however has been very quick; 11,000miles and i'm a hairs breath from the wear bar. Most of the mileage was on fast dual carrageways with a few round abouts thrown in. Have t/c so no wheel spinning! Last few thousand have been A and B roads. As much as I would like to have these tires on my car, it seems that you pay a price in total mileage achievable especialy on a front heavy, front drive car so I will have to look elsewhere as for the money I want 20k (which I dont think is asking too much).

I have used Toyo T1-Rs on my Golf MK3 GTi 16v (205/50/15) for over 50K and was very happy with them until I tried the Uniroyal Rainsport IIs. They have excellent dry grip, far superior progressiveness (I can push it to a tire squeal around roundabouts and still feed completely in control which I could not do with the Toyos). However the wet grip is what really makes these tires excellent, I have far greater confidence on wet country roads than I ever did with the Toyos. I do not have anything to report on tire wear, but I hope they will be better than the Toyos which was my main reason for changing. I paid ?65 each for the Rainsport IIs including fitting so they were basically almost the same price as the Toyos (?55 excluding fitting). I would mention though that the Rainsport IIs were really hard to find in this size (205/50/15), I ended up going to the Uniroyal website to find an accredited supplier locally who could order them in 205/50/15. Downsides? None to report really, but aesthetically the Toyos definitely looked cooler with their wall to wall V shaped grip.

I will post another review to report on wear in a year or so.