Last night while driving home in the downpour on I-5, I was going ~70mph between tacoma and seattle. It was raining fairly hard, enough for water to start accumulating in the grooves in each lane on I-5 NB. I found that if I got caught in the grooves with the standing water, my car would begin to "hydroplane" which I hadn't noticed occuring before. Wanted to check with the other locals if they have experienced the same on I-5 in similar conditions, or if the feathering on my front tires is finally catching up to me and its time to flip them. My tires still have ~70% tread, with ~40% on the inner edge of the fronts due to some feathering. Not sure if that was the issue, or if it was the wide tires, or if maybe I was just driving too fast for the conditions, I was definetly passing all the other cars, but 70 in the rain is pretty normal for me along that stretch of I-5.

 

I don't think that your tires are the problem

Cuz feathering mostly occurs on the part of the tire that is designed for handling in the corners. And the middle part is the one that is responsible for rain.

I think that it was too much rain for Toyos to handle cuz it was raining pretty damn hard yesterday.

But it is good to check your rubber. It is October and we gonna see less and less sun from now on. So check your tires NorthWesterns and don't fly on water.

 

I'm pretty sure thats what it was too, as I know there is still plenty of tread on the tires, I guess I'll just have to slow down when its pouring like it was yesterday

 

Yeah I drove from Shelton on Sat night and when I hit a few puddle I found myself almost hydro. I got 17 on with 55 tires and they are pretty new.

 

Before the fixed that stretch of I-5 (N & S) by Everett, I used to hydroplane all the way home everyday afterwork. That really sucked.

You should prob flip your tires anyways, though...

 

I was on the narrower OEM 19 tires last fall, and winter wheels/tires through the winter, so haven't really driven in heavy rain with these wheels yet. I def get them flipped soon, and get my TPMS sensors installed that I've been putting off.

 

Yeah, the wider tires def play a role too. No way my present 255/285 combo would cut through heavy rain nearly as good as the stock 225/245 combo. Plus your Falkens are high-perf summer tires. They're designed to be ok in the rain, but will never be as good as all-seasons.

 

play it safe and try slowing down to see if that helps?

 

what are you guys mean by flipping tires.

you just rotate front tires?

 

You have the tires unmounted, and switched sides, so that the inside tread ends on the outside of the other wheel

 

^I heard something about that.

 

Yeah play it safe on I-5, it's crazy out there. Especially when there is fresh rain, roads can get slick. I take back roads from home/work.

I always wondered about the TPMS sensors on aftermarket wheels, how do they get installed? When not on do you get any lights on the dash?

 

Wide tires = death wish. When it rains hard, you see Porsche/Corvette dudes crawl.

 

I try to drive besides the grooves (so the 1 side rides near the middle of the lane and the other near the edge of lane)... seems to work for me when I want less road noise and encounter soaked roads...