poison
02-19-2006, 03:02 PM
I thought that I would be giving up some wet traction for some dry when I went from 451's to RS2's. I was wrong. Keep in mind these are new RS2's with around 1000 miles on them.
The last two days were nice and rainy in SoCal, and I feel familiar enough with them in the dry to push them a bit in the wet. Last night and this morning were perfect opportunities: it's the weekend so traffic is light, I drive to work on Malibu Canyon and some of the side canyon roads, and there are lots of foul condition areas with not only mud and gravel across the road from the canyon wall, but also plenty of deep puddles on the side, and long sweepers to tight hairpins. :D
You think the 451's evacuate standing water well? These babies obliterate the 451's in that area! I hit 1-2in of standing water on one side for 20+ feet at 50-70mph and felt no pull to the side. None. 3in+ and I felt a pull, but not severe. The 451's felt much worse.
On slick wet pavement with no standing water, they rock. Turn in feels the same as dry, they simply grip and go. I've hit momentary dry-to-wet transitions at 8/10ths on a corner and felt no slip, same as with the 451's. I hammered the brakes on wet pavement pretty hard and got very good results (buttdyno), no slipping and certainly no re92 "Oh **** I hit black ice" feeling.
One of the best things about the 451's was their predictability, something I was loath to give up for these tires. It turns out I didn't give up much, if anything. I DON'T feel comfortable enough to totally drift the freeway on-ramp by my house, or other *safe* places that I would with the 451's, but here's the thing: I think overall the total grip in the wet of the RS2 is at least even with the 451, if not higher in some areas. I did provoke a little power 4 wheel drift/oversteer in a wet, tight right hand turn in second gear, and it was easily controllable at those low speeds.
Now, they're new, with tons of tread, well broken in, and all this is purely subjective and judged by my buttdyno. My opinion may change, but so far, I'm extremely happy with both wet and dry performance.
The last two days were nice and rainy in SoCal, and I feel familiar enough with them in the dry to push them a bit in the wet. Last night and this morning were perfect opportunities: it's the weekend so traffic is light, I drive to work on Malibu Canyon and some of the side canyon roads, and there are lots of foul condition areas with not only mud and gravel across the road from the canyon wall, but also plenty of deep puddles on the side, and long sweepers to tight hairpins. :D
You think the 451's evacuate standing water well? These babies obliterate the 451's in that area! I hit 1-2in of standing water on one side for 20+ feet at 50-70mph and felt no pull to the side. None. 3in+ and I felt a pull, but not severe. The 451's felt much worse.
On slick wet pavement with no standing water, they rock. Turn in feels the same as dry, they simply grip and go. I've hit momentary dry-to-wet transitions at 8/10ths on a corner and felt no slip, same as with the 451's. I hammered the brakes on wet pavement pretty hard and got very good results (buttdyno), no slipping and certainly no re92 "Oh **** I hit black ice" feeling.
One of the best things about the 451's was their predictability, something I was loath to give up for these tires. It turns out I didn't give up much, if anything. I DON'T feel comfortable enough to totally drift the freeway on-ramp by my house, or other *safe* places that I would with the 451's, but here's the thing: I think overall the total grip in the wet of the RS2 is at least even with the 451, if not higher in some areas. I did provoke a little power 4 wheel drift/oversteer in a wet, tight right hand turn in second gear, and it was easily controllable at those low speeds.
Now, they're new, with tons of tread, well broken in, and all this is purely subjective and judged by my buttdyno. My opinion may change, but so far, I'm extremely happy with both wet and dry performance.