On-road wet weather tyres

[TeZZaP]

After recently loosing the back-end of my 2003 Defender 90 going down the Kuranda range a couple of times - in very wet and slippery on-road conditions - yes, I was driving very slowly and carefully, but still managed to loose the back momentarily... I was thinking of getting a set of 'proper' on road tyres specifically suited to on-road wet conditions. Can anyone recommend this type of tyre?

[naradataranto]

I had a pair of Perrelli p6000 some years ago and they were amazing. Any good soft compound tire with good groves to quickly wick away the water is what you want but go to a few tyre specialists and ask their opinion.
I found my cooper AT and Toyo Open Country tyres to be hard in compound and a little loose in the wet. Got mud tires on now and wouldnt wish them on anyone on a wet road. No comparison to good road tyres.

[Slunnie]

What size is on it?

[PAT303]

Go michelin. Pat

[big guy]

Michelin XPC if you can get some.
235/70/16.
They are a M&S type and great all rounders actually.
Good in sand when down to 15Psi.

Best of luck.

[dmdigital]

The General Grabber TR that came with the Puma are proving excellent in the wet up here.

[rick130]

In the wet increase your tyre pressures. Truly. It's an old racers trick.

I was always quick in the wet, and all the cars I worked on either won or placed in the wet, and part of that 'trick' was increasing tyre pressures. It reduces the contact patch slightly, helps keep the voids between tread blocks open and as it has reduced the contact patch, also works the centre tread blocks harder to generate some heat in the tyre (may not work in a hard road tyre )

The difference between the right and wrong pressure is this.
First time I'd ever engineered a sedan (only ever worked on Formula Fords) was a wet Eastern Ck and I was looking after a Group Nc XU1 Torana. Everyone used the then gun Hoosier treaded racing tyre. I asked the driver what everyone did in the wet, "let the tyres down" Naa, "yes" and as I couldn't back off anti-roll bars and low speed bump in the shocks and he wouldn't let me increase front toe out nor stand the tyres back up I let his tyres down. I really didn't know the tyre so thought it must respond to this and I could see everyone doing this, including the supposed 'guns'.

When he came in from the race I was roundly abused as it was obvious I was "****** trying to kill him" "it was ****** dangerous" etc. even though he hated driving in the wet, didn't lose a place and was sliding around no worse than anyone else out there. The verbal barrage went on for about ten minutes.

Eff it, I pumped those bloody Hoosiers up, right up
The bastard drove through the field passing everybody, keeping it nice and staright and placed

After that I asked a mate of mine who'd had great success over the years, winning almost everything there was to win in Production Car racing about his experience and he confirmed they always pumped the tyres up when in the wet, didn't matter whether it was a radial or cross ply.

Of course if the tyres are really old hard, nothing short of new rubber will help.

[TeZZaP]

What size is on it?

The current tyres are the ones that came with the vehicle, and I've been pretty happy with them until I moved to FNQ a couple of years ago, the road conditions (both on and off the road) are very different to what I encountered in NSW/Vic/Tassie. Much wetter up here! I was thinking of setting up a specific on-road set and moving my current tyres onto a set that I pop on when I know I'm gonna hit dirt roads.

Current tyres (6 years old but still with plenty of tread);
General Grabber T/R
M+S LT 235/85 R16 120/116Q

[TeZZaP]

The General Grabber TR that came with the Puma are proving excellent in the wet up here.

Interesting, I have the General Grabber T/R on at the moment and they are as slippery as hell (to be fair the Kuranda Range is extremely demanding in the wet, its a major black spot here and regularly takes life's). The alternative is that my Grabbers are getting old, maybe the rubber has stated to harden, they still look good though...

[rick130]

<snip> The alternative is that my Grabbers are getting old, maybe the rubber has stated to harden, they still look good though...

6 years old ?
Definitely.