Anyone got any reviews on uniroyal rainsport 5’s?

[NAAHD]

I’ve just ordered a set for my A5 as the Chinese ditch finders it came with (rotalla) are making driving a nightmare. I’ll give them some credit, they’re 6 years old and okay in the dry but in anything remotely wet it’s silly. FWD doesn’t help matters but anything above 2.5k rpm accelerating makes the front end go light and pulling away is a nightmare. Have had my fill and ordered a set of rainsports for the front. For 19” they aren’t too bad price wise and I’m just waiting on them coming but am just curious to see if anyone else has ran them and how good they were in terms of performance and longevity. Obviously I’m expecting them to be good in the wet though

Thanks in advance

[Beethree]

Performance in the wet is fine, in the dry it’ll be pretty limited as from my experience they have very soft sidewalls and not especially great levels of grip in the dry

[Dog Star]

We had them on the OHs old SLK. I Rreally liked them, they gave a nice ride, have an excellent rim protector and the wet grip was great.

I rate wet grip above all other factors in the UK, especially up here in Lancs. Put it this way - you don’t often find yourself in the situation of running out of grip when it’s dry.

Great value too. I like them lots.

[NiceCupOfTea]

I've been running RainSports since the 2s on various cars - e36 convertible, Nissan Qashqai, Saab 9000, Saab c900, Mazda CX-5. They might not be the last word in performance tyre but as an all round tyre they are really good, great in the wet obviously. The earlier ones didn't seem to wear very well, managed to get through a set of rears on the e36 on 6k miles and I wasn't driving like a loon!

[B'stard Child]

I have them (RS 5’s) on the SLK55

I run RS 4’s on the 130i - I was told on another forum that if I didn’t fit Michelin PS 4’s I’d probably be in a ditch in a very short amount of time (hasn’t happened yet)

I’ve run Uniroyals of various versions on pretty much all of my cars since 1985 I guess that makes me a fan.

I have always put a high priority on wet weather performance cos the one thing we get a lot of in the UK is rain

Dry performance is more than acceptable and the comfort factor of softer sidewalls is appreciated when the profiles are low on 18 inch rims

I have tried other tyres but for price v performance, ride quality and wet weather grip I keep coming back to Uniroyal

Last time I put a cheap (not a main stream brand) set of “black and round” on a car was 1983 - they were awful compared to the worn out OE Firestones

[v9]

I had a set on a Megane RS250. As Mr Star says, they have good grip in the wet and a fairly progressive break away. I also think wet grip is a priority. They do wear fast though. Fronts were worn to the wear indicators in about 6k miles.
Have run a couple of sets of Pilot Sport 4s. They are nearly twice the price and last nearly twice as long and give even better grip in both wet and dry. So PS4s cost about the same over the life of the tyre in £/mile.

I’d also be wary of putting them on the front with very low grip tyres on the back heading into winter . . .

[MC Bodge]

We have a set on our Fiesta. The Rainsport 5 have lasted much longer than the older version and are possibly a bit stiffer. The handling and grip are very good.

I had a set of 18" Rainsport 5 fitted (as Michelin Pilots had shot up in price) to my Mondeo estate earlier in the summer and they have been very good in the wet and dry so far. The sidewalls are obviously not noticeably soft in such low profile either.

There is no shortage of grip on either car in the wet or dry.

[Boom78]

Personally i’d spend a little more and go for MPS4s, black circles usually do discounts on a set. I’ve tried many mid range tyres from falken, Dunlop etc that are apparently excellent but found them average and wear quickly. You get what you pay for.

[NAAHD]

Dog Star said:

We had them on the OHs old SLK. I Rreally liked them, they gave a nice ride, have an excellent rim protector and the wet grip was great.

I rate wet grip above all other factors in the UK, especially up here in Lancs. Put it this way - you don’t often find yourself in the situation of running out of grip when it’s dry.

Great value too. I like them lots.

All sounds ideal, especially the rim protector… scuffed an alloy within the first few weeks

Thanks

[NAAHD]

B'stard Child said:

I have them (RS 5’s) on the SLK55

I run RS 4’s on the 130i - I was told on another forum that if I didn’t fit Michelin PS 4’s I’d probably be in a ditch in a very short amount of time (hasn’t happened yet)

I’ve run Uniroyals of various versions on pretty much all of my cars since 1985 I guess that makes me a fan.

I have always put a high priority on wet weather performance cos the one thing we get a lot of in the UK is rain

Dry performance is more than acceptable and the comfort factor of softer sidewalls is appreciated when the profiles are low on 18 inch rims

I have tried other tyres but for price v performance, ride quality and wet weather grip I keep coming back to Uniroyal

Last time I put a cheap (not a main stream brand) set of “black and round” on a car was 1983 - they were awful compared to the worn out OE Firestones

Last time I bought cheap tyres, I regretted it heavily. I suppose this is what happens when you buy a car from an old woman who just wants cheap and cheerful!

[E-bmw]

NAAHD said:

Dog Star said:

We had them on the OHs old SLK. I Rreally liked them, they gave a nice ride, have an excellent rim protector and the wet grip was great.

I rate wet grip above all other factors in the UK, especially up here in Lancs. Put it this way - you don’t often find yourself in the situation of running out of grip when it’s dry.

Great value too. I like them lots.

All sounds ideal, especially the rim protector… scuffed an alloy within the first few weeks

Thanks

FWIW a rim protector won't stop you scuffing an alloy, it just tears the rim protector first.

Case in point (can't currently find the post) there was someone posted a pic just last week somewhere on here showing a flap of rim protector on a kerbed alloy asking if it needed to be replaced.

The rim protector only helps in the few milliseconds that the tyre starts to rub the kerb if you then stop/steer away and in a modern car with the amount of driver isolation the chances of having time to do that are virtually zero.

[gamefreaks]

I have them on my TVR. In that application they are great.

I find tyres are all much of a muchness in the dry but show their true colors in the wet. These are great in the wet.

[Pica-Pica]

E-bmw said:

FWIW a rim protector won't stop you scuffing an alloy, it just tears the rim protector first.

Case in point (can't currently find the post) there was someone posted a pic just last week somewhere on here showing a flap of rim protector on a kerbed alloy asking if it needed to be replaced.

The rim protector only helps in the few milliseconds that the tyre starts to rub the kerb if you then stop/steer away and in a modern car with the amount of driver isolation the chances of having time to do that are virtually zero.

Agree.