BTU83

Hello,

I am an early C4 owner (my daily driver is an 06 mustang, V6) and I will soon be buying a 2005 Corvette. One question I had which I didn't previously consider is, how does the C6 400hp coupe perform in rainy and wet conditions? I live in the Seattle area where is rains 250 days a year and I'm worried about constantly hydroplaning or fishtailing on the highway (as my C4 does, I drove it in the rain once and never again) because of the high horsepower. Am I just being paranoid, maybe the C6 being a much newer car is equipped to better handle these conditions? Any input is appreciated. Thank you.

EDinPA

Crap.



Get rid of any summer performance tires and replace with some all season / weather tires.

EricTheRed

I have all weather tires and you still have to go below 60 in heavy rain.

vetteman741

My C5 is awesome in the rain with my Michelin Pilot AS sport tires, i would assume the C6 is just as good or better than a C5.

I have driven many C4's and a lot of them were terrible in the rain.

RtotheDizzy

Three things get you in trouble in the rain:
A light car
Large contact patches
Large power to the wheels

The C4 has all those. The C6 "suffers" from those issues even more. It has larger contact patches and more power. The traction control is much improved but at the end of the day if the tires aren't in contact with the pavement then no computer is going to be able to save you.

Wet/winter tires will certainly help but unless you put 500-1000 lbs in the back no corvette is going to be especially good in the rain.

I've had a 96 C4 as my DD for the past 8 years. I hate driving it in the rain. I just recently got a C6 but haven't really had it out in the rain much. Lucky I don't live in a place it rains often. If I were you I would't expect any improvement over the C4.

Sorry to be a downer.

06 C6 vert

The C6 is amazing in the rain. We get 60 inches a year in my area and I was very surprised how good the C6 does in the rain.

I use my vette as a DD and have no proplems at all in the rain.

I much prefer the vette in the rain over my Jeep liberty which I drive to work in the snow.

I know exactly were any deep puddles are on my drive to work.

keyplyr

Define "rain"

gaphono

I had similar concerns that were answered last year. I had to drive from the Corvette Museum Bash 2010 all the way back to Atlanta in the midst of the tropical storm that flooded much of the Southeast last year. You may recall that Nashville was hit really hard.
I have a C6 with Michelin Pilot Sport All Season run flat tires. These tires and the overall control of the car was excellent. I had to travel in some water levels that actually scared me from a worry of the engine ingesting water. I was able to travel with the flow of traffic of any other cars on the interstate.

So to sum it up, I have a lot of faith in this car with these tires.

coolcat

Believe it or not but I live in an area that gets more rain than Seattle, WA.
We get lake effect rainstorms that continually bombard us during the spring,
summer and fall months from Lake Erie.

I have an 08 C6 coupe which is my daily driver.
It's driven in the rain all the time.
No problems with hydroplaning IF you use common sense behind the wheel.
Slow down during rainstorms and you'll have no problems.

dvilin

As mentioned common sense driving considering the conditions and the Vette is fine in the rain, nothing to be concerned with.

george vee

I drove 85 miles in the rain with a flat front tire at 60 mph with no problems, runflats I won't leave home without them.

coolcat

Forgot to mention that my 08 coupe is equipped with the regular Goodyear Eagle F1 EMT's.
They even perform well in light snow.
No need to get all season tires.

MARSC6

Just drove about 50 miles in the rain at about 75mph. Absolutely no problems. This was a light to moderate rain with Goodyear supercars. Just take it easy with the gas and its fine.

Daekwan06

Same here. And to add.. it was even awesome in the snow. Will driving it home from the dealer last weekend (1130 miles) the GPS took me thru the mountains of WV and I ran into 4-6 inches of it. This was real snow I mean the highways were all mushy, some cars were even stuck on the side of the road and the snow plows were out. The weather was so bad my father was in the passenger seat beside me saying prayers.

I never had a problem with traction. In fact the backend never slipped out, not even on time. Its a manual car, so I kept the revs low, stayed in a gear higher than normal and did my best to pace traffic so I never let the car come to complete stop.

I highly recommend the Michelin Pilot AS

maxp

my 08 is my daily driver and have had zero problems in the rain. I live on the Gulf Coast so I see a lot of rain in my daily commute

TBD

Drove my 2009 CG convertible 154 miles in a monsoon-like rain from Pittsburgh airport Monday night. As some others have noted, sensible, responsible, and even minimally skilled drivers will have no difficulties in rain. Those who cannot control their vehicles will undoubtedly have some problems.

In my case, parts of the trip were over mountainous terrain. There was a hint of hydroplaning (approx. 15K on Supercar tires) at some points...chassis feedback was appropriate...reduced speed, as needed.

Top didn't leak, either.

Peace, out.

FortMorganAl

66" of rain here annually. No problem at all. MUCH better than the C4. It does depend on the tires but both the Goodyear Supercar tires and the Firestone Firehawks do just fine as long as you aren't a complete idiot. Without the nannies it might be far worse than a C4 but leave the nannies on and even an idiot shouldn't have a problem. .

69L79

You wouldn't drive a "regular" car in the rain like a maniac, right? Same with the Vette. Be careful and you will be OK.

Boomer111

Common sense tells one to slow down while it is raining, the harder the rain, more water on the roadway, the slower the travel.

Thinking any car in the rain has not diminished traction/handling responses is not looking at the situation correctly.

Heavy rain for a extended period can drop the speed limit in half, on the open highways.

At least that is how I proceed.

Two and a half million miles has taught me something.

Wayne O

If rain is the norm I'd get more appropriate 'wet' tires on the car and drive appropriately for the conditions. Even with runflats I never had a major problem driving in the rain.

Water falling from clouds: water condensed from vapor in the atmosphere and falling in drops from clouds.

Living in Arizona its a term I'm vaguely familiar with.