hows your seven run in the rain?
 

Im not talking about drizzle, heavy rain, how does your rx handle it? any problems?

The ass end breaks loose as soon as I hit the gas and I laugh.

same here but my 275's will clear that up soon

The FD handles very securely in the rain. The main danger would be hydroplaning, especially if you have wider tires than stock. Just be smooth and easy with the throttle and the car is quite easy to handle.

It's fine as long as you have decent rain tires and you're not on the throttle.

The latter statement should be obvious, but sadly it's not.

Dave

Professional Driver. Closed course. Do not attempt.

I went 90 mph on the freeway through a major down pour going through KC, and it handled very well. Visibilty was terrible probably because I was going so fast and you would want to watch the hydroplane issue but should be ok under normal adverse weather driving conditions. Just my experience, hope that helps.

Not real bright are you...

I really depend on you tire. I just put on a set of Goodyear F1's and my wet traction was improved dramatically, hydroplaning is also greatly minimised. All the other Max performance tires I have used sucked in the rain. More than half throttle induced wheel spin in 1st and 2nd. The latest generation of tires are key because now you don't have choose between wet or dry performance.

As long as you know how to modulate the throttle so that it doesn't go into heavy boost, there is really no reason to be afraid of the rain.

Like everyone else said, as long as your not pushing the throttle hard you'll be fine. A few weeks into getting my 7 I was caught in a serious down-pour. Not knowing the extent of the cars traction in rain, I stayed on the throttle and slowly felt the back end slipping out. Not the most pleasent experience when your on a busy road. :rolleyes:

breaks loose in the fkng rain....... rather park it and drv the envoy

Dropping 20% off my normal driving speed it is fine..

as others have stated however there is no trouble getting 1st/2nd/3rd/and even 4th to break free if you mash the throttle..Basically drive like you mother would and you will not hurt the car against a guard rail somewhere!

Main thing i hate is driving in the rain at night...the stock standard lights are pathetic!! A bit of Rain-X on the windscreen however works great..no need to turn the wipers on at all..the angle of the screen with rain-x = perfectly clear screen!

One other thing i notice is the rain improves the engines performance. Might be due to lower temps / or maybe increased humidity? just means the right foot has to remain REAL light...

At the end of the day however...it is a car with a closed roof...rain shouldnt hurt it.. :D

i dont know peoples problems with the RX7 and rain. I Think its a similar problem to a guy a while ago, he said that he didnt want to make his RX7 faster because it would make it handle worse.

Well, my answer to both is ONLY IF YOU CANT DRIVE!!!!

The RX7 is just like ANY other car in the wet. It may be rear wheel drive and high powered, but dont drive like a prick and you will be fine, the car isnt going to fall apart ffs is it?

I have been going around a corner once and lost the back end in third...i lifted off and it snapped back in, i was lucky - but the simple answer to this question is unless your on empty roads and really know how to control it, just dont get on the throttle.

Although having said that, when i come up to a T junction to turn left, i do love to show the cars coming from my right the left hand side of my car as i pull out :o) First gear in the wet rocks if you can control it. Not too fast, not too slow, great fun.

I was driving on the highway this morning on my way to work in mild rain on the left lane and my car would sometimes suddenly pull to the left or the right. the car felt at times almost uncontrollable. I was going 60 mph in 5th gear with brand new Yoko AVS ES100s. Is there something wrong with my suspension? I'm running stock struts with Swift Sport Mach downsprings. i must admit, my alignment is slightly off.

err how do you know its only slightly off? if youve measured it then you must have the tools to put it right, so DO IT!

If you dont know its only slightly off and you havent measured it, get it all aligned and ask that question again.

My FD handles okay in the rain, and like most others have indicated already, the most common problem is accelerating too hard and spinning the tires...an easy problem to overcome with driving-habit modified for conditions.

Hydroplaning is not that bad with good rain tires. My Volvo and my Suburban resist hydroplaning better than the FD, but that is not to say the the Mazda is ready to fly off the road at the first puddle....lol! :)

What width are your tires? Sounds like you aquaplaned.

The two keys to secure driving in the rain are:

1. Tire resistance to aquaplaning (determined by tire width, tread pattern depth, and tread pattern)

2. Tread compound (some compounds are much better in the wet than others due to being softer and having more hysteresis)

3. Speed (given an amount of water on the road, there is a maximum speed, above which you will hydroplane). So in heavy rain or puddling there is a point where you must slow down.

Yeah, this rain really sucks. We've had so many good weekends and now this. I was going to take the FD out, but it looks like I'll just spend the day doing reliablity mods and cleaning house :-)

HEE HEE. :D

Yup. That's true for any tire, good or bad rain handling.

However, if a tire is lousy in the rain, the handling is unpredictable, even if you don't hydroplane. A really good compound allows one to drive in the rain just like you would in the dry, only somewhat slower. The handling will be predictable (except for aquaplaning), not treacherous, and small slides can be controlled (depending, of course, on driver skill).

And even with the good rain tires, that capability steadily disappears from day one as the tire wears down. Deep tread is critical for rain performance, and when the tread depth wears down, the speed you can safely travel in wet conditions goes down. So those fantastic Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires will not be quite the same rain tire after 15k miles. This is the reason I try to replace my tires before they reach the minimum tread depth.

Anyway, this dead horse is pretty well beaten by now.

Dave

I tend to agree with most of what everyone has said. However, the one thing that was forgotten to be mentioned is the weight distribution. The fact that the FD has no more weight on the drive wheels than it does on the other end of the car makes it a lot easier to loose control of in any adverse weather conditions than most other cars. You can have all the tread you want on a set of tires, but the breaking point is going to come a lot sooner in an FD.

Joe

I treat the dry pavement like rain, and treat rain like snow.

You shouldn't be drivin on the pavement mate :)

I think rain is only a problem if you're inexperienced. I drive just as hard on wet straight roads - full throttle over taking, but obviously back off for bends and round abouts.

When I got my 1st FD I had to drive it home 150 miles in heavy rain with smooth rear tyres.
Very twitchy handling but it was gd fun.
Road surface condition plays a big part too , smooth tarmac is very slippery, but over here alot of roads are surfaced with grit/chippings which is very rough and grippy.

^^ i meant that my car breaks loose very easily on the dry and very very easy in the rain. So when its raining im very careful, that doesnt mean i dont bust it sideways and rip 2nd gear all the way up the block. I just am careful, i dumped alot of $$ in this car and im not gonna smack a guardrail just because i was going alil too fast in the rain.

thanx for your opinion bro:moon: , but I grew up in Oregon. I have more experience driving in rain than in any other kind of weather, plus I was on a long road trip on the freeway and it started to rain hard for like 15 mins. It handled fine, I did take precaution and slowed down but was still going like 80 - 90 mph, which is not that fast in this car. I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it. its experience. If you know how to drive in rain then you have an advantage. Yes it also depends heavily on tires and condition of the tires and suspension. That is common sense.

Windows down and sunroof up is awesome.

I know I know lol, over here you'd get arrested for drivin on a pavement is what I meant!
Carefull in the dry and more carefull in the rain is a good attitude.

Fragile ego too, that might explain some things...

On the open road driving at those speed in a "major down pour" is just reckless therefore not bright . I did that sort of thing when I was much younger and didn't car about others safety.

Good for you. Maybe you aren't confident with your driving ability. I had no problem with it. I highly doubt that when the speed limit is 75 and you are going 80 to 90 in the fast lane and it rains, you are not putting people in any considerable danger. Good weather people are scared of adverse weather conditions, I learned to drive and perfected my skill in these kind of conditions. Nice try. btw age has nothing to do with it. Your comments about my experience is unwanted, I don't give a fuck. thanx for your :bss: though.

Very slowly, always drive very slow in the rain. I've spun out several times driving the rain. One time exiting the freeway @100 mph I turned wheel just a bit to take the off ramp and started to spin. I turned the wheel all the way to the right did 2 360s and landed in the mud on side of freeway. entire car was covered in mud. Better than hitting the wall. Sure you can drive 80-100 or whatever in the rain no problem, untill you enter a big puddle and start hydroplaining. Then you just hope the puddle ends quickly becasue your wheels are not touching the road.

only 18wheelers are allowed to speed in the rain and snow.

IMO the biggest factor in losing control is inexperience, followed by tyre compound.
If you have no 'feel' for the car you're gonna drive like a pussy or worse like a maniac, in the rain!
When my rex came over from Japan it had their Yokohamas on it. Talk about scary! Why are Japenese tyres so hard - do they not have rain over there? I mean even on dry roads the back end would skip and slide. Maybe it was just because they were old tyres, the imports dont do much mileage over there.
So I put some FSD3's on and now it sticks like glue, full power out of any bend and no sliding.