No handling at all in rain

Hey guys,

I just drove through a torrential downpour and could not go any quicker than 30mph. I realize it was raining real hard, but ppl were passing me with ease and going a heck of a lot faster. The car would not stay straight above 30mph. I was getting pulled from side to side and had no handling at all. It felt like I was on ice, so I'm guessing I was hydroplaning pretty bad. Any ideas as to what I can change/fix to get more grip and better handling. I just changed the rear tires and could probably go for new ones up front too, but this seemed too drastic to just be a case of bad tires. Any ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers!

I see you have a 2000 Grand Prix from your public profile. It would help to post that in your original thread. Since you have front wheel drive, how's the tread on your front tires?

What brand tires do you have on the front end and how old are they. The type and quality of tires is a major factor in wet weather.

Thanks for the responses. I thought it was the tires as well and went ahead and had them rotated. The ones I used to have up front, Hercules brand, I've never heard of here in the northeast, but they still have some tread on them so I threw them to the rear. I put my new Cooper tires up front, so we'll see how she handles the next rain storm. Thanks again.

You want to find an open channel of tire cuts. Say they are cut but like in a pool are more closed off to retain water and skid. But, if you found that tire cut that has that groove all the way out the side, then when it squishes, you have rubber meeting the road between the two channels or more is when you roll over that puddle, you might have a better bite via a rain groove type profile pattern.

Having two different kinds of tires is causing the problem. The front tires are clearing the water with a specific tread pattern while the rear has a totally different tread pattern. Match up all four tires and I guarantee the problem will go away.

IMHOP I believe that is not the problem. The front tires on my car are different from the rear tires. The front tires are Continentals and the rear tires are Pep Boys house brand. I do not have the problem as describe above.