Every time it rains... and i go for a drive.... I notice front wheel traction gots to $h!t... 1st and 2nd will spin tires like no other.... have people in the car, w/ it weighed down, forget trying to pull out into speeding traffic, you'll never have the traction for it..... Cornering suffers big time, understeering like no other. Break isnt that bad, but still find myself using the ABS too much on hard braking. Any way to get better wet traction? any tire recamending for stock rims? And w/ the snow comin up, anyone tired and found a nice all round tire?

 

I don't have any traction problems. Even when it snowed here last week my xB held the road pretty well, and I am on 17" summer tires. Maybe I have a different driving style. Is your traction control kicking in at all? You shouldn't be spinning the wheels so much if it is.

 

That is strange. I live in the Ozarks and there are hills are turns everywhere. You have to keep in mind, that you cannot drive like the road it dry outside and expect the traction control to do something. If it is raining outside, I still brake easy, and soft on the gas. Mine kicks in, and stats beeping at me, and I hear the car make some noise and everything is O.K. Once I slipped on some wet leaves going around a blind corner and I could tell the traction control helped.

I think its excellent. Has the skid light come on at all? Has the slipping slight come on in your dash? I am running on stocks az well, and seem to have no problems.

One more thing, if your car is loaded, its going to slip, no matter what tires you have on it. Its only a FWD.....

-nt

 

It's the OEM tires that are causing the problems.
Here's my repost from another thread:

"How long do the stock tires last (xA/xB)? "
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...879&highlight=

The OEM tires on the xA and xB are...

"Goodyear Eagle LS"
They are cheep, noisy, low quality tires
with limited traction that wear quickly.

Tire Rack customer reviews are here...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Model=Eagle+LS


Thats why I got "Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50" to survive the NY winters:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=Blizzak+WS-50

But I *really* want to get wider, superior traction, summer tires like the
"Goodyear Assurance TripleTred " for the warm weather:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....nce+TripleTred

 

Motoman, you have to remember your car is no YZ400 and you dont have a berm to rail. Save the throttle for the track and drive slower! It's like riding in the mud.

 

goodyear assurance arent that great of "summer" tires. those are more than anything winterish tires meant for wet not so great in dry they will wear very quickly.

 

ZOIKS!


What do you recommend for a good summer tire
that can also handle the wet?
:?: [/quote]

 

alot of yoko tires will work well or if yer broke ( im assuming not since assurance are kinda spendy) kumho. i love yokohama avs es100's they wear pretty decently and are nice and sticky and have handled the rain that i had to deal with quite well. what size rims will you be running? assurance are decent but theyre for touring cars aka big , slow cars lol . and i think they are pretty expensive for what the are. yes they are good for rain but they probably arent the best. look into the yoko's they may satisfy your needs. but for a winter tire ( assuming u have to deal with mud and snow) blizzacks are very good. oh and most any tire that has either one or two center grooves with sweeping treads will handle wet very well as well as provide more than adequate tractions ( as long as they are meaty enough)oh and whatever you do don't get kumho supra 712's any other kumho is ok but the 712's have a bad cupping problem and need rebalancing sooo often its almost comical until YOU have to get it rebalenced versus some other guy.

 

I just put on (4) Cooper WeatherMaster ST2 Snow tires on my XB. Great tire. Slightly louder than stock tires. One of only 2 or 3 companies that offer true snow tire in stock sizes.
Blizzack tires are great but expensive. The soft compound for snow is only 1/2 of the tread-(the tread below is harder) and wears fast - thus if you do any amount of mileage they will only last one season, maybe two, but they get progressively worse traction. Once the soft compund is worn they are no better than the stock all season. For the Cooper I paid $68 each including tax mounting and balance, the Blizzacks are
approx $25 - $30 more each.
The Coopers I have found to be great in the snow and they wear well.

 

+1 on the tire comment. I have big traction problems in the rain down here in FL, particularly if I'm accelerating from a light over a couple paint strips. These tires are by far the worst factory equipped tires I've ever had on a car...they are loud and suck in wet or dry weather conditions.