Uniroyal Rainsport 3 Reviews - Page 2

Given 94% while driving a Ford 05 Mondeo 185 (modded) diesel (225/45 R17) on a combination of roads for 0 average miles
Had them fitted in my Mondeo mk4 and vw polo. They’re incredibly good on wet and muddy surfaces also grip very well on dry. Can’t complain about the noise or fuel efficiency they’re are all round good tires that last long. I would very highly recommend! Personally I think those tires are one of the best on the market
Helpful 38 - tire reviewed on October 2, 2021
Given 75% while driving a Volkswagen Golf MK4 GTTDI 150 (205/55 R16) on mostly country roads for 200 spirited miles
I just bought the Golf and the deal was I had to supply my own wheels so I picked up a cheap set of 16's with a full set of Rainsport 3's with about 5mm tread across the board. Not bad for £130 but I had heard these tires are no good in the dry. Anyhow after servicing the car (oil and filters), I set about putting it through it's paces on my favorite country roads and I purposefully did a couple of fast drives in pouring rain to try it properly. In the wet these tires seem pretty capable in terms of laying the power down, general handling and resistance to aquaplane as I drover through the deepest puddles I could find at speed without too much drama. Of course there is some understeer but considering the cars power and it's front wheel drive that is to be expected under acceleration. In the dry especially when it's really warm they don't appear to have much more grip than in the wet, I'm not sure if the understeer is really bad (it's not that bad, I was driving like a peanut) because of the tires or the car, as I have not had any experience of any Golfs newer than my old Mk2 GTi I don't know. It is pretty heavy for it's size and the suspension after 187000 miles is pretty tired I'd imagine. Also the rear slides fairly, with a flick of the steering you can easily kick the rear out which is not normally that easy on a front drive car. Anyway once you adjust your corner entries and throttle applications to account for the slides it is all pretty progressive and consistent so you can pretty much corner as hard as anything else as long as nothing is coming the other way just in case you get it wrong. I can't give any details on wear as they aren't showing any signs yet, they are ok on the brakes as far as I can tell. The brakes on the Golf are in need of replacement I think as I had to stop and let them cool after losing them doing a couple of laps on my favorite road, they aren't sharp enough to lock the wheels or make the ABS work so I'll sort them with discs, pads and new fluid at some point. Only other thing is the there are cracks in the tread. I also have a set of 17's to try which came with a pair of these so will see if the bigger wheel size makes any difference. Eventually I'm looking to trackday this car so will have the 16's as my wet / winter set and the 17's as my summer / dry set. A lot of work to do and a long way to go yet though.
Helpful 26 - tire reviewed on May 16, 2021
Given 51% while driving a Honda Civic 1.5T (225/45 R17) on mostly country roads for 1,500 spirited miles
These actual tires have been on two completely different cars. Initially on a back of rear wheel drive light sports car and now on the front of a mk 10 civic. To be fair the sports car had a full set,all be it a staggered arrangement,the civic has the original Michelin's on the rear. My opinion of this tire is basically the same result as when it was ran as part of the full set on the sports car. Side wall construction is very soft,the resultant ride quality is excellent,the down side is a loss if any precision to the steering. You end up having to increase the steering lock on all but the slowest inputs. The levels of grip in the dry(once you learn to trust the lack of steering feel) are okay, although,really push on and you're rewarded with an unnerving floating feeling. The result is you tend to just hold back. Wet grip is good, but again,not that difficult to spin up the wheels in 2nd and 3rd gears when coming out of corners which results in a slow drift offline due to understeer. Where this tire really shines is cutting through standing water. No other tire I've used manages to mitigate the dragging effect of hitting large puddles as well as this the does, impressive. If I had a full set on the car I'm sure this vague feeling would result in a feeling of impending oversteer ,at least until the tread depth had reduced. Which leads me on to wear rate. Never had enough time on the sports car to assess this,but a combination of a about 300 miles on that car and 1500 on the civic,has resulted in the loss of about 1.5mm. To be expected with such a soft compound I guess. This isn't a terrible tire by a long shot, certainly if you don't drive particularly fast,but that's its problem,this isn't tire to go from A to B quickly(bar maybe in the wet) I can't see me ever buying these again.
Helpful 24 - tire reviewed on October 23, 2020
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Given 84% while driving a BMW 520d M Sport (245/45 R18 W) on mostly country roads for 35,000 average miles
The absolute business in the wet, but not the tire to choose for very fast dry road use.
Helpful 34 - tire reviewed on October 10, 2020
Given 45% while driving a Toyota Auris (215/45 R17 W) on mostly town for 5,000 easy going miles
All seemed well at the start, but 30 months later they have had to be changed due to severe cracking between the treads. Not very good for a car that has done only 5000 miles in that time. I would not buy Uniroyal tires again.
Helpful 29 - tire reviewed on August 4, 2020
Given 92% while driving a Renault Laguna Phase II (225/45 R17 W) on mostly country roads for 12,000 spirited miles
Well not the greatest tire but on temperature ranges between 5C to 22-25C they are great being unable to either get the ABS kick in or slide them (actually last time I broke a spring in the corner but didn't lost traction). On outside temperature above 25C-30C they definetly start loose grip both in braking ,accelerating and side loading. On rain well this is the greatest tire I've driven in my 14 years of driving expirience , keeping 90-100km/h during heavy rains and storms(you litterally barely see where the road is) this rubber didn't gave me the slightest loss of confidence about the car handling. Definetly good in going through deeper pockets of water without aquaplaning. In general I would say probably the best road summer all around tire for normal users but for high horsepower and really sport driving this is not the tire since the soft compound it has quickly heats up and starts loosing traction rapidly , you would need more harder tire compound for this.
Helpful 21 - tire reviewed on July 28, 2020
Given 70% while driving a Opel Vectra C GTS (225/45 R18 W) on a combination of roads for 0 spirited miles
These tire are only average and nothing special. On dry roads braking is good, but handling is nothing less than intimidating, the slightest amount of heat on the road will make the car slide all about the place, on a FWD car you can have understeer and oversteer very easily so you have to be very careful. Due to stiff sidewall the car tire will stay flat and is quite responsive so you can expect a sharp and responsive feedback, but as above must be very careful since the grip will not back you up the way you might expect. On wet braking is scary and not to be mentioned very dangerous ABS will kick hopelessly trying to stop a car plowing forwards like you're driving in double cream. Surprisingly on wet roads handling becomes very good much better than on other tires, and on heavy rain it gets even better, at least the tires give you confidence much more than most of other makes and models. (Hence they call them the "Rain Tire"). Furthermore I also had the opportunity to test these tires even on SNOW, and all I can say is I advise you to better leave the car and take the bus If the roads decide to ear the "white coat" . Comfort wise i have the XL model they are OKay-ish because of the stiff sidewall and tire groove pattern, and noise level is definitelyon the HIGH side , tire and road noise is very noticeable and of course much more evident than with other "comfort" tire models. That said it is nothing worrying but something to consider for when deciding what tire you want. Fuel consumption wise I changed to this model on 225/45/18 size, coming from 225/45/17 Pirelli Cinturato P7 "eco" tire an I cannot notice any difference on cars consumption. Final thought, If you don't live in a wet and rainy climate do no expect anything special from these tiers especially if you live on places with hot summer days and want to use your car for sprited driving sessions.
Helpful 26 - tire reviewed on May 29, 2020
Given 87% while driving a Audi A4 Avant1.9 Tdi SE (205/55 R16 V) on a combination of roads for 22,000 average miles
Amazing handling on wet as well as on dry tarmac, quiet and responsive. The only drawback was rather quick wear, as you would expect from very grippy tires.
Helpful 24 - tire reviewed on April 23, 2020
Given 49% while driving a Alfa Romeo Giuiletta (225/45 R17 W) on a combination of roads for 3,000 average miles
I have had these on my car for 3000 miles now, I am disspointed with them. Only average in the wet, and they inspire no confidence in the corners. They do however seem to be wearing better than the RS3 which I used a while back. They are fairly comfortable if a bit noisy dry grip is good but they don't feel like a sporty tire. I wouldn't buy them again personally.
Helpful 20 - tire reviewed on March 29, 2020
Given 93% while driving a BMW 330CD (235/40 R19) on a combination of roads for 18,000 spirited miles
I’m having the 4th set now , I did buy the first one after having previously continental conti sport contact 5 ( 4 years ago ) I’m driving often to Germany ( no speed limit motorway ) about the tires the wet grip it’s just great , cornering it’s also very good . What I’ve notice in very hot days under heavy breaking ( have massive breakes upgrade on my car ) the grip start loosing pretty easy , before the breakes upgrade that didn’t use to happen . On snow they are rubbish ( and it’s just normal keeping in mind that I have a rwd car and they are summer tires ) On the front they last for about 18k miles and on the rear for about 13k-15k miles . I will definitely recommend them . I’ve seen some feedbacks here 😂 they aren’t competition tires ore track tires . They are normal tires for normal use . If you have a car over 200bhp and think that this or any other tires will keep you glued on tarmac that’s not gonna happen( only tires that could help will be Michelin sport cup 2 , but if you afford them you won’t let negative feedback 😂) . Bear in mind that neither the F1 cars can’t break physics laws, and specially a normal car won’t go further .
Helpful 36 - tire reviewed on February 25, 2020
Given 39% while driving a Volvo V40 D3 (225/40 R18 W) on a combination of roads for 15,000 spirited miles
Long story short, please don't ever think about to buy these tires. Absolutely rubbish. Let's say this was a short 1 year "performance" test for a "performance" tire and the tire failed. Not really understand how they managed good ratings/reviews for this tire. Buy Michelin Pilot Sport, Conti SportContact or Good Year Eagle or any other premium brand for nearly same price. However, if you driving 20mph everywhere that should be fine, but I'm sure if someone wants to buy these kind of tires they are expecting good performance specially at the limit. When all other tires are failed these ones has to be on top. Remove this tires from your list. I bought these tires in March 2019 as I thought these tires supposed to be the best on wet road in rainy days. I wish I could test it before. I would pay the £5-10 differences for the other premium brand. Such a shame... After not even one year and 15.000 miles the front tires are nearly gone, threads are 3.6mm! Yes, I know, tires needs to be rotated 6-8.000 miles...so my fault. The rears are still have 7.3mm, so if I did rotated now I need to replace 4 tires - after one year - not only 2, thank you for the advice Uniroyal. Black Shark...haha...definitely not...terrible experience, lots of struggle with under-steering on wet roads and corners even on dry road. I had a factory fitted Pirelli Cinturato before on this car, fitted from 0 until 48.000 miles and still had 3.8mm on each. Just too see the full picture I bought the car with those Pirelli tires at 33.000 and 5.5mm thread, after 1 year at the next MOT at 48000 still had 3.8-4.0mm So let's face it the cheapest eco Pirelli basic factory tires made 15.000 miles with 1.5-1.7mm loss Uniroyal Rainsport 3 made 15.000 miles with 5.0mm loss with the same driving attitude. I had Conti, Falken Ziex, Yokohama etc. on my previous cars, so I know what can I expect after 20 years on the road, specially from a "performance" tires. Dry grip - ok, only if the road is real dry! When the road gets wet - not even with rain - the tires start slide and you have to reduce your cornering speed and you need to slow down in the middle of a roundabout which is silly. Wet grip - ok, if you brake in straight line... Road feedback - ok Handling - as per above, these tires are not designed to drive at the limit. So don't try or you fail and crash your car. Wear - not lasted a year with 18.000... Comfort - noisy and if you run through on a 50Pence you can feel it was heads or tails... And by the way, the car is a normal D3 engine with 150PS, no modifications, no racing boy equipment etc. I had think about the Polestar upgrade, but the tires needs an upgrade first...not the car. Used mainly on motorway and in town, not on Brands Hatch...I wish I could. Driving with normal speeds within the limit so 70 is 70, 60 is 60 (yes, 60 not 30 or 35...unbelievable isn't it) and so on... Also we have Smart fortwo with Kumho tires with much better handling...so no more comment.
Helpful 25 - tire reviewed on February 24, 2020
Given 45% while driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI (225/45 R18 W) on for 7,000 miles
Have a mk 5 golf gti. Changed from Falken Azensis to these all round. Worst and costly mistake I ever made with tires. They are way to soft and feel horrible going in hard round a bend. No confidence on these tires. The Falkens were way better with miles more feel and stiffer sidewall. I'm going back to Azensis.
Helpful 26 - tire reviewed on January 18, 2020