Given
63%
while driving a
Ford Focus ST170
(215/45 R17 W) on
a combination of roads
for 9,000
spirited miles
This is a review of the Rainsport 1's on the front of my car, a follow on from my previous review of these on the rear.
I have to say that I have really not been overly impressed by these. You get more feel of how good or a bad a tire is when theyre on the driven wheels and what felt like an alright if a little grip deficient tire on the rear felt completely numb on the front.
Straight line grip in the dry was actually quite good. I didnt find wet grip to be any better or worse than any other tire ive had, so dont get this tire if your sole concern is better grip in the wet. As I have said, the tires feel very numb and made the steering of my car feel overly heavy. One of the biggest things about the st170 is its sublime steering feel, but with these on it was reduced to what i can only describe as steering through sludge, no sharpness or directness. Although there was little feel, the tires progressed into understeer gradually. The main issue I feel is that the sidewalls are incredibly soft, ompared to continential sport contact 1's, pilot sport 1's and my latest rainsport 2's. I can squash the sidewall with my hand incredibly easily with the rainsport 1's. This soft sidewall is totally apparent in any kind of at speed cornering. Going round a large roundabout with the window open, you can physical hear the point where the sidewalls of the tire fold on themselves. At this point you still have some grip, but zero feel.
Wear has been ok, at a total of 24000 miles. Not as good as the Michelin Pilot Sport 1's which lasted 30000. Comfort is excellent, I assume as a result of the soft sidewalls and quite soft compound. Of course, in a 'sport' tire this isnt really what your looking for.