THSCC Forums

Because they're not? Autox != interstate driving.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

The azenis do have fairly good wet grip. They do not do great in standing water. On a drive back from a roebling event earlier in the year two friends were drivign back on azenis and we had some serious pouring rain to deal with on the ride home. Obviously we all had to dial it back some, but they felt the tires were overall ok. On a 5 hour drive, in a lot of rain. Again, in standing water they just cant shed it fast enough, but in heavy rain on pavement that drains well they are "ok".

The old Azenis RT-215 was described "Solid tread blocks for excellent dry-weather performance". Note nothing was said about wet-weather performance. I had heard the new design was supposed to be a better rain tire. The obvious problem with the old design was it had only one longitudinal groove. They must have addressed that issue since the new design now has three.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Try again

Ever look at say Goodyear GS3D, Sumi HTRZII, Yoko AVS sport? Guess what none of them have even 1 longitudinal groove, and they are all street tires that do very well in the rain.

The whole Azenis sux in the rain and are dangerous is a old wives tail. Yes at autox and track levels they hydroplane almost immediately, in standing water. Normal driving, at highway speeds, no problems. At least if you still have any tread left on them. I have driven them in the rain many times to and from events and they were just fine. I also know quite a few no THSCCers that use them as their daily driver tires and they do just fine.

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

OK, now there is you and Kevin that believe that. You think I just made it up that they suck on the highway in the rain? I have two sets and the first set almost put me in the ditch from hydroplanning at 60MPH. BTW, they only had two events on them at the time.

Anyway it doesn't really matter to me. I have other tires so I won't be driving on Azenis at any tread depth in the rain. I was just trying to enlighten Miles with my personal experience.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

You know, I've had a few autoxes where the tires wouldn't do what I wanted them to do & I ended up coning. Damn Falkens!



I hope they bring a 225/50/16 or 225/45/16 of the new tire...

I can't believe that there is even a discussion about this. It does not take a tire engineer to understand why an Azenis is a less than ideal street rain driving tire. All it requires is the gift of sight and an understanding of why tire engineers put grooves in tires in the first place. The grooves are there to give the water someplace to go to reduce the likelyhood of hydroplaning. That is the whole reason tires are given grooves, otherwise tires would all be slicks. It is just that simple, all the personal testimonials in the world don't change these facts. A tires wet autocross performance doesn't have much to do with its street rain use safety. An Azenis is safer to drive on the highway in the rain than a V710 victoracer, and a full tread one is safer than a worn out nearly bald normal street tire absolutely. However, it is not nearly as hydroplane resistent as a more normal street tire with more grooves with decent tread depth. It does not require a genius to understand this, just a little common sense.

I'm with ya there. I'll take either one to run on my Z-24 at VIR. The 205's just aren't wide enough for me.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

If you will look at some of my old posts on the Listserv, you will see that I was one of those giving the Azenis a hard time about it not being a legitimate "street tire", about they are dangerous in the rain, etc. I generally have changed my tune…

I had been running the Azenis 100% of the time until very recently. While I would not recommend them as a wet weather tire, I do think they are “safe” if you are aware of their limitations. With full tread they are pretty good unless you are driving into pools of standing water at higher (interstate) speeds. When you do, you just will not have the confidence that you will have with a tread that evacuated the water like a good all weather tire. As they wear, they will eventually get progressively worse in deep water.

I drove mine until about mid/late-summer when we started to have some decent rain. The tires were VERY worn (down into the casing on the inside edge of two tires due to front toe and camber settings) and I started to get wheel spin in 4th/5th gear on the interstate in heavy rain. I like to think that my elite wet driving skills kept me out of trouble that day. But it was probably luck that kept me from stuffing the car into a bridge abutment. Either way, because the pucker factor was VERY high I decided it was time to put them away and switch back to my stock wheel/tires.

So, if you pay attention to the conditions and watch tire wear they are totally acceptable for an enthusiast driver IMHO. BUT, I would not put them on a car that was driven by someone who didn't understand the limitations of the tires. You WILL get better wet weather performance out of MANY other tires.

With the new tires looking to have an even more "rain" friendly tread pattern (thank you for the new center channels!), I will have no reservations about putting these back on the car and driving them all of next year. Since they most likely will not be available until the spring, I can dodge the snow/ice issue as well.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Are you sure? Behold the Sumitomo HTR ZII!

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

What? Slow down and read what I said and the examples of the 3 tires I mentioned. Your "gift of sight" comment is simplistic and wrong.











No you are going to try and say by sight you can say one of those is better or worse than the other? Wait first let me get my boots before it gets too deep

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

Yeah I just realized that myself as I was getting pictures, busted

So I added the Toyo T1-S

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

Ah ha! So the logitundinal grooves do matter. So the old design had no wet-weather problems (Adam), but they decided to fix them anyway. That's what I call engineering hard at work.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Absolutley, maybe we need to get you some glasses old man. These examples are on the extreme end, but they all still have significantly more groves per sq-in than the Azenis. If your having trouble seeing this, try to pay attention to the thickness of the solid tread blocks, that is a dead giveaway.

I didn't say it was a great rain tire. I said it is not dangerous as people like to claim, who usually have never actually driven on them on the street.

And again if you look at the tires I posted, except for the Sumi , none of them have any longitudinal grooves. That was my point that you don't have to have any and the tire can still be a good wet weather performer. The ones I posted were the GS3-D, AVS sport, HTRZII, and the T1-S.

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com