Semi Slicks in the wet?

[kriminal]

Hey,
I am doing a track day this wed at eastern creek.
currently the weather says raining in the late evening which is perfect as it should be fine during the day.
BUT incase it is raining on wed morning would it be better to take the semi slicks (Advan A050) off and put my street tires (Kumho KU31) as obviously the street tyre has a lot more thread pattern for drainage?

Would perfer no rain at all esp since i just bought a 2nd set of rims and the semi's for wednesday.
My mate who is coming as well said his going to leave his semi's (RE55) on even if its raining but he has an EVO 9..so cant really compare with him.

Thanks

[POCOCK]

i've never used the ao50 but i have used a048's for awhile now i will always go the semi over a road tyres in the wet you will be surprised at how well they work

[sv300 - 75]

mate if you are going to drive to the track on your semi slicks then i highly reccomend not. they will have no grip when they are cold and in the wet.

on the track though that is a different story, when they are hot they should stick reasonably well it just depends on how much water is on the track. little bit of water would be ok but a massive downpoor would not be good at all.

if you can, take both sets of tyres and swap them over when it rains.

[Smitty]

mate if you are going to drive to the track on your semi slicks then i highly reccomend not. they will have no grip when they are cold and in the wet.

on the track though that is a different story, when they are hot they should stick reasonably well it just depends on how much water is on the track. little bit of water would be ok but a massive downpoor would not be good at all.

if you can, take both sets of tyres and swap them over when it rains.

sorry but i disagree
I run Yoko A048s on my race car in the wet ( run Dunlop Rs in the dry)
and they are brilliant...when its cold and wet.
The last outing at PI in the wet I was driving around Porsches and WRXs running supposedly
' rain' tyres' and the water was streamin across the circuit between Turns 11 and 12..the A048s just stuck :bow:

having said that I would not recommend semis for the road...anytime
one decent pot hole or kerb...and the tyre is stuffed

[kriminal]

good point...
thanks, i will put my road tyres back on and just change them at the track regardless whether is raining or not...

i was just keen to get them on the car to make sure everything was ok before the day... i was probably over thinking but knowing my luck i would have put them on at the track and something would have been wrong, not balanced propley etc..

thanks

[gigantor]

i have heard mixed things about this only experience i have had was with mt et streets in the wet and they were a bit skidish

[HSV Listy]

Two points here

1. New or decent amount of tread left A050 will crap all over street tyres in the wet any day of the week. I mean crap all over. Last year I used street tyres in the wet and it was a joke compared to the newish A050 semi slicks

2. Point two is the A050 you are using are somewhat warn down on tread then they will be hopeless in the wet and you are better off running with street tyres for safety sake. If the semi slicks have bad camber wear on one side that will affect it too.

Couple of videos

The sound is missing on this one but yes it was wet track with the A050 and they worked great and even beating the lap times the full race cars by some seconds a lap too.

YouTube - Round 1 race 3 wet race. Recorded on RaceVid Extreme

YouTube - Very wet race part 1 at Hidden Valley. Recorded on the Blackbox 1000 DVR

Just a bit of water spray rooster tail as a good example how much water was being moved

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk77/HSVListy/GTSphoto6.jpg

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk77/HSVListy/GTSphoto5.jpg