135i performance in wet with stock tires

[Robert]

I have to say I am happy with 135i's performance in wet condition. Those stock tires have plenty of grip and even with 9,500 on them I did not hydroplane much. We are having a major storm in Socal, by socal standard, and so far I have only hydroplaned once when I hit standing water on the freeway at 60mph. The car behaved predictably and as soon as the water reduced my speed, I regained control.

Earlier when it wasn't raining as hard the car easily accelerate from 60 to 80 without slippage and it felt very much in control. I had a 328i rental from Hertz awhile back and the rear end of that car would slip everytime I tap the brakes even on surface street doing 40, needless to say I was concerned with RWD in the wet. However, after today the 135i has boosted my confidence in the car and the brake felt just as strong in wet as in dry.

On the note of those Socal drivers, they are horrible. With the road a little damp and they would only drive 45-50mph on the freeway while hugging the fast lane, which is fine by me. But they would sped up to 70, get nervous, then brake back down to 45 creating wild speed swings and causing last minute braking. Horrible driving. I end up breaking out of the pack by speeding up and found a nice spot between packs of car.

[former]

I agree. I found the Potenzas to be very capable in the wet, including during Euro Delivery at 95 MPH. They very capably moved the water out and kept their grip very, very well. Though, as an aside, I didn't like driving at 95 in the rain very long. Most of the time, I backed it down to 80. That was more comfortable. It was rather humbling though, when a Smart Car flies by you in those conditions though.

Since returning to the states (and also living in SoCal) I haven't had a lot of opportunity to test the limits of adhesion. Last night on the way home, I got on it enough to make the back tires break loose a bit. Even as they did it though, they did so predictably. As a further kudo to the car, it didn't go nuts either and swing all over the place.

As for the SoCal drivers in the rain, yes, they are wildly incompetent and inconsistent. The effect of rain in SoCal is comparable to snowing with accumulation in Chicago.

[warmtoes]

We obviously get a lot more rain than those of you in SoCal and I have to say the wet performance of the tires is pretty good. On my previous car I had AWD and GS-D3's so it's not quite as good as that but not bad considering it's RWD and has 300 lb/ft of torque!

[plien69]

The stock Potenza RFTs are decent at preventing hydroplaning, but once the tread wears down a bit, wet traction goes to s^!7.

[akak1997]

This was the first major SoCal storm I've experience with the 135 and the tires hold up very well. However, the wipers aren't hold up as well as I thought. The rain sensor is a disappointment. I've hit some heavy downpour, and the rain sensor will not speed the wiper up to max speed, I've to manually set it to max speed. The wipers even at max speed still can't handle the heavy rain. I's going around 40mph at that condition, coz any thing faster would be very dangerous, you really can't see ANYTHING.

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by akak1997

This was the first major SoCal storm I've experience with the 135 and the tires hold up very well. However, the wipers aren't hold up as well as I thought. The rain sensor is a disappointment. I've hit some heavy downpour, and the rain sensor will not speed the wiper up to max speed, I've to manually set it to max speed.

The sensor isn't designed to control the wiper speed - the steering column wand does that. The purpose of the sensor is to replace the "Intermittent" position one uses when there is only a light rain or drizzle, as it essentially measures whether or not there is water on the windshield. In a heavy rain, the sensor would always report an "on" message so it would be useless.

Re the OEM Bridgestones, the ones on my Z4 were excellent in the wet, even after the tread was worn down to 4/32"

Tom

[MOCKBA]

135 behaves much more stable on wet road than my Z4, stock RFT on both. I guess because 135 is heavier.

[vanbmw]

I second warmtoes comments! We get lots of rain in Vancouver and I find my car is very good in the wet. Switching to my winters (Blizzaks) improved traction off the line in the wet but not by much.

[gtaday51]

I hated those Bridgestones. They never seemed like a $300 tire. Swapped out to a Pirelli 240 Sottozero and the difference was amazing. Also am planning on putting Pilot PS2s on my 135i for the summer. Guess ill see how the two summers compare.

[akak1997]

the Z4 is less stable in wet coz it's wider tires (I think)

[deeb]

Are you guys all nuts?!?? I found the stock 245's to SUCK in the rain??? I couldn't take a corner with even 1/8th throttle otherwise I'd be completely sideways... the new winter tires however are amazing!!

[gtaday51]

I completly agree.

[SteveLanc]

+1
On a par for par and take all traction controls off, my M5 has more grip than the Standard runflats!

If you can get them hot, they are a different story

[looking]

I had a wet track day this summer and was really surprised with the grip and the TC. The tires actually held on better than I though. Definitely not horrible in the rain and better the RE070 I had on my STi.

[MOCKBA]

Finally heavy rain hits California, so I could test 1ser in rain again. It seems the same stable as SUVs.

[Robert]

My tires now have close to 10,000 miles on them so it hydroplaned more during the last storm, but the rain was also heavier.

[morscode]

JB3+These tires != traction in the wet

[bman6074]

Yea the stock tires even being runflats aren't as bad as most make them seem. For everyday driving, pretty good. For auto-x not so bad either. But when it is time for new tires I will definitly be getting something a bit stickier since I have winter tires.

[Citizen Z]

Originally Posted by bman6074

Yea the stock tires even being runflats aren't as bad as most make them seem. For everyday driving, pretty good. For auto-x not so bad either. But when it is time for new tires I will definitly be getting something a bit stickier since I have winter tires.

+1 They are spectacularly average, suitable for your normal consumer-car buyer. Unfortunately, BMW didn't seem to realize they were selling to an enthusiast market with this car when they shod its feet.