Uniroyal Rainsport 5
Discussion
Got 4 fitted on Monday, I was impressed with the price, £220 delivered for x4 225/45/17's.
I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
First impressions having driven in pissing rain and sleet all week - They're a fantastic wet tyre, no dramas in standing water, feel very similar to the Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta I had a few years ago. I only really use the car in the rain and winter, so its the perfect tyre for me and at that price I'd call you a liar if you said you needed anything better for a lukewarm hatchback.
Only negative is my fuel consumption has went down a bit, just a few mpg but that might be me acting like a dick trying them out. I've been trying to get a bit of aquaplaning all week and nothing.
I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
First impressions having driven in pissing rain and sleet all week - They're a fantastic wet tyre, no dramas in standing water, feel very similar to the Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta I had a few years ago. I only really use the car in the rain and winter, so its the perfect tyre for me and at that price I'd call you a liar if you said you needed anything better for a lukewarm hatchback.
Only negative is my fuel consumption has went down a bit, just a few mpg but that might be me acting like a dick trying them out. I've been trying to get a bit of aquaplaning all week and nothing.
That's why I put the quotes in there as I see them as a mid range tyre only. However some tyre fitters told me they were the best in the wet so that's why I'm a little apprehensive about them. That's why I've held out on getting them and they I'm asking about there successors.
The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
trippy86 said:
The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
Pretty much any tyre gets around 80% scores on tyrereviews (even some REAL ditch finders) from J. Public, in general if there aren't any professional reviews on there I just ignore them.The predecessor was "considered by many" to be the ultimate wet tyre and then in the only professional review alongside the Conti SC5 it scored less in the wet, personally I would only use them on a low powered small hatch that has under 15" wheels.
There are many better tyres for the money assuming the wheel size is over 16".
trippy86 said:
That's why I put the quotes in there as I see them as a mid range tyre only. However some tyre fitters told me they were the best in the wet so that's why I'm a little apprehensive about them. That's why I've held out on getting them and they I'm asking about there successors.
The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
The problem is many tyre fitters are actually idiots.The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
I take my opinion from firstly, my own first hand experience
Secondly I take my opinion from actual reviews and tests from suitably experienced people - EG those who understand their cars handling characteristics. eg jon- from tyre reviews, and also the various tests which are published on the site.
Many tyre fitters don't have an interest in handling or performance, they care about selling tyres and making money - And often will recommend the tyres which give them the most margins! No-one is going to really push DAVANTI because they are a high quality tyre.........
For example on my Lease car , a Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost, my GF decided to drive on a punctured tyre which meant they had to be replaced.
The tyres were originally Conti Sport Contact 5.
Not amazing but OK, I think they are for a heavier car to be honest.
They were replaced, the garage offered a premium, mid range and budget choice. Given the car was going back in 2 months I thought no point putting fresh Michelins on. But I didn't want either my GF or I to have cheap tyres on the car.
I asked about the mid-range tyre and they said "GENERAL" brand, which in my book is actually a budget option!!!
I simply asked for what tyres they had in stock that would fit. And Avon came up, which while not a premium tyre , I've had previous experience of on cars and motorcycles and they were a solid choice and actually cheaper than the GENERAL tyre.....
Once fitted and aligned, I notice that the Avon's are pretty good, but in the wet you can certainly feel them scrub and lose grip before the Conti Sports.
Not dangerous by any means, they are consistent and predictable, where as a proper budget is very inconsistent - and you have to be a bit of a tosser to notice if I'm honest. But the difference is there.
Also the steering is slightly less direct than the CSC5, which you'd expect given they are not a "sporty" tyre and they make it feel like there is a wheel bearing gone on certain surfaces. But for the money ........
To my GF, she notices absolutely no difference (given she was driving it every day for 2 years), but I noticed within 10 minutes of driving it despite not driving it on the CSC5 for several weeks.
What I'm trying to explain is that just because someone says "The tyres are great!" doesn't mean that they are, because despite their best intentions, they don't know what they're talking about :P
xjay1337 said:
trippy86 said:
That's why I put the quotes in there as I see them as a mid range tyre only. However some tyre fitters told me they were the best in the wet so that's why I'm a little apprehensive about them. That's why I've held out on getting them and they I'm asking about there successors.
The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
The problem is many tyre fitters are actually idiots.The RS5's seem to be getting generally positive reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk though.
I take my opinion from firstly, my own first hand experience
Secondly I take my opinion from actual reviews and tests from suitably experienced people - EG those who understand their cars handling characteristics. eg jon- from tyre reviews, and also the various tests which are published on the site.
Many tyre fitters don't have an interest in handling or performance, they care about selling tyres and making money - And often will recommend the tyres which give them the most margins! No-one is going to really push DAVANTI because they are a high quality tyre.........
For example on my Lease car , a Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost, my GF decided to drive on a punctured tyre which meant they had to be replaced.
The tyres were originally Conti Sport Contact 5.
Not amazing but OK, I think they are for a heavier car to be honest.
They were replaced, the garage offered a premium, mid range and budget choice. Given the car was going back in 2 months I thought no point putting fresh Michelins on. But I didn't want either my GF or I to have cheap tyres on the car.
I asked about the mid-range tyre and they said "GENERAL" brand, which in my book is actually a budget option!!!
I simply asked for what tyres they had in stock that would fit. And Avon came up, which while not a premium tyre , I've had previous experience of on cars and motorcycles and they were a solid choice and actually cheaper than the GENERAL tyre.....
Once fitted and aligned, I notice that the Avon's are pretty good, but in the wet you can certainly feel them scrub and lose grip before the Conti Sports.
Not dangerous by any means, they are consistent and predictable, where as a proper budget is very inconsistent - and you have to be a bit of a tosser to notice if I'm honest. But the difference is there.
Also the steering is slightly less direct than the CSC5, which you'd expect given they are not a "sporty" tyre and they make it feel like there is a wheel bearing gone on certain surfaces. But for the money ........
To my GF, she notices absolutely no difference (given she was driving it every day for 2 years), but I noticed within 10 minutes of driving it despite not driving it on the CSC5 for several weeks.
What I'm trying to explain is that just because someone says "The tyres are great!" doesn't mean that they are, because despite their best intentions, they don't know what they're talking about :P
So in that case, the above review was brought to you by a guy whos done a bit of motorbike club racing (albeit I'm s
t but I've never came last), with years worth of trackdays on top. I mean I class myself as utter st but its all relative isn't it. Perhaps you could recommend a tyre more suited for a luke warm hot hatch of less than 250bhp that are better value for money and a better tyre in the wet. I don't care about the dry personally as I would be on the bike.
I get that people want to spend the most the can afford on a tyre, I do. That's why my race wets are £300 a pair. But I'm not tipping into duffus dip in the pissing rain on the way to work much.....
moanthebairns said:
Got 4 fitted on Monday, I was impressed with the price, £220 delivered for x4 225/45/17's.
I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
.
Amazing getting to 32k on them; lucky if mine have seen 15k even being rotated before they are spent.I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
.
Two sets on daily Golfs on less than 200bhp
Great tyres for the money though, matched time to work in a monsoon with them, compared to a mk2 16v on yokohama paradas in the summer lol
moanthebairns said:
I mean I do agree with some points on the above perhaps we should sign off each review of a tyre by our levels of driving competency.
So in that case, the above review was brought to you by a guy whos done a bit of motorbike club racing (albeit I'm st but I've never came last), with years worth of trackdays on top. I mean I class myself as utter st but its all relative isn't it.
Perhaps you could recommend a tyre more suited for a luke warm hot hatch of less than 250bhp that are better value for money and a better tyre in the wet. I don't care about the dry personally as I would be on the bike.
I get that people want to spend the most the can afford on a tyre, I do. That's why my race wets are £300 a pair. But I'm not tipping into duffus dip in the pissing rain on the way to work much.....
I haven't used the Rainsport 5 myself. So I can't really comment on the 5 (and haven't on this thread So in that case, the above review was brought to you by a guy whos done a bit of motorbike club racing (albeit I'm s
t but I've never came last), with years worth of trackdays on top. I mean I class myself as utter st but its all relative isn't it. Perhaps you could recommend a tyre more suited for a luke warm hot hatch of less than 250bhp that are better value for money and a better tyre in the wet. I don't care about the dry personally as I would be on the bike.
I get that people want to spend the most the can afford on a tyre, I do. That's why my race wets are £300 a pair. But I'm not tipping into duffus dip in the pissing rain on the way to work much.....
)I have however got a set of the 3 on the Seat Altea s
tter which is around 1400kg and 180 ish HP with around 300 lb ft of torque.Again it was only a choice, because at the time, the Altea was supposed to be my GF's car and I refused to let her put budget tyres on. So at least the Rainsport 3 are a better option than LUCKYLAND HAPPYGALOPS.
The 3's were nowhere near as good in the wet as you'd expect, reading people's gushing online, and significantly worse than a Pilot Sport 4 , for example. And in testing were mid-table at best (according to Tyre-reviews published test data). - https://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2020-Tyre-Ma...
Where they stop 4 meters longer in the dry (that's a car length, could be difference between crashing and not
and around 3 meters longer in the wet
They also didn't last very well, in comparison , wearing out abut 30% faster than the Michelin, and in the dry even at medium pace, feels very squishy and falls over onto it's sidewall.
It really ruins the joy of driving a car for me......
I will wait till I either drive the 5 or see some independant review / testing data, but I can't see how it would be a "night and day" difference from the 3, sure it may be slightly better , but even so it will still be quite a bit behind a more premium tyre.
For me my personal tyre of choice is the Pilot Sport 4, but second to that Goodyear Eagle Asy 3/5 is a good choice , which costs slightly less, but also isn't quite as good in some scenarios, and doesn't stand up to track abuse as well.
I also really like the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti, great tyre for track, but on the road it feels heavy, and really does impact your fuel economy, it's such an odd sensation to drive such a heavy feeling tyre.
The Pilot Sport 4 (and by extension the 4S on larger wheels) literally does everything.
I have done all my trackdays on PS4 tyres, in all conditions, tens of thousands of road miles.
They last well, are great in the wet, great in the dry, they are a good compromise on ride / sidewall stiffness , they grip consistently throughout their tread life, as an all round tyre they are better than the Uniroyals - even the sidewall design is nice...
Given as well that you can often get big discounts on the Michelin's from Costco or Blackcircles then it really is an easy choice :-)
Right now according to Blackcircles (other online tyre retails are available) , in 225 / 40 / 18 , Uniroyal Rainsport 5 is £99.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is £105.
Honestly who , on this site , would pick the Uniroyal over the Michelins for £24 less?
I'm pretty poor and even I wouldn't! :-)
Edited by xjay1337 on Monday 24th February 11:33
rickygolf83 said:
moanthebairns said:
Got 4 fitted on Monday, I was impressed with the price, £220 delivered for x4 225/45/17's.
I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
.
Amazing getting to 32k on them; lucky if mine have seen 15k even being rotated before they are spent.I had the 3 before and they lasted about 32,000 miles on a remapped vrs taxi, albeit I mainly use my car for A roads and Motorways to work, bloody impressive though. That said they were pretty illegal when I changed them.
.
Two sets on daily Golfs on less than 200bhp
Great tyres for the money though, matched time to work in a monsoon with them, compared to a mk2 16v on yokohama paradas in the summer lol
xjay1337 said:
moanthebairns said:
I mean I do agree with some points on the above perhaps we should sign off each review of a tyre by our levels of driving competency.
So in that case, the above review was brought to you by a guy whos done a bit of motorbike club racing (albeit I'm st but I've never came last), with years worth of trackdays on top. I mean I class myself as utter st but its all relative isn't it.
Perhaps you could recommend a tyre more suited for a luke warm hot hatch of less than 250bhp that are better value for money and a better tyre in the wet. I don't care about the dry personally as I would be on the bike.
I get that people want to spend the most the can afford on a tyre, I do. That's why my race wets are £300 a pair. But I'm not tipping into duffus dip in the pissing rain on the way to work much.....
I haven't used the Rainsport 5 myself. So I can't really comment on the 5 (and haven't on this thread So in that case, the above review was brought to you by a guy whos done a bit of motorbike club racing (albeit I'm s
t but I've never came last), with years worth of trackdays on top. I mean I class myself as utter st but its all relative isn't it. Perhaps you could recommend a tyre more suited for a luke warm hot hatch of less than 250bhp that are better value for money and a better tyre in the wet. I don't care about the dry personally as I would be on the bike.
I get that people want to spend the most the can afford on a tyre, I do. That's why my race wets are £300 a pair. But I'm not tipping into duffus dip in the pissing rain on the way to work much.....
)I have however got a set of the 3 on the Seat Altea s
tter which is around 1400kg and 180 ish HP with around 300 lb ft of torque.Again it was only a choice, because at the time, the Altea was supposed to be my GF's car and I refused to let her put budget tyres on. So at least the Rainsport 3 are a better option than LUCKYLAND HAPPYGALOPS.
The 3's were nowhere near as good in the wet as you'd expect, reading people's gushing online, and significantly worse than a Pilot Sport 4 , for example. And in testing were mid-table at best (according to Tyre-reviews published test data). - https://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2020-Tyre-Ma...
Where they stop 4 meters longer in the dry (that's a car length, could be difference between crashing and not
and around 3 meters longer in the wet
They also didn't last very well, in comparison , wearing out abut 30% faster than the Michelin, and in the dry even at medium pace, feels very squishy and falls over onto it's sidewall.
It really ruins the joy of driving a car for me......
I will wait till I either drive the 5 or see some independant review / testing data, but I can't see how it would be a "night and day" difference from the 3, sure it may be slightly better , but even so it will still be quite a bit behind a more premium tyre.
For me my personal tyre of choice is the Pilot Sport 4, but second to that Goodyear Eagle Asy 3/5 is a good choice , which costs slightly less, but also isn't quite as good in some scenarios, and doesn't stand up to track abuse as well.
The Pilot Sport 4 (and by extension the 4S on larger wheels) literally does everything.
I have done all my trackdays on PS4 tyres, in all conditions, tens of thousands of road miles.
They last well, are great in the wet, great in the dry, they are a good compromise on ride / sidewall stiffness , they grip consistently throughout their tread life, as an all round tyre they are better than the Uniroyals - even the sidewall design is nice...
Given as well that you can often get big discounts on the Michelin's from Costco or Blackcircles then it really is an easy choice :-)
Right now according to Blackcircles (other online tyre retails are available) , in 225 / 40 / 18 , Uniroyal Rainsport 5 is £99.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is £105.
Honestly who , on this site , would pick the Uniroyal over the Michelins for £24 less?
I'm pretty poor and even I wouldn't! :-)
Edited by xjay1337 on Monday 24th February 11:30
Edited by xjay1337 on Monday 24th February 11:31
king hate the feel of them, I know that is bike tyres but it clouds my vision, unfairly i'll give you. I will however concede if your stats are above are correct, they on paper seem to be a better performing tyre than the Uni-royals. However, £108...................................i'll take that 3m chance in the wet.
You must have a smaller tyre size then?
I'm not saying that Uniroyal are awful - they're not - but they're not as good as "the internet" makes out and that an equivalent Michelin , Pirelli, etc is usually quite a bit better.
And certainly for a "dRiViNg EnThUsIaSt" the soft squishy feeling of them during cornering is a turn off.
Granted for the money, certainly for £50 each in whatever your size was, then great - and as you aren't doing track days or "sporty driving" and simply doing the daily commuting grind, they are great at doing that
I'm not saying that Uniroyal are awful - they're not - but they're not as good as "the internet" makes out and that an equivalent Michelin , Pirelli, etc is usually quite a bit better.
And certainly for a "dRiViNg EnThUsIaSt" the soft squishy feeling of them during cornering is a turn off.
Granted for the money, certainly for £50 each in whatever your size was, then great - and as you aren't doing track days or "sporty driving" and simply doing the daily commuting grind, they are great at doing that
As I posted earlier I put 4 Rainsport 5s on my fiesta ST last week. I've been through a few sets of RS3s to compare against and these are indeed an improvement for the same money.
Noticable differences;
Dry grip is a fair bit better, the RS3s would spin up in 2nd under WOT, these 5s don't.
Wet grip is slightly better, cornering no difference I can tell but straight line and under load they resist spinning up better.
Also its snowing today and even on our cul-de-sac estate with its banks and bends and untreated roads, no drama.
So yeah very impressed for £60 a tyre. I'm sure the Pilot Sport 4s are better but I'd be suprised if they are +£30 a tyre better.
Noticable differences;
Dry grip is a fair bit better, the RS3s would spin up in 2nd under WOT, these 5s don't.
Wet grip is slightly better, cornering no difference I can tell but straight line and under load they resist spinning up better.
Also its snowing today and even on our cul-de-sac estate with its banks and bends and untreated roads, no drama.
So yeah very impressed for £60 a tyre. I'm sure the Pilot Sport 4s are better but I'd be suprised if they are +£30 a tyre better.
Can I fault the uniroyals one bit, 4 on our barge of a Volvo V70 D5, which tows our 1700kg caravan, these perform wonderfully, even on very wet sites where you’d assume a front wheel drive car would struggle, don’t get my wrong to compare them to Michelin PS4s which we have on the 850R is unfair, different strokes for different folks.
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