Had my car nearly a year now, and I've always noticed that it's not brilliant when the roads are wet.

I find it lacks grip tremendously for a car with a sporty set-up.. curious as to what your opinion of your Zetec S on wet roads is?

Around august I replaced my two front tyres as needed, but at the time with money being tight etc I only fitted cheap no frills tyres instead of the Bridgestones I had on it before.

Since then I've noticed that the lack of grip has worsened, obviously due to the cheaper tyres..

It might sound silly, but I never had any of these problems with my old car in the wet (Mini Cooper) is this a common characteristic or unique to my Mk7? I know that putting decent tyres back on the front wheels will improve the overall grip of the car, but could something else be wrong?

And according to the tyre garage that put the new tyres on my car, the Bridgestones that were on it when I collected it from Ford were designed for wet weather driving apparently, could Ford have known about this problem and tried to solve it by putting decent tyres on the car?

Any advice/opinions appreciated :P I do love my car but it's getting to the point I dread driving in the wet now not a good thing coming up to winter...

Cheers guys

never had a problem with mine.

obviously iv noticed that the grip decreases but nothing more than it should do. Having the 17's may also make a difference as my 206 that had 17's was shocking in the wet when i first got it but then put winter tyres on and it was fine.

Grip is crap. I nearly ended up in a wall a few weeks ago.

Nothing at all like the grip on the MK6.5 - I almost feel nervous when it's wet out.

I've got the 17"s on my zetec and more than happy with performance in the wet.

And according to the tyre garage that put the new tyres on my car, the Bridgestones that were on it when I collected it from Ford were designed for wet weather driving apparently, could Ford have known about this problem and tried to solve it by putting decent tyres on the car?

Well my 16" wheels didn't come with Bridgestones on...can't actually remember what they are, but its not Bridgestones - so I don't think they've been putting tyres on specifically to cure a problem.

Mine has seemed pretty good so far, but not really been out is heavy rain yet.

Mine feels great in the wet on the Bridgestones with 17's

From what I've read the bridgestones aren't great in the wet. Goodyear eagle f1's are supposed to be a brilliant tyre, toyo proxes t1-r's are decent aswell.

From what I've read the bridgestones aren't great in the wet. Goodyear eagle f1's are supposed to be a brilliant tyre, toyo proxes t1-r's are decent aswell.

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetrics are the best tyre I;ve ever had in the wet :D If you're going to get any tyre, get the Asymetrics.

Not sure which Bridgstones you've got but when I was running with Bridgestone RE040 on my old Civic Type-R they weren't the most forgiving in the wet; in the dry they were awesome though.

Which 17" tyres are good for reduced road noise?

I've got the MK7 1.4 Petrol. With the standard tyres and rims on (15") it is slippy in the wet without doubt.

For a ~90bhp motor its surprisingly easy to make it loose traction. The only forgiving point it has is that when it does loose it, it still behaves pretty well.

I dont have the ESP/Traction Control on mine though so obviously no electrics doing anything, do you have it on yours?

I`d advise to check geometry of front axe (should be free until first year / 20000 km). I`ve 16" Hankook and can`t complain, very good performance in dry and also at 140km/h in really big storm (but pssst :) )

Thanks for the advice so far guys... I should mention though that grip in dry weather is fantastic, it's like from one extreme to the other when the rain comes, I can't understand how a car that performs so good in the dry can turn into a death trap in the wet

never had a problem with mine.

obviously iv noticed that the grip decreases but nothing more than it should do. Having the 17's may also make a difference as my 206 that had 17's was shocking in the wet when i first got it but then put winter tyres on and it was fine.

I upgraded the alloys on my Mini from 16's to 17's and didn't notice a difference, but maybe it is the wheels though, seeing how you have the 16's and grip isnt all that bad. Looking at other posts, other owners with the same wheels have no problem.

Grip is crap. I nearly ended up in a wall a few weeks ago.

Nothing at all like the grip on the MK6.5 - I almost feel nervous when it's wet out.

Story of my life Not liking owning a car that I love but it doesn't seem to love me back lol. Also, I have a friend with a Mk6, the other week we were in her car in the wet, and ended up on a roundabout maybe the 6.5 was better

The mK 7 is a lot lighter than the 6.5 to improve fuel efficiency,the downside of a lighter car is it doesnt have the weight to give it good grip to the road,

Have you thought of filling the back of the car with sandbags

Far cheaper than buying specialised tyres and it will increase the rear grip no problem

dave

Mine seems OK in fairnes, alot better than the mid range tyres I had on my MK6, my only gripe with the rain is that the passenger side headlight mists up in places on the inside :(

Our 1.6 petrol came with Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres (I was expecting Hankook as all in the showroom where Hancook) and it was wet this morning so gave it some stick round corners etc to see what your worried about but gotta say it stuck like a go-kart

So get some Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres .................................

Our 1.6 petrol came with Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres (I was expecting Hankook as all in the showroom where Hancook) and it was wet this morning so gave it some stick round corners etc to see what your worried about but gotta say it stuck like a go-kart

So get some Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres .................................

Thanks for the advice, will look into it :)

just slow down :P your get there quicker ;)

The whole reason behind getting a Zetec S is so that I can give it a bit of welly on the B roads

If I wanted to go slow I would have got a Corsa :)

I had a Zetec S with the Big alloys on as a demo and I must admit it was shocking in the wet but thee next demo we got had ESP on it and it nearly got rid of the problem

I'm just glad I went for the X Pack with the ESP as I seem to activate it far more readily then on my old Smart For Two - which is a worry . .. .

I've driven quite a few times in some seriously heavy rain, motorways and resedential roads, and never found any problem at all.

Just out of interest what tyure pressures are people running who are experiencing low grip problems in the wet?

Also, is the low grip limited to front or rear, or both? And does it vary according to different road surface or is it difficult to tell?

FWIW I am looking forward to being able to test this 'problem' when my Zetec-S arrives next month,; i've no doubt it'll be wet at some point lol. I have a fantastic 5 mile NSL A-road about a mile from my home which has a mix of surfaces and contains everything from high speed to low speed bends. It's so good it's even been used by Top Gear as a test road :) (but not for many years I might add :()

it's getting to the point I dread driving in the wet now

a death trap in the wet

Come on, you may not think the handling is great in wet conditions but that has got to be pushing it a bit.

Come on, you may not think the handling is great in wet conditions but that has got to be pushing it a bit.

Nope, had a few near misses in it these last few weeks

Found a cure for the problem anyway.. drove my car last night in the wet with three friends in, so in effect, one person over each wheel of the car, the extra weight seemed to help overall grip and traction, so I give it some welly on bends and it was fine

Be guided by the experts is my motto.

And like they say when it comes down to it, there are only four small pieces of rubber keeping you on the road and in the direction you intended to be going in.

So IMHO only an fool would penny pinch in that particular department.

Auto Express Tyre Test

Goodyear HydraGrip

Verdestein Sportrac 3

Had Conti Sportcontact 3's on my Volvo S40 2ltr Turbo Diesel, and that went like stink. And they also were good tyres in all weather. Grippy tyres do tend to be noisy though, but so are organs in church services