Prime in rain

We have driven our first Prime nearly 40k miles without experiencing what you described in heavy rain or otherwise. Is it possible that there was a patch of oil on the road?

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Tires make ALL the difference.

When the time comes, spend some time & decide what's best for you. I personally went with a Non LRR tire because of its capability's in the wet & dry, the downside is a little less mpg's. Trade Offs....


Rob43

 

See your owner's manual (pp. 476-481) about the function of the VSC (vehicle stability control) and the TRAC (traction control) which are designed to maintain control of your Prime on slippery surfaces.

Your description of the event sounds like one of the wheels started to slip on the pavement and your Prime automatically adjusted how much power was being delivered to the non-slipping wheel so that your vehicle would remain in control.

 

The OP was experiencing hydroplaning it was the car trying to reestablish traction.

 

what tires pressure are you running?

 

Sounds more of tire issue than PRIME specific event, but I like the explanation @Old Bear provides. What OEM tire do you have on your car? My Dunlop Enasaver is loosing traction at 25K with 5/32 tread left. I would not want to drive on snow any more with it, and wet pavement is getting tricky already. I plan to replace them after this summer.

 

Out here in PNW, red-neck, logging country, there are at least a dozen Prii owned by commuters. Everyone I have talked to say the original low rolling resistance tires are crap on wet roads. After having a blowout @ 5,000 miles that they would not cover, I ended up putting Michelin Defenders on all 4 corners. The difference is astounding in every respect -- handling, ride, cornering & especially on the wet roads we constantly have around here. I will gladly trade a mile or two per gallon for this vast improvement.

 

I agree about the tires as the problem and the possibility of an oily spot.

I also live in the Pacific Northwet, and the Michelin Defenders would not be my first choice. They're great for very long tread life. To get this they give up some traction. My Michelin choice would be the new CrossClimate. Also a top wet traction choice is the Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady. Both of these give up some tread life to gain wet traction. All tire designs are compromises. The choice is yours. For us, I bought Bridgestone DriveGuard run flat tires. The reliability of them is more important to me than other attributes. They're poor in snow, but we use winter tires. Wet traction has been OK. Noise and comfort are OK.

The tirerack.com Tire Decision Guide is very helpful. Try listing just one or two attributes that are very important to you and list the other attributes very low on the guide. Vary your input and check the recommendations.

 

I 2nd hydroplaning...

As for tires, I always run all seasons unless I have a second set. I went with Continental DWS (dry, wry, and snow)on my last car and BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDW on the car before that.

Now admittedly I took those cars to the track and had to be prepared for rain. I don't plan on bringing my Prime to the track, but both those tires perform very well in the rain.

 

That's sounds about right. It must have been raining hard cause people slowing down on the highway for road conditions is rare

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I second this.

I've had some wheel slip under fast acceleration in dry/flat conditions with my OEM tires. If its concerning you, swapping for tires with better traction would likely solve the issue. Otherwise, you just have to take more care while driving in rain/snow/slippery conditions.

 

My gen2 with michelin all season tires had this problem on the flat on freeways, much less the oem tires, true the 4th gen is more sensitive to wheel slippage but high high speeds and water....

 

How about water running downhill? One of the worst places for hydroplaning around here is on a specific uphill on the interstate. The vehicles wear a groove in the pavement over time and in a heavy rain, that is where the water ends up. Ride the ridges.

I'm not discounting the possibility of the tires not being grippy enough though.

 

Supposedly, one tenth of an inch of water is enough for hydroplaning to occur.

 

Hydroplaning does not happen at 35 MPH or less.

So if anyone ever experiences what they believe is wet weather wheel/tire slippage & it's occurring below ~35 MPH, you are experiencing tire slippage, not hydroplaning.


Rob43

 

The Prius is no different than many other cars in this respect - the OEM tires are generally optimized for one thing and that's not performance. Low cost to the manufacturer, low rolling resistance, etc. Of the five most recent cars I have owned, three came with OEM tires that were pretty crappy. Both a Honda Civic and VW Jetta TDI came with Turanza 400, bad in all respects. My Prime has nearly as bad OEM tires - Toyo NanoEnergy A29 (great for rolling resistance, but little else). With the NanoEnergy's, you get the dual benefits of crappy handling and rain performance AND short tread life. That may be a plus, they'll be off my car sooner.

Our Subaru Outback and my MX-5 both came with good OEM tires.

 

Pacific Northwet here as well. Is your Prime your daily driver, or do you have an AWD or 4WD vehicle as a second vehicle?

I would be eager to hear your experiences in the Prime with regards to the near constant rain and occasional snow we have.

How does the Prime fare in the heavy rain?

Also have you tried driving in the Prime uphill (and down hill) in the snow? If so how does it fair?

 

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