Wet grip is the clearest strength of the Uniroyal RainSport 2, with 133 positive mentions against two criticisms, followed by dry grip at 95 against eight. Comfort is also more often praised than criticised, while tread life is closely divided at 43 positive comments and 32 complaints. Around one in six criticise soft sidewalls, and smaller minorities mention imprecise steering or noise, with noise itself nearly evenly split. Repeat reviewers mostly remain favourable, but their scores and mileages do not show one consistent ageing trend. With an 81.4% average across 210 reviews, the strongest agreement concerns grip rather than long life or sharp steering.
What owners mention most counted across 207 reviews
the best tire I ever had!!! I did more than 80.000km with them and I have the profile for at least 5000 - 7000 km! And belive me i'm on the road every day
Hadn't tried these tyres before but heard great things about them. I recently bought a Honda Civic Type-R (200bhp) which had budget tyres on the front. It handled terrible in the wet, which isn't surprising. So I went out and bought two rainsport 2's, as it's Scotland I live in, I'll be driving most of the time in the rain.
After the bedding in period, the tyres have shown me why they have a high reputation. The handling and braking in the wet is the best I have ever had, and I ALWAYS buy performance tyres for my cars.
I only have the tyres on the front just now but I plan on putting two on the rear soon. I can't wait, the handling will be vastly improved even more.
They might be an expensive tyre, but well worth it.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
Put these on the back of a 206 (front has Falken 912) and it was dreadful to drive at first.
Being quite soft and having tall tread blocks doesn't help with how it felt in the bends, literally felt like it was sliding all the time.
I swapped them round to give them some action through the front wheels (heavy braking, cornering, and some light spinning from a start) to try and scrub them off a bit, get them bedded in.. Now they're like a different tyre. Really keyed into the road in the dry, in the wet they're as good as my other car on Conti 3's (for half the price)
I'm going to pick another 2 up and move these back to the back. Put the new ones straight onto the front to get them scrubbed off straight away.
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Just got these fitted on to golf mkvi gttdi. The previous tyres Goodyear egale f1's had been on for two years. They were good for grip etc espcially as I live in a area in the north west that has very fluctuating weather and a mixture of road types. Anyway the rain sport 2's are on and I'm very impressed. The grip is very good and actually improved all round performance. The weather is as per but behind the wheel is one reassured driver.
Have not rated the wet grip and the wear because i have only put them in the car early this summer.
I second the opinions that i have read here stating that these tyres have a soft sidewall making the car feel a little loose, but when you get used to them this situation is very natural. This makes the car feel much more comfortable because it helps the suspension with the road irregularities.
Overall i am very happy with these tyres and for the price i got them, i would probably buy again.
I bought these tyres (for my BMW) due to their perfomance in rain. I ve done 25.000 kilometers so far and they have a good amount of thread left.
I think there are very good reviews on this site. I agree with most of the other users.
The Uniroyal Rainsports 2 are fantastic in wet. You have to push them a lot in order to feel a tiny amount of aquaplanning but then if you stop pressing the accelerator the tyres stick firmly again on the wet surface (!)
In the dry (even after 25.000 km) they grip very well, even though -as mentioned by others- the tyre walls are quite soft and therefore are not suitable for very fast road or track use. I used them on track for 5-6 minutes once but they feel too soft for that use.
I had also another problem: the alloys had to be repaired a few times because the tyres are so soft they can easily become flat on a pot and the alloy will have to copy with the impact forces. Also if you park very close to the pavement, be very careful as the tyres can be damaged very easily on their sidewalls (very soft).
They grip well even when they are cold (when you drive your kids to school for example or through the town)
If you want to get the most out of them, try to inflate them 3-4psi more than the recommended car manufacturer's pressure. This will "stiffen" them up a bit.
If you inflate them a bit more, then the road noise will be less. And THATS THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THEM - THE ROAD NOISE. On certain road surfaces the road noise can be annoying especially on long journeys. Even though my BMW is very well made and noise-insulated, these tyres can become very noisy sometimes.
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They grip very well on snow, the wet grip is amazing, not suitable for very fast cornering (soft sidewalls), they are very noisy, very good snow grip....
did i forgot to write something? ...dont remember now...
I would definately buy them again if they were not so noisy..... but on the other side these tyres have saved lives in the wet.....
Buy them if:
1. You dont want to drive fast
2. You want to have grippy tyres even when cold
3. You dont care about road noise
4. If you want a safe tyre on the wet (wet performance is astonishing)
Dont buy them if:
1. You like driving very fast in the dry
2. You often have to park on the/pass through a pavement (soft sidewalls- tyre/wheel damage)
3. You like long quiet journeys (they can be really noisy on certain road surfaces-this can be really annoying after a few hours of driving)
Thanks for reading my review - i wish it was helpful!
I am on the second set of these on my Alfa Romeo 159 SW, the fronts dont last too long, 15K if I'm lucky, but thats down to the amount of torque and how I accelerate out of bends.
What no one has mentioned in their review is the grip available in snow and on ice, with winter around the corner this is a real bonus. Snow over the last two winters, including driving on some untreated roads in very rural France has proved to never be a problem, its like having 4WD!
We are about to put a set on our Alfa Romeo 946 Spider, get rid of the awefull Acceleras it came with!
Having previous experience with the "rainsport" It was a no brainer to buy myself "rainsport 2"s
The tyres seemed to never wear down (I had them over 2 years before I sold them with the alloys) Amazing grip dry and almost as much grip if not the same in the wet, I know that might sound a bit unrealistic but I honestly felt I could push the car just about as much in the wet that I did dry.
The last set of tyres I bought were yokohama s-drives only due to the fact of not being able to get rainsports in my size, the yokos have similar levels of grip in the dry but I feel less confident pushing it in the wet
I would rather rainsports than the top brand due to my positive experiences with them
insane wet grip (as in the name) i can drive faster in these in the wet than i can in the dry with £40 tires
dry grip is also pretty impressive however they do have soft tire walls which is a little bit of a downside for sprinted driving
iv been gunning these tires on the odd occasion and they haven't worn out that quick (10,000 miles) my car is lowwered with ebacih springs blisten shocks and all round polly bushes and thease tires make the car handle very well
its almost impossible to get the back end out even with help from the lever between the seats and a boot full off tools!
iv never aquaplaned once with these even going through a 6 inch puddle (read small lake) at about 70 and the water just gose each side of the car
the tires are low on tread now. 1mm or so about the limit so i decided to test them in the wet. came out of a turning at about 5 mph. lined the car up and pined it in first and the they just pulled! no wheel spin at all. my car isnt the most powerful but transmitting around 130bhp in first in the poring rain is more than impressive!
Have done 1000 miles on these now. Replaced Dunlop Sport Maxx's and very pleased. Would echo a previous reviewers comments abuot slightly softer sidewalls being noticeable in hard corners at first but you soon adjust to the slightly different feel. Unbelieveable in the wet! and given the summer we're having that's definitely a good thing! Definitely in my list of tyres to buy again.
I have owned 2 sets of these having previously had Continental, Michelin & Goodyear tyres. These quite simply are the best wet weather tyres I have ever driven on.
I do not drive like an idiot on the public roads - but rain or shine I drive the same without worrying about understeer or locking the brakes.
This summer has been a classic example of the British weather and I am so pleased I have these tyres on.
Wear is good but be careful - after 15000 miles they 'look' in good shape. After replacing with a new set, there was a definite difference in grip levels.
I need to replace 2 and I will definitely replace them with Rain Sport 2
I drive 307 307 2.0 HDi (110HP) and I almost put him on the Uniroyal Rain Sport 2 and I can say that the tires do not spend a great fast, and are unsurpassed in the rain with an excellent response and dry road and a short stopping distance for longer distances are also comfortable might hear a little but all in all a great selection of tires,there are much better than Continental for the slower spend, less cost, and for that price, the perfect choice, great tire !!!
