[booforty]

Yesterday, I drove in the most torrential rain conditions I've ever been in, and I mean TORRENTIAL! I was driving mainly on motorways but also on A roads and country lanes with huge puddles!

I must say the performance of the E90 was awesome in such tricky conditions. In the fast lane of the mortorway, I was experiencing being sprayed from the other carriageway as well as the torrential rain itself. The high speed wipers and my xenons ensured that I maintained good visibilty at all times. I imagine being in a lesser car would have been like driving blind given the spray! I could see that most other cars were struggling.

I'm on 18's with Michelins and they are brilliant in the wet. No loss of grip whatsoever and the car was confident in corners and even in the country lanes driving through flooded parts of the road. The xenons also ensured that the road was well illuminated in the very dark and dull conditions

The E90 gives great performance in even the hardest driving conditions and made me feel completely safe for the whole journey. What a great car

[- Paul -]

Plus when you do hit the puddles a bit too fast - the electronics kick in and save your ass!!

[ES-Jet]

Totally feel the same about mine - it's assured in all conditions.
I've read on BMWLand that some people think the E90 is twitchy in the wet - well not mine. I have total confidence in the car and the way it likes to br driven, at all times.

[red355]

Glad too see you are following the typical BMW drivers modus operandi
Monsoon rain so thats Fast lane with headlamps on...

Only joking of course...

I did feel that my coupe was very sure footed this morning thru the rain on my rural drive in, maybe my 17"s help?

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by beauforty

I'm on 18's with Michelins and they are brilliant in the wet. No loss of grip whatsoever and the car was confident in corners and even in the country lanes driving through flooded parts of the road.

They must be a heck of an improvement over the Michelins on my Dad's Focus. They are lacking in grip in the dry, and just plain scary in the damp, let alone the wet. The first bit of rain and it starts to slither and spin up all over the place, and that with only a 1.8 diesel!

[booforty]

Matt, I've just checked and it definitely says M-I-C-H-E-L-I-N on the sides!

[mjh93sa]

Must be me trying to coner like it's a BMW then

[shtfrginger]

Originally Posted by beauforty

Yesterday, I drove in the most torrential rain conditions I've ever been in, and I mean TORRENTIAL! I was driving mainly on motorways but also on A roads and country lanes with huge puddles!

I must say the performance of the E90 was awesome in such tricky conditions. In the fast lane of the mortorway, I was experiencing being sprayed from the other carriageway as well as the torrential rain itself. The high speed wipers and my xenons ensured that I maintained good visibilty at all times. I imagine being in a lesser car would have been like driving blind given the spray! I could see that most other cars were struggling.

I'm on 18's with Michelins and they are brilliant in the wet. No loss of grip whatsoever and the car was confident in corners and even in the country lanes driving through flooded parts of the road. The xenons also ensured that the road was well illuminated in the very dark and dull conditions

The E90 gives great performance in even the hardest driving conditions and made me feel completely safe for the whole journey. What a great car

I agree. I'm never out of a BMW for that very reason. A couple of years ago I owned a E46 330i and was caught up in a sudden 'white out' across Hertfordshire and the North side of the M25. Countless vehicles spun off into the central reservation and the hard shouder in front of me on the A1 M. Not me I sailed down the middle of the carrigeway on my own for some 4 miles through total devastation at a steady 30mph feeling sorry for all the guys waiting for the tow trucks. My car? solid as a rock

[MarkA]

Originally Posted by mjh93sa

They must be a heck of an improvement over the Michelins on my Dad's Focus. They are lacking in grip in the dry, and just plain scary in the damp, let alone the wet. The first bit of rain and it starts to slither and spin up all over the place, and that with only a 1.8 diesel!

I would imagine that there is a bit of difference between a matched set of run flat BMW spec Michelin Pilot Sport 2s on 225, 40 zr 18 and 255 35 zr 18 sizes and the Michelin Energy 185, 65 r14s on the Focus

I'm also really impressed with the wet weather grip on my E90.. mine is running 18s with Bridgestone Potenza RE50As .. Infact the car is so predictable, I've had quite a bit of fun being quite aggressive with turning-in to the corner and unsticking the rear... DTC allows quite a nice amount of movement and the steering rack is nice and fast to correct easily. What a fantastic car....

[StewtheBassman]

Imagine then a harsh Quebec winter with rain, snow, whiteouts, freezing rain and anything else besides huuricanes and then you know why my 325xi is the Ultimate Winter Machine!

[mjh93sa]

Michelin have obviously improved with their newer tyres. In the wet wider tyres actually become more of a liability as they have to shift water further and from a wider area.

I remember an autocar tyre test a few years ago where they proved that an M3 on the OE Michelin Pilot was slower around the Michelin test track than a 1.8 Mondeo on Pirelli P7's. They had a great shot of a load of embarassed looking frenchmen.

Just found a mention of it: http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=2&i=6149