now that the rain is here i have noticed my P5 likes to hydroplane very easily when there is just a little bit of water on the road surface doing only about 40mph, even worse at 60mph... i was wondering if anyone else is having this problem, i have the stock dunlop tires on there and only have 10k miles on them???

 

Stock tires suck.

 

m ine has never done this. It may just be a combination of things.

 

i've hydroplaned into a curb, back when i was just starting to drive.... stock tires and everything....

yeah it sucks..... hitting the curb burst the front 2 tires...so we ended up getting better tires

 

dunlops suck ***...my best protection against hydroplaning is my set of Toyo T1-S

 

im gonna ask my uncle, he is one the head mazda guys for the northeast, if he has heard any complaints or of the same problem. im also gonna look into some new front tires possibly

 

I'm betting a Double-Double at In-N-Out that your tires are just worn past the point where they resist hydro-planing like a good new set would do. All tires lose lots of various smaller grooves and sipes as they wear, many of them aren't molded to full depth like the more major grooves are. Some tires are better than others, whether new or worn, and really no new tire will let you go plowing through 6" of standing water without a little drama. New tires are best for wet weather, as they wear down, even 1/2 way, you just gotta be more careful. BTW when you replace your Dunlops, no matter what you get you'll probably be thrilled with how much better the car feels.

 

thanks for the insight... i mean the tires only have 11,000 miles on them and i feel it loose grip with less then 1/2inch of water on the road surface.... the dunlops r just that crappy huh?

 

yeah, i even had the same kind of dunlops on my stang that i traded in and they were crappy on that car too! my stockies wore out pretty fast though...i wonder if it had anything to do with taking the car to the track

 

Although the stock Dunlops are not really good, they shouldn't hydroplane at those speeds. I've gone a lot faster in heavier rain and have been fine with them.

I recently switched to Toyo Proxes TPT's and they are great in the rain.

 

The Dunlop SP-5000 symmetrical tread tires that come stock on the Protege ES are terrible in the rain. Strangely enough the SP-5000 ASSYMETRICAL tread are superb, my father runs them on his '00 Passat.
I had a hell of a time finding new tires (some of it chronicled here). Tire selection in the 195/50 size is non-existant. I ended up with a set of 205/45 Falken Ziex512. I'm very happy with these. They're confidence-inspiring in the rain, and have plenty of grip on dry pavement. Plus they're way cheap--think I paid 90 per (including mounting balancing).
Just a recomendation but I would stay away from the BFGoodrich Traction TAs. I bought a set of these and it wasn't clear whether it was a tire out of round or what but they were miserably loud. Either way the store I bought them from returned them and sold me the Falkens.

 

I'm on my third set of tires on my 02.5 P5...

Stock Dunlops lasted 35K, sucked ***.

Yokohama AVS 100's 205/50/16 lasted 40K miles, were good to the last drop, got kind of hairy in the last 1000 miles in the wet, but stuck like glue in the dry. Noticed an odd wear pattern (cupped in the center like overinflated but it wasn't) that doing a search found some other instances where the AVS's wear that way.

New tires we got last week, Kuhmo Ecsta ASX's, in the stock sizing. Great sipes, not the most agressive looking tire, but they will do just fine for my wife and her commuting.

Tire Rack info on the Kuhmo's

 

finally talked to my uncle about the tire problem and he said hes gotten complaints about the tire in the rain and that mazda isnt going to do anything about it right now. they chose that tire to help fuel economy and keep the price down or something like that he said... but he test drove the mazdaspeed rx8 with toyo proxes on a wet track and he said they stuck like glue both wet and dry... i think the toyos come stock on the msp and the ms miata but im not to certain..

 

i got the dunlop FM901's...they are noisy however they are much better in the rain

 

2003 P5s came with Dunlop SP Sport 5000M. Yes they have really bad hydroplaning resistance. They wear fast too and they have a relatively soft sidewall. They stick decenly though in both wet and dry.

You can check the reviews on TireRack about them:

TireRack Ratings

Florian