Is it me or my 22 inch wheels but driving in the wet conditions over the weekend was not a pleasant experience. The car feels very unstable and every time I hit a bit of standing water the car wanted to go sideways. It doesn't make for a relaxing drive at all and drove slower and slower the more it rained. My 5 series BMW never used to behave like this. Is this normal?

The tyres all have good amounts of tread on them.

It all depends on what tyres you have on your vehicle, my guess is that they are summer tyres, It doesn't help that we havn't had much rain for a while now but when it rains after a long dry spell the roads are very greasey due to all the oil/diesel spillages from other vehicles,

I have pirelli scoropin zero's on 285/35/22. This is not the first time I have had this experience as it seems to be every time it rains. I just thought the the handling for some reason would be better than this!

get your tracking checked

any kind of error in toe in/out will be swapping as each tyre slightly aquaplanes... mine was terrible in the wet (scary in fact) RRS gone
Audi SQ5...Gone Audi Q7 S-Line 240 3.0TDI Gone
Audi A6 Allroad Sport 270 3.0TDI

Scary was exactly how I would describe it at the moment!

I have 22s with toyo proxes and drove 300 miles back from the golf yesterday in awful weather, no problem at all, steady as a rock.

Jonny Fresh wrote:

I have 22s with toyo proxes and drove 300 miles back from the golf yesterday in awful weather, no problem at all, steady as a rock.

In a straight line

It isn't something as daft as a spotty trainee tyre fitter putting them on the wrong way round and/or on the wrong side is it? Ive known it happen before.  RRS 3.0D HSE 11MY - Fuji White, a few extras.

tyre pressures make a huge difference in the wet.

found that less scarey if reduced by 2-4 ilbs from reccomended pressures provided a much more stable ride in wet and snow

The other option is to change the driving mode button from normal to snow/grass setting. It sets the car up so that it is less likely to get pulled to the side if you hit standing water.
The steering will be stiffened up so it is easier to keep a straight line, although the downside is that it reduces the power so the wheels don't spin on anything slippy. Not a real problem on a steady road, but if you are driving on windy country roads you will notice you'll be pushing your foot down quite a bit more if you want to accelerate quickly.

It also adjusts the DSC to keep the car running level, which can be quite useful when you are traveling along in high winds on the motorway too.

Just found out that a wheel bearing needs replacing so not sure if that has anything ot do with it but once that is fixed I will see about having the wheel alignment checked, if I can find anywhere is Sussex that will do 22 inch wheels!
Have used the grass/snow setting in the winter and noted the reduced accelaration. Might try that next time it rains when I am out.