Autocrossing Direzza ZII Star Specs in the rain?

Hi everyone,

There's an autocross this weekend that I haven't committed to registering yet and it's forecasting 80 - 100% chance of rain. We're pretty much going to get hit both days.

Saturday is a school I would like to attend again this year to get some more seat time, but sunday is a regular points event. I'm not inclined to stand in a puddle in a rain jacket while I wait to shag cones if I don't have to, but the school would be good experience.

So here's my actual question, has anyone autocrossed with Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Specs in the rain?

If so would you consider them acceptable for traction or does it become a waste of time?

I'm in an 84 VW Rabbit GTI BTW, so it's not like I'll be sliding around in an F-body or Mustang.

I remember mine being exceptional in the rain, compared to an RS3. The rest of the cars set up was pretty bad, so I spun out a lot, but I was impressed.

This was a long time ago now, so I'm not too sure.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it I think they were the Z1's. So discard this post.

In my somewhat limited experience, it will depend some on the wear on the tires and the ambient temperature. The Star Specs we had were somewhat scary when temps were cold. Damp + cold resulted in some puckering moments during a spirited back-roads drive until the tires got some heat into them. When they started to wear, wet performance degraded as well (quicker to hydroplane).

At about 25% tread they become terrifying. More than that and they're pretty good as long as it's above 60-65.

I bought ZIIs when they came out thinking they would be a good autocross tire in STS. It was continually disappointing, they were sold while they still had 90% tread for about half what I'd paid for them. I suppose they sucked equally in the rain as the dry but no more than that.

Hmm... I've had good luck with the ZII in a wet HPDE session. The time I autocrossed the ZIs in the rain is the only time I can say I beat a Ferrari.

They won't get along well with any kind of standing water, but just wet pavement should be fine as long as it's not too cold.

My race team tested a whole bunch of tires in various conditions at Watkins Glen.

The RE71r was worth 2-3 seconds/lap but wore out in 8 hours.

The ZII was our control tire - we were running consistent low 2:20s and the tires wore out in 14 hours.

When it rained, we ran the ZII vs. the Continental - and the ZII was worth an extra 3-4 seconds over the Continental in the wet, despite what the keyboard commandos tend to claim.

TL;DR - You'll be fine.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to go ahead with it then. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a waste of time & money because of the tires.

Thanks everyone! They did great on both days. I was definitely pleased with the traction they had and even shocked me a couple of times with how much they hooked when I had some good launches off the starting gate. I'm glad I didn't chicken out. Had a good outing for both days and running in the wet at the school where I got 20 some runs was good experience.