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Best Tires for Rain to Stay Safe on Wet Roads
Rudolf Rukavina - September 24, 2025
Driving in the rain: there's nothing quite like it, is there? One might say that it's soothing, tranquil even. Unless, of course, you're driving to work when the rain starts. The unavoidable, and also, unexplainable fact is that it seems like everyone forgets how to drive in the rain.
The traffic is clogged, and you're quite frustrated because you're running late. To add to the whole fiasco, you don't have the right tires, so your car is taking too long to brake, and you can feel it skidding along the wet road.
Hopefully, you won't have to add a vehicle collision to your list of daily troubles. Well, if you had the best tires for rain, you wouldn't experience any of the above-mentioned unpleasantries.
You see, such tires have a well-designed tread pattern and an optimized rubber composition that ensure continuous tire-to-road contact. At the same time, grooves and sipes eliminate excess water, thus preventing hydroplaning in the process. So, which tires are the best for rain? Let's have a look.
Table of Contents:
Tire Model | Season | Performance | Treadwear Warranty (in miles) |
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S | Summer Tire | High Performance | 30,000 miles |
Continental Extrem Contact DWS 06 Plus | All Season Tire | High Performance | 50,000 miles |
Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ | All Season Tire | High Performance | 50,000 miles |
Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus | All Season Tire | Performance / High Performance | 50,000 miles |
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 | Summer Tire | High Performance | / |
Michelin Premier A/S | All Season Tire | Touring | 60,000 miles |
Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ | All Season Tire | High Performance | 55,000 miles |
Continental PureContact LS | All Season Tire | Touring | 70,000 miles |
Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack | All Season Tire | Touring | 80,000 miles |
Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus | All Season Tire | Touring | 70,000 miles |
Characteristics of Tires for Rain
Okay, so what makes a tire ideal for rainy weather? First and foremost, there are no tires that are specifically designed for rain. As a matter of fact, it's the tread elements that make the tire perform well in wet road conditions.
Each of the summer, winter, all season, and all weather tires has these specifically designed tread elements that eliminate both surplus water and slush from under the tire's footprint. That said, let's have a look at some of those elements.
- Tire Grooves - Grooves are areas between tread blocks that boost traction and handling. However, they also serve a purpose of channeling away water and slush that may hinder the tire's traction.
- Tire Ribs - Ribs are raised thread elements often made out of tread blocks that help the tire maintain continuous contact with the surface, even in wet and mild winter road conditions.
- Tire Sipes - Sipes are small, narrow grooves that are cut into tire blocks. They improve traction, but they also take a bit of moisture and push it out from underneath the tire as the tire rolls, effectively eliminating hydroplaning.
Top 10 Best Tires for Rain
As you might imagine, there are a myriad of options available to you if you wish to opt for a reliable rain tire. Choosing the right one for your vehicle can be downright troublesome, especially since all options are more than capable of meeting your needs. So, how does one choose the best rain tire? Well, we're here to help, so let's find out together, shall we?
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S
Everyone knows that Michelin is a reliable brand of tires. They've been in the market for a very long time and the quality of their products is well-known all over the world. That being said, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is, in fact, a reliable tire for rainy days.
The tire was manufactured with a special tread design that significantly boosts the dry weather performance capability and road gripping ability. With wider circumferential tread grooves that channel water away from the tire footprint, you won't have to worry about hydroplaning when it starts to rain.
Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus
Continental is yet another popular tire brand that delivers on consumers' expectations. Their ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus tire is designed to do exactly that: deliver the best possible performance on wet roads.
Speaking of performance, the tire utilizes its compound materials and detailed tread elements to promote exceptional traction on dry, wet, and light snow roads.
At the same time, the compound optimizes rubber flexibility in both summer and winter weather temperatures. The circumferential and lateral grooves that effectively eject water and slush from the footprint, preventing the vehicle from hydroplaning in rainy and snowy conditions.
Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+
Anything that's made in Japan is done so with utmost precision and extreme attention to detail. That's why the Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ is considered to be one of the best tires for wet roads. With the adaptive rubber blend, this tire ensures outstanding wet, dry, and winter weather traction.
Densely pack the tire with biting edges, and you can expect amazing gripping ability throughout the entire year. At the same time, the tire's rubber compound remains adaptive so that it can be flexible in any temperature. Add circumferential grooves to the equation, and you have remarkable hydroplaning resistance.
Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus
Italian manufacturers know how to make cars, tires, and they know a lot about racing. So, what happens when a brand that's been sponsoring sports competitions since 1907 creates high performance tires for commercial use?
You get the Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus, of course. If you're wondering what's so special about it, let's just say that it's used by Formula 1 vehicles, and leave it at that.
You see, the tire's asymmetric tread pattern, combined with the winter weather siping details, allows this tire to firmly grip the road, regardless of the weather. Snowy, dry, and slippery wet roads are not even footnotes in the list of obstacles this tire can overcome.
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
Goodyear, the US's very own tire giant named after the man who invented vulcanized rubber, won't disappoint if you decide to opt for their tires. And, if you find rain to be a problem when you drive, the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 will effectively solve it.
Using a symmetric tread design in combination with a well-designed summer rubber compound, this tire will strongly and continuously grip the road, no matter if it's wet or dry. Should it start to rain heavily, the tire's four circumferential grooves will easily eliminate excess water from the footprint, thus reducing the risk of hydroplaning.
Michelin Premier A/S
Another flagship tire from Michelin, the Premier A/S will have your back no matter how much it rains outside. What's unique about this tire is that it has a silica and sunflower oil-based high traction tread compound that vastly improves the tire's traction on wet roads.
This blend has proven more than effective at ensuring that the tire will firmly grip the road no matter the circumstances. What's more, Michelin's Evergrip Safety Technology further boosts the tire's wet traction, so even if the tread wears out, the grip will remain as strong as ever.
Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+
Another Japanese tire manufacturer that delivers high-quality products, Yokohama is renowned for their craftsmanship in the tire industry. Their Advan Sport A/S+ is a testament to that. The tire's detailed asymmetric tread design is empowered with the HS-2 compound so that the road grip is greatly improved.
That doesn't just mean optimal grip on wet roads, but also on dry and even light snow-covered roads. At the same time, the durable compound ensures the rubber remains flexible regardless of the temperature, while circumferential grooves disperse water and slush from below the footprint, eliminating hydroplaning in the process.
Continental PureContact LS
As mentioned before, Continental doesn't disappoint when delivering on expectations. There's just something about German engineering that instills confidence, no matter what they're making.
That being said, the Continental PureContact LS is a top-tier tire that certainly won't leave you stranded in the rain. A special compound blend combined with an asymmetric tread pattern enhances the dry, wet, and winter weather road gripping capability. Add some polymers and +Silane tire compound to the mix and voila; you have one of the best tires for rain.
Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack
What's better than a tire that can provide a quiet and comfortable driving experience? A tire that can do that and grip the road well when it rains. That's exactly what Turanza QuietTrack has to offer.
The tire's asymmetric pattern, all season compound, and zigzag sipes on the tread blocks are further enforced by Bridgestone's EdgePerformance technology. In other words, this tire will grab hold of the road surface and it won't let go, no matter if the road is wet, dry or covered in light snow.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus
Another excellent rain tire from Pirelli, only this time, the tire is designed for those who prefer to cruise down the road instead of pushing the pedal to the metal. In any event, the way Pirelli creates tires for different purposes is art on its own. It's safe to say that the is, Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus in fact, a work of art.
That said, the longitudinal siping and high lateral siping density design have been added to the asymmetrical tread pattern. Alongside the high silica compound, this pattern ensures exceptional grip in dry, wet, and also versatile winter road conditions.
Dangers of Driving in Rain With Inappropriate Tires
If you don't have proper tires when it starts to rain, the situation can get quite unpleasant, to say the least. That said, wet roads can be very slippery, almost as slippery as driving on a thin layer of ice, so it's very easy to lose control. If your tires don't have proper traction, you'll most likely begin to skid.
Other than that, you won't be able to brake on time as the braking distance increases. Therefore, the implications can be quite dangerous, from ending up in a ditch next to the road to something much worse.
The main culprit here is hydroplaning. What this means is that your tire is no longer gripping the surface because there's a layer of water between the tire's footprint and the road. If that water isn't eliminated in some way, you basically lose control of your vehicle, and you can imagine how that experience might conclude.
How to Choose the Best Tires for Rain?
As mentioned before, there's a plethora of viable tires you can opt for to ensure proper handling on wet roads. However, having a lot of options is sometimes a double-edged sword. The dilemma regarding which ones to pick and which ones to skip tends to get really frustrating. To save you the trouble, we've prepared a couple of tips to help you choose wisely and to help you understand what to look for.
Rain Tire Features
- Deep grooves - Grooves embedded in the tread help push out excess water, which prevents hydroplaning. The deeper they are, the more effective the hydroplaning resistance is.
- Compounds rich in silica - Any tire that has a silica-rich compound is suitable for rainy weather. This compound keeps the rubber flexible in both cold and hot temperatures, which means the tire will grip the road without any issues
- Tread depth - Legally, the tire's tread depth should be at least 2/32", anything less than that and the tire loses wet traction.
- Asymmetrical tread design - This type of tread pattern ensures that a larger tire surface grips the road, thus ensuring better handling even on wet roads.
- All season/All weather/Summer tires - Tires labeled as summer, all season, and all weather are designed to provide optimal traction on both dry and wet road conditions, including mild to severe winter conditions for all season and all weather tires, respectively.
Final Thoughts:
As you might imagine, choosing the best tires for rain isn't as easy as it may seem. There are simply a lot of factors to consider before you decide to make a purchase.
However, once you understand what to look for and which tire components are responsible for ideal traction, then the process becomes so much easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of tires are best for rain?
Generally speaking, any tire that's designed as a summer, all season, or all weather tire is suitable for wet roads. However, which tire is best depends on the vehicle you drive and your driving style. Having those factors in mind will help you choose the tire that suits you perfectly in terms of both performance and quality.
Are all weather tires good in the rain?
Of course, all weather tires are created to provide exceptional traction in all weather conditions. That includes dry, wet, and even mild to moderately severe winter road conditions.
Are hard or soft tires better for rain?
Soft tires are a much better choice for rainy weather. The main reason is that soft tires grip the road better, thus preventing the vehicle from skidding or possibly losing control on a wet road.
How to make tires better for rain?
Aside from choosing tires that are suitable for wet road conditions, you can rotate them every 5,000 miles or so. This prevents tread from wearing off sooner rather than later. Speaking of which, as long as tread depth is above 2/32", you'll be fine, so make sure to inspect the depth every month.
See Also
- Best Winter Tires
- Best Summer Tires
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