Two general questions about my car

[Solorange]

Question 1. I have noticed since ive put my rims on my car that when ever im driving in the rain my car seems to be a little more unstable. It actually feels like i hydroplane a bit more. I may or may not be hydroplaning. Is this because my tires suck or is it because I am running a wider tire (225/40) and the steering is setup for my stock tire width? Or could it be something else? I have brand new kumho ecsta spt's.

Question 2. Its starting to get cold outside and when my car has been sitting for a while out in the cold I notice that after startup when shifting gears it seems like its harder to slide the shifter into gear. Its almost stiffer if you know what i mean. After the car is warmed up it shifts into the slots just fine. Is this something to worry about or is this normal because of the cold temperatures? Thanks in advance

[woa_its_j3ff]

1. no idea.
2. my friend in his 03 accord has the same issue during cold weather. not sure if it's cuz of the weather of something else. just thought i could semi-relate.

[WTF??]

Chris.... your tires are different from stock.... theyre performance tires and not specifically made for rain... but it should be semi-ok in the rain.... definitely not snow though

When starting ur engine in the morning (usually in cooler temps) the engine has to rev at higher RPMs to get itself to its "warm stage" in a shorter amount of time rather than sit at the normal idle... this is normal in all fuel injected vehicles from what i know... so yes shifting may be a little different.... but u have a 5spd... the higher RPMs/horrible shiftingu mentioned are waaaaaaaay more noticable in AT's

[Jon11582]

Wider tires are generally worse in rain. When going through elements such as rain and snow, skinny tires are usually optimal, because of the smaller contact patch, and the shorter distance it needs to move rain/snow out of the way to stay on the ground.

Its the opposite for dry - Wide is better for dry because of the bigger contact patch.

[slamd02ranger]

Every 5 speed car I have ever driven, the shifting was like that in cold weather right after start up. It's normal.

[NRDriver]

its gonna shift like that when its cold. i live in oregon 40degrees outside. its regular

[Turbosolara]

A1: bad tires and bad alighment will result this. it has nothing to do with wider tire

A2: it is quite normal for an automatic tranny. tranny flush along with upgrade tranny fluid might help a bit

[Sebas007]

Answer #1 as Jon said...it is physic for a same tire model if you have

_._ instead of __.__ the water will seek less longer its path to get out...

Wider tires are generally worse in rain. When going through elements such as rain and snow, skinny tires are usually optimal, because of the smaller contact patch, and the shorter distance it needs to move rain/snow out of the way to stay on the ground.

Its the opposite for dry - Wide is better for dry because of the bigger contact patch.

Answer #2...again...physic... I will say that the tranny fluid is "thicker" caused by the low temperature at the start of the car.

[Solorange]

Thanks guys. I guess I dont really have anything to worry about. I will be putting my stock wheels and tires on soon as planned. Snow is just around the corner.

[steve-o]

Every 5 speed car I have ever driven, the shifting was like that in cold weather right after start up. It's normal.

definately. Been driving manuals all my life and this is normal for the clutch to be stiff in the cold.