Uniroyal Rainsport 5 review – the ideal performance tyre for wet winter roads?

Road car tyres don’t have an easy job. Beyond being grippy and stable, they need to be refined, efficient, absorbent over bumps and adaptable to various weather conditions, including the rain. Being resilient to wear is another plus, and if you can achieve all that while using sustainable materials, even better. Balancing these attributes is always a compromise, but gone are the days when prioritising one aspect totally hinders another – which is why some tyre manufacturers have ventured into the world of ultra-high-performance wet weather tyres in recent years, in a bid to deliver a high level of grip and capability come rain or shine. 

Uniroyal’s Rainsport 5 is an example of this. The company has built its reputation on wet weather performance (it dubs itself producer of ‘The Rain Tyre’) and the Rainsport 5 is an UHP tyre with a heavy emphasis on wet performance in its construction and tread pattern, while supposedly still being sharp and grippy enough to cut its chops in dry weather. It does all that while being priced below alternatives from the big premium brands, including Uniroyal’s parent company, Continental. Sounds too good to be true, but is it? 

To meet its wet weather performance targets, the Rainsport 5 uses Uniroyal’s ‘Shark Skin’ tech. Sounds daft, but the idea is genuinely borrowed from nature, employing a rough microsurface in the tread grooves to reduce liquid turbulence as the tyre runs through water. In theory, this reduces aquaplaning by expelling water from beneath the tyre more quickly. 

The tread pattern itself is asymmetric, with sipes in the central band that change in shape as the tread wears down to help maintain its ability to disperse water. A solid outer shoulder, meanwhile, plus a reinforced substructure have been employed to give the Rainsport 5 more precision and grip, and live up to its UHP label. 

Sodden winter roads are an ideal test of the Rainsport 5’s wet-weather credentials, and its ability to cut through water is genuinely impressive. Standing water that you might expect to tug at the steering and drag the car off course is dealt with effectively, and at higher speeds - say, on the motorway - the car tracks true and feels stable in the rain. Deeper puddles still need care, of course, but the Rainsports bring a noticeable added layer of security. 

Steering response is quite light around the straight ahead, but the Rainsports offer a good level of self-aligning torque through the rack when using more lock, which helps gauge how much grip is available – useful in slippery conditions. The sense of precision and clarity of the best summer tyres is missing. Nonetheless there's a general feeling of surefootedness that translates across wet and dry conditions, the steering loading up nicely through bends and the front end resisting understeer well – if not feeling as positive and nailed down as with a true performance tyre. 

Be more aggressive and they do give up grip, but whether wet or dry, it's a gradual transition to slip that's telegraphed well before it builds up significantly. In our test car it was possible to make quick, easy progress in slippery conditions without leaning on the ABS or traction control, and the systems rarely cut in unless you're heavy handed with your inputs or misjudge your line. 

As well as improving its performance, Uniroyal claims to have made gains in ride quality with the Rainsport 5 compared to its predecessors. It’s a relatively comfortable tyre, cushioning larger longer-wave bumps well, but the roughest sections and sharpest intrusions still thunk through. It’s quiet over most surfaces but crumbling tarmac induces a rush of tyre roar, so it’s not class leading in these respects.

We wouldn't be rushing to fit the Rainsports to a high performance car for use all year round – a good summer tyre (like our 2025 tyre test champion, the Bridgestone Potenza Sport) and a solid winter option for wetter months would get more out of your car, but as an affordable option for an everyday driver, it has a wide operating window and the extra security in wet weather is a big plus. All in, it’s a solid budget option.