birder,

as i review your original message and all the various posts, i have a few additional thoughts and questions.

is your crossfire actually hydroplaning or is it skidding?

you mention that it feels like it is losing grip in the rear. which would be more indicative of skidding (where the tires are still in contact with the road but slide laterally) vs. hydroplaning where the water pressure under your tires prevent the tires from making any contact with the pavement and the car typically slides straight ahead and does not respond to your input. there's quite a difference between the two. on wet roads tires will have more of a tendency to skid in a turn and it is the resistance to as well as predictability of the slide that determine a tire's wet handling characteristics. your contis should respond well in the wet.

if you're hydroplaning i'd be willing to bet that you're not going to be able to find a tire that substantially reduces the issue for two reasons: vehicle weight and tread width. the crossfire is relatively light, and the tires are quite wide, both of which contribute to making it easier to hydroplane since there's less pressure being applied by the tires to squeeze the water out of the tread channels. my experience has been that just about any passenger vehicle will start to hydroplane somewhere between 40-60 mph.

was your previous vehicle heavier? were the tires narrower?

one final question: what tire pressures are you running? increasing tire pressures can reduce the tendency to hydroplane to some degree. i like to keep my tires at around 36 psi.