Last weekend we had our 2nd decent down pour, the road went all wet & slippery, a friend was driving on the straight road and all of sudden the car went spinning onto the opposite lanes, she was really flustered to say luckily there was no oncoming traffic. And no, she was not speeding but only going at 20mph. I googled the web to find a lot of preventions, but nothing says what to do when it actually happens. I know a lot of guys drive in the rain, has anybody got good tips on corrective response when this happens ? For people who do not know what is hydroplaning, here is the youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsvDMc--8s
1) Make sure your tires and bald are properly inflated 2) Cars with traction control supposedly do better against hydroplaning 3) Wikipedia shows that you're not supposed to turn your wheels when you hydroplane, but that you should slowly decelerate and that should let you regain control. If you must brake, they recommend that you lighlyt pump the brakes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroplaning_(tires)
If you start careening toward a vehicle or object while hydroplaning, you should steer your wheel INTO the direction you are toward, the force of this will cause you to start shifting the other way. I've had to do this before and It was a very scary situation. Luckily I remembered reading about that somewhere and as we were on a collision course with another vehicle after we hit a patch of ice, I turned the wheel and we slid safely into the middle grass of the divided highway.
one thing about having to work for schlumberger... they teach you all the tricks when driving... if your are hydroplaning... just put the car into neutral and the tires will regain contact with the ground, and will immediatley starighten you out. you should not hit the brakes as this will spin the car. just taking the foot off the gas takes too long to deccelerate and will caue you to lose control. neutral is the only gear where you can just hit the shifter and it will go... it won't go into reverse. try it when you are driving.. just bump it up and it will slide into neutral. we had to drive on a skid pan and they would lock up tires etc for us to practice. this really works too. i ahve had to use it on wet roads before.
Very funny! I've hydroplaned before...I nearly collided with another car when making a left turn on UH campus on a wet day. I was probably going 20-30mph...I don't remember what I did to prevent myself from crashing into that car. Total memory loss. Anyway, it's not really fun. =\
Try hydroplaning down a 40 degree sloped hill (for those of you in the Austin area, I was exiting HWY 360N from HWY 71W). That's even more fun! Ask me how I know.
some tips to avoid hydroplaning: 1) Don't turn the steering wheel too fast or while speeding. 2) If you absolutely need to brake then pump it a few times but do not slam. 3) Gently ease off your foot from the gas pedal and slow down. 4) Anticipate where the water level is rising. For example you can tell by the vibration from the gas or brake pedal that your are in area of dense water like a puddle or drainage running to alongside the edge of a road.
My first ever accident was because i hydroplaned after a turn and couldn't stop. I had my license for a whole week when it happened. Worse off it was my neighbor that I hit and he was a real prick.
a little less than 2 months ago, my parents and i were making our bi-annual road trip to los angeles when our car started hydroplaning and rolled over, somewhere near sonora texas. the car was totaled, but luckily everyone was okay..i had the most scratches because i had to kick out the windshield to escape the car. freaking cop gave us a ticket for unsafe driving, even though we didn't hit anyone and we were not traveling at high speeds anyways. apparently it's standard procedure to give out a ticket like that whenever something like this happens. the car was a 1999 4runner, which for some reason are equipped stock with massive tires, which i'm sure didn't help our cause.
In 2000 or 2001 they 4runners were lowered a bit from their standard suspension height on the older models becuase of the amount of roll overs. Was told that by dealership when i bought mine back in the day.
The actual event of hydroplaning is just like a water skier getting on top of the water, only your tires are leaving the pavement, and riding on top of the water. That is different from a basic skid, which hydroplaning will lead to if not handled correctly. I've had my front tires of my truck leave the pavement several times, when running into standing water on the freeway, and it doesn't take much, depending on how deep, how fast you are going, how wide your tires are, how much tread depth your tires have, and how heavy your vehicle is (just because a big heavy rig is flying down the freeway in the wet, doesn't mean a little bug with super wide tires can safely do the same. Hydroplaning is dangerous because when your tires leave the pavement, (usually the fronts), you have NO steering, and NO brakes. And if you are keen enough to recognize the sensation, you DO NOT want to try and steer or brake while you have no tire contact to the road. Why? If you turn the wheel while the tire is riding on water, when if comes back down to the road, it will jerk the car immediately in the direction you steered to. If you turned a lot, chances are you are going straight into a spin, or hard veer to one side or the other. The same thing applies if you are braking. Your wheels will lock up very easy when riding on water, and when they hit the road again, the braking action can pull the car one way or the other, if one tire is grabbing, and one is not. ABS is your friend, and traction control helps too, especially with the high end systems. Several BMW's actually steer themselves out of a skid, it's great. They actually correct much earlier than you could yourself, and it brings the car back straight...if conditions allow it. I just ease off the gas very slightly in my truck, it's usually over too soon to think about going into neutral. If you get caught hydroplaning while in a curve, you are in trouble.
I generally just come off the gas and go in on the clutch. Usually works immediately. (i guess this is essentailly the same as shifting to neutral)
Ok, I just saw that video. That is not what I'd call definative hydroplaning. Those cars were in high lateral load curves, essentially breaking the tires loose. I don't like having worn tires on the front. Normally, a sane speed on wet road won't be an issue for having the worn tires on the rear. The front tires will disperse the majority of the water before the rear tires come along. Losing your steering in the wet is more of a concern for me. It is MUCH easier to hydroplane with low tread in the front, the way I drive, which is not fast around wet curves. You put a section of 2" water on those curves, and watch the front head straight to the ditch.
