ARTICLE: Safe Driving in the Rains

[watashi75]

Use engine braking to brake quickly on wet roads. This will prevent the wheels from locking up easily.

Don't over inflate your tyres. Keeping the pressure a little less will provide more grip.

Remove stones from the tyre treads to provide an outlet for the water.

Keep a rug handy to wipe your shoes so that they don't slip while driving.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by watashi75

Keeping the pressure a little less will provide more grip.

Actually, sticking to the recommended tyre pressure will ensure the best traction in the wet.

[watashi75]

Originally Posted by gpa

Actually, sticking to the recommended tyre pressure will ensure the best traction in the wet.

I stand corrected. Yes the tyres should be at recommended pressure. Properly inflated tyres cut better into rain film than under inflated tyres.

[teknophobia]

In India, recommended tyre pressures are always lower than the appropriate tyre pressure.

[supercars]

Why switch off the Air - Conditioning when entering water ?

Please do not carry Chocolate as it would melt.

Why use First Gear and on the Top of it slip the Clutch ?
Why not just try to drive through water as fast as you can ?

Why not immediately try to start the car if it has stalled ?
How do you expect me to check for Water in Exhaust and Air Intake ?
You really want me to drown in the flood and also let my car drown. :(

Last Advice, people with Petrol and Gas Cars stay away from water.

Water is the Domain of only the Diesel Cars and that also try to avoid water if you have Modern Common Rail Diesel Engines.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by teknophobia

In India, recommended tyre pressures are always lower than the appropriate tyre pressure.

Care to elaborate on this?

[venuraja]

Originally Posted by GTO

Flooded areas

• If you aren’t sure about the depth of the flood, do NOT drive through it. Taking an alternate route is best. If you just have to use that stretch, wait until another car / bus attempts to pass the flood, and gauge its depth. Never drive through a flood unless you know how deep it is and that your car can handle it.

• Switch off your air-con before entering the flooded area.

• Always keep your windows slightly open when traveling through a flooded area. If you get stuck, you can shout for help or even force the window down.

• When in a flooded area, choose the first gear, slip the clutch and keep the revs high enough to ensure that exhaust gases are pushed out of the tail pipe. Do NOT stop revving. The lower your car's speed, the better. If your car stalls, it is very difficult to start it again.

• If your car does stall, do not attempt to restart. This may lead to engine hydrolock. You first need to check if any water has entered the air intake or exhaust pipe.

• Once out of the water trap, pump / tap your brakes to dry the drums and discs off.

Windscreen / Window fogging:

• Remember the fundamentals : Window fogging occurs due to a temperature difference between the inside surface of your glass and the outside. For example, if you drive without the air-con and all your windows are shut, the cabin is warmer than the outside, resulting in the window fogging up from inside. On the other hand, if you run your air-con on full blast mode, the interiors of your car will be colder than the outside. Thus, your glasses will fog up from the outside.

• Keep the air-con on fresh air / ventilation mode.

• It is important to maintain the right temperature balance between the inner & exterior sides of glass. Don't turn your air-con to full blast. Keep it at a level which is just about comfortable.

• Use your rear windscreen demister liberally. It heats up little wires in your rear glass and gets rid of the mist / fog.

• When the windows fog from the inside, the best thing to do is to switch the aircon on. It will clear up the screens in a jiffy. The situation is a little tricker when the windows fog up from the outside. The ideal solution is to roll down the windows a little, and let the air flow more or less neutralize the temperature difference. Most modern cars come with the demist / defog mode as part of the standard HVAC system.

Drive safe! The rains are simply beautiful. Taking the necessary precautions will make your rainy drives a pleasure that you will look forward to!

Credits : Many points in this article have been compiled from Normally_Crazy's thread (Driving in the Rains - Tips). Thanks to all those who commented!

I had driven through fog ,with a very low visibility.
My experience was that when it was (and it was ) a fog from outside
on the windscreen , I used the water to splash on the windscreen and wipers to clean it. This would give clean visibility for some time and you have to press the button to splash water on the windscreen again and wipers to wipe it.

In a heavy rain the best thing to do is that to stop at some village bus-stops on the highway and wait until the rain subsides. If it is a small rain you can get out of the rain zone very easily in a little time.

[teknophobia]

Originally Posted by gpa

Care to elaborate on this?

Keeping in mind the bad roads and ride comfort, manufacturers in India specify a low tyre pressure. For example, in my car, the recommended tyre pressures are 28 psi front and 24 psi back. With this pressure, the ride over bad roads is very smooth, however whenever I wan to drive at high speeds, I can feel the sidewalls flex up anhd down. So I use 34 and 28 which gives me a smoooth ride on highways at speeds in excess of 150 but makes sure that I feel every bump on the road in the city

[Roy.S]

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere:
I have found that a few drops of liquid soap rubbed on the inside of your windshield (front and rear) makes for a very effective anti fogger. I used this in my non a/c M800 regularly and it was really helpful. However, you have to make sure that you keep rubbing the liquid soap in with a dry newspaper till it disappears. Otherwise, it leaves a haze which makes nighttime driving extremely dangerous. Also, do not try this on the windows.

[T_Girl]

Thanks GTO, that is quite explicit a write up!! and of course will be of immense help to us.

[thermalpaste]

I would like to add:

1) If you are using white HIDs, cover the headlamp with a yellow cellophane / gelatin paper. This will improve visibility in the rain.

2) Avoid using high-beam especially when it's foggy, it reduces visibility as most of it will be reflected back to you.

3) Dry the rear drum brakes by pulling the hand-brake partially for 20 seconds after you are out of a puddle. This will improve braking efficiency.

4) Avoid going through a puddle at high speeds; you may end up with a broken bumper / damaged fender due to surface tension.

5) Hydroplaning is unavoidable even if you have driver aids at your disposal -- ESP, ABS just assist in modulating and moderating what the driver does. Being cautious and having a good feel of your car is the best driver aid. In general, a narrower contact patch will reduce hydroplaning. This isn't always true, it also depends on the tread design; an ideal tire should squeeze out water beneath it. This efficiency reduces with a reduction in tread depth.

6) Never tailgate or drive to close the car ahead of you. Be careful of roads tarred with mastic asphalt.

[Sujith1100]

i would like to add :

1. Deflate tyres by 2PSI from regular pressure
2. Use the roads you know well and use often
3. Keep the fan blower/Ac to blow at the windshield to avoid frost formation
4. Keep your side rear view mirrors crystal clean so that the images are clear even wen wet
5. After the rain properly clean the rubber beedings of the doors in order to to get a better life
6. Often keep tapping on your brake pedal so as to spill the water off from the brake shoes
7. Always hove dust caps for the tyres in order to avoid debry getting cloged near the nozzle

[watashi75]

Originally Posted by Sujith1100

1. Deflate tyres by 2PSI from regular pressure

This is not good.

Quoting from this article -
http://www.transit.govt.nz/content_f...Chesterton.pdf

The speed at which a vehicle needs to travel to begin aquaplaning is determined by water depth but also by the vehicle’s weight, and tyre characteristics. The vehicle weight determines how much uplift force is needed to induce separation and it follows that a lighter vehicle will aquaplane at a lower speed. Higher tyre pressures increase the aquaplaning speed by reducing the contact area between tyre and road, increasing the vehicles weight to area ratio.

It is better to stick to the recommended tyre pressure.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by Roy.S

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere:
I have found that a few drops of liquid soap rubbed on the inside of your windshield (front and rear) makes for a very effective anti fogger.

This seems to be a neat trick. If indeed true, it will be a boon to those without an a/c system in the car.

[supercars]

Originally Posted by Sujith1100

i would like to add :

6. Often keep tapping on your brake pedal so as to spill the water off from the brake shoes

You can give the guy behind a Hard Time everytime by pressing the Brake Pedal.

Please do not do this. Just drive a bit better than normal. Brake Slower and Accelerate Slower too if possible.

I just noticed a few days ago that if a car is really powerful even with EXTREMELY Mild Acceleration, the car wants to slide on a wet road.