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-   -   Safe Driving in the Rains (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/41953-safe-driving-rains-11.html)

Germany people use Indicator Lamps to signify that they are the Faster Vehicle.
If you see in your mirror, Left Indicator flashing, it means get out of the way.:I Rule:

Are you trying to say that people are crawling on the Expressway at 40 ?:Frustrati

There are many misconceptions about ABS.

I will help clear it as I own a car with ABS only and no EBD.

ABS is Anti-Lock Braking System. It is what the name says. It just sees that the Wheels do not lock up totally or the car would keep going in a straight line. ABS helps you steer the car if you have to even under full braking.

ABS sometimes can also increase Braking Distance!

btw some Lucky Guy gets 33000 Kms. on his Brake Pads. WOW
Either he is pretty slow or is really lucky. :)
Do change them now. Please. :)

Slow, me? I don't think so, I'm always on the faster side of the average! Yeah I can be plain lucky! :)
The MASS guys told me to change the pads during 30K service, but after checking them he said these will still last till next service.
Felt the brakes not too effective today also, when suddenly from nowhere a hump came in front of me, which was not there till yesterday! (that's the bangalore speciality, a new hump can come out anywhere, anytime!). Will surely change them soon!

Hi Supercars,

I have done 42000 km on my Swift D and still have half the life of my first brake Pads. I am no Sedate driver either.The only change I have done so far is the new set of tyres at 40000 kms. The old set did contain some tread but I got tired of the shody JK tyres the car was running on and hence changed the same to a decent BS Potenza GIIIs.

Cars upkeep depends hugely on how good a driver you are. 3 basic rules for a good driver -
1. Drive in the most optimal power band for a specific gear (Keep RPM between 1800-2500 on a petrol car and 1500-2200 on a Diesel car).
2. One should use engine braking more often and
3. Clutch to be used only for changing gear.

For hatchbacks with mechanical boot release, people can get out of the boot door. I asked most of my friends this question, they couldn't immediately think/react that boot door can be opened. Even for sedan, the seats can be folded and people can get out.

One of my friend was telling that, they have some special mechanism in fabia to unlock the doors during failure. Not sure how it works.

Hi it is a thread talks about the breaking system. Mine is an ABS breaking system and there is no problem of breaking with 7K Kms. Can anyone tell at what odo meter reading it is advisable to change the break pad.

Changing brake pads depends on the car, the type of pad compound, and how liberally the brakes are used.

Most cars have some sort of inspection point on the caliper to see the current brake pad's wear. Some pads even have a wear indicator. Higher end marques like Porsche and Mercedes have an electronic wear indicator built into the pad. One caveat to watch for is pad wear on floating calipers (which make up 99% of calipers). I've noticed most pads on floating calipers will wear faster on the side with the pistons. This side is usually on the inside and not as visible as the front side.

My rule of thumb is to check the brakes when you are seeing the brake fluid lower in the reservoir. As the pads wear, the fluid level will drop since the brake system is a seal system. This will give you an idea of how much wear your pads have. Over time, you will know exactly when they need to be changed. :thumbs up

Most cars will require new pads anywhere between 20,000 - 35,000 kms, Navan. Either your service advisor will inform you well in advance, or you'll hear the brakes squealing. Remember to change them on time. Else, your discs could end up damaged.

Hello My fellow BHpians!! I'am sort of confused . The thread is about safe driving in rains and all i'am seeing is about Brake pads and ABS. So here goes the tips for safe driving in rains that may be helpful.

• Check the brake oil level regularly and the condition of the brakes before the onset of monsoons.
• Have the correct tyre pressure maintained
• Change the wiper blades. Sometimes, the wiper leaves a semi circular streak mark on the wind shield specially when the wiper blades have gone hard due to the sun or just by the age. Its such a small thing that people generally ignore the wiper blade
• Maintain safe braking distance. ABS or no ABS, a good braking distance helps.
• If the rain is really bad, park to the side of the road and turn on the parking lights. Try not to park under a tree.
• If you have really worn out or bald tyres, then pls do get an advance booking done at the morgue. You will need it.
• Use a good wind screen washer in the washer tank mixed with water. Plain water alone is not sufficient to clean the windscreen. What happens is that when it rains, the rain water gets mixed with oil from vehicles and when the spray gets on to the windscreen by vehicles in front of you, the wind screen will be a mess. If you can't see where you are going you cant be safe i guess
• One of the tricks is also to use the defogger in the car effectively. In non AC cars you have to wind up te window to leave a small gap for the air to circualte. Keep a tissue paper box in the car. It is quite handy in wiping away the mist. I have seen people use their palms and it is not a good idea at leave. It makes the windscreen smudgy spcially if you have oily skin

Safe driving!!

Thank you GTO, Samir and Prat for your advise on safe driving and the period of break pad change. I was not at all aware of this and now I will take care of that. My learning in our forum are a lot. Two things I learn on wheels are, Change Tyre on or before 40K kms run and break pad change between 20K to 35k as per the need and requirements

One thing I've learned about tires in the rain is that tire tread pattern and compound matter almost as much as tread depth. I once spun backwards at 70mph on the highway because a set of almost brand new Goodyear Eagle GAs were terrible at wet traction even with almost full tread. Many years later almost bald Bridgestone Potenza re950s handled rain better than the Goodyear Eagle GAs on the same car.

I've learned to never cut corners on cost or performance when it comes to tires. Get the highest performance you can for your car and your roads. The extra 5 feet that they can give you mean the difference between an accident and avoiding one.

I shot a video of driving in rain with wipers off. From my experience, at speed above 40mph, rain-x with no wipers works better than wipers with no rain-x.

YouTube - 02052010032.mp4

And it doesn't have to be rainx either. Just keep your windshield clean and waxed. I ran my car once for a year without using the wipers. It also helps if you drive at higher speeds, but that's not advisable unless you have the stopping power as well.

I hate wax on the windscreen, finding it leads to all kinds of smears. Hard to remove too.

Always drive slower on wet roads and in rain, however good your brakes are.

I got this from a forward - NO IDEA IF ITS TRUE.
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GOOD VISION WHILE DRIVING IN A DOWNPOUR - A TIP

How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy rainfall.

We are not sure why it is so effective just try this method when it rains heavily.

This method was told by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it.

It is useful...even driving at night.

Most of the motorists would turn on HIGH or FASTEST SPEED of the wipers during heavy downpour, yet the visibility in front of the windscreen is still bad......

In the event you face such a situation, just try your SUN GLASSES (any model will do), and miracle! All of a sudden, your visibility in front of your windscreen is perfectly clear, as if there is no rain.

Make sure you always have a pair of SUN GLASSES in your car, as you are not only helping yourself to drive safely with good vision, but also might save your friend's life by giving them this idea.. But try it first, so that you can confidently suggest it to someone.

Try it yourself and share it with your friends! Amazing, you still see the drops on the windshield, but not the sheet of rain falling. You can see where the rain bounces off the road. It works to eliminate the "blindness" from passing semi's spraying you too. Or the "kickup" if you are following a semi or car in the rain.

They ought to teach that little tip in driver's training. It really does work.

NOTE: The SUN GLASSES reduce the reflection / refraction of light through the rain drops, ergo, you see better!!
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Let me know if its B$, or if it works.