[bottle]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

I remember having a scary incident in a 1995 zen in the last month on the wet Nh48 .This car had brand new 145/70r13 tires and I was doing about 50-60 kph at 3 am in the night ,about 40 kms from Mangalore when before I could realise the car just refused to take the curve and headed straight to the gorge on the other side.I was very lucky that I was driving slower than my zen or the lancer (both have the potenza GIII) and that there was no oncoming traffic .

The car must have hit some oil patch on the curve .I was lucky that I was somehow able to control the skid .Parked the car and then walked back to this spot...and couldnt make out anything ..and when I was walking back to the car ..heard a loud bang ..an Accent did a 180 turn and its rear end hit the mountain side!!!

I think both of us ( the accent driver and me ) must have tapped the brakes on the turn .
I never brake in the middle of a turn ..its always gear changes for me ...dunno this time how I did this.

.

Faced something similar recently when I braked and there was some standing water at that spot (straight road) and car aquaplaned and went sliding sideways across the road. It was at a pretty low speed around 60

This was on GQ so I m guessing the fresh rains had made the surface a bit slick

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by bottle

Faced something similar recently when I braked and there was some standing water at that spot (straight road) and car aquaplaned and went sliding sideways across the road. It was at a pretty low speed around 60

This was on GQ so I m guessing the fresh rains had made the surface a bit slick

You probably skidded, rather than aquaplaned. the difference is a little academic, perhaps, but it is different.

The reason I say skidded is because you say braked.

For aquaplaning, you do not need to brake, or even do anything, but suddenly, you find that anything you do do has (steering, brake) has no effect until the car slows and finds the road surface again.

(of course... I admit I wasn't there, and my comments are based entirely on my reading of your post!)

[bottle]

i guess it was a bit of both, it was a mild dab of brakes but wheels locked up completely. my guess is that due to loss of road contact this happened? after that car went sliding left across 2 lanes. felt like i was skating on ice.

it was raining really badly after that i could feel the right tyre aquaplaning when it hit the water puddles stagnating by the side of the road

[ashwinsaval]

Suggestions on my part:

This phenomenon occurs in cars and particularly bikes equipped with drum brakes.

Brake liners tend to expand, resulting in sharper braking response, but only initially i.e when they haven't warmed up to optimum temperature.

This can result in a hazardous situation especially when just beginning an early morning ride, or when just beginning your ride as the brakes haven't properly warmed up on a slippery stretch of road.

So at the start of your ride, i suggest you pump your brakes to get them working at optimum temperature.

Cheers and Happy Monsoons

[ashwinsaval]

in my opinion, if i am correct. the issue could have something to do with brand new tires.

brand new tires, as per my understanding, need to run in for some time to be at optimum grip levels.

also, for tires to be at optimum grip levels, they have to be working at the right temperature, but i dont think that could be the issue, since road going tires are designed to warm up to temperature pretty quickly.

i may be wrong, members can feel free to correct me if that is so.

cheers
Ashwin

[Thad E Ginathom]

skidding... aquaplaning... there is one sure way to avoid both: drive slowly!

[ajman28]

Originally Posted by Akki_5

EDIT: A question that popped in my mind the other day: How do you slip the clutch on an AT vehicle? We can't keep revs high with slow speed in an AT vehicle.

A suggestion for vehicles with AT will be to apply the accelerator along with slight application of the brakes. In this manner you will have to rev the vehicle higher in order to move forward; thus keeping the water from entering the exhaust pipes.

This method of course would eat up your brakes so as far as possible stay away from those flooded areas.

[arjunrudra]

Can someone please explain the tobacco bit in detail ? The procedure and when it should be used ?

[fastraj]

Is it true that during rains one should reduce tyre pressure so as to increase the tyre patch on the road & better grip? But won't a larger tyre patch aquaplane on water puddles?

[Thad E Ginathom]

I think the right tyre pressure is the right tyre pressure --- and the only instance I have ever heard in which it is clever to reduce it is when stuck in sand!

You do not aquaplane on puddles --- you aquaplane when there is a solid sheet of water in the road and your speed is sufficient.

On the other hand you can skid on any wet slippery surface so --- drive slowly!

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by arjunrudra

Can someone please explain the tobacco bit in detail ? The procedure and when it should be used ?

Take the tobacco flakes and rub them over the windshield, with a sprinkle of water; just enough water to wet up the flakes. Rub well.

[siddharthdeb]

Mods Please feel free to move this post to the appropriate thread as I could not find the right one.

Hi,
The reason for this thread to be mentioned here is pretty simple, a friend of mine recently discovered that is swift front suspension arm had developed a crack and had to be sent for some expensive repairs. The culprit it seems is the speed breaks on the sea link.
Now as a daily user of the sea link i find this an extremely worrying aspect as the daily wear and tear of the speed breakers are bound to take a toll on our respective vehicles.
While the speed limit on the sea link might be 50 Kmph, approaching the speed breakers on this speed is a real back breaker. So the other approach (not the legal one though) but seems to work is to approach the speed breakers at speeds greater than 70 kmph.

So here's my question - What is the ideal approach to tackle these speed breakers and how to minimize the damage done so far if any?

[babaops]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Take the tobacco flakes and rub them over the windshield, with a sprinkle of water; just enough water to wet up the flakes. Rub well.

I have seen a lot of people using tobacco but any idea of how does tobacco help? What properties of it make sure that it helps during rain?

[dkcrpl]

Two years back i had changed the wipers of my ZEN with some local things. They didn't work to the satifaction. yesterday with one of the first few showers at navi mumbai decided to get them changed. Went to a shop and was surprised that he was having BOSH wipers. A pair costed 270 bucks but the their effect was amazing.

[sparkguy]

Originally Posted by dkcrpl

Two years back i had changed the wipers of my ZEN with some local things. They didn't work to the---.

Do these Bosh wipers doesn't leave the fog behind on windscreen. I often face this problem of very thin film of fog on outside the windscreen after a wipe from wipers. Any pointers?