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Old 16th July 2007, 00:34   #16
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Did you try applying brakes before your turned back onto your lane? Any hesitancy in the overtaking? Seeing that the car in the opposite lane was coming or an attempt to pull back from the maneuver and a last minute decision to carry on.

Since you oversteered general rule in a FWD car is to throttle (read more on weight transfer) against the common misconception that you should brake. Its easier said than done. But once you learn the trick it makes way for those panic scenarios.
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Old 16th July 2007, 00:42   #17
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Was there cowdung on the road?
Because once I hit cowdung on a slow turn, and the rear did quite a jig. I was doing less than 40kmph and the tyres were also Potenza GIII, and it was not raining.
Cowdung is very very slippery when wet, and I am sure that the Album with the same name was dedicated to cowdung originally
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Old 16th July 2007, 01:53   #18
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Wow really surprised and appreciate all the inputs.

What is aquaplaning?

There was no sign of rain, but it is very common for a little drizzle in that area at these days. I'm positive it didn't rain hard.

The tyres are in very good condition, i haven't checked the pressure, but i remember correcting pressure last month, my car has not done even 200km since the last pressure fill. My car has only done 7000km and it has been 1 year and 3 months.

I had the 3rd service done 2 months ago, and they had the tyres rotated, after that my car might have done like 300km thats it. Could that by any chance be the reason.

Its a Vxi without ABS.

During the fish tailing i think i just had my foot on the brake but only a little, only when the car stopped fish tailing did i hit the brake fully.

Yes they are JK Tornado tyres.

I noticed the Alto after almost overtaking the bus, i didn't try to pull back from the over taking but i steered to my lane very quickly but it was a very short steer that got the car out of control.

There was no cow dung on the road.

thanks everyone.
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Old 16th July 2007, 02:12   #19
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Aquaplaning requires solid water on the road, and quite high speed.

in pushing through that water, the tyres create a wave in front of themselves. If they actual mount that wave you loose all contact with the road. No brakes, no steering --- until the car and road get together again.

Bit like being on ice., but, in some ways worse.

You don't need breaking or steering to get it started, it just happens.

Flash flood on a motorway, road covered in water before I even had time to think the words slow down --- that's when it happened for me.
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Old 16th July 2007, 02:16   #20
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@Micraft... Swift is a good handler but there is problem of the rear snapping without any warning when one overdoes it... but in your case it seems very strange since you have told tha it was a mild steer... and 200 Kms is a lot after th last pressure fill, you should check tire pressures every 15 days if not every week..
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Old 16th July 2007, 05:42   #21
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i experienced it in chevy impala last year. and from my experience ( I have no idea if there are any tech terms for these), the only reason for this is too swift a change of direction at a given speed. I sudenly realised I was going on the shoulder, and tried to steer back, then again in other direction and i was back in control.

let's say you are traveling at 70Kmph. you suddenly see a danger and try to steer to left. the whole car body still keeps moving forward, while ur wheels have turned left, causing a heavy stress on the chassis and the suspension, and causing the steering to be more angular, hence (apparent) oversteer. the tires are still planted firmly, but the steering has given a feedback that causes you to now try steer in opposite direction, the cycle continues until u stabilize (or crash).

In my view, the correct thing would be not to panic (easier said than done), and steer straight rather than the other direction. and DO NOT BRAKE. Braking will only cause more of the above said streesses and oversteer.

Last edited by vivekiny2k : 16th July 2007 at 05:52.
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Old 16th July 2007, 11:21   #22
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Micraft, I guess you overtook this bus and when you squeezed between the bus and the Alto you would have got a slight kiss/nudge from the front bumper of the bus which will surely get you fish tailing like you mentioned. be careful while overtaking at curves. I am sure you've learnt your lesson.
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Old 16th July 2007, 11:28   #23
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A quick doubt for clarification....... Would it be easier to recover from such skidding with a power steering car or a car without power steering?

I have been driving mostly non-power steering cars and I have once or twice recovered from oversteering skids. Believe me they are scary!!!
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Old 16th July 2007, 11:36   #24
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dear friend upgrade that rubber and drive slow in rains till then.. again drizzle is enough and more dangerous coz it becomes a deadly cocktail with oil and diesel on the roads

Last edited by Jaggu : 16th July 2007 at 11:37.
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Old 16th July 2007, 11:45   #25
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Swift VXI comes with Power steering.
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Old 16th July 2007, 12:07   #26
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A simple rule I follow is never to overtake a vehicle on a blind turn, regardless of how slow the vehicle in the front is. Prevention is better than cure !!
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Old 16th July 2007, 12:17   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by micraft View Post

What is aquaplaning?


The tyres are in very good condition, i haven't checked the pressure, but i remember correcting pressure last month, my car has not done even 200km since the last pressure fill. My car has only done 7000km and it has been 1 year and 3 months.

I had the 3rd service done 2 months ago, and they had the tyres rotated, after that my car might have done like 300km thats it. Could that by any chance be the reason.

Yes they are JK Tornado tyres.
Aquaplaning happens when a thin sheet of water gets in between the tyres and the road and the tyres fail to expel the water. So you are virtually riding on water and will lose steering and grip completely. Usually aquaplaning happens on smooth, wet surfaces when your tyres do not have enough tread left and you are going sufficiently fast.

After running 7000 kms could you find any abnormal/excessive wear in your front tyres prior to rotation? If the tread had worn out excessively in the front tyres then that might have caused a problem when the tyres were rotated. Normally this should not happen after just 7000 kms, but if you do observe this then the solution is to rotate tyres at lesser intervals, say 5000 kms or less. And of course change to better tyres next time.

I follow one-sided rotation pattern, i.e., on the left side I simply swap front and rear tyres after every 5000 kms. On the right side I send rear to front, front to spare and spare to rear; this is what the manual advises. But many service station mechanics will send spare to front, front to rear and rear to spare; e.g. if the spare tyre is brand new and if the front tyre had worn out excessively prior to rotation, then this could cause an oversteer problem. I don't let the service station touch the tyres/wheels; I take the car to a good tyre shop for wheel alignment/balancing and personally check that they follow the tyre rotation pattern that I want.

And as mentioned, you should check your tyre pressures at least once in two weeks and before every long drive. Looks like you did not check them for quite some time before embarking on the long drive. You must pay personal attention to the pressures that the bunk attendants set; these fellows will make huge errors. E.g. for digital gauges they should hold for some time to get a correct reading, but they never do that. And they may have no idea as to what the recommended pressures are for your car.Tyre pressures should be set when tyres are cold, i.e., before the car has done any running. If your car has run some distance, you should set 1-2 psi above the recommended levels.
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Old 16th July 2007, 13:33   #28
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Acquaplaning usually requires some amount of standing water. Not just a wet surface.
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Old 16th July 2007, 14:15   #29
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[quote=drpullockaran;500615]You had first hand experience of aquaplaning at which even the rain specialist Micheal Schumi has no answers let alone lesser experienced mortals like us.


you need standing water for for aquaplaning to happen, which does not happen on tracks
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Old 16th July 2007, 14:26   #30
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...and not virtually, but actually riding on water!

A wet surface has less grip, and the risk of skidding will be greater, but skidding in a wet surface is not aquaplaning.
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