[Absar]

It all depends on the suspension in the car. For example, the Ford Ikon has a stiff suspension, so every bump is felt on the road, and gliding over it wouldn't be a good idea with a stiff suspension.

On the other hand, with a soft suspension like the Verna, it just glides over the bumps when its hardly felt in the cabin.

Hope my point got through;
Soft suspension -> smooth
Stiff suspension -> hard

But still I'd prefer to go carefully over bad areas unless i've missed out the bad area, I would always keep the nose up during the pass over the bad area, braking and keepin the nose down is more harmful to the suspension while passing over the bad area.

EDIT: High ground clearance SUVs like Bolero have a tendency to rock more than the low cars, so you dont feel like going fast over the bad area due of uneasyness while the bolero rocks over the bad area.

cya
A

[msdivy]

Drive fast or slow over speed hump? Interesting video from 5th gear:

YouTube - Fifth Gear - Speed Humps Challenge

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Absar

It all depends on the suspension in the car. For example, the Ford Ikon has a stiff suspension, so every bump is felt on the road, and gliding over it wouldn't be a good idea with a stiff suspension.

On the contrary its the other way around, soft suspension will ground with loud thuds when pushed hard on broken tarmac, stiff set up just glides over as speeds increase.

Try driving the iKON hard and then watch the fun, am sure you will get addicted and come back with a with all the antics the car can do, but be safe.

[vikram_cl55]

......You should observe that the sumos and scorpios takin over are all stupis travel vehicles(private tour guide vehicles).....they dont bother to drive proplerly......Your car is your own and you're responsible for it..
So technically go on lovin your car and drive slowly on bad roads....

Vikram++__

[Ajaybiz]

If roads are bit bad then faster move will help but you cant apply the same rule for roads having really big pot holes, making a slow move makes sence.

[sumitkalindi]

harder the suspension set up the less it will travel under small forces (read slow speeds) More speed and more smooth it becomes on bad roads. Fro my personal experience.

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Try driving the iKON hard and then watch the fun, am sure you will get addicted and come back with a with all the antics the car can do, but be safe.

Ikon has a very robust suspension which has a good balance of ride comfort and fantastic handling...Driving an Ikon on the ghats or winding hilly roads is just sheer pleasure but the brakes

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

I am used to driving around 1000 kms per day as it happens to be a part of what I do at work. Let me share only one case study (there are so many).

Mumbai / Nasik in the rains is a real pain to drive as the road is almost washed out. I still do it in under 3 hours, regularly without any strain on the car. The technique is to attack the bad stretches at an angle, not straight. That angle has to be induced by giving a small steering input a fraction of a second before the front wheel hits the bad patch. The idea is that the vehicle triangulates through the bad patch. Before coming out of the same bad patch, input the steering in the opposite direction, so the rear wheels come out at differental time, not together. Continue doing this if the series input progresses. A word of caution though - it needs to be practiced first, otherwise you can get into an accident. The steering inputs are extremely small but you have to input them perfectly. If input speed is less, the vehicle will slalom. It took me around 5 years to perfect it. Then -----

YOU CAN DRIVE AS FAST AS YOU WANT PROVIDED YOU ARE NOT RASH. THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAST DRIVING AND RASH DRIVING.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

I am used to driving around 1000 kms per day as it happens to be a part of what I do at work. Let me share only one case study (there are so many).

Mumbai / Nasik in the rains is a real pain to drive as the road is almost washed out. I still do it in under 3 hours, regularly without any strain on the car. The technique is to attack the bad stretches at an angle, not straight. That angle has to be induced by giving a small steering input a fraction of a second before the front wheel hits the bad patch. The idea is that the vehicle triangulates through the bad patch. Before coming out of the same bad patch, input the steering in the opposite direction, so the rear wheels come out at differental time, not together. Continue doing this if the series input progresses. A word of caution though - it needs to be practiced first, otherwise you can get into an accident. The steering inputs are extremely small but you have to input them perfectly. If input speed is less, the vehicle will slalom. It took me around 5 years to perfect it. Then -----

YOU CAN DRIVE AS FAST AS YOU WANT PROVIDED YOU ARE NOT RASH. THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAST DRIVING AND RASH DRIVING.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

thought not practiced this intentionally, but yes i felt better sailing when i was in similar situations, now it makes more sense

[kpzen]

Behram Dhabhar
Thats a very interesting technique. Will try this is at medium speeds first ..

[Shan2nu]

Yup, driving moderately fast on broken roads does give better ride comfort but at the cost of suspension and tyre reliability.

Shan2nu

[bblost]

If attempting DHABHAR.BEHRAM technique in a Wagon R, be doubly carefull.

The car felt like she is gonna throw up on the road.
I thought the springs would twist out and/or I left a wheel behind.

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by GTO

...driving slowly (10 - 30 kph) would lead to a terrible suspension crash and violent up-down movements.
What gives?

Originally Posted by Absar

EDIT: High ground clearance SUVs like Bolero have a tendency to rock more than the low cars, so you dont feel like going fast over the bad area due of uneasyness while the bolero rocks over the bad area.

That's exactly what i'm going through. Sitting high in an SUV gives you more violent sways compared to cars with low seating.

I guess fast driving might iron out the bumps...but it can mess up the suspension which is not a good idea. Then "SLOW and ROCKING" is better.


-- Torqy

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Please please please do not attempt what I typed out immediately - I said so in my post - let me give you one more input. The steering input is very shallow (just a small yank, the guy sitting next to you won't even know that you steered) and the car must angle out only so much that if you are in a right turn mode (means that the front left wheel will be ahead of the front right wheel with the car set at an angle about the Z axis (vertical line), then the angle should be such that when the FRONT LEFT WHEEL IS COMING OUT OF THE DITCH, THE FRONT RIGHT WHEEL IS JUST ABOUT GOING IN IT. If you input the steering angle more than this, you will not be able to realise the advantage.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

then the angle should be such that when the FRONT LEFT WHEEL IS COMING OUT OF THE DITCH, THE FRONT RIGHT WHEEL IS JUST ABOUT GOING IN IT. If you input the steering angle more than this, you will not be able to realise the advantage.

This is assuming both wheels are negotiating the same ditch. Im my situation, I usually have only one wheel falling into the pot hole while the other is on level ground. What then?