C/C Aqua-planing?

staker

I was driving home on the M8 tonight in a downpour, deep rivulets 20 yards wide on the road surface.
I aqua-planed once years ago(bald tyres)and was lucky to come out of it tbh.
I have a healthy respect for weather conditions and I was just wondering,am I better off driving on the throttle or on CC during a downpour(irrespective of other traffic for arguements sake)?

Barr

staker wrote: »

I was driving home on the M8 tonight in a downpour, deep rivulets 20 yards wide on the road surface.
I aqua-planed once years ago(bald tyres)and was lucky to come out of it tbh.
I have a healthy respect for weather conditions and I was just wondering,am I better off driving on the throttle or on CC during a downpour(irrespective of other traffic for arguements sake)?

What make tyres you using ?

staker

Not too sure,tis herselfs car,they're 175 15 65's on a golf I think they're T rated

Barr

The make I was after some of the korean brands are not to good in the wet

staker

Camskills best...

I'll check tomorrow but I would've bought the brand name first.
Come to think of it,they are the first set off that site.

stevenmu

I don't know if this is the right thing to do or not, but I prefer to lift off the throttle going through standing water. If I aquaplane I don't want to chance having the driven wheels spinning faster than I am travelling and then suddenly gripping, especially if the car turns a bit which can happen easily enough. Basically I just lift off the throttle, do not brake, and keep the front wheels pointed in the direction I want to keep going (very subtle steering input only). Doing that, I've always felt pretty much in control.

With that in mind I would prefer manual throttle to cruise control. Hitting water tends to slow the car, if you start to aquaplane I suspect that the cruise control may keep increasing the throttle to try to bring the car up to speed, spinning up the driven wheels and causing them to bite and the car to lurch when they find traction again. It's possible that modern cruise control has some means of detecting this and reacting appropriately, but unless I knew for sure it could handle it, I wouldn't risk it.

Esel

staker wrote: »

Camskills best...

I'll check tomorrow but I would've bought the brand name first.
Come to think of it,they are the first set off that site.

Are you in the wrong thread?

djimi

I really dont think you should be using cruise control in a heavy downpour. You can control the car with the throttle; dont do anything suddenly with the throttle and it should reduce the risk.

Honestly I really dont see what benefit cruise control would have in the wet other than to hold the throttle steady. An any ways half decent driver should be able to do this anyway.

staker

djimi wrote: »

I really dont think you should be using cruise control in a heavy downpour. You can control the car with the throttle; dont do anything suddenly with the throttle and it should reduce the risk.

Honestly I really dont see what benefit cruise control would have in the wet other than to hold the throttle steady. An any ways half decent driver should be able to do this anyway.

She drives the car everyday on the same road, I only realised how unsafe the whole issue with rain was today

esel wrote: »

Are you in the wrong thread?

Maybe,unintentionally.

CarMuppet

Aquaplaning occcurs simply when tyres can't dissapate water quick enough on a wet surface. So the tyre effectively sits up on a very thin sheet of water. The thread depth, tyre type, weight and speed will effect when it occurs. When you feel its effects the only variable you can change is speed. Don't use cruise control. Just decrease power with throttle control. Very very smooth steering input. As the car decellerates the grooves in the tyres will start to catch up and do their job again. You will feel traction return. Of coure if you have 1mm of tyre thread on only 50% of tyre width and you're at 75mph going into a hairpin left then I suggest retuning to religion.

SpannerMonkey

i recently changed my tyres becaus ethey were so bad in the wet , really very scary driving on them they were on the car when i bought it "Acellera Phi" if anyone has them on their car CHANGE THEM NOW :eek: i got Goodyear Eagle F-1 Asymetric , car now feels stable on the road again and you barely notice even big puddles of water ,

i cant understand a lot of peoples mentality when it comes to tyres , regardless if your driving a ferarri or a 1 litre micra whether you car is the best handling or the worst handling car in the world at the end of the day tyres are all that keep you on the road so please please dont buy the cheapest option , buy a decent brand of tyre , you WILL notice the difference especially in wet weather

nanook

I have read somewhere that in bad conditions it us advises not to use cruise control due to lack of traction and grip may cause the cruise control to accelerate.

ltdslipdiff

I certainly agree that a good branded tyre with water-dissapating tread will help prevent aqua-planing, however, the safest way to reduce the risk of aqua-planing is simply slow down a couple of km/h in heavy rain ! Also, realistically if you hit a deep puddle at 90 km/h there's not much any tyre can do for you ! Lots of modern cars are shod with low profile ultra-wide tyres which step up on the water quite easily........ thats my tuppence.:)

mickdw

It would be insane to drive through large puddles with cruise on. You wouldnt really know what is going to happen.

bbam

Maybe it's just me but the new sections of the M8 seem to have a shocking bad surface... It seems to hold the water from draining off...

We travelled up from Cork last Saturday with the car well loaded, I was astounded how much water was on the road... It was also causing serious spray in only moderate rain due to the ammount of standing water..