Aquaplaning...Eeek!!!

[rf065]

Wow , that's some off .

I've observed for years that with torrential rain it's always a BMW up a bank or through a hedge etc .

Glad you're OK .

Similiar in Scotland when it first snows, always a 4x4 through a hedge and stranded in a field. Must be something in human nature that makes people think the laws of physics don't apply to them.

 

[Gazwould]

There is something fundamentaly different about off road 4x4 vs dedicated road car 4x4 chassis .

The off road chassis as well as being taller hense higher center of gravity has a very soft set up to comply with changes to the land surface and suspension bushes inc subframe bushes made of chewing gum .

 

[renault12ts]

Horizontal wood fences should be banned along roads. They have been responsible for many deaths in otherwise survivable road crashes.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Christ, glad you’re okay. Hope you weren’t driving like a bellend!

(Sorry, just reading between the lines)

 

[zipdip]

We have a couple of sections on the A120 that can give you aquaplaning,and to be honest I have been caught out a few of times,but as always it is keep the steering wheel dead ahead and foot off the loud pedal,the car lifts and then clears the water no damage,for many the sensation of aquaplaning makes them hit the brakes and that could be fatal.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Once you are aquaplaning properly (all for wheels off the road) your have no control at all.....if you don't crash it was luck. Where you point the steering wheel matters not when your front wheels are not touching the road. Your direction will largely be controlled by the camber of the road. Hopefully the water will pass or your car slow enough that the wheels sink back to the surface before the car gets too out of shape or hits something.

 

[rf065]

Once you are aquaplaning properly (all for wheels off the road) your have no control at all.....if you don't crash it was luck. Where you point the steering wheel matters not when your front wheels are not touching the road. Your direction will largely be controlled by the camber of the road. Hopefully the water will pass or your car slow enough that the wheels sink back to the surface before the car gets too out of shape or hits something.

Pity the Audi A7 driver I saw a couple of weeks ago never knew that. After some torrential rain there was a river of water running from one side of the dual c/way to the other. Directly after this river of water was a destroyed central reservation barrier and his severely damaged car on the wrong side of the dual c/way where it had came to a standstill.

 

[PXW]

Where you point the steering wheel matters not when your front wheels are not touching the road.

But it potentially matters quite a bit when your tyres reach the tarmac again…I always understood that was the main reason for the “keep the wheels straight” advice for aquaplaning.

 

[ALFAitalia]

That's making HUGE assumption that that you care will carry on in straight line whist aquaplaning.......something that in my experience does not happen most times. You only have to look at the number of RWD cars stuffed into the Armco after really heavy rain to see that. But i agree that the oft published advice it to keep the wheel straight....but Im not sure that will help if you car is traveling slightly sideways on a layer of water!!

 

[rf065]

You will almost never carry on in a straight line whilst aquaplaning, unless the road/water is billiard table smooth with no camber in any direction.
Reminds me of a story some guy once told me who hit standing water and claimed he felt the ABS save him even though he did not think he'd even hit the brakes.
Most people who hit standing water at high speed are instantly outside their theatre of experience and without some form of luck are hitting the armco at 90 degrees.

 

[PXW]

It’s not about whether the car aquaplanes in a straight line so much as the steering force applied by the wheels when they regain contact with the road. The occasional times it’s happened to me (admittedly nothing like as dramatic as the OP) I have been grateful that when the tyres re-engage they don’t immediately try to turn the vehicle sharp left or right.