Hydrofoiling experiances..

[Militant-Grunt]

Again its pouring in the NYC area, gigantic puddles all around and tons of water on the road. Im pretty sure everyone had their experiance when the tyres begin to hydrofoil. Has anyone ever lost control? What does it feel like in your car?

A few months back I floored it through a foot deep puddle of water going around 50 mph on park ave, it felt as if the car was on ice, it definitly did not feel like it was glued to the asphalt like it normally is. The rover whipped the front to the left a bit, only a second later returning back under control. Has anyone had similar or different experiances with this?

 

[Big Daddy]

Hydroplaning is when your tires cannot disapate the water fast enough resulting in the tire riding on top of the water. Yes it can be just like on ice. The safest soultion is to ease off the throttle and let the car slow itself gently sitting back on the pavement. Never use cruise control in these situations. I have Michelin Hydro edges on my family car and they are fantastic here in the Seattle showers.

 

[Kirby]

I saw an amazing video of hydroplaning. They had rigged the car so that only the front brakes could be applied. They set up a test surface of 1/2" of water for about 50 yards. At 50 mph, when they hit the water and hydroplaned, they applied the brakes. Both front wheels locked up and never slowed the car down at all.

 

[jrt67ss350]

I had a really scary hydroplaning experience last year. I was driving home from school on the interstate in the rain - my 325 hydroplaned and the rear end started to come around on me at 65 mph. I let off of the throttle and turned into the skid, and the rear end swung back the other way (the E30 back end becomes really twitchy in those kinds of situations). I again turned into the skid and got her back under control. - I ended up two lanes over from the lane I was originally traveling in - thankfully there weren't any other cars even close to me. Shortly after that I decided it was time for a new set of tires.

I remember hydroplaning in my parent's old 1994 Bonneville SSE several years back at about 45-50 mph in heavy rain. The traction control kicked in instantly and instantly corrected the hydroplane - I was very impressed with how quickly and accurately the system worked.

 

[foomonkey525i]

I lose my back end in the rain all the time. I have inadvertently become fairly good at pulling out of it with no problems. Of course, it's usually just that I turn from a stop sign a little too fast, and it's nothing serious. Sometimes I sort of forget that it's raining. Luckily, I've never been in a high speed hydroplaning situation.

There was this one time where I was turning left at a really busy intersection, and I thought to myself "I better go really slow. I don't want to be sliding around in this busy intersection." So I proceded slowly. Next thing I knew, I was still going straight, but I was pointed way too far to the left. So I turned into it, got too far right, turned back and straightened up. Luckily I pulled out of it rather smoothly and I don't think I even left my lane, which was good because it was pretty busy.

The funny part is that day is Psych class,we got these biodots things that are supposed to tell you how stressed you are. Mine had been black all day (black = uber stressed), and after the incident, I looked at it, and it was green (mildly stressed). Go figure.

 

[zakool21]

I did something a few days ago in my new E36 that I didn't really expect to happen. I was making a right turn from a dead stop at a traffic light, in the rain, and I punched the gas a little too hard. I fishtailed about 90 degrees clockwise, of course, the back sliding, and not the front. I've never owned a RWD car before. For the 4 days that I'd had the BMW in dry weather, it gripped incredibly well, but that all went away in the rain.

Can someone explain this a little bit better for me....? If you start fishtailing in a RWD car, you need to steer into the turn that you were making, or out of it? I think when I did that little 90 degree spin, I turned out of it, and then fishtailed in the other direction about 45 degrees before I got it back under control.

 

[///M SPEED]

You think hydroplaning in a car is scary try doing it on a motorcycle. That is flat out one of the scariest things I have even been through even the 3 accidents on the motorcycle wasn't that scary. When the rear of a bike starts to fishtail at speed you have to get it under control quickly or it could turn into a high-speed wobble, which could be deadly. I had white knuckles after that.....

 

[Big Daddy]

Here is some good info on the topic: Hydroplaning

 

[tool fan]

There were a few times that I "got on it" a bit to hard with the 530i, but the traction control caught it and fixed the problem. Next to airbags (which can be deadly too) TC is by far the greatest invention for vehicle safety, does take some of the fun out of "sporty" driving but I can personally vouch that is saved my hiney more than a couple of times.

 

[aNoodle]

I've hydroplaned many times. On a freeway at higher speeds it's not hard to do at all...it's normally just brief periods of the car gently skipping to one side slightly...especially in those spots where the trucks have pounded troughs in the road. I guess the key is to not overreact, just let the car slide a little until it grips again....I think the people who get into trouble are the ones who get spooked and decide to turn the steering wheel to counter the movement...when the tires do find pavement to grab, it can set the car off in wierd directions. If it happens in a turn, then all bets are off...better hope that TC is programmed well!