Discussion
Thanks for posting the first pic. Never seen the under side of a Monaro before!
What size truck was it that hit you? If it was a loaded 8 wheeler the ro took it very well. Glad you are all O.K. I bet the truck driver was as relieved as you were to see you getting out relatively unscathed.
What size truck was it that hit you? If it was a loaded 8 wheeler the ro took it very well. Glad you are all O.K. I bet the truck driver was as relieved as you were to see you getting out relatively unscathed.
k me.....truly amazing story. Glad to hear you were all able to walk away from it.Wow - glad you are all ok. Cars can be replaced...
As for weight, heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car.
However, this is offset by the wider tyres fitted to these cars - a lighter car on thinner tyres can be a lot better.
The water buildup is too great and it simply can't get out of the way regardless of the weight of the car.
If the car has already started aquaplanning then you really are pretty much just a passenger. The only option you have is to keep everything neutral (steering, throttle, brake) with just the smallest of lifts of the throttle to try to stop the rears from spinning and hopefully lose a little speed and just ride it out and hope the puddle ends before the road does.
In many cases it's more luck than judgement.
As for weight, heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car.
However, this is offset by the wider tyres fitted to these cars - a lighter car on thinner tyres can be a lot better.
The water buildup is too great and it simply can't get out of the way regardless of the weight of the car.
If the car has already started aquaplanning then you really are pretty much just a passenger. The only option you have is to keep everything neutral (steering, throttle, brake) with just the smallest of lifts of the throttle to try to stop the rears from spinning and hopefully lose a little speed and just ride it out and hope the puddle ends before the road does.
In many cases it's more luck than judgement.
VXR_Daz said:
Bonnie and Clyde said:
VXR_Daz said:
Please tell me someone put that air freshener there as a joke......
Thankyou Daz, Stigs got one of them and i've been telling him for months that magic trees are not cool.
Haha, but I am not cool so doesn't matter what I think
Oh of course silly me. Its your car thats cool
Adsgreen said
"heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car".
I was always told that aquaplaning can commence at ten times the square root of the tyre pressures, so in the 'ro (35psi), it shouldn't commence at under 60mph, compared with something like a Fiesta, with tyre pressures around 25 psi, then aquaplaning may commence at 50. Since heavier cars tend to run on higher tyre pressures, then they probably will resist aquaplaning more than a light car. The scary thing, if this is correct, is that I was told that once you exceed these critical speeds, the amount of tread on your tyre may not help.
Don't know if the above is true, and my only experience is/was of hitting a wall of water on the M5 in a rainstorm many years ago. Vanden Plas (posh Austin) 1300 that we were in just took off, but tracked true and touched down on the other side with no problems other than brown trousers!
Glad you all are ok, but as for anyone who wants bits, having looked at the photos, it doesn't seem as if anything is untouched, perhaps not even the engine if it was running upside down!
"heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car".
I was always told that aquaplaning can commence at ten times the square root of the tyre pressures, so in the 'ro (35psi), it shouldn't commence at under 60mph, compared with something like a Fiesta, with tyre pressures around 25 psi, then aquaplaning may commence at 50. Since heavier cars tend to run on higher tyre pressures, then they probably will resist aquaplaning more than a light car. The scary thing, if this is correct, is that I was told that once you exceed these critical speeds, the amount of tread on your tyre may not help.
Don't know if the above is true, and my only experience is/was of hitting a wall of water on the M5 in a rainstorm many years ago. Vanden Plas (posh Austin) 1300 that we were in just took off, but tracked true and touched down on the other side with no problems other than brown trousers!
Glad you all are ok, but as for anyone who wants bits, having looked at the photos, it doesn't seem as if anything is untouched, perhaps not even the engine if it was running upside down!
errrr....yeah 
J. J. said:
Adsgreen said
"heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car".
I was always told that aquaplaning can commence at ten times the square root of the tyre pressures, so in the 'ro (35psi), it shouldn't commence at under 60mph, compared with something like a Fiesta, with tyre pressures around 25 psi, then aquaplaning may commence at 50. Since heavier cars tend to run on higher tyre pressures, then they probably will resist aquaplaning more than a light car. The scary thing, if this is correct, is that I was told that once you exceed these critical speeds, the amount of tread on your tyre may not help.
Don't know if the above is true, and my only experience is/was of hitting a wall of water on the M5 in a rainstorm many years ago. Vanden Plas (posh Austin) 1300 that we were in just took off, but tracked true and touched down on the other side with no problems other than brown trousers!
"heavy cars do have a small advantage and will (like for like) resist aquaplaning better than a light car".
I was always told that aquaplaning can commence at ten times the square root of the tyre pressures, so in the 'ro (35psi), it shouldn't commence at under 60mph, compared with something like a Fiesta, with tyre pressures around 25 psi, then aquaplaning may commence at 50. Since heavier cars tend to run on higher tyre pressures, then they probably will resist aquaplaning more than a light car. The scary thing, if this is correct, is that I was told that once you exceed these critical speeds, the amount of tread on your tyre may not help.
Don't know if the above is true, and my only experience is/was of hitting a wall of water on the M5 in a rainstorm many years ago. Vanden Plas (posh Austin) 1300 that we were in just took off, but tracked true and touched down on the other side with no problems other than brown trousers!
Not sure about that - granted, if you have tyres at a reduced pressure then it will reduce the aquaplanning speed but it's not the main deciding factor. Fat tyres increase aquaplanning risk substantually as it's much easier for more water to be trapped infront of the tyre at a given speed.
Tread does help recover the car - but the recovery speed is usually less than the aquaplanning speed. So the more tread you have the quicker the car will recover (although the wheel needs to be turning for this to happen which is why braking is a bad thing).
Anybody else who has driven on slicks in the rain will confirm tread does help
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