bit of a scare this morning...........
Discussion
my journey to work takes in about 5 miles of 'hoon suitable' country roads before joining the motorway for 25 miles of cruise control.
This morning I was a tad low on fuel so drove much more sedately than normal. Doing a very steady 40-50ish on a road that I know like the back of my hand, into a right hand bend and found that I had no grip at all but punctuated with LOTS of grip. In other words I lost control of the sodding car. Fortunately nothing else was coming, the side of the road is banked before the irrigation ditch and the trees, and (I hate saying this) I wasn't going too fast.
Sh*t me up I can tell you. A lot.
There was absolutely no indication that there was a slippy road ahead, steering felt firm and positive right up top this point. Now whether it was black ice, diesel spill etc, I have no idea, but not at all expected.
Just shows that no matter how much experience you might have, or how well you think you can control your car, this sort of thing can happen. Maybe it's a 6th sense. Just glad that I wasn't going at my usual '60' MPH.
This morning I was a tad low on fuel so drove much more sedately than normal. Doing a very steady 40-50ish on a road that I know like the back of my hand, into a right hand bend and found that I had no grip at all but punctuated with LOTS of grip. In other words I lost control of the sodding car. Fortunately nothing else was coming, the side of the road is banked before the irrigation ditch and the trees, and (I hate saying this) I wasn't going too fast.
Sh*t me up I can tell you. A lot.
There was absolutely no indication that there was a slippy road ahead, steering felt firm and positive right up top this point. Now whether it was black ice, diesel spill etc, I have no idea, but not at all expected.
Just shows that no matter how much experience you might have, or how well you think you can control your car, this sort of thing can happen. Maybe it's a 6th sense. Just glad that I wasn't going at my usual '60' MPH.
"The Good Lord moves in mysterious ways...."
A similar thing happened to me a while ago - as I approached a bridge (on an NSL single carriageway 'A' road) over a railway, one that is not exactly a hump backed type but high enough to make forward vision beyond it impossible, a 'cold feeling struck me, unlike anything I had experienced before. I slowed a little and crossed the bridge at considerably below the speed I had been travelling at, only to find a heap of wreckage blocking the road from a shunt that had happened only moments before.
A similar thing happened to me a while ago - as I approached a bridge (on an NSL single carriageway 'A' road) over a railway, one that is not exactly a hump backed type but high enough to make forward vision beyond it impossible, a 'cold feeling struck me, unlike anything I had experienced before. I slowed a little and crossed the bridge at considerably below the speed I had been travelling at, only to find a heap of wreckage blocking the road from a shunt that had happened only moments before.
I was driving home from hols early sunday morning and due to night flight, felt like crap and was taking it easy. Drove round a bend or should I say, tried and the car just went straight on. Massive case of understeer from an 06 ML.... No traction control warning but outside temp reading -3 so assumed it must have been ice.
Summer tyres, i.e. 'normal' ones, can lose something approaching 40% of their grip in freezing and near freezing conditions, at least according to a tyre engineer I spoke with when researching an article. She said that the deterioration can start at as high a temperature as 5 degrees C.
Once the tyre reaches working temperature, such as on a motorway at sustained high speed, most, but by no means all, of the grip returns. However, damp conditions or periods of slow speeds can allow tyre temperatures to drop considerably.
I'm no engineer but the description of your incident, where you were driving fairly slowly, might point to reasons you lost grip.
The answer for someone who lives north of civilised society is to opt for 'winter' tyres, as most drivers do on the continent away from the heady temperatures of the Iberian peninsular. Not a cheap alternative, but the cost is probably less than a rebuild.
Once the tyre reaches working temperature, such as on a motorway at sustained high speed, most, but by no means all, of the grip returns. However, damp conditions or periods of slow speeds can allow tyre temperatures to drop considerably.
I'm no engineer but the description of your incident, where you were driving fairly slowly, might point to reasons you lost grip.
The answer for someone who lives north of civilised society is to opt for 'winter' tyres, as most drivers do on the continent away from the heady temperatures of the Iberian peninsular. Not a cheap alternative, but the cost is probably less than a rebuild.
Another guy gave me considerable help in my tyre article. He runs the informative www.tyres-online.co.uk and below is information from the site. Well worth a visit and the chap is extremly helpful.
". . . most drivers do not adapt to winter driving conditions in the wet."
Winter tyre compounds offer better adhesion than summer tyre compounds when the temperature drops below 7 degrees C. when summer tyres start to harden and their performance drops. Winter tyres stick better for another 15 degrees or so. When the temperature is low, winter tyres can save as much as 11 metres braking distance at 50kph.
". . . most drivers do not adapt to winter driving conditions in the wet."
Winter tyre compounds offer better adhesion than summer tyre compounds when the temperature drops below 7 degrees C. when summer tyres start to harden and their performance drops. Winter tyres stick better for another 15 degrees or so. When the temperature is low, winter tyres can save as much as 11 metres braking distance at 50kph.
Something like this happened to me a number of years ago. Driving a FWD car, and approaching a tight right hand bend, I became aware that there was a serious lack of feel through the steering wheel. This was before I started to turn the corner mind!
So instinctively I did what I can only describe as a 'swiss flick' and got the car sideways before I got to the corner then stood on the throttle to ge the car to pull out of the corner.
All beautifully executed and there was no bu66er there to witness it!!!
Funny thing was though that for some reason, I automatically 'fed' the steering wheel which struck me as very odd.
So instinctively I did what I can only describe as a 'swiss flick' and got the car sideways before I got to the corner then stood on the throttle to ge the car to pull out of the corner.
All beautifully executed and there was no bu66er there to witness it!!!
Funny thing was though that for some reason, I automatically 'fed' the steering wheel which struck me as very odd.
Derek Smith said:
Another guy gave me considerable help in my tyre article. He runs the informative www.tyres-online.co.uk and below is information from the site. Well worth a visit and the chap is extremly helpful.
". . . most drivers do not adapt to winter driving conditions in the wet."
Winter tyre compounds offer better adhesion than summer tyre compounds when the temperature drops below 7 degrees C. when summer tyres start to harden and their performance drops. Winter tyres stick better for another 15 degrees or so. When the temperature is low, winter tyres can save as much as 11 metres braking distance at 50kph.
which is why I was very happy with myself for having winter tyres on the car as I drove along a snowy A26 in France up to Calais last Thursday morning. Large quantities of torque and power through 285 section rear summer tyres onto snow would have been asking for trouble.". . . most drivers do not adapt to winter driving conditions in the wet."
Winter tyre compounds offer better adhesion than summer tyre compounds when the temperature drops below 7 degrees C. when summer tyres start to harden and their performance drops. Winter tyres stick better for another 15 degrees or so. When the temperature is low, winter tyres can save as much as 11 metres braking distance at 50kph.
bryan35 said:
Just shows that no matter how much experience you might have, or how well you think you can control your car, this sort of thing can happen.
Thanks for the reminder not to get complacent - out of interest, did you have all the standard safety gizmos (ESP/whatever) working? ESP and ABS all ok and switched on.
No idea if the traction control light came on, was too busy trying to stop my ar*ehole going in and out!
made me very nervous on the motorway. Tinges of panic if the steering felt too free in any way. Did ring the police switchoard and reported incase there was a diesel spillage. There was no reports of any accidents thank god. Any faster though and I would have been off the road without any doubt whatsoever. Straight into either the ditch or a tree. not good.
No idea if the traction control light came on, was too busy trying to stop my ar*ehole going in and out!
made me very nervous on the motorway. Tinges of panic if the steering felt too free in any way. Did ring the police switchoard and reported incase there was a diesel spillage. There was no reports of any accidents thank god. Any faster though and I would have been off the road without any doubt whatsoever. Straight into either the ditch or a tree. not good.
jmorgan said:
Might explain what happened to me but I still suspect diesel on the road. Interesting stuff on the tyres. Thing is, I was aware the tyres would be cold and not messing around.
A tyre person on here said a few months ago that tyre temperature makes hardly any difference with road tyres so what ever it was you can rule out tyre temperature.Could some of the road been in shade/no shade or wind/no wind making it wet/dry or cold/colder.
If it's anywhere near freezing going over a bridge with a curve like on the raised section of the M6(midlands)can be a nightmare due to frost on top and underneath the road.
Yung Man said:
jmorgan said:
Might explain what happened to me but I still suspect diesel on the road. Interesting stuff on the tyres. Thing is, I was aware the tyres would be cold and not messing around.
A tyre person on here said a few months ago that tyre temperature makes hardly any difference with road tyres so what ever it was you can rule out tyre temperature..Yung Man said:
jmorgan said:
Might explain what happened to me but I still suspect diesel on the road. Interesting stuff on the tyres. Thing is, I was aware the tyres would be cold and not messing around.
A tyre person on here said a few months ago that tyre temperature makes hardly any difference with road tyres so what ever it was you can rule out tyre temperature.Could some of the road been in shade/no shade or wind/no wind making it wet/dry or cold/colder.
If it's anywhere near freezing going over a bridge with a curve like on the raised section of the M6(midlands)can be a nightmare due to frost on top and underneath the road.
jmorgan said:
Yung Man said:
jmorgan said:
Might explain what happened to me but I still suspect diesel on the road. Interesting stuff on the tyres. Thing is, I was aware the tyres would be cold and not messing around.
A tyre person on here said a few months ago that tyre temperature makes hardly any difference with road tyres so what ever it was you can rule out tyre temperature.Could some of the road been in shade/no shade or wind/no wind making it wet/dry or cold/colder.
If it's anywhere near freezing going over a bridge with a curve like on the raised section of the M6(midlands)can be a nightmare due to frost on top and underneath the road.
Yung Man said:
If it was spilt diesel from someone coming the other way (lets assume you were on the correct side of the road)was it a right hand bend to you meaning a left hander for the diesel spiller(coming the other way), thus chucking his/her diesel onto your side of the road?.
It was a dual carriage way off a roundabout. Sweeping left. It was just the way it let go.In the hands of the garage and insurance now.
Zod said:
Yung Man said:
jmorgan said:
Might explain what happened to me but I still suspect diesel on the road. Interesting stuff on the tyres. Thing is, I was aware the tyres would be cold and not messing around.
A tyre person on here said a few months ago that tyre temperature makes hardly any difference with road tyres so what ever it was you can rule out tyre temperature..well, didn't go that way this morning but did last night late on. Same temp - about 2 degrees.
felt very nevous to be honest approaching the bend, slowed RIGHT down - about 20 MPH, and went round with no prob whatsoever. Turned round and tried it again stabbing the brakes - rock solid.
so, t's gone, whatever it was.
felt very nevous to be honest approaching the bend, slowed RIGHT down - about 20 MPH, and went round with no prob whatsoever. Turned round and tried it again stabbing the brakes - rock solid.
so, t's gone, whatever it was.
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