traction control and getting out of shape on the motorway
Discussion
Was on the motorway the other day and it was particularly bad rain for driving. It was not a day where I had a choice not to travel.
On two occasions, (I think going up slight gradient for both) I saw a flash of the traction light and felt the car twist and then catch itself. I wasn't going especially fast but decided to slow down after the 2nd occurrence.
The first instance was worse than the 2nd and I slowed down as it was pretty frightening. Then it happened again at a slower speed but less wiggling of the back end.
Never had that happen before in decades of driving.
How likely is it you could actually lose control completely and end up spinning down the motorway? Has that actually happened to anyone?
On two occasions, (I think going up slight gradient for both) I saw a flash of the traction light and felt the car twist and then catch itself. I wasn't going especially fast but decided to slow down after the 2nd occurrence.
The first instance was worse than the 2nd and I slowed down as it was pretty frightening. Then it happened again at a slower speed but less wiggling of the back end.
Never had that happen before in decades of driving.
How likely is it you could actually lose control completely and end up spinning down the motorway? Has that actually happened to anyone?
Maybe tyres aquaplaning and losing grip? On the M1 a couple of weeks ago my car did a slight shimmy as I hit a deep puddle in lane three and that was with decent Michelin CrossClimates. The motorway was awash with water.
How are your tyres for tread depth and suitability for wet winter weather?
How are your tyres for tread depth and suitability for wet winter weather?
Depends on a quite few things - temp, tyres, type of road surface. Maybe once of twice I've nearly been caught out/got that cold sweat feeling on a motorway after a sudden event of aquaplaning.
Never fully spun out, but the scariest time I can think of was in heavy M25 traffic that was nose to tail but everyone was doing 70+ (as you do on a busy but flowing section of the M25) in pretty heavy rain. It was around the Leatherhead junction and I remember having to apply quite a bit of correction - a proper brown trousers moment. I've seen someone else spin out before.
Never fully spun out, but the scariest time I can think of was in heavy M25 traffic that was nose to tail but everyone was doing 70+ (as you do on a busy but flowing section of the M25) in pretty heavy rain. It was around the Leatherhead junction and I remember having to apply quite a bit of correction - a proper brown trousers moment. I've seen someone else spin out before.
parabolica said:
Depends on a quite few things - temp, tyres, type of road surface. Maybe once of twice I've nearly been caught out/got that cold sweat feeling on a motorway after a sudden event of aquaplaning.
Never fully spun out, but the scariest time I can think of was in heavy M25 traffic that was nose to tail but everyone was doing 70+ (as you do on a busy but flowing section of the M25) in pretty heavy rain. It was around the Leatherhead junction and I remember having to apply quite a bit of correction - a proper brown trousers moment. I've seen someone else spin out before.
What were the circumstances of the spin? Never fully spun out, but the scariest time I can think of was in heavy M25 traffic that was nose to tail but everyone was doing 70+ (as you do on a busy but flowing section of the M25) in pretty heavy rain. It was around the Leatherhead junction and I remember having to apply quite a bit of correction - a proper brown trousers moment. I've seen someone else spin out before.
Edited by ingenieur on Monday 18th December 10:21
Sounds like you've just caught some standing water but on one side only and the twisting effect caused by the extra drag has been enough to make the car kick the TCS in. Wider rear tyres seem to contribute to this ime so it's most noticeable as a pull at the rear. All you can really do is drive slower and look out for water deep enough to create the drag effect so you're ready to compensate for the pull.
otolith said:
Bill Tanner said:
Without being provocative why do you say that? I've done some serious annual mileages for many years in various BMW's and never had anything like that.
It certainly tends to be BMWs coming to grief in the first snow of the year.Id suggest the people that come to grief in snow are those on inappropriate tyres, can happen in any car. Given the pure rwd BMW is now in the minority id say that's no longer true. Its just any car on worn, low pro summer tyres
ingenieur said:
mcpoot said:
Out of interest what was the car? Stereotyping I know but was it a BMW?
Close, Mercedes. If you were ging uphill you've got some throttle applied so it sounds like it just span up on the standing water etc.
I had a C63S until earlier this year, first outing not long after purchasing in the wet on a dual carriageway, doing 60 or so still running it in on a steady throttle, hit a puddle and it went sideways in the blink of an eye. Brand new PS4S (it was a new car) so plenty of tread but it did teach me that big fat tyres, massive torque on wet roads probably isn't the best combo.
I have occasionally seen the traction control light come on in particularly deep puddles - normally on cars with wide, low profile tyres. It has always taken care of itself without any issues. On older cars with no traction control (and even those with) if I see what looks like a big puddle on the motorway I dip the clutch before reaching it to remove any drive and minimise chances of loss of traction. FWD this may be of limited use, but with RWD it makes sense.
As far as total loss of control, the only time I ever experienced it was many years ago in an Astra GTE on the A55 in Wales. There was a sudden massive hailstorm (inch across hailstones) and the road turned white in seconds. The car I was a passenger in (doing about 70 at the time) began to slowly rotate - as did about half a dozen other cars in front and behind us. Almost complete silence apart from the occasional crump as we caught the barrier with front and rear bumpers. Surreal and completely uncontrollable. No major damage thankfully and the car was back on the road with a couple of scrapyard bumpers in a couple of weeks.
As far as total loss of control, the only time I ever experienced it was many years ago in an Astra GTE on the A55 in Wales. There was a sudden massive hailstorm (inch across hailstones) and the road turned white in seconds. The car I was a passenger in (doing about 70 at the time) began to slowly rotate - as did about half a dozen other cars in front and behind us. Almost complete silence apart from the occasional crump as we caught the barrier with front and rear bumpers. Surreal and completely uncontrollable. No major damage thankfully and the car was back on the road with a couple of scrapyard bumpers in a couple of weeks.
911Spanker said:
Modern electronics are great. Given the driving standards in the UK I am surprised there are not more accidents.
On the day in question this happend twice in the space of a few miles on a journey which was 200-250 mile roundtrip. I don't think you can be prepared for that if the rest of the journey is otherwise uneventful? Reminds me of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4q2dq5KWY
To be fair to the car it never showed the state of the tyres, I suspect after all the sideways action there wasn't much tread left?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4q2dq5KWY
To be fair to the car it never showed the state of the tyres, I suspect after all the sideways action there wasn't much tread left?
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