by TW85 » Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:59 pm
There are a few things.
Hydroplaning is when your tires lose contact with the road surface due to them not being able to displace water quickly enough. A "wave" builds and lifts the tires off the road surface. Factors that can contribute to hydroplaning are too great of a speed, not having the proper tire pressure, poor tread design, and too little tread.
Chances are you did not hydroplane the entire time. Knowing when you have stopped hydroplaning and when you can react is a start, and knowing what to do in your reaction is the key. Hitting the brakes or not using controlled steering (rather, you jerk the wheel in one direction or another) can worsen the situation. It is difficult to pull out of a skid at city speeds; obviously it is even more difficult at highway speeds. If you are understeering--the car is continuing forward regardless of the steering angle--you have to slow down to regain steering control. The front tires have lost the traction needed to steer the car. Oversteering is a completely different situation--your rear end has lost traction and swung out in one direction or another. To pull out can require loss of speed and counter steering the counter steer, and in some cases, locking all four wheels will give the quickest end to the spinout. Highly experienced drivers can use throttle on RWD cars to assist in regaining control. Loss of traction, whether understeer or oversteer, happens quickly and you have to acquire the feel for detecting it (your butt is one indicator, feel of the steering is the other) and taking preventive action.
I know I offered very general information. You cannot read text and expect to be able to pull out of or feel the oncoming of a skid. Take a hands on car control course that covers everything from simple straight line braking to skids on a skid pad to implementing everything learned on a single, high speed course.
Hydroplaning is when your tires lose contact with the road surface due to them not being able to displace water quickly enough. A "wave" builds and lifts the tires off the road surface. Factors that can contribute to hydroplaning are too great of a speed, not having the proper tire pressure, poor tread design, and too little tread.
Chances are you did not hydroplane the entire time. Knowing when you have stopped hydroplaning and when you can react is a start, and knowing what to do in your reaction is the key. Hitting the brakes or not using controlled steering (rather, you jerk the wheel in one direction or another) can worsen the situation. It is difficult to pull out of a skid at city speeds; obviously it is even more difficult at highway speeds. If you are understeering--the car is continuing forward regardless of the steering angle--you have to slow down to regain steering control. The front tires have lost the traction needed to steer the car. Oversteering is a completely different situation--your rear end has lost traction and swung out in one direction or another. To pull out can require loss of speed and counter steering the counter steer, and in some cases, locking all four wheels will give the quickest end to the spinout. Highly experienced drivers can use throttle on RWD cars to assist in regaining control. Loss of traction, whether understeer or oversteer, happens quickly and you have to acquire the feel for detecting it (your butt is one indicator, feel of the steering is the other) and taking preventive action.
I know I offered very general information. You cannot read text and expect to be able to pull out of or feel the oncoming of a skid. Take a hands on car control course that covers everything from simple straight line braking to skids on a skid pad to implementing everything learned on a single, high speed course.
Moved on to better things...
- TW85
- SolaraGuy Driver
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:21 pm
