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I am well aware of the theory but in all my life of driving in all sorts of rain, I have never experienced what is known as hydroplaning. Not even on worn tires. I have 50,000 miles on my Michelins and nothing.
I am well aware of the theory but in all my life of driving in all sorts of rain, I have never experienced what is known as hydroplaning. Not even on worn tires. I have 50,000 miles on my Michelins and nothing.
Hydroplaning in a car requires a certain set of circumstances. You have to have a light vehicle, there has to be more than just dampness on the road there has to be water standing on it, it can be a few millimeters but just enough that it's actually standing on the pavement. And the less tread you have on the tire the more likely you are tired of playing
It only happens to me once I was driving at work vehicle that was a very small pickup truck. And I don't know patch in the road that was submerged under I imagine about 6 mm of water you can see a puddle that is about 30 ft long. And as I drove into it and went to steer the vehicle didn't turn. It was a real-wheel drive so this was an understeer. When the front wheels finally were getting traction I was facing completely the other way.
So after that point anytime I happen upon water standing on the road even if it's a few milliliters I am no longer going 70 miles an hour when I hit it.
but I don't imagine this set of circumstances being a common thing happening. Yes it can happen and if you go looking for the circumstances you can probably make it happen but I wouldn't concern myself with it unless you are about to drive through a large very shallow puddle into going 70 miles an hour on worn out tires in a light vehicle.
Yes. One instance the car decided to go straight while turning. You could feel the front tires lift up a bit and skate. The other time they went sideways while going straight hitting a deeper puddle. It also slows down when it happens due to the drag from the water. Both instances were in RWD cars where the rear was pushing the front so when the front lost traction, it kind of went wherever.
I've hydroplaned twice on pretty straight road. Both times it was in cars with extremely wide tires (295s and 305s) that were more than 1/2 way through their tread depth. No damage, just a better respect for wide worn tires.
When rain first falls on a road it can cause road oils to rise up and mix with the the rain thus causing some slick spots one could hydroplane on. Especially true where traffic comes to a stop as in cars sit there thus more chance of an oil spot. After it has been raining for sometime, the oils are washed off the road thus less chance of a hydroplane.
We were driving in eastern Oregon south on Hwy 97 about 25 years ago. We had a 1976 Subaru and we hit a heavy thunderstorm. I don't know how much water was on the road but we did a couple of 360's before straightening out. Pretty intense for a few seconds!
All depends on the amount of water the tire is rolling over, tire-tread depth, and vehicle speed. My 2005 Silverado truck is heavy enough, but I had had short instances of hydroplaning while driving in the rain around 60MPH. This has happened when driving through large enough puddles of water under both front tires. It's quite scary, even if it happens in straight-aways. Believe me when I tell you that the first thing one does when it happens is to instantly lift one's foot from the gas pedal.
There've been a couple of times in very heavy rain when I got this eerie sense that my truck wasn't fully "on" the road, but took foot off the gas and let it slow down. Nothing happened...never lost control.
Last edited by Parnassia; 03-18-2021 at 04:13 PM..
Sure. I let my tires get worn down in the summer and when it rains hard I have to slow down to 50 mph on the interstate sometimes.
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