Spun Out My R33, A huge leason learnt.

[HECKTIC4DOOR]

have you done anything to the suspension, if the car has coil-overs and they are not set up right it will step out every chance it can get

[Slide]

  lbfalcon said:

Yep 33's dont like rain without huge tyres. Snow mode in my 33 does almost nothing

snow mode = more stall = more slide

[Keegs]

  Skyrine-Dave said:

I agree, yet at the same time disagree with getting out on the road to practice/get a feel for the car and what will happen.

I have done it before and you do get a bit of a better understanding for whats going to happen or at what point will things start to get hairy. Tho in todays times u gotta be careful with all this hoon bullshit.

aquaplane: more rubber = greater chance of it happening. You need to go over puddles not just wet roads... I cringe when i see water running across teh road! (N)

as for learning... i learnt that 3rd gear, wet roads = 180km/h wheelspeed when wheelspinning... and it takes a lil bit of time for it to slow down too

completely irrelevant to this topic but how the hell do you get 180kmh showing in 3rd when the gear only goes to around 140? Ive reved it out in 3rd in the wet but ive never wrapped it off the speedo...(like I said, irrelevant question but hey its 4am what do you expect?)

[dangerous_daveo]

My mates car hits 190kmh in 3rd... Depends on the car dude, and the box/diff/wheels etc that are on it.

[Jordan]

bump for the % and effeciency of tyre tread, as opposed to the actual width of the rubber.

I only have 235's at the back, and the car is happy going thru puddles at any speed when the tread is new and deep. Because of the camber at the back my insides wear much faster, and when the inside half of the rear tread gets past the minimum tread depth as indicated by the markers, then it aquaplanes and squirms and jiggles like crazy over ANY standing water, even driving over a light stream of sidewash (water flowing across the road due to surface camber etc) makes the car jerk disturbingly to the left and right at the rear as the wheels at the back become unsettled at anything approaching 90kph over this water.

My brother tells me that its the HICAS going crazy because its wet, but I slap him on the head and point out that as each wheel at the back lifts up (They hardly ever both lift at the same time) the toe-in on each side will push the car towards the aquaplaning side, then vice versa as the water is traversed.

At freeway speeds its enough to make the car lurch suddenly and shoot half into the next lane over and is as scary as heck.

I have had my R33 for over 7 years and this is FACT, dont argue.

Any tyre will plane if you hit enough water at a speed that wont let the water flow outwards and away from the tyre. If you mount directional wet tyres the wrong way around you are actually channeling the water into the center of the tread where it will bottleneck and start to lift the tyre, something you could deftinatly do without.

Similarly, If your tread has a poor footprint (sides worn like mine) then the tyre becomes less and less effective as the flow patterns stop working properly.

Think physics people!

[Mud]

It doesn't matter what car, how fast, how wide your tyres are.

Shit happens.

[Charly]

  krawler said:

Nein, although wide tires are a factor in deciding their tendency to aqua plane, even more of a concern is tread pattern. If the tread pattern is good at shedding water, you will not aqua plane as easily as a car with poor wet weather tread pattern - regardless of width.

Yep I missed that one. and you're absoultley right.

culodofsomke: I think you'll find there is a disclaimer in my signature that nothing I say should be taken seriously.

But really, what's not to understand? It's all there in plain english.

[Lazy-Bastard]

  Topkart R33 said:

Try racing in the rain with slick tyres!!! Rain tyres not much better in the kart but helps turn in....best driving lessons I ever got is from racing in the wet.

Agree totally about karting in the wet teaching you car control, but you can't really apply the same principles on the road. In the rain in a kart you drive OFF the racing line (around the outside of the track where there is less oil etc.). I don't think the authorities would look very kindly on you driving on the footpath just because it was raining

[SirSkyline]

You guys have to be kidding wet weather is the best time to drive because it separates the men from the boys and when you aquaplane that just brings more fun into it

[Silver'sR33]

  krawler said:

Nein, although wide tires are a factor in deciding their tendency to aqua plane, even more of a concern is tread pattern. If the tread pattern is good at shedding water, you will not aqua plane as easily as a car with poor wet weather tread pattern - regardless of width.

My van aqua planes with 195's, my VL aqua planes with 225's... Erins car doenst aqua plane on 255's... On identical sections of road at identical speeds (or more, the bloody hoon she is)

It's true that wider tyres would be more conducive to aquaplaning but like Krawler said, tread pattern and especially TYRE WEAR are the biggest factors by far.

I totalled a car aquaplaning around a corner on quite narrow tyres not long after I got my license, the problem was the tyres were almost bald.

That was twelve years ago, since then I never drive on bald tyres and I've never aquaplaned again.

[WiZardOz]

  SirSkyline said:

You guys have to be kidding wet weather is the best time to drive because it separates the men from the boys and when you aquaplane that just brings more fun into it

Sounds like the attitude I used to have when I was a man (and much younger and thought I knew it all)

I guess now I'm just one of the boys (older and wiser ? ).. as I've learnt that it doesn't really matter how good you can drive or think you can drive .. hit a big enough sheet of water and start aquaplaning and ur just there for the ride, so hang on. I guess some ppl will just have to learn the hard way tho

I aquaplaned on the western freeway (outbound at the moggil rd overpass) many years ago (about 2 months later they decided they better fix the road) it didn't end well, about a 50k insurance bill. This happened when travelling at the speed limit so I have learnt that it's a real danger without adding excess speed to the equation.

Any of you men out there that wanna experience the fun of aquaplaning should find urself a suicidal mate .. jump in the passenger seat and get him to drive at 90km/h at a brick wall. That helpless feeling you will get as your about to hit the wall and you have no control over the outcome, that's the feeling of aquaplaning

keep it sensible .. respect the weather

[Nexus9]

[strutto]

Well said GAZ**

[krawler]

  WiZardOz said:

I guess now I'm just one of the boys (older and wiser ? ).. as I've learnt that it doesn't really matter how good you can drive or think you can drive .. hit a big enough sheet of water and start aquaplaning and ur just there for the ride, so hang on. I guess some ppl will just have to learn the hard way tho

I both agree and disagree with you on that

I agree that aqua planing can happen very quickly and depending on the volume of water, it can be basically uncontrollable until your tires clear enough water to gain grip.

I disagree that it doesnt matter how good you can drive etc. Because my van is so bloody terrible at aqua planing, I've started taking a much greater interest in the condition of the road ahead when its raining. Its quite easy to spot potential aqua plane points, although not always easy to avoid them The big ones are flowing water (accross the road due to camber/hills etc) and the "train track" effect left by heavy trucks on the road filled with water, more so than simply puddles - at least in my experience? By driving outside of the "train tracks" you can quite easily avoid aqua planing in that situation, although flowing water tends to be another issue all together. I've found the best option (in the van anyway) is to back off the accelerator as soon as you see the water coming and coast through it. Dont brake, dont turn anymore than you absolutely have to, etc. Dunno if this is the "correct" way to deal with it, but thats what I've found works the best in my HMAS Work Van (ahoy captain, set sail for the guard rail! Arr me hearties)

The other thing I reckon is that wet weather definately seperates the "good" drivers from the bad! I give massive props to people who can actually drive in the wet, which is very few. The thing that makes me cranky as buggery is when people slow down on roads like the M1 (eg: a damn good road) to 90kph or less, and then tailgate - thus totally negating the positive effects of slowing down! Whats the point of slowing down to help compensate for the wet roads in your stopping distance, if you are gonna totally fsck it by tailgating? On the flipside, people who speed through 90kph traffic doing 110kph+ is also dangerous, as the constant chopping and changing of lanes simply increases your chances of hitting a car thats less visible cause of road spray etc.

Just relax in the rain, drop your speed to suit the conditions (although lets face it, you could easily do 110kph on the M1 even in a blizzard its such a good road, pity brisbane drivers are so arse), leave a good 2 second following gap and go with the flow! RACQ had an article a while back that "going against the flow" (ie: going slow when others are fast, going fast when others are slow) was far more dangerous than "speeding" (ie: going faster than the little black number in the red circle) and I agree with that 100%! Theres no point being an amature policeman and sitting in the right hand lane at 80kph in the rain because you feel thats the fastest speed people should be doing....

Ok I stop ranting now

[DOU33]

lol we live in a cointry controlled by drought and we are all talking bout wet weather driving.

i mean serious fellas how often does it rain in brisbane like 3 or 4 weeks out of the year

[DOU33]

like we not in new zealand here

[krawler]

A trip to Yeronga and you'd swear you were though. Moaris(sp?) everywhere. Playing guitar, drinking beer, punching their wives - as is my understanding, based solely on "Once Were Warriors"

[Gerardrh34]

  culodofsomke said:

like we not in new zealand here

hahahah come on... NZ's weather isn't that bad!!!! The sun shines every now and then and when it does it's the shit :wassup:

[dangerous_daveo]

Hey you know what I just thought...

Give big big gaps in the wet... IE 4-6sec gap at least. Dont sit next to other cars, or in their blind spots, and you shouldnt have a problem unless you do start to plane.

Now if everyone applied these principals in the dry as well! ahhh wouldnt the world be a much happier place.

[Del Sol]

  krawler said:

Theres no point being an amature policeman and sitting in the right hand lane at 80kph in the rain because you feel thats the fastest speed people should be doing....

"Driving in the right lane on a multi-lane road with a signposted speed limit more than 80km/hr (without an excuse)" 2 Points and $45

Pitty the cops NEVER inforce this rule. Whats the point of even having the rule if nobody inforces it