Hydroplaning
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,007
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From: Washington, PA
Hydroplaning
We had a bad rainstorm this morning, and I was driving in it. My car has a problem in the rain. It wants to hydroplane all over the place over 35mph. I have new tires so that's not it.its an 87 NA, stock suspension. Any suspension components that could cause this?
Hydroplaning is simply a matter of weight and tread design.
Not much you can do about the weight, so that leaves tires.
What tires do you have?
From Turbonut's link, for those too lazy to click...(there's a lot of good info there, this is just a small point)
It's all about the weight and the tires, as clokker said. You may have new tires, but if they're drag radials, they're not much for wet-weather driving.
The speed at which a tire hydroplanes is a function of water depth, vehicle speed, vehicle weight, tire width, tread depth and tread design. It depends on how much water has to be removed, how much weight is pressing down on the tires and how efficient the tread design is at evacuating water. While deeper water, higher speeds, lighter vehicles, wider tires, less tread depth and less efficient tread designs will cause tires to hydroplane at lower speeds; all tires will be forced to hydroplane at some speed.
Misalignment could contribute, too. If the car is fighting itself to simply go straight down the road (like if any of your tires are too far out of parallel with the one next to it) then you're using up available friction in those tires that you desperately need in slick conditions.
Make sure the tires were Mounted in the Correct Direction. Only takes ONE wrong tire and it will through everything off. If its Spinning in the Wrong Direction then IT will not Push the water away
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,007
Likes: 1
From: Washington, PA
Ill throw out the brand of tires when I get a chance to look. Its done this multiple times with multiple brands of tires, brand new. Just the rears too. Its like when you hit a patch of ice,loses traction and pulls to one side, then comes right back.
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I doubt an lsd would cause too much problems, unless it was locked up all the time.. even driving with a welded diff in the rain wasn't that bad in my friends s13, just can't take jerky turns like any other diff.
And about the tire being flipped the wrong way(most tires anyways), if the tire is backwards it will do the opposite of what is designed.. which would be directing water right into the path of the wheel, instead of displacing it.
And about the tire being flipped the wrong way(most tires anyways), if the tire is backwards it will do the opposite of what is designed.. which would be directing water right into the path of the wheel, instead of displacing it.
Full Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 206
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From: columbus
I have Summer Tires on the back of my car and the hydroplane real bad but if I throw on my touring all season tires they work great..Also I have rsr racing springs with tokico shocks so most deffiently the tires
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