eec564 Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Tire design/size and most importantly speed will make you hydroplane. I've managed to hydroplane my rear tires only once. This was in a 4500 lb Mercedes that stock had a 52/48 weight distribution, but the way I had it loaded it was exceptionally close to 50/50. 205/70R14 tires, good Pirelli P400 tires in front, cheap walmart crap in the back. I had no choice with the cheap tires, as I'd gotten two flats out in nowhere, approaching the middle, while driving cross country. They were the only ones with anything in my size. It was a weird feeling to have the rear end start to slide out, but the front stay solid as a rock, a little braking and my drivewheels settled down, and things were good. Two days later I got two more P400s and never looked back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FricFrac Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 No one has really mentioned getting a good water tread tire. Yes a narrower tire of the same tread will improve traction but the biggest effect will be a tread designed specifically for getting water away from the center of your contact patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Yes a narrower tire of the same tread will improve traction More then you might think. Without adequate downward force, the design would start to fail. I might add this will be specific to applied car due to lift at higher speeds, or more downward pressure at higher speeds. There would be a lot of math in order to calculate effects on just one car with tons of variables, i.e., headwinds, tailwinds, amount of water to be moved, areo of car, dynamics of chosen tire, up hill, flat, down hill ect....ect... Overall one might stat that a narrower tire will give better results, to a point. I dought a bike tire will give good results, however, swamp racers have very narrow tires.. Those things are sooo cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughdogz Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Hydroplaning gets really bad at times here in soggy Oregon. Especially on the local freeways. There can be ruts in the road that get filled with inches of rain. It helps a bit if you drive off-center of the ruts. Stupid people who drive with studded tires for ~6 months in a row cause it, not heavy vehicles These have been really good wet weather tires for me: http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/proxes-tpt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 studded tires for ~6 months in a row cause it, not heavy vehicles This debate has been going on up here for a looong time. I will say this, I talked to a road engineer that was out doing road density tests on a new road. He said that the ruts and increased road ware was from the increased big rig traffic of an unexpected amount of 35%. I'm not saying that it is the final word on the problem. Also, out in the evening, out of the city, you can see duel tracks, just that the inside tracks are deeper. Last thing, they keep tiring to tell us that non studs are just as good, so the public does not need them, however, the cops always run them, guess they have not gotten the memo;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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