HYDROPLANED!!!!!!!!!!!

ZX2 Dedicated Discussion ZX2 Discussion
1
8-) OK so this morning i was driving to college and i went to turn down this road to take a different way to the college and i slowed down shifted to third gear and started to turn down the road the car then lost control and started to go toward the edge of the road where a huge droppoff like area was :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o i turned the steering wheel back to the road i was on and shoved in first and slamed my foot into the gas pedal which luckily got the car to grab traction better and pulled the car back on the road i was on in the start of all this and then i decided to just go the route i usually go so luckily no damage to the car and im still here so overall im ok along with the car i just got the crap scared out of me! 8-) one question for yall does your zx2 hydroplane real easy or is it just me experiencing this occaisonally
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Any vehicle can hydroplane, but this mostly happens to people who have RWD. This doesn’t normally happen to FWD vehicles because as soon as you lose traction, the vehicle will slow down quickly until the tires make contact again.

I personally have hydroplaned on my way to Detroit. As soon as it happened I pulled the E-brake slightly until I made contact. This was all within 3 seconds.

RWD vehicles are more likely to hydroplane because if the front lifts up, the driving wheels still are making contact with the road and will keep the speed up and continue to hydroplane.

3

Glad you’re okay dude. I’ve never hydroplaned, but at least you got out of it.

So to get out of it, you drop it down a couple gears to spin them free of the water? That’s good to know…

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I thinks its more of speed issue. drop the gear to lower your speed by letting the engine brake you till you get traction.

5

Isn’t the whole problem with hydroplaning is that you can’t slow down? Since the car isn’t making contact with the pavement, dropping a gear isn’t going to really do anything, right?

I don’t know… LoL But if I ever do hp, I’ll drop it down a cog or two.

6

Ever notice how if you downshift too far, 3rd to 1st for example, the car lurches forward? thats kind of what im referring to.

7

Aaaah. Yes. That way the front dips down, and tires make sweet love to the concrete?

8

Hydroplaning is pretty scary stuff… i’ve done it before on my ecsta supra 712 tires before, it was not fun. Thankfully I gained traction again.

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Ever notice how if you downshift too far, 3rd to 1st for example, the car lurches forward? thats kind of what im referring to.

But if you are hydroplaning, your front wheels aren’t touching the pavement. So the car won’t lurch forward or slow down if using the front wheels. The only contact you have with the ground are the rear wheels.

10

I would assume (yeah yeah… ass, u, me… I get it) The physics of the car going into a lower gear would cause the car to lurch forward thus transfering wieght to the front wheels, regardless of whether the front was floating. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the internal forces from the car would overpower the external forces of the water… like I said… I could be wrong.

11

Living in Oregon for 27+ years and currently in BC I hydroplane plenty. In my experience with a FWD car its only really dangerous around corners or if your using summer/track tires instead of all season’ tires. In 3rd or fourth gear if you loose traction in a strait road you generally just get to watch the speedometer jump until you get traction or you let off of the gas.

If you turn the wheels while you lack traction when you get traction back your going to whip the car around out of control.

In some newer more computerized FWD vehicles the cruise control systems are set up to detect the loss of traction from hydroplaning or ice and let off on the gas pedal to prevent a loss of control when traction is restored.