

| Subject: | Re: losing traction/planing |
| Date: | Sun, 26 May 1996 14:35:29 -0500 |
>>ObVW: Has anyone ever done any hydroplaning in a bus? Somehow I'm >>glad I've never had that experience. A bit of purposeful fishtailing >>on wet pavement certainly, but no hydroplaning. Knock on wood. > >Yup, lots, thanks to heavy trucks pressing the highways down into water >filled dips/ruts. In a bus the first indication is that the steering gets >very light, try to resist the temptation to turn the wheel to see what's >wrong =:O. Then the speedo drops to zero, once the left tire has stopped >rotating and is just waterskiiing. If both wheels are waterborne you have >no control, sidewinds and transports are deadly. Let off the gas peddle, >the wheels will sink and start to spin again. Apply more gas and lift them >to check out what just happened :). Nasty things happen when you reach the >end of a water filled rut with the wheels planing. The sudden grab of >pavement on the stationary tires really yanks on the steering wheel, be >ready for it if one side hits dry land before the other. I've planed a '71 >Wesy often in the above conditions, never a vanagon. I have planed a >vanagon in slushy snow while passing, got sideways in that one. Never again. Tim > > Thats what I like about my syncro, it is almost impossable to hydroplane. Although any vehicle will hydroplane given the right conditions. ie bald tires, large amounts of water, high speeds. Colin A Moran If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull sh*t. '86 Syncro GL
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