Date:         Sun, 26 May 1996 14:35:29 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         cmoran@cswnet.com (Colin A Moran)
Subject:      Re: losing traction/planing

>>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