Hydroplaning and rear traction on P215/75/R14 or similar wheels

I don't have much time before heading out for work, so I'll make this brief:

Far as I know, our cars are reasonably light in the back, and there have been cases before of first-gen Mustangs hydroplaning out of control.

Luxstang made reference to this (an "icy road" feeling) when driving in the wet on original Magnum 500's (with Cooper tires, if I am not mistaken), and, of course, forum member BigBlue is presently dealing with what is now a smashed-up '71 coupe due to hydroplaning at all of 40-45 mph.

Has anyone here developed a strategy for this? Add weight to the back, perhaps? Baffled fuel tank to prevent sloshing? Anything?

-Kurt

Don't drive in the rain. Baffled tank would help a little what about caltracs their physics actually force your tyres down onto the road surface.

When I was 16 - 18

I drove one all winter long in the snow, rain whatever was out there

Didn't big blue say he had bald tires ?

Wait, then I had mine as a kid I had bald tires - cop told me I needed to replace my "baloney skins" so I failed inspection at the high school :angel:

I have driven a wide variety of cars, including 1964 1/2 through 1971 Mustangs, pickups (some very light in the rear), and many miles in jeeps (M-151s). The best ways I have found to prevent hydroplaning are tires with a tread design that allows the water to escape, instead of being trapped by some cool-looking design, adequate tread depth, slow down, try to keep the vehicle straight so that the front tires splash some of the water out of the way of the back tires, follow the path of other vehicles, especially trucks, that have splashed some of the water out of the way, if the road is rutted by truck traffic do not drive in the ruts, and pay attention to what direction the road is supered (crowned) and drive as close the the high side as possible as the water gets deeper on the lower side.

Move the battery to the trunk..Buy the best tires you can afford

I believe that is only a matter of tires.

I have the A/B comparison. With the 15 inch Cooper Cobras the car feels like driving on ice, the exact same car with modern 18 inch Toyo proxess tires drives like it's on railroad tracks even in the worst rain. No added weight in the back, no tweaked suspension, no nothing. I even have a hard time to get the tires to spin in the rain, even when I want to. The traction of the modern tires is so good that I can floor it on a wet road from complete standstill on a wet road and depending on the surface of the tarmac underneath the car launches without spinning the rears.

It's a matter of "bolt on suicide" or not.

Oh, and for reference: my comparison with driving on ice is well founded. I live in a climate that has 6 months of winter and ice and snow and temperatures below freezing are normal during that time, so I'm used to icy roads.

I agree with the importance of good tires. I had a 89 Ranger pickup and hydroplaned twice (once driving about 70 on an interstate highway) and then bought a new set of Goodyear tires. I think they were called "aquatreads".

The tires made a HUGE difference since they were designed to channel the water away, allowing a more secure contact patch with the pavement.

Ray

I will confirm,,, 15" MAG 500s Cooper Tires, Like driving on ICE with a light rain. i think i have 235s all around,, can't remember.

any water and the rear comes right out..

Once i was climbing a steep incline going about 25mph, hit a wet leaf patch, sucker fish tailed right out and i had a hell of a time recovering and not hitting the Guard rail.

makes me rethink the cooper tires choice, on Dry the tires have good grip on wet all over the place.

I remember, years ago, when I had the Coopers on for regular use, before I got the 18 inch rims. I was standing at a traffic light in the rain and the road was a slight slope. The light turned green and I got on the throttle "normally" and I could hear the engine rev but the car stood still. I thought it had maybe slipped out of gear but then I saw that the speedo was reacting. Long story short, the rear wheels were spinning although I had not accelerated hard. It took me three attempts with the FMX in second gear to get out of there.

oh geez i just googled cooper tires and slippery roads and got a ton of hits and complaints.

Just got home; will respond to everyone in a bit, but wished to chime in here before I forget:

Didn't big blue say he had bald tires ?

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I saw his tires in person. Police-issue tires for a P71 Crown Vic. I don't remember the manufacturer, but I do remember that they were by no means bald. They were worn, but definitely had more tread than you would expect to cause hydroplaning.

-Kurt

oh geez i just googled cooper tires and slippery roads and got a ton of hits and complaints.

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Would that be because coopers claim to fame is high mileage tires. High mileage would equal hard tires in my mind.


Interestingly I have found myself unintentionally side ways on the road more often in a diesel land cruiser than any other car I have had. Big 4by tyres don't like tropical rain on hard surfaces it seems.

Great. My car had cooper tires on it when it spun out and hit a concrete retaining wall. I am still repairing my car.

I currently have BF Goodrich Radial T/As.

Three things will really help with hydroplaning (or ice). A full tank of gas, good (meaning quality!) shocks and the right tires. I lost my 73 due to poor tire choice. The excuse that 'it's all I can afford' does you no good with a totaled car. I'd rather buy used really good tires than new crappy tires.

If you do not wish to risk your car, stay the hell away from 'classic' hotrod look raised white letter tires. I really don't care what brand, they suck. Old tread designs and technology. (Besides, I never cared for the RWL look anyway. Even made a shop remount a set because they ignored my instructions for blackwall out. They assumed I was mistaken.)

Even the 'high performance' brands are questionable. I had 195/65/14 Pirellis on my Opel (2100lbs, 110hp, 3.44 rear, very similar tail happy dynamics to the old Mustangs). Those tires (bought new) would slide on dry pavement. Replaced them with 185/70/13 Kumhos (near bottom of the line) and the car stuck better in the wet than the Pirellis did in the dry.

My 70 Mustang (302) had Eagle GT+4 tires. Those were good tires, even in the snow. Had a pair on my 74 Opel Manta and they an excellent match. So of course, Goodyear quit making them. Tried some BF Goodrich T/As on the Manta. It's amazing how easily 75 hp will spin those tires. Firehawk SSs were marginally better.

I run almost exclusively Kumhos. Ecsta ASX's on my RX7 and the Focus ZX3. For the price (about $100 each) they out performed tires twice their price. I don't change to winter tires, I only buy M+S rated all season. The Opel has Kumho Solus (not quite as good as they used to be since the tire dumping scandal) and the biggest surprise is the Kumho Venture light ruck tires on the Safari van. The van doesn't want to slide, even when empty.

The only downside to the Kumhos is that I never get the rated mileage out of them. Usually only about half. I'm okay with that because I do not get nervous at the first sign of rain.

Buying tires for looks or nostalgia has the potential to kill...you or the car. So you save a few bucks every few years and either hide when it rains or take your chances when driving in traffic where even a pickup can stop in less distance than you.

I use Tireracks survey, tire and review data to decide what tires to get and it has yet to fail me.

I saw his tires in person. Police-issue tires for a P71 Crown Vic. I don't remember the manufacturer, but I do remember that they were by no means bald. They were worn, but definitely had more tread than you would expect to cause hydroplaning.

-Kurt

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If they were Goodyear RS/As... they are universally known for not having wet traction. Agency's that have any sort of a budget swap them out shortly after getting a rig with them.

Here is a link to a Tirerack survey for 225/55/16 to give an idea as to to how there survey system works. I used that size because it produced a survey with a decent number of tires to show how it all works. Also, it's a size that a person might consider on 16" wheel on a Mustang, not a bunch of tires that have no relevance.

My experience is that if you do not have all green blocks for the tire you are considering, you will not like it. A yellow block (meaning: good)...is not good. Plus you can click on the tire types and get specific reviews by customers. Be careful, tho, as a line of tires may be terrible on RWD and great on FWD, or vice versa. So look for cars that are similar in weight and setup.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=HPAS

Goodyear RSAs are 14th...