I was wondering if ride height has anything to do with increasing the risk of driving over wet roads. by increasing the risk i mean of loosing control, hydro planing, ect. my cars dropped about 2.5" and when i was on my way home last night i noticed that when i ran over shallow puddles my car wouldnt be able to just roll through the puddles smoothly. my steering wheel would shake and my car would slow down a little bit every time i ran through a patch of water in the road.

now my question is, does being low cause this to happen? and does tire size have anything to do with this? (195/50/15) Sorry for the long post though . TIA!

 

i think it has someting to do with the springs being slightly stiffer than stock.

maybe your dampers as well?

 

i dunno, but check ur tread...

the less tread you have, the harder it is for the tire to remove the water....

The car slowing down is normal....cause when i roll over puddles....big puddles... (stock ride height, all season tires) car slows down, as the water is kicked up... also i let off the gas a lil.. so it slows down a lil more...

i think, that the reduction in speed is due to the tire actually dipping into the water, and moving it out of it's path...

hydro planing is when the car moves fast enough over the water that it actually glides above it... so i don't think you would feel any kind of sudden reduction in speed if ur hydroplaning..

 

What tires do you have?

 

thanks for the replies..i have brand new dunlop direzzas

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maui Built &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for the replies..i have brand new dunlop direzzas</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've had the Direzza DZ101's before and they weren't that spectacular in the rain. Puddles are generally gonna be some what of a problem with most all tires because that's where hydroplaning goes into effect. Depending on the speed you're going.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...DZ101

 

i see, so raising the car up a little more pretty much wouldnt help anything..good to know this before i wasted time doing this hahah thanks!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maui Built &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i see, so raising the car up a little more pretty much wouldnt help anything..good to know this before i wasted time doing this hahah thanks!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah...ride height has nothing to do...unless of course...the puddle is really deep...like above the sideskirts deep...but if that's the case...you shouldn't even try to traverse the body of water.

 

Tire design and and amount of tread left is everything.

 

i got bfgoodrich gforce kdw nt, and they work awesome till about 4/32 tread left. in rain afterwards for any tire.. your wet traction will decrease significantly than new...be safe replace at the wear bars!

 

I highly doubt that your car is low enough to be affected by puddles on the road.