Hydroplaning...
 

OK, forget about drunk drivers, inexperienced drivers, small roads, etc..The single scariest thing for me in the world, is hydroplaning and killing myself..I have always avoided the things at ALL costs, even if it meant going into oncoming traffic...

So now I have this 50,000 SAV and Im still scared sh*#less..Is there anything on the X5 that will protect me once Im hydroplaning? I want to try it just for the hell of it, but like I said, i dont have the balls yet...

BTW, my wife says she barrels right through them, but not with me in the car... :rofl:

What "things " are you talking about? Puddles? If your car is not making contact with the pavement, there's nothing BMW can do for you.....oh wait they do...it's called an accelerator and brake. Slow down through a puddle that you have no idea how deep it is.

Yes! As you are hydroplanning, pull up your computer selection on your NAV unit. Scroll through all options until the last one. Press the select button for 5 seconds. Once that happens, you discover that I am full of shit and that there is nothing. But the good news is that you have finished hydroplaning and are either f***ed or begining to have more confidance in "X-Drive". Besides, doing this will prevent you from overreacting an yanking the sterring wheel.:bustingup That too bothers me, especially since I believe Europe has more 18-wheeler traffic that makes troffs out of the lanes which allow water to collect therefore hydroplaning increases.

Until you get hit by one. I am much less concerned about puddles now than before I got slammed by a drunk.

This made me spit coffee out my nose! God that hurts! :rofl:

But it's funny that you mention this cause i was comming home last night from a friends house around 1 in the morning it was raining really hard all night and they just repaved the street i was driving on. There was about a foot of water that had collected on the street but i hadnt noticed and drove right into it. I thought i was f****d cause i was going right for the sidewalk but i got lucky and just missed it didnt really feel the car's computer doing anything but i'm sure it was there helping me! If i was driving a civic i would be dead!

I just gotta to make this point. Hydroplaning is just “Hydrodynamic Lubrication” between the tire and pavement. This same principal is how oil lubricates most of the vehicle internals. Good for the internals, bad for the external tire/road interface.

Why don't u just get a different set of tires which has channels to reduce hydroplaning?

Sure it might reduce cornering performance but that's the trade off if your scared of the puddles.

Maybe you outta take a bus or walk. :dunno:

Wow. How bad was it?

HAHAHA!!Anyway, You guys are all crazy...I think Ill should just keep being scared of puddles, and that should be enough to keep my a$$ from killing myself....I just didnt know if it mattered if I went through a puddle with a BMW X5, or any other vehicle for that matter...Obviously, it FEELS more stable, but it only takes on "slip" of the wheel for things to take a different "turn"....

This bad...:(

Correct me if I am wrong but hydroplan happened between road surface and the bottom surface of you car and the speed of travel, right? It won't happen if you going slow thru a foot deep of water. Given the X5 has a higher under carriage, I think it will seldom happen. And if does, the onboard system will try to do something whenever the tire(s) make contact to the road surface. I once had a TR7 and I experienced hydro thru rain & snow quite a few times. Don't worry too much on it, just take it easy when go thru a deep puddle. You are drining 1 fine machine there.

Holy Sh&%!! Everyone got out OK?

Alive, yes, thank God. Significant residual injuries for the drunk--no; for me, yes. However, I am thankful not to have died that morning. Seatbelts, airbags, and German engineering. I will never buy a car that isn't a BMW, MB or Volvo, and this is why.

I Believe hydroplaning is when you're tires are literally floating on top of the water... In order for this to happen, depending on the type of car you have and tires, you have to be going a somewhat high speed. If you do, in fact reach the point of "hydroplaning," your tires will slip and lose traction instantly. However, if you slow back down, you should regain traction. For example, in an old civic I drove a long time ago in the rain, I was travelling at about 60mph and at one point as I kept accelerating, the rpms just flew up, as if I was in neutral because I was at the point where the tires were not touching the road anymore, but floating on top.

In newer cars with newer tire techonology, if it much more difficult to hydroplane. I have driven in pouring rain at speeds in excess of 70-80mph, with no tractions problems or hydroplaning whatsoever. If I had bald tires, that might be a different story.

Hitting those big puddles is something else altogether. If they are deep, it will instantly slow your car down, possible making it turn and slide unintentionally.

:wow: Glad you got out ok!

That looks like a CLK320, right?

Yes, 1997. Followed by a 2002 CLK 430, followed by the X5 :)