Scary moment!

C

ClareS

Member
 Hampshire
I was driving along the A31 last night in the torrential rain only to find myself aquaplaning towards the kerb in my brand new zed. Scary stuff - it felt like an eternity until I finally found a bit of dry road. There was a car in front that managed to crash onto the central reservation and another one in the verge so I counted myself lucky that I managed to hold it. I don't think my heart has recovered yet however!

I had visions of me and a very broken car going to the BMW garage and getting a big repair bill and retreating shamefaced that I hadn't even made it to 2 weeks without a prang!
 
Eeek, I've been very careful in the rain over the last 36 hours, as I know my front tyres are not great with only 2-3mm... they would be fine for any other time, but not in winter with lots of standing water that we get.

Are they tyres good, was it just a LOAD of water you hit?

I'm also tempted to now get some of those Nightbreaker bulbs for my Z, and adjust the headlights a bit... I don't have xenon, but I find the full beam fine, it's the low beam however that are naff mainly because they point so low... hopefully as others have found I'll get more range and intensity by optimising the setup and then in the wet you can spot those patches of standing water that bit sooner :)

Dave
 
I have xenon headlights & brand new tyres, although they aren't exactly great for wet conditions. I think it would've happened in any car except perhaps a big heavy 4x4 as it was just a serious amount of water, possibly a few inches. That section of the road was closed by this morning due to being uinder a foot of water! I don't think I could have dealt with it a lot differently to be honest.
 
ClareS said:
I have xenon headlights & brand new tyres, although they aren't exactly great for wet conditions. I think it would've happened in any car except perhaps a big heavy 4x4 as it was just a serious amount of water, possibly a few inches. That section of the road was closed by this morning due to being uinder a foot of water! I don't think I could have dealt with it a lot differently to be honest.
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Eeek, sounds more like a flood rather than standing water :)

I've read a few posts where Z4 owners have managed to be saved in such circumstances where other cars have not... seems to be a good solid stable car!

Dave
 
Mr Whippy said:
I'm also tempted to now get some of those Nightbreaker bulbs for my Z, and adjust the headlights a bit... I don't have xenon, but I find the full beam fine, it's the low beam however that are naff mainly because they point so low...
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Get the Philips Xtreme Power +80% bulbs - they help a bit, but I found the main difference was adjusting the lamp angle upwards by 1.5 turns on the white adjuster on the headlamp. I had them up 2.5 turns but a few folk flashed me, so i think that was too high and I was dazzling them at that height...
 
Yep, as per others posts on here, 1 > 1.5 turns seems the best amount.

I think there are some 90% bulbs out there now, not sure if that is what the Nightbreakers are... also after some new wipers too so currently looking up which are best to get there...

Dave
 
These cars are just plain hopeless in snowy conditions. With the stiff suspension, fat tyres and rwd they really do struggle

I pulled away at a junction last night going up a slight incline and was struggling to keep it moving, jsut couldnt get any traction. I was in the highest gear possible with the revs barely ticking over. :roll:
 
Glad you are OK,

I Was driving last night about 11pm down a country road, not going that fast luckily, when I nearly drove into a flood, real heart stopping moment, as I did not see it to the last moment, then I had the pleasure of backing up on a country lane in the dark and p*****g rain, till I could find somewhere to turn around.
 
Zed_Steve said:
These cars are just plain hopeless in snowy conditions. With the stiff suspension, fat tyres and rwd they really do struggle

I pulled away at a junction last night going up a slight incline and was struggling to keep it moving, jsut couldnt get any traction. I was in the highest gear possible with the revs barely ticking over. :roll:
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Suspension and RWD is not the problem, the tyres are. I've changed to 225 snow tyres, which goes a long way in helping. Unfortunately I opted for some crappy Pirelli winter tyres (Nordic, not continental) which are no match compared to the best in class Contis or Nokian.

At the end of the day the only thing that helps is to adjust the speed to match the traction and visibility. Of course, oversteering is a potential bonus! :)
 
Point taken regards winter tyres improving grip, might take a look at some.

But relatively rwd cars dont perform aswell as fwd cars in adverse conditions, i was left standing by a Pug 106 when travelling home last night.
I guess also much of it is due to the lack of weight at the back to press the car down. Shame the boot isnt big enough to hold a 3'/2' slab! :lol:
 
The weight is distributed 50/50 between rear and front of your Zed, which is perfect, at least for dry tarmac. The distribution is close to 50/50 for modern FWD as well, although some are a bit nose heavy. The difference is BIG on old cars, think large Merc's and Volvos from the 1970's and 1980s.

As a matter of fact (a bit nerdy I know!) accelleration pushes the point of gravity backwards, to the rear wheels. This gives you better grip on the rear wheels. The only drawback is that it requires you to actually accellerate :S This is why you may see some FWD cars actually reverse up a slippery hill. A folding shovel and a bag of sand/gravel in the trunk should help - the sand can be used both to add weight on the rear wheels and to sprinkle on the road.

Generally I'm more concerned about stopping distance than accelleration on snow :!:
 
Yes the weight distibution is fine in dry conditions, where rwd cars do excel. But there needs to be more bias to the rear when its slippery.
Might pop to the local builders yard and buy a couple of bags of sand to stick in the boot. :D

And couldnt agree with you more regards allowing plenty of distance to stop in the snow, i think this is where many people in the UK come unstuck! Pardon the pun :lol:
 
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