Re: Hydroplaning

[four.rings@MCIONE.com]

Thanks, Gary for sharing this magazine excerpt with us.

This paragraph proves that one has to be very careful before printing
something for the wide public consumption, coz a lot of less
knowledgeable folk might take it for a fact and lose their lives over it


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
[...] from a letter to the editor of USAA magazine (United
Services Automobile Association), latest issue:

"Hydroplaning starts when two conditions are met: [...] and the water
depth is greater than the tread depth of the tire.  The design of the
tread or the profile of the tire has little or nothing to do with
resisting hydroplaning.[...]"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'd like to invite the fellow who wrote this piece of wisdom for the
said magazine to storm the same deep puddle at the same speed on the
tires with the same depth of tread.

If he thinks the tread design is irrelevant, I'd have him drive on the
H-rated ones with the itsy-bitsy narrow cross-hatched all-season
grooves.

Me, I'll take my Z-rated SP8000 with those huge, 10mm wide
_circumferential_ and diagonal (directional too) grooves designed
_specifically_ for the high speed water evacuation.

The one who gets to live through the test writes the story for the
magazine.

:-)
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Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ -- 18psi (TAP)
'98 A4TQ -- nothing to declare
Philadelphia, PA
USA
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/8949/homepage.html
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