Drove through a puddle & steering went heavy?

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iwantone

iwantone

Active Member
Posts
911
Location
North Ayrshire
As title; it's as if the car conked out (it didn't) & the power steering stopped working. It only lasted a few seconds or so. Should I be worried?:confused:
 
If you hit it at a fair lick..yes..lol..belts all slip when wet so going at sensible slow speed and avoiding water being projectile accelerated up into the engine will reduce risk of this happening...
 
Was doing about 20/25mph. I did speed up going into it so the water splashed quite a bit; trying to impress my grandson. Took the smile off my face when the steering went heavy though:eek:

Thanks for the input mate.
 
It's absolutely normal.

If you hit a puddle with 2 tons of car at speed, the surface tension will all-but tear the steering wheel out of your hands as in the direction of the impacting wheel .

As you impact, the water's first reaction is to bunch up tight and this massively increased friction grabs the tyre. Being water, it then falls apart pretty dramatically but since you probably over compensated by reflex, you'll be launched in the opposite direction. The process feels exactly like you've 'lost control' of the steering for a few seconds.

If it's a good long puddle (or you hit it hard/fast), the effect last longer and steering is all but impossible until the tension breaks.

Scary as ****, but great fun if you know what's going to happen and how (not) to react.
 
Dufty said:
It's absolutely normal.

If you hit a puddle with 2 tons of car at speed, the surface tension will all-but tear the steering wheel out of your hands as in the direction of the impacting wheel .

As you impact, the water's first reaction is to bunch up tight and this massively increased friction grabs the tyre. Being water, it then falls apart pretty dramatically but since you probably over compensated by reflex, you'll be launched in the opposite direction. The process feels exactly like you've 'lost control' of the steering for a few seconds.

If it's a good long puddle (or you hit it hard/fast), the effect last longer and steering is all but impossible until the tension breaks.

Scary as ****, but great fun if you know what's going to happen and how (not) to react.
Click to expand...


I didn't actually lose control though. I know what aqua planing is & what happened wasn't that. The steering went heavy; I never skidded/lost control in anyway.

Furtrapper; thanks for your wisdom!


Thanks for the input guys.
 
iwantone said:
The steering went heavy; I never skidded/lost control in anyway.
Click to expand...

Just me not communicating accurately again I think. The loss of control was a quote from your original post, I guess meaning 'loss of power steering', as opposed to loss of driver 'control' (I'm making this worse aren't)!

Surfavce tension will make the steering insanely heavy until it breaks. As long as you don't tug at the wheel, it's manageable (and fun).
 
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