How do Subs sell in Florida?

This is an interesting point.

I live in LA, and we've had some very heavy rains recently.

For a couple of days during that rainy week I had to drive my friends' Camry, and that thing appears to hydroplane at the least excuse, or at least much more willingly then my OBW.

Now, I always thought that this is just a matter of tires, but the Camry is only a couple of month old, so the tires must be brand-new.

Are there other factors that affect hydroplaning?

Cheers,

Yes... but mostly it depends on tire pressures! All conditions being equal, the tire will hydroplane in >=0.1" of standing water at 9(PSI)^1/2 (or 9 times the square root of tire pressure).

Mike

We live on the East coast of Florida about 20 miles south of Daytona Beach. I bought our first Subaru, a 2005 Forester XS, last July. Various members of my family in Indiana, Michigan and Washington state have owned one or more Subies for decades. In fact, my youngest son in IN was a salesman for a VW/Subaru dealer in Indy for a few years.

I bought our Subie because I had a heart attack last year and we decided that my wife would have to get her drivers license again after several years without in case anything more happened to me. She just couldn't get the hang of our DC minivan and the Subie was the largest car she felt comfortable driving and the smallest I could settle for. We just can't justify owning two cars when we go everywhere together.

Aside from the obvious better fuel economy, we find the AWD to be very useful here in FL - we have these sudden, blinding rainstorms that leave puddles in the shallow ruts of the main roads and we no longer have to worry about aquaplaning. Besides that, we find the heated seats and remarkably efficient heater useful during the cold snaps we get even down here, the car is quieter than our old T&C was on the highway, AND we can now entertain the thought of visiting family up North even in winter if the occasion demands it.

The downsides are the reduction in interior space and that dealers are few and far between here on the East coast. The Orlando area has 3 (the nearest of which is over 40 miles away) but there is none on the coast between Jacksonville and just North of Miami. Bummer.

And I have noticed a LOT of Subarus in the Atlanta area when we pass through on our way North.

Millions I imagine. But the ALL wheel magical mystery seems to handle it better then anything else I've driven. I assume it's because the wheels start losing power whenever sensors can tell it's losing traction. I don't push things too much now that my tires are worn and I have 2 little ones in the car with me at all times.

I'm also known to make up stuff to explain facts. In other words, I don't know crap except that it works - and quite well for me. And I don't adjust anything when I drive in the rain (tire pressure, driving style, etc.)

I think the "tire pressure" with regards to hydroplaning is considering the tire's pressure on the roadway itself, not the tire's internal air pressure... ;-)

Tread design (how well the tire can squirt standing water out to the sides, letting the tread contact patch push down to the road surface; generally, directional-tread designs have better performance), tread depth (as the tire wears and tread depth becomes shallower, it will hydroplane more easily), vehicle speed (at some speed, all tires will eventually hydroplane when they exceed their water displacement capability), depth of water, road surface (grooved pavement, for example, helps prevent it).

excepting for some slight sidewall stiffness - aren't they the same?

all the weight of the car is being supported by 4 tire 'footprints'. Add the total area of the footprints times the average tire pressures and that is the weight of the car.

Um - I am not familiar with the formula in the OP - is it saying that hydroplaing is gonna begin im .1 inch of water at (for tire pressures of

-say- 36psi) 6 times 9 miles per hour? 54mph? regardelss of tread design?

Carl

CompUser wrote:

Plenty here in the Tampa Bay area. See quite a few on my way to work at 7am and plenty more in the evenings.

Doesn't it rain, and I mean, rain a lot in South Florida? The Enterprise Florida website says Hillsborough County (i.e. Tampa) has a median precipitation of 53 inches, which I'm guessing a typical 0% is snow, and 107 average rain days.

Forgot to add - annual numbers.

That's well above the annual total for Seattle, but Seattle has a lot of drizzly days.

-John

Not at all. The contact patch psi is dependent on patch size and vehicle weight...and number of tires, of course. Tire internal pressure is dependent on how much air you care to pump into it. I'd guess at either end of the internal pressure curve, you'd get some change in contact patch size; the percent change in that scenario exceeds my knowledge and interest. :-P

If that's what it's saying, I'd guess it's wrong. :-/

You bet, there's more rain down south, and when it comes, it can come really heavy...as far as rainfall being something to interest folks in (the capabilities/greater expense of) AWD, I don't think it's as powerful a motivator as snow, however. The difference is that when we get really heavy rain, folks will pull off to the side of the road and wait it out (at that point, drivers are responding to the *impaired visibility* caused by the rain, not traction problems). The heavy stuff that renders wipers useless normally only lasts about five minutes, then you're back on your way. Contrast that to snow, which can sit around for days or weeks, messing with traction...I grew up in the North, but live down South now, so I've seen both...that's my take on it.

I've noticed that greater Atlanta has four (or five?) Subaru dealerships...otherwise, they are pretty sparse thru out the state. I'd guess the Atlanta dealerships exist due to the number of folks who might travel up into Tennessee or NC mountains in the winter for skiing, expecting to be dealing with snow...

Well - I was driving from San Diego to LA on New Year's Eve morning in a borrowed Camry. I didn't have my WRX since the front was messed up and the right headlamp assembly was smashed. The body shop I took it to was closed over the holidays and couldn't fit in the time to just replace the lamp assembly. The car was driveable, but if heavy rain hit the bulb probably would have shattered.

So I was going up I-5 when the most horredous rain hit Southern California. Somewhere around Irvine, there was a multi-car pileup with one car that obviously spun-out (probably after hydroplaning). I swear they don't have a clue how to drive in the rain in Southern California (although it was worse that time I drove in Arizona). It was near the point where the wipers didn't work, and drivers were still going 80 and following at 50 ft. I was almost about to exit at the nearest off-ramp and wait it out before proceeding when the rain subsided.

And strangely enough, it didn't rain when I got to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. Kind of cold and miserable, but not wet.