Gang:

We had the unfortunate situation of fishtailing today, in our little Ford Ranger pickup.

Here is what happened:

It was raining as we were coming home from the mountains. We had 2 lanes on our side and a grass ditch/median between there and the oncoming 2 lanes.

We were accelerating up a hill in the left lane past a truck towing a camper. There was a flow of water across the road (about 2ft wide). You guessed it the truck fish tailed to the left, I backed off the accelerator and the rear began to come back around but as it was still hydroplaning it was beginning to swing to the right (with the camper right next to me). At this point I didn't want to hit him so I applied some brake and steering to the left. The traction was returning thus sending us into the median and into the oncoming traffic (thank GOD there were no oncoming cars). I pulled it immediatly backing into the median to get out of oncoming traffic. We stopped, thankfully. No damage to the truck or to us or anyone else.

My main concern was not over correcting and thus spinning the truck and or flipping it. My gut feeling is that I should have been able to recover after the first fishtail but with the proximity of the camper next to us did not allow the truck to swing to far to the right.

What have you guys exerienced with regards to vehicle control or recovering from a similar situation?

Thanks guys

 

The situation isn't the problem. The truck is. I know, I have Ranger! LOL
I dunno ... I never lift off when the tail goes away (and in winter, it does! LOL) ... but I have an open diff, so it makes things easy. When it starts going sideways, I like to keep it there (room allowing) rather than bring it back in line too fast and have your problem. I'd rather end up in the median ditch than the truck next to me too ...

 

It is so light in the rear end. I probably should have been in 4wd.

 

what i do is to try to steer in the direction you want to be in, and you shouldn't apply brakes. you might flip your truck. Dont know about flipping the car, but i know you can flip a truck doing that.

 

During the winter month, I always carry a couple 50lbs bags of conrete in the bed to help ...

 

I am shocked no one posted this yet...

My advice...Sit back, Relax and talk to yuor buddy in the passenger seat.

 

Skidpad experience. I drove on the skidpad at the bmw performance center. Loved it, great experience. See if a skidpad is locally available to you.

 

Hey Kirby - I had a moment like that at 100! Did someone lift at turn-in?

Tim - I gotta go with Zorro and never lift. I had a Jeep Cherokee with crappy Goodyears from the factory and that thing was all over the road in anything less than perfect conditions (wet, snow, sandy, etc). I trained myself to hold neutral throttle and work the steering wheel.

Hydroplaning at speed is a bit different than basic skid pad stuff, but if you have access to an empty lot I've heard that water with Dawn dish soap makes a nicely slick surface. When I was younger I used to find empty dirt roads and play at the limits to discover.

 

Good info guys. I got to hit the skid pad at my BMW M5 experience as well. It would be nice to take training with regards to situations you might encounter on the everyday roads.

 

What turn? Kirby's nowhere near a turn... He was showing James his 360 cadavers on a straight.

 

Kirby that's a great pic