"Voice of C. Montgomery Burns" (voiceofcmb)
04/30/2014 at 09:57 • Filed to: None
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"Voice of C. Montgomery Burns" (voiceofcmb)
04/30/2014 at 09:57 • Filed to: None | 2
| 8 |
I had a close call today on the road and I have no one to blame but myself.
On a rainy day in Southwest PA I was driving to work on a route I'm very comfortable with. I was doing about 65 on a two lane highway, admittedly I was going about 5-10mph faster than most of the other traffic, in the left lane. I see up ahead some congestion in an stretch of highway that is somewhat congested regularly, so this is not surprising to me. I read the traffic ahead and for some reason my brain says "it's just slow moving traffic" so I hit my brakes slightly for a slowdown like any other day.
As I got to the traffic it quickly hit me that the traffic was not moving and was at a standstill. I hit my brakes hard and with all-season tires equipped and ABS flashing, I'm more or less sliding on the wet pavement. About 50 feet before going into the rear-end of the car infront of me I make the decision to swerve to the space between the concrete barrier and the upcoming ass-end of the car in-front of me.
This decision saved me $1000 today and a lot of angry motorists from beating me verbally. I somehow squeezed into that space and my front-end stops about at the back of the driver's seat of the guy (or girl) in-front of me. It could have been a bad scene but instead the only damage to my car was some tire and brake wear.
I drove like my Mother for the rest of the commute to work. Of course I don't blame the rain, I should have been going slower. I don't blame the traffic, I should have been paying better attention. This was my first close-call in years and hopefully it will be my last close-call in many more years and it has definitely taught me a new found respect for driving in the wet in high-traffic conditions.
OPPOsaurus WRX
> Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
04/30/2014 at 10:01 |
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Close call? Sounds like an insanely lucky save. Go buy a lottery ticket.
Party-vi
> Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
04/30/2014 at 10:01 |
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I'm glad you had an exit strategy. Driving in the rain always gives me some pucker-factor considering the brake cooling ducts love throwing water on the front discs, making it impossible to stop unless you pump the brakes every-so-often.
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Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
> Party-vi
04/30/2014 at 10:04 |
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Good to know, pumping my brakes was one of the first things I thought of in that "hindsight is 20/20" moment after it was over.
Lekker
> Voice of C. Montgomery Burns
04/30/2014 at 10:21 |
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Exit strategy for the win. So glad you didn't slam into that car. I did the same, but on a dry day and for different reasons. People in front of me slammed their brakes at an exit, I stopped, but saw the guy behind me may not stop in time, so I swerved to the side of the traffic. Still got rear-ended, but it was a fender bender as opposed to a write-off.
Be safe out there.
jlay
> Party-vi
04/30/2014 at 12:38 |
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Are these aftermarket cooling ducts? Usually cooling ducts should be putting air into the central area to get airflow through the vanes - I wouldn't think the rotor surfaces would get wet, and even if they did, wouldn't the water would boil off right away during a stop?
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Party-vi
> jlay
04/30/2014 at 12:56 |
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Nein - stock ducts on a 2002 BMW 330Ci. They begin at the front valance and exit to an opening at the front of the wheel wells. Water also comes in with this cooling air at highway speeds and coats the rotor(s). Unless you keep your rotors nice and toasty the water just sits until you mash the brakes; because water does not compress, the pads can't make proper contact with the rotor and you're left with an odd feeling in your butt that says "hmm I should be slowing down WTF ARHHG!?!?"
To fix this, pumping the brakes before you need to slow (seeing traffic up ahead) is required. You would think this wouldn't be an issue, considering the opening is so far from the brakes and there's a backing plate and wheel/tire covering the rotors but it apparenlty doesn't make a difference.
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jlay
> Party-vi
04/30/2014 at 14:18 |
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Got it, thought you meant something like this. Doesn't seem like those holes in your picture would do much for brake cooling. Sounds like the water issue is one that BMW could/should have solved with some ABS programming.
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Party-vi
> jlay
04/30/2014 at 14:47 |
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They may be more of a gimmick than anything, but if the ducts can toss water onto my rotors I'll assume they're doing a good job of getting air across them :)