Tires reflect vehicle’ handle, driving experience, silent driving, oil consumption and so on, expecially the security of driving in the rain. We all know that it is better to driving slowly in the rain, but do you know why? If it is only because the wet road surface will reduce the friction between the tires and ground, the tires pattern will be designed more simple.
How the tires drain in the rain? Which type of pattern has a bettern capability of drainage? You must know how the pattern make the function of drainage come ture before you know that. And this article will tell you.
Different drainage grooves meet different driving requirements.
When you inspect the pattern carefully, you will find that there are many different kinds of grooves which are designed for drainage. The drainage groove may be closed or semi-closed vertical linear groove, curve groove, or fold line groove. The longitudinal groove in the middle of the tire usually plays an important role in draining. They are usually more deeper and distributed evenly or unevenly.
The water squeezed to the drainage groove can be discharged in order to ensure the normal driving in the wet and dry ground. The horizontal grooves in the sidewall usually play a supporting role.
We have an experience about the braking capability of tires in the wet and dry ground. The braking distance in wet road is 45.7m and 45.3m in dry road. However, the premise is that the vehicle uses tires with good drainage capability.
The tires with poor drainage capability may lead the vehicles to be out of control. For example, the picture below is a typical water-skiing accident.
The drainage affects not only the driving direction but also the driving steering. When the vehicle sideslips in the high-speed driving, the route is a typical route caused by water-skiing accident. Then what is the water-skiing accident?
When the tire rolls in the road with some water, the water contacted with the front of the tire will produce a certain pressure for the tire. And the faster the speed, the bigger the pressure. When the speed of the tire improves and the pressure is balanced with the tire load, the tire floats in the water film and loses the friction with the ground. This is called water-skiing accident.
This phenomenon explains why the vehicles are more likely to be out of control and skiing in the rain. There are three stages before the water-skiing accident happens. The tire contacts with the ground completely and the water can discharge smoothly in the first stage. Then in the second stage, the tire contacts with the ground uncompletely, there is a water film in the tire surface. In the third stage, the water film makes the tire leave the ground.
