Tackling the Monsoon

  • Aug 7, 2008
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With the monsoons well and truly in, here are a few pointers to keep your car in ship shape and have a safe and pleasurable journey.

With the monsoons well and truly here we are usually reminded of piping hot drinks to warm up the cold wet days. While the lush greenery that the monsoon brings might make your drive more scenic, it also brings along numerous hazards which cannot be overlooked. Here are a few pointers to help you breeze past this season with safety and style. With the car having to bear the brunt of the lashing rains, pot-hole ridden roads, flooding and what not, it is important to keep your car in ship shape with a good pre-monsoon checkup. Here are a few things that need to be looked into specifically.

Tyres

read depth and tread pattern are of primary importance when it comes to tyres. Assuming the tyres have enough tread depth, a wrong tread pattern may not throw enough water away from the tyres, and cause aquaplaning.

The rubber compound of your tyre also makes a significant difference at higher speeds.

Under or over-inflated tyres can induce aquaplaning sooner than expected.

Suspension Geometry

Suspension affecting driving in the wet may sound strange but it very well does. A wrongly aligned wheel can affect stability due to uneven forces acting up. Wrong steering geometry can further exaggerate this misbehaviour.

Brakes

Uneven braking force on the four wheels may cause loss of directional stability. Check all the brake pads and replace if necessary. Panic braking instances on wet roads can make the car lose control very easily, in which case a good Antilock braking systems (ABS) can be a saviour.

Wipers

A good set of wiper blades with soft rubber compounds and an even cutting edge will ensure adequate visibility. Do not forget alignment of the blade arms.

Windscreen

Scratched windscreens will not allow even the best wiper blades to extract the water from the surface and will cause smudging resulting in poor visibility.

Windscreens need to be cleaned with a detergent so that the traffic film* which has settled on the glass is removed and smudging is avoided. (*Traffic Film is a thin oily layer from the exhaust fumes of the other vehicles plying on the road.)

Assuming all above things are in order, make sure that your eyesight is 6/6 with or without spectacles and needless to mention, you have no alcohol in your bloodstream.


Apart from having bright lights you need well focused light beams which are a characteristic of good quality bulbs.

Head lights with a tinge of blue are bad for visibility in the rains (foggy wet roads are best seen with yellow fog lights).

Make sure all the tail lamps, indicators and body markers are functional.

Now that we have the vehicle checklist covered, here are some things you can check yourself.

Make sure you have enough ventilation in the passenger compartment to prevent misting, which can cause bad visibility. Physical wiping of glasses with a good cloth may be necessary, but do not attempt to do this while driving.

Make sure there is no rain water leaking inside the car from anywhere. This also implies that water splashed from the wheels does not enter the cabin from any openings in the underbody of the car.

It is a worthwhile idea to spray the electricals under the bonnet with a moisture repellant like WD40.

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