Tips To Avoid Skids & How To Control Your Car During A Skid

Automotive Blog

Rain, the road and your tires make a dangerous combination. You know that you should drive carefully when it rains. But that does not mean your vehicle won't skid. The following guide will help you avoid skidding and show you how to deal with it if it happens.

Prepare For A Possible Skid & Try to Avoid It

Consider the following tips to decrease your chances of a skid:

Precautionary Tips:

• Have your tire thread wear checked by your auto care specialist. Your ridges need to be deep and even.
• Make sure your tire pressure is adequate. Under-inflated tires may lose traction, and over-inflated tires are hard to control, especially during a skid. Your manual should tell you the tire pressure you need.
• Have your auto care specialist check your power steering fluid and system. You need to make sure you have complete control over your vehicle.
• Check your brakes, and make sure you have enough fluid. Make sure your anti-lock break system is in good condition if you have this.
• Perform tire rotation and balances and change your tires whenever necessary.

Keep Control Of Your Vehicle During A Skid

You can lose control of your car because the water makes it impossible for your tires to make contact with the ground. This contact is referred to as traction and gives you control of your vehicle. The best thing to do is to stop driving when it first starts raining. If you can get off the road, wait for at least 10 minutes when the rain starts. Rain lifts oils on the road and creates a slippery film. Waiting 10 minutes will allow the film to wash away.

But if you get caught in a skid, the following steps should help you stay safe:

1. Do not do anything rash during a skid, so resist slamming on your breaks or jerking your vehicle. This might cause you to spin out or flip over.
2. Do not try to accelerate during a skid.
3. Try to wait out the skid while keeping a good grip on your wheel.
4. Slowly begin to let off the gas pedal (or brakes if you entered your skidding situation as you were stopping).
5. Slowly and carefully steer towards the skid. The skidding may make you over-steer. Carefully correct this with slow counter-steers.
6. Pump your brakes carefully when you regain traction. Brake normally if your vehicle has anti-lock breaks.

That is all you need to do to regain control of your vehicle. Remember to pull over, and regain concentration as this will give you a good scare. You should also have the condition of your vehicle checked at an auto service shop like Ken's Auto Services, Inc to make sure everything is okay.

3 March 2015