Driving in a few inches of water

[raildogg]

Hey guys, we've had rain for a couple of days here and on some of the roads, the water has been accumulating. Today, I drove my car pretty fast over 3 or 4 inches (not really sure) of standing water. I am just wondering if driving in that much water going fairly fast not too healthy?

 

[Yuriman]

3-4 inches? Probably not. Biggest risk (I think) will be drowning your engine by sucking up a ton of water at once through the air intake.

 

[Midwayman]

Lots of chance to hydroplane. Lots of splash that could get water somewhere it might displace lubricant or short something electrically. Not the best of ideas to do regularly. Hitting a puddle at speed once is unlikely to cause problems though.

 

[raildogg]

Thanks Yuriman and Midwayman

I haven't seen or felt anything out of the ordinary so I am going to assume it wasn't too bad, though I don't know. Maybe at the next service mention it to the service adviser?

 

[Midwayman]

Thanks Yuriman and Midwayman

I haven't seen or felt anything out of the ordinary so I am going to assume it wasn't too bad, though I don't know. Maybe at the next service mention it to the service adviser?

I wouldn't bother unless you start noticing something. It more on the order of unnecessary risk than likely to do anything long term. Hydroplaning or hitting something you can't see in deeper water are really the biggest risks.

 

[jlee]

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[rh71]

as you can see from these videos, some cars do better than others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpFuizL_rVk#t=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNiJTeS2A5I

I happened to measure the height of my SUV's tires yesterday and it was 28" tall. Half at 14" so I would say it's still safe to drive if the water is below 10", for an SUV anyway.