Experience on NorthSouth Highway

[roidan]

yeah, i guess marineman uses the NS highway more often than some of us do, so definitely he is more familiar with the terrain and characteristics of the highway...

yeah weileong, u often drive up to see stars, must be careful

[Marineman]

Marineman, thanks for the tips, will keep them in mind when I go  up north. I've been guily of driving too fast up there. Better wake up man

My car nearly went out of control over a few cm of water under the bridge and there are a number of fatal accidents where cars are parked along the hard shoulder during day and night (more night) where a bus or lorry rammed into the parked car.

Any of you who comes to KL and would like to visit some LFS (nothing to shout about) can PM me, if I am available I will take you on a tour FOC!

ALSO, the roads from Johore up to Ayer Keroh (Melaka) is pretty straight and less traffic volume (I like this stretch best, can speed a little). The minute you hit Ayer Keroh, drive more carefully because there are more traffic, roads have more turns and you get side winds especially along the Alor Gajah/ A Famosa stretch (cases of cars being swept off the main road), the minute you reach Seremban, the traffic gets heavier.

[weileong]

yeah, i guess marineman uses the NS highway more often than some of us do, so definitely he is more familiar with the terrain and characteristics of the highway...

yeah weileong, u often drive up to see stars, must be careful

I drive up to Mersing in this case and bypass the NS highway totally, ermmm used a bit of 2nd link. Those are the country side rd and different rd conditions. There was once I nearly crash head with another car cos the other guy was over taking at a bend (crazy, nuthead), luckily I was going slow and managed just in time to steer my car onto the grass patch besides the rd, jam my brakes, ABS kicked in and save my life and luckily no damaged! Sometimes we have to be responsible for other pple's mistake as well... hiak...

[terryansimon]

I didn't say wider tyres. I said larger rim profiles.

and super quiet tyres like the Decibel AB simply cannot make it but do look for the AVS DB. now thats a good and quiet tyre. alternatively you can use the AVS ES100...pretty good review. by me especially. as approved by my mother. hur!

[SpiderOne]

u want to see accidents? i seen 5 cars crash in the past 3 months at the same spot in the same place. Reservoir gates at Upper peirce reservoir road. One of them happened 3 metres behind me. totally flatten a lamp post into the ground 35k worth of damage. + Lamp post fine

[roidan]

that spot must be damn spooky man

[weileong]

I didn't say wider tyres. I said larger rim profiles.

and super quiet tyres like the Decibel AB simply cannot make it but do look for the AVS DB. now thats a good and quiet tyre. alternatively you can use the AVS ES100...pretty good review. by me especially. as approved by my mother. hur!

I am using the ES100 now. The side wet grip is not so good Next change will be SO3.

[terryansimon]

your wet grip isn't good? I've gone through deep and big puddles before at 90 km/h with no problems....

hmm. maybe it differs from car to car. I wanted to get the G3 but I got the ES100 instead. cheaper and same in terms of performance.

S03? very uncomfortable ride.

[terryansimon]

u want to see accidents? i seen 5 cars crash in the past 3 months at the same spot in the same place. Reservoir gates at Upper peirce reservoir road. One of them happened 3 metres behind me. totally flatten a lamp post into the ground 35k worth of damage. + Lamp post fine

been to LCK Road or what they call the 40 lamp post street?

they used to have very and I mean VERY severe accidents there. one guy flew a good 100m into this ditch and he died obviously. crackdown on illegal street racing there lead to a decline in accident...but that happened much later during my NS life. had the unforunate chance of seeing wrecked cars everytime we come back to camp during late night deployments.

[Tanzy]

NEVER use the brake when the car is aquaplanning. The tyres have zero grip on the road and just stepping on the brakes can cause a dangerous lock up. In such a situation, engine breaking is very much the thing to do. Down shift on a manual car and if in an automatic, there's isn't much you can do.

Wider performance rims and tyres will DECREASE aquaplanning resistance. In other words, the wider the tyre, the more likely you will aquaplane. Wide tyres increase lateral grip in the dry but the increased surface area decreases water removal. Same goes for underinflated tyres.

I like Pirelli and Michelin tyres. Potenza range is horrible on the butt!

Naturally, the heavier the vehicle, the better in the wet.

[Achilles Tang]

In such a situation, engine breaking is very much the thing to do. Down shift on a manual car and if in an automatic, there's isn't much you can do.

Would suddenly shifting to reverse gear at high speeds help in engine breaking?

Or just the transmission?

[SpiderOne]

just Throttle . Floor it . Thats what i did. 3 metres in front of someone who TTL his car in the lamp post behind me . 40 tiang. Rarely do ppl play there now. Down the road a bit is neo tiew. i think thats where they all went hahah. i really dont see the fun in playing straight road. might as well dyno ur cars and see who wins. Using Azenis St115 now . Excellent grip for what i do. Thinknig of changing to advan neova ad07 . this tyres lasted me 2 months . Looks severely worn.

[roidan]

Down shift on a manual car and if in an automatic, there's isn't much you can do.

hmm...down shift the car in manual mode...utilise engine brake..

does that mean with auto transmission, we can try pressing the OD button on the gear stick also and force it into 3rd gear for a 4speed auto transmission? would be the same as downshifting with a manual transmission right?

[Tanzy]

Doesn't work for automatic cars because of the torque converter (slush box). It might work for cars with CVT but effective engine breaking requires direct connections to the axles.

[roidan]

Doesn't work for automatic cars because of the torque converter (slush box). It might work for cars with CVT but effective engine breaking requires direct connections to the axles.

oic...something to learn again

means with auto car, really just let go the accelerator, dun brake and hold on the steering tightly and dun overcorrect any pulling hor...

gee, so even though heng i never bang my own uncle, i under quite a bit of shock also...and heng somehow all the cars behind managed to stop...only the kancil couldn't avoid despite slowing down..probably he braked also but aquaplaned to impact....heng it happened at a spot on the NS highway where drivers at that very moment happened to keep a very safe distance from each other prior the accident

i have seen heavy rains in singapore and some drivers also tailgate others..this is what i call tempting fate

but then hor, after the standstill, as the vehicles start moving off again....from stationary to moving the car slowly as i approach the puddle...i can feel a very heavy resistance and pulling on the steering even as i held the steering tight....

imagine a 70-80km/hr speed and then you hit such a puddle in shock....

we can discuss in theory and now tell ourselves never to brake when such things happen..

but in reality...when the real thing happens and all it takes is milliseconds for your instinct to take over instead of your logical mind and you may end up choosing to brake also...

so, singapore puddles not as deep as that one we encountered, but i guess everytime in such a downpour...not only we must start to drive slowly, but also keep drumming to ourselves that do not brake do not brake and hold steering tight, so that when it actually happens when you least expect it, perhaps you will indeed not brake because of what you have been repeating in your mind again instead letting your instinct to brake take over ..hehe

must hypnotise ourselves not to brake...otherwise the leg automatically goes for the brake pedal whenever crisis strikes..

actually a few times i wanted to tell him directly that what he did was wrong, but he already driving before i was born, so i only hinted to him later on that maybe can try not to brake *so hard* next time..hehe

i think he know he shouldnt have braked after recollecting what happened, but like i said, i think his instinct took over and just braked too hard...