There are speed humps in a village near the caravan in leafy North Yorkshire, and I have been wondering what is the best speed to drive over them.
The humps are the type with a flat top about the length of a car.
My CC3 has a firm ride, and going over the humps at about 20mph seems slightly more comfortable than clambering over them at 15mph.
Does a little extra speed have the effect of evening out the hump?
Or does it depend on the type of car?
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sat 4 Sep 10 at 09:00
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From the point of view of the car and its suspension, I reckon that the optimal speed is about 1 mph.
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There isn't one. Depends entirely on the bumps and the car as any fule kno...
We need desert-racer suspension and we need it now!
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There are some close to me that are the most severe I've ever seen. You almost need to come to a complete stop. I've found that by hitting the gas just as you're going down the other side, you can minimise or eliminate the bounce. Very satisfying.
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in my houshold it seems to be drive at them at warp speed with granddaughter strapped in back and shout weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee as you take off
obviously muggins here gets the job of broken suspension parts to sort out :-(
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Qashqai is good at speed humps. You don't really have to slow down. One near us you can actually get air if you hit it at about 40. Company car of course....
:-)
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The road where I live has a 20 mph speed limit,
There are more than a few speed reducing humphs on the road,
If one keeps to the 20 mph limit they are 'just about' livable with,
But ... and its a BIG but - they are soooo severe that even 21 mph is too fast IMO,
I keep meaning to take a 'movie' of the cars driving over them in the 'rush hour' at 30+ mph :(
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For me there is no optimum speed because I don't see speed humps as things to be challenged. I slow down to about 10 mph or so for a mild hump, and possibly to an even slower speed for something more severe. I'm never in that much of a hurry.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 4 Sep 10 at 10:16
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...I'm never in that much of a hurry...
Me neither, by optimum speed I meant the speed at which it is most comfortable to drive over the hump.
I reckon popping over the humps near me a little quicker than I used to gives less of a jolt.
Entering the hump on the over-run helps a bit, too.
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>> Entering the hump on the over-run helps a bit, too.
Not sure I like the sound of that.....
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...Not sure I like the sound of that...
"Toilet humour," said ifithelps, sniffily.
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Dab the brakes just before the hump, so the front suspension extends as you meet the ramp, then dab again just before the rear wheels meet the ramp....
That maximizes the suspension travel making less of a jolt.
works for me (mostly) anyway......
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Nope, exact opposite.
Dab the accelerator to lift and unload the front suspension just as the front wheels are about to touch the hump, dab the brakes to unload and raise the rear suspension just before the rear wheels hit the hump.
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I am with Zero 100% on this.
With practice you will find that with hard acceleration at the right point most bumps can be taken at quite high speed with reasonable comfort. Getting the 'dab brakes' correct for the rear wheels up takes considerable practice. The passengers may not be too impressed when you get it wrong.
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>> Nope, exact opposite.
>>
>> Dab the accelerator to lift and unload the front suspension just as the front wheels
>> are about to touch the hump, dab the brakes to unload and raise the rear
>> suspension just before the rear wheels hit the hump.
>>
Sorry, I see what your saying, and the 2nd half is the same as mine, but by braking I reduce the 'impact ' speed, where as you are accelerating into the hump.
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For front wheel drive -->
* Brake before the rise, accelerate onto it.
* Steady, comfortable speed over the top.
* Accelerate briskly off the other side.
For rear wheel drive -->
* Accelerate.
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All this braking and accelerating is just nonsense. Speed bumps in 30 mph limits are designed to make anything over 20 mph progressively more uncomfortable in the average car. Just drive at a constant speed of 15-20 mph and the jolting will be minimal and the bumps will achieve what they are designed to do - Slow you down.
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Optimum speed depends entirely on whether its a company car or not ....
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Well it shouldn't do, Tigger, should it?
I, and a lot of others on here, pride themselves in looking after a company vehicle just as they would do if it were there own.
I really thought that attitude was reserved for lorry drivers.
You'll be saying 'I don't care how long the job takes, I'm paid on hours' next.
Pat
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>> I, and a lot of others on here, pride themselves in looking after a company
>> vehicle just as they would do if it were there own.
Lighten up!
It was meant tongue in cheek regarding the people who pass at the end of my road when I'm waiting to cross!
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>> Just drive at a constant speed of 15-20 mph and the jolting will be minimal
Not the ones near my house. 10mph max.
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My old man told me that when driving in Africa in his youth, with atrocious roads, the faster you went the smoother it became, although you had to factor fear in eventually, so he'd settle for about 50mph.
I used to do my London Borough's humps at the full 30mph and with a large comfy car, I can confirm it was fairly smooth. Two balljoints and their arms at £300 each side, now has me crabbing over the things at mimser speed, just like everyone else.
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Further to my last, could you go in to a Britsh dealer's showroom and purchase a new car with African spec suspension?...That would sort the humps out....;-)
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There was a road near Naivasha (Kenya) which I used to drive which had been constructed during the war by Italian PoWs, using local volcanic stone roughly hewn and no top surface to talk of. Gosh it was bad!
There definately was an optimum speed though - too slow and the suspension bottomed out, to fast and you shook yourself to bits.
Whilst we were there, a pothole developed on the road to Mobassa. It cut all the way through all the layers of the road to the mud below, and became about 100 feet across and 20 feet deep. There were pictures in the local paper of lorries stuck at the bottom of it!!!!
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My favourite from "Viz Letterbocks - The Bulging Sack"
'These so-called speed humps are a joke. If anything they slow you down.'
My second favourite (!)
"I've heard Sting can make love for hours without climaxing -
I know how he feels - my wife's no oil painting either"
J
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Ideal speed over them depends on the cars suspension rate and wheelbase, and they are all different.
Was always entertaining loading cars at Gatwick rental park, the valeters could make the length of the car park with quite a percentage airborn....apparently renters are good buys..;)
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>My old man told me that when driving in Africa in his youth, with atrocious roads, the
>faster you went the smoother it became, although you had to factor fear in eventually, so
>he'd settle for about 50mph.
Your dad was right.
Many of the roads where we lived in Namibia were dirt roads. The only macadam roads in Swakopmund were the main road into town from Windhoek and the road down the coast to Walvis Bay.
The dirt roads were always well maintained but would become corrugated pretty quickly.
The trick to driving on them was to reach a speed where you rode the crest of the corrugations. Any slower and you would shake the car to bits, literally. Peugeot with column change were well known for losing gear linkage and my wife once lost a battery in a Chrysler Valiant.
Once you were riding the crests it was easy to go faster but you needed to drive like a Fin. Great fun but very close to the edge. The accident rate from drivers leaving the road and rolling was very high.
>could you go in to a Britsh dealer's showroom and purchase a new car with African spec suspension?...
That's an interesting question. Cars built in South Africa for the home market always had uprated suspension. I wonder if they still do.
Kevin...
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a few years back you could name your own price for pewgot 504 pickups
guess where they were all destined with their super extra long suspension travels
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>> a few years back you could name your own price for pewgot 504 pickups
>> guess where they were all destined with their super extra long suspension travels
Do they still make 504 estates under licence in possibly Egypt?
We had a superb holiday there a few years ago, the taxi drivers were potty, batting down the road at 80mpg dodging camels dogs and kids, whilst looking anywhere bar the road, wacky races.
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Optimum speed for speed humps - tyro
