Not sure if this is the right fourm, but I'll try anyway.

With all the rain in the midwest lately, I got to thinking, what is the largest or deepest puddle/lake on the road that a MINI can safely drive through.

While driving home yesterday, I encountered at least 2 very large areas of standing water in the road that my old Pontiac Grand Am just barely got through. That got me thinking of my soon to be new MINI (which is hopefully on it's way to it's cruise ship for the trip over) and how it would have handled the situation. The water appeared to reach up to the wheel well on my car.

Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

There are two different answers to your question:

1. For slow speed (like walking speed) transit through a puddle, you can go through a deeper puddle (how deep will be the subject of debate, but certainly deeper than at higher speeds). After getting through the puddle, apply the brakes to remove any water from the rotors.

2. For higher speed, you may run the risk of hydro-locking the engine if you ingest water into the intake. The R52 cars had the greatest risk of water ingestion. Don't know what the new cars can handle, however.

A good rule of thumb is to avoid producing a rooster tail of water. If you encounter a puddle, transit it slowly and apply the brakes immediately after exiting the puddle.

 

I live downtown charleston and we have some of the worst flooding in our city....I havent had iany problems yet...just be smart and observe other cars that are going through and take you time...

Jack

 

Its a pretty small number. Around 6 inches if I can remember from the other forums.

 

I wouldn't drive through any that touches the rocket panel.

 

yup, once my rockets get wet they take FOREVER to dry out. Really makes my commute boring without 'em!

 

Well, hydrolock means water can get into the intake tract. There's an inlet in the grille, so anything (speed - which creates a "wave" or big splash that hits the grille - or water depth) that gets to the grille area can do huge damage to the engine. There are electronics all over the place too. My rule of thumb is also "if it can hit the rockers it's too deep". Go slowly and make SURE the water depth is known (no potholes or anything in there).

At least we don't have one of these... air intake BELOW the car - and on a JEEP! And... they've copied our center-mounted exhaust...

I'm thinking what, about 4" of water (or even a "road gator" detached retread) would be major trouble.

 

You made my morning!!

 

my biggest worry would be the steering fan... not hydro-locking cause
you will need to be quite dipped in water for that... and we know not
to go THAT deep...

i would not drive the car through puddles deeper than a few inches.

 

I had to ford a creek that was higher that I liked. I watched a few other vehicles go through & determined I could do it. The water was going to be at least half way up the wheels. Before I did this I stopped got out & stuffed a rag into the air intake behind the grill. I crossed at a walk, but kept the rpm's up so water wouldn't come back up the tail pipe. Once across I popped the bonnet removed the rag & motored away.

IMO the most likely scenario for hydro lock is hitting a puddle at speed.

 

I beleive it is in the manual. I think it was something like 1 foot of water. Then again that may be the spec on my GMC Suburban, i really dont remember.