Hey All,

I have been watching the rain come down for the past 4 days now. Los Angeles is soaked and there are large areas on the roads where water has accumulated. Sadly LA does not have good drainage. The roads become a mess. Given how low to the ground the Mini is, how well does it deal with having to drive through 2 or 3 inches maybe more of water?

Thanks. Happy Holidays to everyone!

 

I'd refer to your owners manual for specific recommendations. As I recall my manual had recommendations as far as what depth/speed are safe.

 

My manual indicates I shouldn't drive through more than 12" of water, so I'd say a few inches of standing water on the road will be safe for your car. Just go slow

 

I live in la as well. Glendale to be exact and i had a long trip up to rancho Cucomunga today using the streets since i dont trust people on the fw on these conditions. My Justacooper handled it great. Tires had good grip and had no problems whatsoever

 

Apart from hydroplaning, which can depend on the design and condition of your tires, the first-generation Cooper S was known to be vulnerable to deep standing water in a peculiar and expensive way... throwing a lot of water into the grille and back over the bonnet could cause the engine to ingest that water, creating a hydraulic lock that would cause instant engine failure through broken rods, etc. Note that I don't have first-hand experience with that "feature," but it was in the motoring press back in the day.

I don't know what year MINI you have, nor whether it's an S or a "Justa," so the above may not apply.

Cheers, and stay dry,

Spridget

 

Depends on your tires - Even though tires are legal to 2/32" they should really be replaced at 4/32" remaining because they are very prone to hydroplaning. For snow they should be replaced at 6/32". This is right off the TireRack site:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=157&


Neat gage here for tread depth measuring:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...epth-gage.html