Causes of Hydroplaning on Tires
If multiple hydroplaning tires, the vehicle may lose directional control and slide until it hits an obstacle, or slows enough that one or more tires in contact with the road again and friction is regained.
The likelihood of hydroplaning increases with vehicle speed and water depth. The wear and tread under-inflation also increases the risk for hydroplaning, as well as more wide tires. Narrower tires are less vulnerable to hydroplaning because the vehicle’s weight is distributed over a smaller rubber patch contact, resulting in a greater capacity for water pressure tires on the sides, allowing tire contact with pavement .
The practice of dressing over replacing the size of the original equipment wheel of a vehicle on a wheel of larger diameter and replacing the tire by a tire of the low-aspect-ratio affects the same diameter, some of the performance characteristics of vehicles, and increases the risk of hydroplaning with wider tires.
Bicycles, motor cycles and similar vehicles with a round-shaped surface to the pavement are far less likely to hydroplaning in normal use of the road. The area of contact with the road is a canoe-shaped patch that effectively squeezes water away. However, because the friction of the road is reduced in wet conditions, the lateral force that the tires can accommodate before sliding is greatly diminished. While a slide in a four-wheeled vehicle is correctable with practice, the same slide in a motorcycle rider will generally fall, with severe consequences. Thus, despite the relative lack of hydroplaning danger, motorcycle riders should be even more cautious because the total is reduced by traction on wet roads.