I've read various threads on aqua planning FFRR's & I know that my 2005 TD6 Vogue can be guilty of doing it, but I took it to a whole new level today. We'd been away at a Caravan Club CL (small site on a farm) for a few days & the weather had actually been quite good. A hard frost at night, then sunshine with no rain, perfect.
We were due to come home on Monday but it snowed a lot on Sunday night so I decided to put it off until today (tues) & wow was that a mistake. My wife had already headed for home on Monday so it was just me & my loppy border collie heading for home today. I got a taste of things to come as the dog ran out of the caravan this morning doing a fairly passable impression of Bambi on ice, the look on her face was priceless. Undeterred I hooked up our twin axle caravan, checked that all was well & set of on the short journey home, a distance of 36miles.

This is when the fun really began.The sides of the roads still had snow on them the rain that was falling had nowhere to go, the result was an awful lot of standing water & to make matters worse, it began to snow, that horrible wet snow which coats everything. Needless to say I hit numerous puddles of standing water followed my moments that made my sphincter go like a rabbit’s nose. This car is a nightmare in these conditions but it was to get a whole lot worse. Apart from about the last 3 miles the whole way back to my home is uphill & the snow just got worse & worse. About 5mins from home I hit a huge puddle of water, I was only going at about 5miles a fortnight by then but it didn’t stop the car from spearing about all over the road, this in turn led to the caravan hitting the snow which was on the crown of the road. Happily things didn’t end in tears & I somehow managed to gather things together before I ended up right off the road. It was more through good luck than anything else.

Its times like these that I hate the bloody car. That’s a shame cos normally it’s an awesome tow car but I need to take some serious action to avoid this situation ever happening again. I’m running on Grabber All Terrains & they are at the correct pressures but I’m going to have to replace them to see if that helps. I occasionally have to be in muddy fields so need an all terrain tyre but don’t have a clue what to do now. The car is on genuine FFRR 18” wheels, does anyone have any suggestions on what to buy? Or even what to avoid due to the same problems?

All assistance will be gratefully received...Robert

Ps: my old Discovery on mud terrains behaved far better than this. The reason women's minds are cleaner than a mans mind is that women change their minds more often!
When women say fine a mans in deep doodoo as fine has so many meanings.

I was talking to my brother about this on Sunday. I was telling him how crap mine has been in the wet. He and his wife both have FFRR's and says he has never noticed a problem as he changes his tyres when he has less than 5mm!!
I have just changed mine, I had 4mm all round and I think they were maybe a bit hard with age, and it has transformed the handling in the wet. It was definitely more sure footed driving through glen Devon on Sunday when it was iced up.
From now on, tyres will be off at approaching 4mm. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Love the Glen Devon road

Honestly, I was glad the new tyres were on, it was sheet ice most of the way. Nice bit of lunch at the tormauchin restaurant then carried on with the ice driving.. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

The tyres are only about 7k miles old but obviously with more wear on front than the rears, I might swap them about to see if that improves matters. I have a niggling thought that there is something other than tyres causing this problem as not all FFRR seem to be bothered by it.
All ideas are helpful, I will get to the bottom of this problem...Robert The reason women's minds are cleaner than a mans mind is that women change their minds more often!
When women say fine a mans in deep doodoo as fine has so many meanings.

I went for Nexen roadian 542's. I was put off at first by the cheap price. £93 a tyre!. I read up on them and they seem to be better in the wet than some others. They look like the rain grooves, 5 of them, will do the business. They have 8+mm of tread so will be better than I had. Even my wife notices the difference in handling, she says it feels more stable round corners in the wet. I'm sure any new tyre would show a difference, but I think i am happy with what we have bought. Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

You let your wife drive the FF?


My wife is on my insurance, but she doesn't drive it...there again neither do I

Actually, she believes that it is hers! Not gonna rock the boat, just let her dream on..  Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

I can highly recommend Goodyear Ultragrip+ SUV's in a 255/60/18. They cut through water so well the downside is that they completely soak anyone in a 6ft radius of the car even if travelling at 10mph (fortunately because the copper saw me slow down in an attempt not to drown him he didn't take it too badly). They are a true winter tyre, and do very well in the winter tyre tests usually coming in the top 3, and usually being the best in the cold dry/wet conditions of the UK and being great in the snow too. Plus side is they are ultra quiet as well and grip like anything! 
07 Supercharged - Still breaking her in!

Boot soundproofing part 1 - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15612.html
Custom exhaust - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15296.html
18" wheels for Brembo equipped cars - http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic15052.html

If your getting new why not just get Vreds as they should be amazing in the wet and keep you happy through the summer??

Also how are your tyre pressures? FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

I have the Vredestein Wintracs on mine. The car seems great through standing water. In fact it was one of the first things I noticed when swapping over from the Touareg just how much better it was. I assumed it was just the car, but given the comments above, perhaps its another plus for the Wintracs.  Lloyd Barnes

Current
Crendon 427 Sideoiler Cobra in build... 7 litres of madness!

Gone
2008 TDV8 Vogue - Black with Ivory/Grand Black Lacquer
2008 VW Touareg 3.0Tdi
6.3litre Dax Cobra - 12.34 Second 1/4mile at 114mph

In aviation this subject is very important because we have to operate on wet runways and aquaplaning can cause serious performance problems, in particular stopping. The speed at which a tyre will aquaplane is normally determined by the inflated pressure. The math we use is 9 times the square root of the tyre pressure. So if the FFRR tyre was pumped up to 36psi in theory it should aquaplane at 54 mph. Aircraft tyres have a much different tread pattern to cars and very much higher pressure.

L322 Pilot wrote:

So if the FFRR tyre was pumped up to 36psi in theory it should aquaplane at 54 mph

L332 pilot... My brother flies for globespan. I was with him on Sunday and had to listen to all this square root of the pressure stuff. Not 100% convinced as I believe the tread pattern is most important... IMO.  Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Pirelli Scorpion Mud & Snow. Expensive but they do everything.

I take them laning, over the Plains (Salisbury), shooting (Muddy Fields) and I also tow a twin-axle TinTent. Replaced when they get to 3mm and I've just got 28k miles out of the last set.

Not so expensive when you look at the big picture. Go to one of the site sponsors and you'll get some very good deals.