[download2live]

Punto scraping the speed breakers has considerably reduced for me thanks to the changes I made to my driving style. But still there are some mountains of speed breakers on which it manages to scrape.

Recently got the car hoisted and the guard plate was found to be dented. They kind of straightend it with help of a crowbar.

What I want to ask is: Given the mountains we have in name of speed breakers in Bangalore, what are the ill effects of bottom scraping on the breakers?

What are the usual problems and how they manifest themselves? Like what the are indicators of the problems I should keep my eyes open for? I mean the indicators of the problems caused by the car bottom hitting the breakers.

[arethusa]

As regards ground clearance, I feel that assigning a numeric value would not be good enough. The ground clearance is relative to the wheel base. If the wheel base of the car is longer, the ground clearance would have to be higher.

Another factor that has cropped up with the likes of Puntt difficult for o and the Linea is the front overhang. This greatly reduces the approach angle and thus makes it difficult for these cars to be negotiating large speed breakers or potholes.

Please do correct me if I am wrong in this aspect.

[tsk1979]

The average GC also matters.
Suppose your car has a 120mm GC, but thats just at one tiny spot, eg near the wheels and rest of the car has a GC of 210mm, it will do speed breakers better than a car with 180mm GC where most of the car has a GC of 180mm.

[Dr.Abhi]

mine is 200 mm since 2007 and I never thought of scraping or stones or humps ever since.
Otherwise it should be minimum 180 mm in India for am unladen vehicle.

[kulvinder singh]

Surely the issue is : How much the Maximum height of a speed breaker should be??

In most countries (and I'm talking mostly Europe of which I have some knowledge) if a car is damaged, or an accident occurs because the Speed breaker is over the maximum height allowed-- the Local Government gets very very heavily sued..... Also the regulations stipulate that there have to be Clear (in both Day and Night conditions) of warning signs about a speed breaker, much in advance- and all the way to the breaker itself.

perhaps this is the real issue- that the Philosophy and purpose behind "Speed Breakers"- is to force drivers to "Slow- Down", in order to avoid a accident situation (In the rest of the world)

Here, it seems to me- the Purpose of speed breakers (certainly in the minds of our local authority's)- is to actually cause the accident situation in the firs't place!!

[rock18]

Originally Posted by vinaydas

absolutely love the Palios GC (170??). I have performed mild off roading feats with this Car

Not in my case .
Recently,I have a fitted 185/60 R14 tyres on my Palio S10.
We encountered a road with lots of huge car breakers(speed breakers) laid out for container lorries.
With 4 people on board,it managed to scrape on almost all the speed-breakers.
I tried going in an angle only to find another loud scrapping sound.
I am not sure what are the parts that would have taken this impact?
It was a heart breaking as well as car breaking experience.

Stock tyres size is 175/65 R14. will reverting to this size help?
Is Palio S10 having less ground clearance as it has side skirts?
Brochure says GC is 170 for S10.
And also i found that Indica with 165/65 R13 tyres offer more comfortable ride than Palio.i read somewhere that Palio offers one of the best ride qualities among hatchbacks.

[sgiitk]

I think the published GC figure is at best a joke! The reason should be pretty obvious. It is the height of the lowest part of the car when static. This point almost invariably is the steering linkages between the front wheels. Now when you go over a bump, these ride up and down with the wheels.

The parts which actually get thumped are often under the car in the middle - I suspect the silencer or the fuel tank. Their height also depends on the loading and speed of the vehicle.

[srishiva]

The ground clearance should be at least more than the height of any speed bumps. Cant the auto industry lobby (since we now know how well Indian companies do it) with the govt to set it?

[SmartCat]

"Scrapyness" of your car depends on -

- Ground clearance
- Front overhang (distance between bumper's edge & centre of front wheel)
- Rear overhang (distance between rear bumper's edge & centre of rear wheel)
- Suspension setup (If suspension is too soft and there are 4 or 5 on board, your car will scrape)
- Wheelbase (distance between centre of front & rear wheels - if your car is too long, it will scrape on humps with more than usual height)

To avoid scraping on bumpy roads, you can do one of these two things -

- Drive slowly
- Make sure only one wheel (either front left or front right) goes into the pothole. The other wheel should be on level ground. If it is a tall road hump, approach it at a 60 degree angle (so that only one wheel climbs up and drops down from the hump)

[BoneCollector]

Hi,this might be OT but the wheelbase could've been the culprit for what happened to the POTUS' limousine when it got stuck on a ramp outside the US consulate in Dublin on 23rd May,2011.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by smartcat

... To avoid scraping on bumpy roads, you can do one of these two things...

Drop in for a detailed discussion. - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ing-belly.html

[Samartha]

I manage to scrape the bottom of my Punto almost once every three months even though it claims to have 170 mm of clearance.

The 2012 Punto claims to have 195 mm of clearance and Fiat is marketing this aspect (if at all they know how to market!). I'm raring to test drive it.

[raghu]

Bangalore is crazy with the unscientific speed humps. Every road has its own spec on how a speed hump is to be done!!!

I have a Jazz and, so far, it has not been a problem if I remember I drive a Jazz . As I also drive a Santro around, at times, I go over a hump with the Jazz as I would with a Santro. On a few occasions, have scrapped the bottom. Luckily, there has not been any damage so far.

[sumannandy]

Innova has a ground clearance of 170 mms, same as Ritz, and less than beat(175mm), although innova is higher than both vehicles. Does that mean that Ritz and Beat are as efficient (or better) than Innova in bad roads (Rohtang pass types) or there is more to this story?

Mods, please move to the relevant thread if required.

[mayankjha1806]

Correction, Innova Ground Clearance is 176mm

Source - Toyota - Innova Specification

I would say both would be equally good/bad, when it comes to driving to Rohtang pass. BTW when i was there we never saw Innovas, only Qualis on the pass.