Feels like driving on ice

[scottwaltonuk]

I was on the motorway yesterday granted there was a bit of wind and raining. But my car scared the living sh17 out of me me. It literally felt like I was driving on ice. I have had stacks of cats personal and company and that is the first time I have felt that.
Where would I start is that a tyre alignment issue or more likely something else ie. Garage visit required.
Any ideas greatly received.

 

[freddofrog]

might have been a diesel spill on the road

more info would help, speed, how suddenly it happened, amount of time it was like that, etc
and was it like that off the motorway, is it still like that ?

 

[scottwaltonuk]

It was whenever I hit 70 ish on the whole of the 10 mile stretch. Not been that fast off the motorway as everywhere in Warwickshire is 50 mph. It was like I was on solid tyres it felt like there was no grip left

 

[freddofrog]

I'm not sure what you mean by "driving on ice" and "no grip left" ....that implies that, although staying in a straight line, the car was "yawing" or fish-tailing a lot. If that's what you mean and it only did it at 70mph then it's something very strange.

But if you mean that it was vibrating, then one or more wheels have shed their balancing weights, or one or more tyres has "blebbed", or there's a driveshaft problem


edit: if the whole of Warwickshire is 50mph except the motorway, did you not try 50mph on the motorway ?
which motorway is it (M40, M6, M69 ....they have different surfaces in places) ?
what about dual carriageways (I believe that there are loads of 60mph ones in Warwickshire as well as 70mph ones, such as A46 in places, A45 in places, A5 in places) ?
what about de-restricted B-roads, 60mph is allowed on those ?

 

[AndyB1976]

Ive had over inflated tyres give that feeling.

 

[scottwaltonuk]

Thanks for the replies
It is weird to describe it felt like if I turned even slightly too much we would totally lose traction.
It felt like there was not cohesion, which you expect. Yes Warwickshire on some roads have 60 mph and dual carriageways just not around me.
Anyway 60mph is fine.
I will look at the over inflation idea and try again

 

[freddofrog]

I presume by "loss of traction" you mean the VSA light was flashing ?

if it was night time, you might actually have been driving on some slightly icy stretch of the motorway

there's a map here of the roads the Warcs CC are responsible for gritting

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/gritting

they didn't bother last night
https://grittingroutes.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/15-jan-clearing-raincloud-will-allow-road-surface-temps-to-fall-monitor/

but yeah, check tyre pressures at the very least

 

[Dave_G]

What tyres are fitted? If the car is fairly new to you and it has had some cheap tyres fitted to sell it they can be pretty bad at this time of year. I have recently fitted winter tyres to mine and they give me loads more confidence in the car at this time of year.

 

[mullis126]

What Dave said. Budget tyres and wintry weather don't tend to mix too well. I remember driving a previous car a few years back where the previous owner had fitted budget tyres to the front wheels. Granted the road was a bit greasy but the steering wheel had very little effect on my car's direction of travel!

 

[Draga]

i had the same issue when i bought my accord changed the tires the VSA caution triangle didn't go off but the steering had little effect on what i wanted to do at about 85ish so i changed the complete set all is fine

 

[scottwaltonuk]

Tyres now changed, when having them checked they found that they were all warped and out of shape. Seems unsurprisingly better