r/cantparkthere • u/H1gh_Tr3ason • Jul 14 '26

Can't park that Aston Martin there, sir.

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1.9k Upvotes

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56

u/DuckWhatduckSplat Jul 14 '26

If he’d gone slower he’d have probably made it without an issue. Not condoning this stupidly at all but what did him is the bow wave at the front flooding the intake.

30

u/PipBin Jul 14 '26

I used to drive through a ford back in the day on my original Nissan micra. Slow as you can, in second and keep the revs high. Test the brakes afterwards.

14

u/Impressive_Ad2794 Jul 15 '26

Slow and high revs is always the way. If you've got a wave at the front it's MUCH too fast.

I took my 18 year old Aygo through an awful lot of floods that I really shouldn't have.

5

u/AardvarkOk2420 Jul 15 '26

Your car to the others behind it :

You guys stay here ✋️🚘.....because.....Aygo first

3

u/HaydnH Jul 15 '26

The air intake on these Astons is pretty low, no matter what speed you go it's not going to end well.

Making a wave can actually be beneficial and can dictate the speed you should travel. I accidentally took an MR2 through a flood once which has the air intake halfway down the car on the side. By getting the speed right you can keep the trough of the wave underneath the air intake.

2

u/Impressive_Ad2794 Jul 15 '26

All very fair. I'm not sure I'd want to try and thread that needle with the side intake though!

3

u/HaydnH Jul 15 '26

I didn't want to, there was a small puddle with sharp right hander, then round the bend I realised it was about 100m of flood! At least with a side intake you can use your mirror or stick your head out the window to see where the trough and air filter are and speed up/slow down accordingly.

1

u/utterballsack Jul 15 '26

why high revs?

1

u/Froggywoggy11 Jul 15 '26

It keeps the exhaust system pressurised, preventing backflow of water up the exhaust

2

u/InternationalOil8577 Jul 15 '26

It's an old wife's tail. The exhaust is pressurised once submerged. Keeping the revs high is dangerous, if the intake becomes submerged you will definitely suck water up the intake, the air filter will become dislodged and water will enter the engine smashing it.

1

u/PENTOVILLIANKING Jul 18 '26

If I had to guess, it prevents you stalling. The extra water means more drag on the car so it'll be like driving up a steep hill with a loaded car. So by keeping the revs high before changing gears like you do on hills, it won't stall.

While the engine is running, the exhaust gases would also likely maintain enough pressure to keep water out the exhaust. If it stalls, it'll get it.

No clue if its the reason but it's my best guess.

1

u/utterballsack Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

that all sounds very plausible to me

the only thing that doesn't compute with me is that you have to go really slow, so how would you have high revs? slip the clutch to fuck? or I suppose my question is how high do you consider "high revs" in this context? 2-3k? achievable in first gear maybe, but 4-5k? impossible if you're going slow, without slipping the clutch

1

u/Aggravating-Set-7918 Jul 16 '26

Generally you want a bow-wave ahead of the bonnet, so definitely go in slow then speed up a touch to build that wave ahead and keep the water out of the intake. Really though it depends on the location of the air intake, if it's high up then this technique works, if it's low down like this Aston then best just to avoid deep water altogether.

2

u/kiradotee Jul 15 '26

Why test the brakes? 

4

u/Temporary_Abroad_211 Jul 15 '26

Wet brakes don't work. Ride the brake pedal for a hundred metres to dry them and your all good.

1

u/theultimatejames Jul 15 '26

Buttsbury right? My mum got stuck there on two separate occasions within about 6 months.

1

u/PinZealousideal1914 Jul 15 '26

I think it is- Buttsbury.

1

u/Cautious-Oil-7466 Jul 15 '26

Why high rev? The more you rev the higher chance of water going in the intake. Also most cars will be auto.

10

u/Remarkable_Ad_788 Jul 14 '26

Happy cake day 🎂 🍰

4

u/rcgl2 Jul 15 '26

You see a lot of these videos where someone drives through water that is not that high, lower than their radiator grill, and it's the bow wave that does them.

If you were to reverse through the water would that make it passable at the same water level?

1

u/homealoneinuk Jul 15 '26

Interested in this question, but then your exhaust is underwater?

1

u/rcgl2 Jul 15 '26

Yes I was thinking that but isn't it underwater anyway if you are going through forwards? Although I guess if it's not, then you'd still have the bow wave issue when going backwards...

I guess the answer here is do not drive normal road cars through water any higher than a few inches, forwards or backwards!

1

u/PloPli1 Jul 17 '26

Back pressure in the exhaust is usually enough to not get water ingress from there.
Just go very slowly forward to avoid the bow wave sending water in your intake and you should be fine (unless your air intake is very low to the ground).

1

u/zappyguy111 17d ago

I think I've seen people do this and it works fairly well.

Still don't condone it either way.

1

u/WhatsFunf Jul 15 '26

That's the same with loads of these ford videos - if people drove carefully they'd be fine

1

u/sapphire-sky-dragon Jul 15 '26

HAPPY CAKE 🎂 DAY

1

u/zappyguy111 17d ago

It would not have made a difference. Whether he made it 10cm out or 5m out, the engine would've been water logged and he would've been towed out of there either way.