Aquaplaning - Hydroplaning

Aquaplaning or hydroplaning basically means that not sinking of tire to the deep of water above road terrain and losing contact with road surface.

The circumferential grooves which are placed on tread pattern are responsible with pumping water away from the tire and prevent losing contact with road surface. For this reason they may called as water evacuation channels or aqua channels. 

Reasons of Aquaplaning are various. 

Depth of water: Deeper water cause quicker aquaplaning. Tire has to pump more water away in deep water. Because of that deeper water is more dangerous than shallow water. 

Tire Pattern: Number, placement, width and depth of grooves are closely related with water evacuation. Tire which has more circumferential grooves has more resistance to aquaplaning.

Tread Depth: Worn tires has less resistance to aquaplaning. Width and depth of grooves of worn tires decrease, as a result, those grooves can pump less water away.
Inflation Pressure: Low inflation pressure can cause inward deformation of tread center. As a result of this circumferential grooves which are placed at the near of tread center can not do their job properly. This increases risk of aquaplaning.

Width of Tire Tread: Tires which has wide tread cannot sink easily and this increases aquaplaning risk. Wide tires need more aqua channels to remove water.

Speed: How fast the tire enter the water, it finds much less time to evacuate water. Hence high speed increases aquaplaning risk.

We can add more reasons like weight of vehicle, conditions of road surface etc. Conditions of aquaplaning are very changeable because of that speed of the car must be decreased and driver should avoid entering accumulated water on rainy weathers.

If aquaplaning happens, the driver should not turn steering wheel and press brake, should wait the road contact again.