Almost had an accident

[cprogrammer]

Tonight was the scariest night of my life. It has been raining for the past 2 days almost non-stop. I'm driving around with my friends at about 8:00 at night. The speed limit is 40 and Im going about 45. Yes, I'm an idiot I should have been going under the speed limit under these conditions. I'm taking a turn at that speed. All of a sudden I hear my tires screach and my back end wips out. I don't remember much but I do know everything was spinning.I did the wrong thing and hit my brakes (I think) at the same time steering, it was instict. All of a sudden I see a poll and I go right passed it thank God I didn't hit it. I wip around a few more times, now going about 20 mph and Im on the grass (side of the road), ending facing opposite traffic. I was an idiot for not going under the speed limit under these conditions I just feel I needed to tell someone and tell everyone to be careful out there please. I don't mean to clog the forums with this I just really have to tell someone this I'm angry at myself and I feel like I need to know that other people have been in this situation.

Fortunatly, no damage. I sit there for a minute, saying "WTF did that just happen?" I didn't really think it happened. I try to turn the car on but it won't. I'm cussing at the car and my friend says "It's in Drive, turn it to park". Why did my car even stall? Is this ok? So I put it in D and it starts, but it starts rough. It sounds like something that's been sitting in the cold for a while. Took a few extra seconds to start, but now its okay. Is this normal?

No damage as I can see. Engine looks okay, just my car is muddy. My steering wheel shakes a bit more but its always been doing that, my friend says I;m missing something called a "wheel weight" that goes on my wheel, says I should get it fixed. Is this dangerous to drive without one?

Anyway, I'm the idiot in this case for going the speed limit when I should have been going under in the rain. Fortunatly no impact, but my alignment might be messed up. Just gotta say be careful out there please.

 

[epj3]

Well, with ABS you should've been okay with slamming on the brakes. The exact same thing happened to me today AND yesterday (yesterday on the highway(!), today on a small road)

I did regain myself both times, and remember my car does NOT have traction/stability control. I used the brakes and abs kicked in.

If you arent turning, going 45 in a 40 in rain isnt THAT bad, especially in a car with pretty damn good stopping ability, but my problems was I used just a little too much gas in a turn on concrete highway, so my limited slip differential did it's job which in turn made BOTH wheels spin, not just one.

 

[cprogrammer]

Hey epj3 Thanks for the response. What happened to you today? Did you almost have a collision? It was probably scary as hell wasn't it. Can you tell me more about it? Just so I know I'm not the only one that almost got in a bad wreck.


Regarding the brakes, I still think though (whether I have ABS or not) that when spinning you never hit the breaks. Somehow I was able to steer my way out of it (well, I dont know if I can say I got out of it, I stopped after loosing momentum and going off the road). But, it was scary as hell. I don't remember alot, it almost felt like it happened AFTER it happened, I remember spinning then I remember being on the side of the road.

 

[epj3]

Hey epj3 Thanks for the response. What happened to you today? Did you almost have a collision? It was probably scary as hell wasn't it. Can you tell me more about it? Just so I know I'm not the only one that almost got in a bad wreck.


Regarding the brakes, I still think though (whether I have ABS or not) that when spinning you never hit the breaks. Somehow I was able to steer my way out of it (well, I dont know if I can say I got out of it, I stopped after loosing momentum and going off the road). But, it was scary as hell. I don't remember alot, it almost felt like it happened AFTER it happened, I remember spinning then I remember being on the side of the road.

Well for me both times it was my fault for giving too much gas (which really didnt feel like too much gas at all, but my tires kind of suck)

I didnt slam on the brakes but i used them and abs kicked in, curbs and guard rails are what worry me when it goes wacky.

 

[jrt67ss350]

Glad to hear that you are ok, and that no one was hurt and nothing happened to your car.

I'm going to tell you a little story about something that happened to me that is similar in a way to what just happened to you.

I got my Camaro when I was a freshman in high school, when I was 14. My family and I spent the next year working on the car, getting her all fixed up and beautiful so that she would be perfect by the time I got my driver's license at 15. I was absolutely ecstatic - this car was my dream car - the one car I had lusted over for as long as I could remember, and I finally had it. I drove the car every day, and the more I drove it, the more I fell in love with it. Not only was it my dream car, but I had done all the work on it to make it into the car that it was. It had become a part of me.

For my 16th birthday during my sophomore year of high school, my parents gave me a K&N air filter for the car. My dad was out of town on a business trip at the time, and my mom gave me the present. I promptly went out to my car sitting in the driveway and installed the new air filter. I had some problems installing it and keeping the hood clearance since the new filter was a little taller than my old one. I had to go buy a drop-base air filter housing, and to install it, I needed to reroute my rubber fuel line where it attached to the carburetor, requiring me to disconnect it. You can see where this is going.

Well, I got it all buttoned up and the hood clearance was good, so I closed the hood and got in the car to start her up and take her for a spin. I started the car, and I heard a funny woosh sound, so I got out of the car to check it out. As the car was sitting there idling, I noticed a big orange fireball underneath the car. I promptly reached in and shut the car off and proceeded to panic, knowing that we did not have a charged fire extinguisher. I ran in to the house, screaming to my mom that my car was on fire. I ran back out to the car to see flames and black smoke shooting out of the gaps around the hood of my beloved car.

Luckily, my neighbor two houses down (who had just moved in to the house), noticed my screaming and the flames and came running over with a fire extinguisher. I opened the hood, and he put out the fire. His wife had called 911, and a fire truck arrived about 5 minutes later. In the meatime, I collapsed on the grass next to the driveway in tears. My beautiful car - my dream car, my baby, a piece of me, was seemingly destroyed. I was absolutely devastated.

Well, when I could eventually bear to look at the damage, it came to my realization that I had forgotten to tighten the hose clamp on the rubber fuel line attached to the carburetor. When I started the car, the fuel pressure in the line forced the line off the carb, spewing fuel directly onto the passenger side exhaust headers, which of course, quickly ignited into a big fireball. I felt like a complete dufus.

Luckily, I had comprehensive coverage on the car, and the insurance paid for the damage. I had the car towed to the Chevy dealer, and they restored the front clip of the car and had to replace all of the engine compartment wiring, the front suspension bushings and steering linkage, the distributor, the carburetor, and all other soft or plastic parts. In addition, the front clip of the car needed to be repainted, and extensive cleaning was necessary. In the end, I was without the car for about 3 months, and it ended up costing the insurance company about $3300 to fix the damage.

I expected my parents to be upset with me, since I was upset with myself for being careless. But, all my father told me was to just chalk this experience up as a "Learning moment." While my experience was a little different from yours, I think the moral is the same. I think we all need some experiences like this in order to make us pay more attention to what we are doing and to think a little bit more about the consequences of our actions. You'd better believe that I am always nervous about working around the fuel systems of cars now (I had to replace a rubber fuel line in the engine compartment of my BMW a few months back, and I was paranoid about it). I venture to say that next time it is raining and slick out, you will think back about what happened to you tonight and be a better driver for it.

Again, glad to hear that you, your passengers and your car are ok. It's just a learning moment.

 

[jonnyz16]

hey cprogrammer glad to hear you made it thru what sounds like your first spin-out. The weitghts on the wheels are there to balance it . Maybe one came off . If you've always had a little shack in your steering maybe now is a good time to get your wheel alignment done . And you can rotate and balaance you tires..

 

[frolf]

cprogrammer, glad to hear there wasn't any damage. that shake you are feeling is most likely mud in your wheels throwing you off balance.

if it makes ya feel any better i spun yesterday too, i was having a little fun with power-on oversteer and didn't consider my new tires are more responsive, so i kicked her into a slide and when it was coming back, it grabbed on hard and shot me toward a curb, i missed it by about 6".

 

[epj3]

cprogrammer, glad to hear there wasn't any damage. that shake you are feeling is most likely mud in your wheels throwing you off balance.

if it makes ya feel any better i spun yesterday too, i was having a little fun with power-on oversteer and didn't consider my new tires are more responsive, so i kicked her into a slide and when it was coming back, it grabbed on hard and shot me toward a curb, i missed it by about 6".

Thats the difference between rain and snow, in snow when i did crazy shit, i'd only be going like 10 mph becuase i couldnt GET any faster, but in rain when i do stuff, i GO faster while i'm out of control.

 

[cprogrammer]

Thanks everyone for the replies I really appreciate it. I will take all of your advice and I will definitly get my car checked out for alignment. I did a test today and drove straight to see if my car goes to the right or left and it doesn't so I'm not sure if my alignment is messed up. I'm a bit nervouse today because I have to drive about 300 miles. I know I did not hit anything during the "close one" we just spun like heck and maybe we hit the grass hard, but with my worries I'm worried that "something inside broke" and its going to give up any minute. So, here goes my trip I will let you all know how it goes.


Thanks again for all of your advice I appreciate it alot. Be safe!

 

[aNoodle]

Sorry to hear you spun out. I wouldn't be overly concerned about having messed something up on the "inside." If you knocked your suspension out of alignment or bent a wheel...the effect should be readily apparent. Luckily you weren't going any faster than 45 mph?

 

[bahnstormer]

check your tires please, there really way no reason for u to spin,
perhaps your tread is worn down? and u hydro ?
did u add gas in the middle of the turn?

 

[cprogrammer]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll check the tires, they might be getting worn down. The first thing I remember was feeling "weightless" . At that point I think I hit the brakes, maybe if I wouldn't have hit the brakes when I first felt the back end loose control, I would have been okay and wouldn't have spun. I've heard you shouldn't use the brakes when your about to spin. However, a few seconds later while I was spinning in circles I really slammed the brakes because it wouldn't do any harm I was already doing circles. I had to stop soon so I hit the brakes hard (felt the ABS) . Those spins were terrible, I think I did two full circles. I can't believe it though, I missed those light polls by a few inches.


After that I kept telling my friends "what if my car is messed up". They said, "you didn't hit anything it can't be messed up". (I was concerned since my car had stalled and had a rough start).

I'm back from my trip, my steering was a bit shaky but I'm getting it fixed this week. (However, the shaking has always been there since I bought the car used). My alignment is fine since I did more tests and it's not going anywhere on the straightaways, so it must be the tire. I'm going to take it to a dealer to see if they can fix the shaking.