Another One of These: Totaled or Not? Heartbroken

[bestwheelbase]

@TM glad you (and those around you) were not injured.

Hopefully others will learn from this. Even though they're not as pretty as fancy BBS wheels and high-performance rubber, a cheap set of steelies with winter tires is a worthy investment.

[Turbo95eg6]

Damn...

[ntron1]

Sorry to see. I chose to keep the summers on and spend $2,500 on a 1999 4X4 Blazer. I know some say it's ok in the snow with the right tires but frankly, I will run out of talent before the car does. She's safely parked under a blanket of snow at the moment.

[Wattage]

-Have winter tires

-Don't drive too fast

-take turns SLOWLY

-give yourself LOTS of following distance

-change lanes extremely slowly, so slow that it feels stupid

-Keep the car in as high a gear as possible to minimize torque

-Leave early if driving to work

-pay attention to weather reports

-use MINIMAL steeting inputs. MINIMAL

Follow these tips and you can drive this car in ice, snow... no problem.

[Mad1723]

Winter doesn't forgive in my part of the world and we learned to respect the wrath of mother nature. Glad you're alright, but running summer tires on a road with snow on it will never end well. Some may say: "It's fine, I've done it before". Well it only takes one time, doesn't it?

It's clearly totaled, hope your insurance covers you well @TM

[White64Goat]

My guess is it is total loss. This car is listed at an insurance auction and has less damage, so........................

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/Vehicl...oadRecent=True

[BadMoon]

Originally Posted by TM

I was going about 40mph straight on the highway, following the tire trail in front of me. I think i must've drove over a patch of snow or something and threw my car off balance.


I kept telling myself next week, one week after another, which is completely my fault. Driving in western NY: it's not a matter of it, it's a matter of when.

Yeah man way too fast. But you know that. I again slid above 20. I don't even know how you got it up to 40? Glad you are okay and I will be buying my tires or I'm not driving any more.

[BadMoon]

Originally Posted by Mad1723

Winter doesn't forgive in my part of the world and we learned to respect the wrath of mother nature. Glad you're alright, but running summer tires on a road with snow on it will never end well. Some may say: "It's fine, I've done it before". Well it only takes one time, doesn't it?

It's clearly totaled, hope your insurance covers you well @TM

I told my wife tonight if I took that same drive home in the same conditions 100 times I would no doubt wreck 35% of the time. That's rolling the dice.

[Mad1723]

Originally Posted by BadMoon

I told my wife tonight if I took that same drive home in the same conditions 100 times I would no doubt wreck 35% of the time. That's rolling the dice.

Just looking at the pictures, I know it's the kind of temperatures you need winter tires, no question about that. We have a law stating that if you don't get winter tires installed by the 15th of december, you get pulled over and fined a lot.

I don't think you guys need that, as your weather is nowhere near as bad as ours.

But some common sense about this is necessary.

Sorry about your car OP, but this could unfortunately have been easily avoided. 40MPH in such conditions is downright dangerous for you and others. Sorry about your loss, it's an expensive lesson to learn.

[iceman666]

TM,

Condolences with respect to your BRZ. That said, I agree with the comments above, 40 MPH is way too fast in an RWD car without (and even with) snow tires given the conditions.

About 10 years ago in my S2000, I got stuck on the Palisades Parkway (south of Bear Mountain) for 6+ hours (stopped under an overpass) because I didn't realize it was going to snow. I was extremely (extremely) fortunate not to total my S2K. . . Slid off the road into a bush doing less than 10 MPH in one only places with no rocks / guard rails (did I mention I was extremely fortunate).

When I retired my Prelude and went to the BRZ (daily driver), I knew there would be certain days / weather conditions where I will be:

1. Required to drive less than 25 to 30 MPH on back roads (avoiding highways) to get home.

2. Grounded until snow stops / plows do their work.

Bottom line, accidents happen (snow or no snow), cars are can be replaced (you cannot be). Glad you're okay.

That said, when you get your replacement use a bit more caution during inclement weather.

[dsgerbc]

Good you're okay. I'd say it's totalled twice over.

Originally Posted by Wattage

-Have winter tires

-Don't drive too fast

-take turns SLOWLY

-give yourself LOTS of following distance

-change lanes extremely slowly, so slow that it feels stupid

-Keep the car in as high a gear as possible to minimize torque

-Leave early if driving to work

-pay attention to weather reports

-use MINIMAL steeting inputs. MINIMAL

Follow these tips and you can drive this car in ice, snow... no problem.

Yeap. Do all of those when around other cars of hard objects. On winter tires. If no winter tires - leave the car at home in winter weather. RWD cars can spin out in a flash even on the best tires, if one isn't careful.

Heck, any car can spin on crap tires in an instant. Saw just that happen right in front of me. A truck (pretty sure it was a 4x4 nissan) changed lanes a bit to eagerly (asphalt in-lane, lines of snow between lanes), probably also quickly backed off the throttle, next thing he saw was a concrete divider.

Thank god he didn't bounce of it too much.

[andalicious]

Totaled... especially since you had an airbag deployed. But glad you are OK.

[KayC]

Glad you are okay, but it's really irresponsible of you to drive in those conditions with summers on. Not only are you endangering yourself, but also others drivers around you. Here in BC Canada, insurance won't even cover you if you are on summers during winter.

Lesson learned I guess.

[akahenry]

It's totaled but let this be a lesson to you (OP) to change tires accordingly, especially during the winter.