markmdz89hatch
03-17-2004, 08:53 AM
Well, yesterday it snowed pretty bad here in CT. It's been real warm the past few days, but yesterday the temp dropped like a rock and the snow started falling. The pavement fought off the stick for a while, but eventually gave in and snow started sticking. This made for a nasty situation. Ice on the pavement and snow on top of that.
Well, simply put, I was driving up a hill, and tried to keep a momentum so I could make it up the hill. Made it up the hill no problem, but when i came to the top, I knew I was going too fast, but it was too late to slow down. So, my 3G became a 2300 lb. tobogan. Well, the rest is history, I shot off the road up an embankment and came to rest at a tree stump.
Suprisingly enough, the body of the car is not dented or smashed, just scratched up, but the suspension is another story. I did a hell of a job on the lower front control arm on the drivers side, and it looks like I may need a new radiator as well. The tranny also took a beating, so I fear I may have broken a mount or two. All in all, I was able to get the car back on the road and limped it home.
I had to drive in to work this morning, and as luck should have it, there was not fluid on the ground under the car this morning, so I don't think it's as bad as I originally thought. But the tire is way out of wack due to the buggered control arm, so that will have to be replaced asap.
Thanks to the 3G being built like a tank, I was able to walk away from it with just a bruised ego and a project for this weekend. I'm just so lucky that I wasn't going even one mph faster, b/c one more foot of sliding up that embankment, and the car would have ended up on it's roof. Whew...
I thought I was a great driver, and still think that I'm in the high percentage, but snow/ice is something that no-one can predict. Please, make sure that you take it VERY slow when driving in bad conditions like this. It's well worth the extra half-hour it'll take to get where you're going.
Well, simply put, I was driving up a hill, and tried to keep a momentum so I could make it up the hill. Made it up the hill no problem, but when i came to the top, I knew I was going too fast, but it was too late to slow down. So, my 3G became a 2300 lb. tobogan. Well, the rest is history, I shot off the road up an embankment and came to rest at a tree stump.
Suprisingly enough, the body of the car is not dented or smashed, just scratched up, but the suspension is another story. I did a hell of a job on the lower front control arm on the drivers side, and it looks like I may need a new radiator as well. The tranny also took a beating, so I fear I may have broken a mount or two. All in all, I was able to get the car back on the road and limped it home.
I had to drive in to work this morning, and as luck should have it, there was not fluid on the ground under the car this morning, so I don't think it's as bad as I originally thought. But the tire is way out of wack due to the buggered control arm, so that will have to be replaced asap.
Thanks to the 3G being built like a tank, I was able to walk away from it with just a bruised ego and a project for this weekend. I'm just so lucky that I wasn't going even one mph faster, b/c one more foot of sliding up that embankment, and the car would have ended up on it's roof. Whew...
I thought I was a great driver, and still think that I'm in the high percentage, but snow/ice is something that no-one can predict. Please, make sure that you take it VERY slow when driving in bad conditions like this. It's well worth the extra half-hour it'll take to get where you're going.