Bait-Fish

I mostly lurk my350z but figured I'd share my tale of woe.



More pics here http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4288215987

Originally posted at FA:

I truly was lucky and I must have had a guardian angel by my side. Not only did I walk away totally unscathed, there were people to rescue me from the freezing temperatures in this remote location as well. I think I have some free time here at work to steal away and tell the story so here goes.

I was heading up from SoCal to Eureka, CA to spend Christmas week with my friends up there. I decided to take highway 36 across from the 5 to the coast instead of the more oft used (and maintained in winter consequently) 299. It's always fun to explore and drive new roads. As I went I started to encounter snow. I'm guessing that traffic and some maintenance kept the road mostly good but by the time I got there things had started freezing up again. It was right before midnight last Friday night. My exterior temperature gauge read 35 degrees F. I hadn't had any slippage despite the worsening conditions. I noticed the road had some grit layed down for traction. I was coming up on some bridges and was trying to drive conservatively for the conditions. Obviously it was worse than I expected.

Coming into a curve that had a 25 MPH sign posted I started reducing my speed to prepare for it. To the best of my guesstimation I may have been going 20-25 MPH at the time of the slip (but not the sharp part of the turn). The wheels broke loose and I was going straigh instead of turning. I immediately let off the brake (don't even think traction control kicked in yet) and I repositioned the steering straight and worked it straight and slightly left trying to regain some sort of traction to maintain a turn. NOTHING! I just continued straight off the road to my poor car's doom. All I remember is a couple inches of slushy ice on this turn, different from the previous turns/road conditions.

As I headed straight out, jumping the car off into the darkness (...and many trees!) I just closed my eyes. The impact I actually describe as soft. It was all a shock of course but I made it totally unscathed. I sat there a couple of minutes max just trying to get my thoughts together. Spending the night there was a REAL possibility because I hadn't seen a car in either direction for about 15 directions driving and it was now midnight. I didn't even have time to get a jacket on yet and climb up to the road when I heard some people calling out. Just up the road a couple had been travelling the opposite direction and were adjusting their chains when they heard something that sounded like hay crashing so they investigated.

My bright green little Photon Microlight lit up the trees above my location and there came right to me. After grabbing a backpack of bare essentials (and apparently losing my car keys in the mud just outside of the door), I clamored up the hill and into their Sentra. They turned back around, going back the direction they came from to get me to Caltrans who was working on clearing a slide miles before. These folks were characters. Immediately after introducing themselves, the lady passenger offered me some whisky. Luckily for me I declined as I'm not much for drinking and wanted to keep my wits about me. They were quite a couple, continuously trading sharp, humorous barbs. It must have been very slippery out even further down the road and maybe I would have lost control no matter what because in their saving me their Sentra lost the rear traction, fishtailing, four or five times. Finally, six miles later and after losing one of their wheel well liners from a horribly loud snow chain install they got me to a Caltrans truck who passed us in the other direction but stopped when we stopped and turned on our blinkers.

Dave, a 30 year veteran of Caltrans took me in to his truck to see what he could do about my situation. He even turned down the $200 my previous benefactor offered him to take away his lady pal as well Dave called the CHP on his radio who in turn contacted AAA to get me a tow but none of their stations would answer at this late hour of the night. Needless to say, after thirty minutes of CHP and AAA trying their best, all parties were disappointed. Dave had been called out to work earlier and was on his way home to Hayfork, CA, maybe 15 miles away, when he picked me up. He and his wife were most gracious and took me in for the night, allowing me to sleep in one of their daughters' old room. I slept as well as one could imagine. In the morning they gave me breakfast and their phone to line everything up as well as driving me back to my wreck. I am truly lucky and blessed to have made through this experience so well.

We arrived just after the tow showed up to the scene and they stayed until the car was extracted and they were sure I was going to be safely on my way. Brian the tow guy took me and my car back to Redding Muni Airport and I rented a car so I could continue on my journey. Driving an '02 Dodge Neon the remaining 150 miles was like salt in the wound. The first half of the day I stayed in good spirits making fun of my parking job. The remainder of the day I could almost cry (and still could). I'm shaken. My pride is hurt bad and I'm terribly disappointed in myself. Yes, I had the Pilots (tires). They've performed admirably in the wet and dry but just like others have attested and as Q45tech has repeatedly demonstrated, they are worthless when it gets cold and slippery.

I walk away with a greater respect for the elements. Given the conditions and the reports of other having trouble as well that night I think that no matter what I was in trouble. Luckily I made it out. It could have been worse. Just a few feet past where I crashed and a week earlier a lady wiped out in her Hummer and broke he leg. I'm hoping and hoping that they deem the car a total loss because I'd hate to drive this one again. I WILL be back in a Gc. I just don't know when. To the G's credit it did its job and protected its occupant. My car was perfect and I can't wait to have another one. Now, I'm back at work, embarrassed, showing people pictures of my dramatic week off for Christmas. So far so good though but I expect some pretty heavy ribbing, heh.

Sins4u33

iTrader: (4)

thats terrible.....from the views of the pictures that must have hurt......not just u....but the car.... sorry for the loss....
Ben

Jeff@Performance

WOW! Glad your okay. Car looks better than I imagined it would.

notlownf

I'm glad to hear your okay and those are some very depressing pics.

You may want to ask these guys about a body shop also.

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

glad to see you're not hurt, in that area, half-seriously you're lucky there were so many trees to break the fall on such a steep pitch - ouch.
Steve

Bait-Fish

Yeah, my pride, hurt bad. Physically though, nothing. I may have felt a twinge of sore muscle at the back of the neck the next day but that's so minor. The car. Heh, driving the rental Neon made me nearly cry the next day.

I got a call from the appraiser yesterday that he was heading up there from Sacramento but haven't heard anything since. I made sure to let him know about the possible rear drivetrain damage from extracting the car by the axle. I'm just hoping that everything takes it over the top to total it. After landing like that I don't feel good about the car's integrity overall anymore.

I keep saying that no matter what I want a new one, not that one, repaired or totalled. I think the next order cycle is coming up first week of January. Maybe I should just put in my order and in two plus months when the new one finally arrives, the old one will be done one way or the other, ready to be traded in *sigh* This sucks but at least it's "just a car"

hfm

iTrader: (1)

That sucks. But, don't worry about your driving skills. I grew up in Manitoba where it's winter for 6 months out of the year and roads were constantly covered with snow and ice. If you're not on snow tires and you hit a patch of ice at even 10 mph, you're going to be sliding and there is nothing that you or traction control or pretty much anything else will stop your slide.

Sorry about the car but at least you were driving slow enough to have walked out without harm. That's much more important.

jj1814

damn...I'm glad you are ok!

I think it will be totalled....

Bait-Fish

No word this week. I tried calling the insurance company Friday but apparently I did so too late since I didn't get a call back. Whatever... I was kinda expecting this around the holidaze. I'll put some pressure on 'em on Monday.

Reggi914

iTrader: (3)

I am glad you are OK. A car can always be replaced, thank G-d you are OK.

Bait-Fish

Well, got some news today that has me all jazzed. I got word from Wawanesa that the appraiser said it looks totalled. She had me release it to her from the yard and they're going to get a totalling appraiser (or whatever it was called) assigned to it. I made sure to ask if it's likely that it would be changed to "repairable" at this point and she said NO! Wow, what a smile came over my face. So, I put in my order with Arnold (again, hehe, 2nd time's a charm!) for the exact same car. HOPEFULLY he gets the allocation for my order this week *fingers crossed*

350ed

iTrader: (17)

I'm surprised it's totaled. Doesn't look too bad. Great for you though.

4Door350

I'm really not trying to rag on you, but something about this whole thing sits a little uneasy with me.

You were in known icy/inclement weather conditions, and you were approaching an unknown/unfamiliar turn that was labeled 25mph. You only slowed down to 20 for this turn?

The caution, 25mph sign is for good weather conditions, just like all other speed limit postings. Why would you think that, for a snowy, wet, possibly icy road that slowing down 5mph for a curve would be sufficient? Why is this the POS tires and not your own user error?

I'm not trying to fight or flame of start anything. But I just spent six days vacationing in Colorado. I'm a southern boy, so the roads I'm used to have a nice combination of STRAIGHT and DRY. Most of the roads I was driving in CO were straight nor dry...very much along the description of CURVY and SLICK, with the added bonus of LACKING GUARDRAILS. I was in a rental car with AWD, and I was still going nice and pokey along most of these roads. Granny-style. Maybe I was taking caution to levels of overkill. It just seems a little foolhardy to me to enter a posted 25mph dry-weather turn on a slick road at 20, and expect ANY tire to keep you on the road.

I'm sorry, I'm not really seeing this as something to chalk up to "crappy OEM tires." This was an honest mistake.

Hope I didn't ruin your thread. I'm glad to hear you survived, and that the G did it's job of keeping you in one piece. I hope you enjoy your new one. Being a sedan owner, if I were suddenly in the position to have to re-buy my car again, I'd take advantage of the fact that the AWD G35x is now available.

Bait-Fish

No, no, your question's valid and I understand where you're coming from. You're actually the first to bring it up. I'll post pics to illustrate better where these signs were and where I went off.

I had just come by a sign posted in a curve forewarning a slower speed for a curve yet to come. That sign (the backside of) is shown below. Note my tire tracks already off the road, running through the snow right at the sign.


This picture better illustrates the curve that the sign was posted at.


Here is the actual curve it was warning of in the distance. The week before a lady in a Hummer slid out there, hit a tree, rolled and broke her leg. She had to be taken out by helicopter.


Here is the second (final) sign warning of the turn ahead that I was slowing for but never made it to because of the ice I hit in the curve before.


EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot one more point. All blame cannot be placed on tires of course. Heh, if I was going slower I might have been able to make it through the slippery part *shrug* Don't doubt for one second though that these summer performance tires (Pilots) are okay to drive in these conditions. Countless others have had trouble in the cold as well. All I can say is search. Q45tech over at the Freshalloy forum posts substanciated information on the subject.

4Door350

:big thumb up: Thanks for explaining the bigger picture better for me! I'm glad you didn't take the post the wrong way, either.

Redfoot

iTrader: (25)

Damn trees, glad u r ok, it's amazing what looks like a very repairable amount of damage turns into a total loss. I think we have to thank the after $$ parts market for this.

Bait-Fish

Well, it's been quite a long time now and the process has been very slow but it looks like it's finally coming to a close. Last week the body shop started tearing it down to estimate the repair cost since the initial appraisal turned out to be $21k. Yesterday I got a call from the shop telling me that his estimate is $34k and that's not even going to look at the rear drivetrain yet which was used to yank the car out and up the hill, possibly bending things there too. The car was only $33.2k news. He got the call back from my insurer that they are going to total it, thank goodness! Now I'm researching an acceptable price range this car should be in but seeing that it was only 2.5 months old and 6k miles, I don't see it costing much under the original price, just as I've heard others get in similar situations. I'll keep ya updated...

meeno

Wow good luck...was this in CA? I didn't know they had snow in parts of CA

Bait-Fish

Yeah, northern CA. Hehehe, I know the state's known for sunshine but it really does have it all (minus tornados and hurricanes). Even SoCal has mountains that get snow and harbor many sky resorts. We've got some of the best skiing in the US (Mammoth and Tahoe). A little off the point but yeah, the north part of the state toward Oregon can get snow. I believe I was actually up around 4,000 feet at my crash site. Along the coast, up there they can get snow down to 500 feet I've seen forcast recently. Redding (inland) just a few weeks ago got a freak two feet of snow that wreaked havoc.:

SteveZ

iTrader: (3)

Yep. I know that area well and as soon as your post said "cut over from I5..." I said "Ouch!" That's one twisty road with lots of nothing.

Siskiyou Pass in Oregon is kind of similar, not something I'd trust that time of year if it was 70 and sunny down in the valley, I've just seen the weather change so quickly.

101 may be a crawl, but the area 36 goes through is pretty bleak!