Prod Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Thursday night a friend and I went driving around in an empty parking lot in the snow. My friend is very experienced with driving on dirt and snow, has had short stints in rally cars, and regularly is a co-driver. He also beat me at an autox with my car.So he's a good driver, but he managed to screw it up this time. I drove around a bit, and then let him drive. He had done a few laps and said "after this turn I'll give it back to you." Well, I never got it back because he didn't make the turn as we jumped a curb and it had to be towed. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Prod238/LGTcrunch/lgtalexwreck.jpg If he realized that he wasn't going to make it a little earlier I think he could've veered left and saved the car. When he realized he wasn't going to make it, he straightened the car up a little which was better than trying to kick the back end out, as such an action would have resulted in side impact of the curb and complete suspension destruction as well as possibly a roll. Here's the damage: Left side: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Prod238/LGTcrunch/Pic005.jpg Front left: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Prod238/LGTcrunch/Pic001.jpg Front left: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Prod238/LGTcrunch/Pic003.jpg Rear left (blown tire and chipped wheel): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Prod238/LGTcrunch/Pic002.jpg There was no apparent damage on the right. Ballpark estimate: $3-4k. The full estimate will be ready on Monday. My friend wants to pay for the damages, but he only has $1700 to his name. I'm researching the costs of parts to fix everything myself in conjunction with some of my very mechanically experienced friends. I'm trying not to report it to my insurance, but I may have to. I haven't gotten mad yet. I don't think reality has set in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviemadness Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 there is this saying... you can borrow my wife but not my car... that sucks man. I hope everything works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator GT Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 aghghhhhhhh...that sucks. good luck. "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." - T. Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator GT Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 there is this saying... you can borrow my wife but not my car... that sucks man. I hope everything works out. here's my saying: you can't borrow my wife OR my car! "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." - T. Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviemadness Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 :lol: :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 sorry to hear that.. hope your friend is going to pay for all of that. Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
executor485 Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Ok, I dont know the whole situation... But couldnt your friend report it on HIS insurance and get it all fixed since it was him that was driving it when the mishap happened... Unless he doesnt have insurance, and then... OUCH. When my mishap happened (slammed into the curb with both right tires, only the front right took most of the impact and actually completely obliterated the front right suspension, and the front bumper had to be replaced...) it cost 7k in damage and repairs... It didnt bend the wheel back like that though, just broke it off... lol. So hopefully it didnt do more damage than just the visible, looks like it hit pretty dang hard. :S Good luck on that... Really hurts to see a Subie thats damaged If I pass you on the right, I'm flipping you off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSFW Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 There are risks, there are rewards, and sometimes, there are incidents... Ouch. You have my sympathies. Sometimes I think the reason I haven't mangled any of my cars yet, and other people have, is that I'm careful and of course I have the mad skillz (yo) and others aren't and don't. Other times I think it's just that I've been lucky, and others just haven't been as lucky. Next time it snows, you get to drive your buddy's car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMBIVALENCE Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 i did that silly thing once to my car... and it was totalled coz i hug a fence after the curb landing. I hope it's not that bad for you... but 3k+ for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWP-LegacyGT Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 wow. Two factors in this event.... 1.) Dumb 2.) Dumber. A friend driving a car in dry conditions.... sure... maybe.... but in snow w/ a lot of unknowns..... specially a turbo car.... sucks to see this happen man. I hope you make him pay for the repairs + labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 even good drivers have their bad days.. hopefully someone got smarter out of the whole situation to learn how to minimize the risks, but if the pockets are deep in cash, what does it matter? Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godwhomismike Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 sorry to see this man - that sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SactoPete Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Bummer dude.... I doubt that car will NEVER be quite the same. Look at the way the fender fits to the door now. I bet the whole car is askew. Time to sell and upgrade. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godwhomismike Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 RE-92s FTL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emorphien Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 even good drivers have their bad days.. +1 In those conditions the driver should know what to try to anticipate if they're goofing around. Even worse is throwing completely unpredictable conditions at the driver. That's life, this stuff just happens to people sometimes, no matter how good they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psucaptainkickass Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 RE-92s FTL Now where is that scapegoat picture when you need it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prod Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 wow. Two factors in this event.... 1.) Dumb 2.) Dumber. A friend driving a car in dry conditions.... sure... maybe.... but in snow w/ a lot of unknowns..... specially a turbo car.... sucks to see this happen man. I hope you make him pay for the repairs + labor. I was with him. He made a mistake, and has learned from it. He's going to pay for the damages. We were in as controlled of an environment as possible for snow driving. The only thing that could go wrong was to hit a curb. We did hit a curb, unfortunately at an undesirable speed. The Legacy's AWD system is simply amazing, and coupled with winter tires, the car takes off just as fast in the snow as it does in the dry. He had been driving a few laps around the area with no problems. He got a little overzealous with the gas and then suddenly realized that the magical acceleration doesn't work for braking. In many cases with AWD cars, this can be compensated for by throwing the car into a turn anyways and applying gas gently as needed to pull yourself out of whatever sticky situation you got into. Unfortunately, there is point where this strategy will no longer work. Thankfully, he identified that he was beyond this limit and did not try to throw the car sideways. Instead he straightened out and took the curb head on. Hitting the curb sideways at our speed would've either totally wrecked the suspension on the entire left side or rolled the car. I identified his entry speed as too fast pretty early on, but there wasn't anything either of us could do. I was in the passenger seat and he was at full braking under ABS. If I were at the wheel, I think I could've saved the car after it was apparent it wasn't going to go right by making the slight left into the straight. Unfortunately my friend didn't think of this at the time. I think we tried to minimize risk as much as possible. I won't be letting any friends tool around in my car again though. As far as driving in the parking lot, I would much rather learn how my car handles in the snow while in a parking lot where the worst that can happen is I hit a curb than to be cruising on the highway, getting caught in a snowstorm, and hitting a car, tree or deer and having my car totalled. Of course, I wouldn't have attempted such a manuever as my friend did, but then again, despite him being a good driver, I've had a lot more seat time in my car to know its limits better. I wasn't on RE92s. I was on Dunlop Graspics which are fairly capable winter tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infamous1 Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Bummer dude.... I doubt that car will NEVER be quite the same. Look at the way the fender fits to the door now. I bet the whole car is askew. Time to sell and upgrade. Pete Nah he's alright, it looks like the control arm should of took all the impact. Replace that and mabe the tie rod then bingo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prod Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 Nah he's alright, it looks like the control arm should of took all the impact. Replace that and mabe the tie rod then bingo. The axle broke too. My car put a dent in the concrete of the curb. (The concrete was compressed, not sheared off) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infamous1 Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 That's a little more severe sounding, but the control arms have a lot of give in them so I wouldn't suspect frame damage. I kissed a curb too recently, it seems to be quite common here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STG Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 RE-92s FTL It's not the tires' fault. It's the idiot friend's fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLGT-B Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Don't get mad "Shit Happens"... Get it fixed under your insurance. What would usually happen is that your insurance would go up about 300.00 to 700.00 per year (more or less) for two years (depends on where you live), just let your friend pay that. That's fair enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmarko Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Reminds me when I was learning to drive in the snow back in '87. We had a huge snow storm, and I took my '82 280ZX to the mall that was 1/2 mile from my house. HUGE parking lot, and I was learning how to control the car in full on snow conditions. I was doing well, but the snow was deep enough that I didn't see one of the small "islands" where the light poles were. BLAMMO. Ended up bending the frame. Definitely a lesson learned for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjundi Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 Bummer. You have to pay to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gmachine Posted December 9, 2006 Share Posted December 9, 2006 RE-92s FTL Stop blaming tires for this and that,look at the picture. Those look like some dedicated snows,possibly blizzaks. You horse around in a lot or wherever,be prepared to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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