Hopefully others may benefit from my misfortune...

Cold and wet do not mix well with high performance cars on summer tires - ask me how I know.

(If you didn't ask, stop reading here) Making a simple right hand turn, I gave the car a little to much gas and out the back came. Not the first time, and a swinging back end is not normally a problem. This time however, I couldn't get the car back in line...I didn't hit the brake or even jump off the gas. It just pendulumned out of control one over-correction after another, and I ended up hitting the median - and luckily nothing else - with the right rear. Needless to say the car was damaged, the wheel was at some very unnatural angle. Hopefully the repars won't be too bad, but I'm not optimistic on that either.

Either way, that's what insurance is for and no one was hurt, so I guess I should count my blessings. Careful out there, especially with the weather starting to get less forgiving. I wasn't going fast, or driving aggressively. The turn was very bumpy and must have, with the help of my too-leaden foot, broke traction. My apparent incompetence then took over and there you go. One recipe for suspension soup.

 

So sorry to hear this. We seem to constantly remind each other of this characteristic of our light, RWD, sports car....unfortunately, we tend to remind ourselves of this through experiences like yours rather than pre-warning.

Hope your damage will be easily restored to specs. Take care!

- Dave

 

Tis the season for suspension soup! Glad to hear the damage was fairly minor.

 

Repairing mine right now for the same thing! I'm up to $1500. New wheel, lower control arm, some other stuff, and now the hub and bearings. Wife was a little pissed(hit her head on the window), but no real injuries. I ended up facing eastbound on the the westbound side about two feet from my friend's Mustang. Luckily, I hit no one.

Good luck!

 

FF...sounds familiar Do you know how the suspension broke? I was looking at it, but in the dark and rain I couldn't really see what happened. I'm hoping it was designed to snap on an easily replaceable part rather than, say, a mount...but I couldn't tell. $1500 isn't that bad, all things considered, I was expecting significantly worse. Somehow, my brake disc snapped which impressed me greatly.

 

Nothing actually "broke." Bent, yes. I still may have to replace an axle, not sure. Oh, and I hope it didn't sound like I'm under the car doing it myself! Having it done at a shop. I'll let you know what the final bill is. Smacking the curb was innocent enough... but with the cost of repairs these days, my first estimate(by me) was $3000. At least I don't have to replace the tire!

This has been an expensive lesson. I could have kept my exhaust(used HKS) AND picked up those 17" wheels the guy from New England was selling for $1300! I definitely will let my tires warm up next time. Heck, the car never made it past 5500 rpm... car was cold, too.

 

My curb misadventure only cost me $250 for some bent adjuster and about $350 for a new Superleggera. And a knotted up elbow. I was driving straight in the rain at about 35-40 mph in sixth. I hit some standing water and out she went.
Good luck to you. Hope you come out as good as I did.