Turbo AP2 Front End Destroyed...but not the rest!
08-28-2007, 11:02 AM
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Turbo AP2 Front End Destroyed...but not the rest!
Well, let me start of by saying that I wasnt' sure where this thread should go, and NO, I do NOT have pictures yet, I will post them when I get them. The pictures were taken from a new camera without a USB interface (stupid isn't it?) and the cord is, of course, missing.
Anyway, it was a wet afternoon and it rained all day, then in the evening it cleared up nicely. I was on the way to texas roadhouse for my mother's birthday dinner with my g/f in the car riding top down as always. We approach the interstate onramp and I'm in 4th gear doing about 50. Immediately after I start to gradually accelerate in 4th up to 65, the car hits a wet spot and gets sideways pretty instantaneously. I attempt to countersteer but it's too late and the car has no grip whatsoever and is sliding right to the guard rail across 3 lanes of I-75 that, thank god, were empty and had no semis or trucks or cars. The car impacts the guardrail in the front end and the whole front section of the car is crushed like a soda can under someone's foot. Airbags deploy, my laptop my g/f was holding for an earlier log that day smashes into he dash and breaks apart into hundreds of small plastic shards, scraping her and my arms/her legs.
After things settle down and we take in what just happened, I ask if she's ok, she replies yes, then I ask about 5 more times just to make sure. My face hurts from the airbag, but I don't pay attention to it. All I can think about was how quickly and suddenly the car went from going straight to being completely perpendicular with the road and under barely any load at all. I get out and look at the car...the windshield isn't scratched at all, amazingly, in fact, 3/4 of the rest of the car is fine, it's just the whole front end up to the quarter panels are crushed completely. The hood is rolled back like a sardine can, exposing the completely compressed intercooler piping that connect(ed) to the intake manifold. My front mount IC lies broken on the ground next to my torn off front bumper and broken headlights. My radiator is leaking from a huge crack right down the middle. My car is totalled (or so the cop/towing/damage assessment guys say)...
I guess after it was said and done, tires really are that important. I still had 20-30% tread on the stockers, but hitting a wet slick evidently gave it all it needed. I won't doubt that some will call bs and say I was going faster than that, but truth of the matter is, I wasn't...the lesson learned here is that extreme precaution need be taken when the road is still wet and your tires aren't in the best of shape (common sense, right?) I just never thought that this car could get sideways under so little load and after exiting such a gradual turn...Especially considering I have driven it harder when the roads have been damp time and time again, even my dad's old/new miatas have handled water much better under more load.
Insurance adjuster is going to contact me in the next day after university collision gives an estimate. After this I will either
A) go shopping for a turbo AP1 (hopefully to buy slimjim's is my plan)
B) Buy a ridiculously cheap AP1 and do the whole turboing all over again
C) Leave the S2K scene altogether and buy an FD/build it.
We'll see what happens, it really all depends on the figures I am given for the car and it's mods. Oh, my car was a silverstone/black 2004 IP turbo with only 19k miles on the clock.
If you guys have any opinions on what I should do in terms of my options, go for it.
(PICTURES included on pg 3).
Anyway, it was a wet afternoon and it rained all day, then in the evening it cleared up nicely. I was on the way to texas roadhouse for my mother's birthday dinner with my g/f in the car riding top down as always. We approach the interstate onramp and I'm in 4th gear doing about 50. Immediately after I start to gradually accelerate in 4th up to 65, the car hits a wet spot and gets sideways pretty instantaneously. I attempt to countersteer but it's too late and the car has no grip whatsoever and is sliding right to the guard rail across 3 lanes of I-75 that, thank god, were empty and had no semis or trucks or cars. The car impacts the guardrail in the front end and the whole front section of the car is crushed like a soda can under someone's foot. Airbags deploy, my laptop my g/f was holding for an earlier log that day smashes into he dash and breaks apart into hundreds of small plastic shards, scraping her and my arms/her legs.
After things settle down and we take in what just happened, I ask if she's ok, she replies yes, then I ask about 5 more times just to make sure. My face hurts from the airbag, but I don't pay attention to it. All I can think about was how quickly and suddenly the car went from going straight to being completely perpendicular with the road and under barely any load at all. I get out and look at the car...the windshield isn't scratched at all, amazingly, in fact, 3/4 of the rest of the car is fine, it's just the whole front end up to the quarter panels are crushed completely. The hood is rolled back like a sardine can, exposing the completely compressed intercooler piping that connect(ed) to the intake manifold. My front mount IC lies broken on the ground next to my torn off front bumper and broken headlights. My radiator is leaking from a huge crack right down the middle. My car is totalled (or so the cop/towing/damage assessment guys say)...
I guess after it was said and done, tires really are that important. I still had 20-30% tread on the stockers, but hitting a wet slick evidently gave it all it needed. I won't doubt that some will call bs and say I was going faster than that, but truth of the matter is, I wasn't...the lesson learned here is that extreme precaution need be taken when the road is still wet and your tires aren't in the best of shape (common sense, right?) I just never thought that this car could get sideways under so little load and after exiting such a gradual turn...Especially considering I have driven it harder when the roads have been damp time and time again, even my dad's old/new miatas have handled water much better under more load.
Insurance adjuster is going to contact me in the next day after university collision gives an estimate. After this I will either
A) go shopping for a turbo AP1 (hopefully to buy slimjim's is my plan)
B) Buy a ridiculously cheap AP1 and do the whole turboing all over again
C) Leave the S2K scene altogether and buy an FD/build it.
We'll see what happens, it really all depends on the figures I am given for the car and it's mods. Oh, my car was a silverstone/black 2004 IP turbo with only 19k miles on the clock.
If you guys have any opinions on what I should do in terms of my options, go for it.
(PICTURES included on pg 3).
08-28-2007, 11:06 AM
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Sorry to hear it. Glad you are okay.
The summer tires suck in wet. I think that was the key. My so2s when i had 27000 miles on them still stuck on dry pavement one day when lesser tires would have lost grip and made me dead.
The summer tires suck in wet. I think that was the key. My so2s when i had 27000 miles on them still stuck on dry pavement one day when lesser tires would have lost grip and made me dead.
08-28-2007, 11:07 AM
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I'm sorry to hear the accident. 
Glad to hear that you and your g/f is okay. That's all that matters.
I know how easy it is to lose control of a RWD sports car.
Hope you forget the bad luck and be back with us with another S.
Dan
Glad to hear that you and your g/f is okay. That's all that matters.
I know how easy it is to lose control of a RWD sports car.
Hope you forget the bad luck and be back with us with another S.
Dan
08-28-2007, 11:19 AM
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The same thing happened to me on an exit ramp. It was a 25mph exit ramp, and I was going about 30mph in 3rd gear. I was behind 2 SUVs, so I couldn't have been going too fast. My rear tires weren't down to the bars, but they weren't exactly new either. It was about 40 degrees outside, and right when I started to accelerate, the tires just completely broke loose. I had a choice of either correcting and potentially going into the concrete wall, or allowing the car to spin and controlling it. Rather than hit the concrete, I took my chances with the guardrail. I got the car to spin, and the front left barely clipped the guard rail. Luckily, the only thing that happened was a little paint rub and a 1 inch crack in the corner of the headlight housing. If I had overcorrected, I would've hit a 5 foot high concrete wall at 30mph. That day I went and bought new tires. Just a lesson for everybody, especially with an AP1. If it's cold, raining, or snowing, don't drive on tires with less than 30% tread. The chances of being able to correct a spin are very slim in those conditions.
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08-28-2007, 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Saki GT,Aug 28 2007, 11:27 AM
Be sure and post pics of your tires.
08-28-2007, 11:52 AM
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Glad to hear you both made it out alright. Sounds likely that it might end up totalled based on how quickly S's jump to it, despite most of the car appearing to be fine.
They always say loose items become projectiles in crashes.
They always say loose items become projectiles in crashes.
