Wrecked at 80mph yesterday.. car totaled

[shadegray]

on I-90. About 10 miles east of Ellensburg. Somersaulted about 3 times into the ditch and the car was SMASHED. Probably ended up 3 or 4 feet tall from the bottom of the tire to the roof. The top was flattened. Landed upside down, with a fire in the engine compartment, and the drivers side door crushed shut. Everybody thought I was dead but I was actually fine. Seatbelt definately saved my life. Some cuts and abrasions from the broken glass, and bruises. My knees feeling pretty sore and I think maybe a fractured kneecap or a chipped femur. I unbuckled and got out through the back door. I have pics on my cell, but I can't seem to get them to my computer. Anyway the car was fine below 50 at all rpms but vibrating a lot above 60 mph. Groaning and creaking. The headlights of the car behind me actually had that light effect because the mirror was vibrating so much, where it looked like 2 circles because the mirror was vibrating in a circular pattern. All of a sudden the car lumped over onto the left side like the wheel had fallen off, and that took me off the road. When I got out of the car, the wheel was still there though. What do you think happened? Bad strut, leading to really bad wheelhop and then wedged the wheel in the wheelwell? Blown tire? I'd known the CV axles were in pretty bad shape but I don't see how that would cause the car to lump over.

[hutch1999]

damn that sucks, what kind of car was it? nothin was listed in your profile

[shadegray]

it was a 91 subaru legacy. My daily driver, goes between that and a 98 maxima.

[Musclefan21]

glad you are ok. you mught have hit a pretty big hole on the road at that speed. it happened to me once, i didn't see the hole and bam i hit the hotel so hard, i thought i messed up the entire front end and thank god the car stayed under control.

[ibanez7]

if the car started vibrating bad at 60mph why did you take it up to 80mph, instead of slowing down and pulling over to check out the car????



How where the tires????

If your running low profile tires/wheels then honestly it sounds like a tire bulge that finally let go... typically when a tire bulge goes, it shreds the side wall, creating a vibration, then finally the tire rips off the wheel and pulls the car to that side because of the increased friction.

Many people expect low profile wheels/tires to feel like a 15" wheel and 75+mm sidewall tire that is flat and they dont!!!! People drive on it or continue to drive on it and ruin the wheel or cause an accident. This is why many new cars and tire pressure monitoring systems.


doubt it was suspension or cv joint related...

another option would be the ball joints on the lower control arm... Many cars have rubber /nylon boots that cover the ball joint. Once the boot detoriates the ball joint becomes exposed and rots away. Once this happens you lose steering to that wheel and the wheel can break off. This happened to my gf, with her shitty DODGE avenger. It was a recall that she was never notified on. Same thing happened vibrated then it broke off, pulling her into on coming traffic. Luckily no accident. FUCKING DODGE SUCKS!!!!.....

[shadegray]

It seemed to calm down a little at 80. 70-75 was the worst. Below 60 was fine. They were snow tires. The tires looked fine. Very high sidewalls. The wheels were still attached but they were coated in dirt and grass and the cops wanted me to stay away from the car. They looked like they were still on straight though. I'm not sure what could've caused catastrophic failure like that. I was going to take this girl I'd dated back to seattle with me too.. I'm really glad I didn't. Lost a lot of stuff. My ipod was missing, glasses. Smashed up pretty much everything in the car and stuff was thrown out. I found luggage wedged into the dashboard and crushed between the roof and back seats.

[Tyler_LS1]

Wow Sorry to hear that, Glad your ok

[shadegray]

The stupid thing is, I always expected that if I had a traffic accident, it would be my bike that killed me. Or drinking and driving or something like that. Not a regular drive with my daily driver, trying to get home for christmas. Damn I'm sore all over right now. I got a ride back with the tow truck driver and he dumped me off at grayhound so I could take the bus home. Home right now feels good.

[gonzo99ta]

glad your ok

Although next time a car starts to feel weird at speed you mighy yhink about pulling over and checking it, rather than speed up to see if it "smooths out".

[shadegray]

It'd been like that for a week. The problem wasn't obvious, or nothing I could tell from a roadside check. I thought it could be some suspension problem, maybe even just warped rotors or something. I didn't think it was going to be serious enough to cause a collision.

[astyles]

glad you are ok......must have been quite ride

[NE98LS1]

no doubt, glad to hear you are ok bud.

[third_shift|studios]

GOD DAYUM!!!!!! I figured it couldn't have been an F-body when you said "crushed the top, but i lived" and "crawled out the back door." Be thankful you're alive, man!!!

[86 IROC-Z]

That sucks man, sorry about your car but atleast you're okay.

Smashed up pretty much everything in the car and stuff was thrown out. I found luggage wedged into the dashboard and crushed between the roof and back seats.

Were you hit by any luggage or anything that was in the car during the crash? I always get wary of that sort of thing when I have a lot of stuff in the back of my car... I was coming home for the holidays from college in my Iroc not long ago and I had to brake hard on the highway... the minifridge that was in my backseat almost broke the passenger seat... it had folded almost completely forward with the fridge sitting ontop of it

[shadegray]

No, I didn't get hit. I got hit by the broken glass. I remember the car flipping over and going upside down, then the windows all burst and pieces of glass flying all over and hit me in the face. I guess they use some kind of safety glass because I didn't get cut very bad. Every time the car flipped I hit my head and the roof kept collapsing further and further in. I was hoping I wouldn't get pinned by it. But I only had a suitcase full of clothes and bathroom stuff, I was just going home for christmas break so most of my stuff I left at home. I did lost my ipod too. My laptop computer actually survived. I'm typing on it right now. It beeps at startup and the volume controls are messed up but it works ok. Good because I couldn't afford another computer right now anyways.

[bad boy 99]

GOD DAYUM!!!!!! I figured it couldn't have been an F-body when you said "crushed the top, but i lived" and "crawled out the back door." Be thankful you're alive, man!!!

the cv axels is what got me.