My 535i off went of a cliff [Archive]

LAXman2205

11-07-2006, 09:02 PM

To sum it up...was a bad rainy day on the way home tonight only 2 miles away from my house, hit a slick road only doin 35mph with a posted limit of 45mph. Very bad ravine on right side of the road with no guard rail or any shoulder at all. Hydroplaned for about 30-40ft then a curve came up and the car just kept going straight with no control at all and off into a 20ft drop. Actually the car is in extraordinarily good shape for what it experienced. Front frame may be bent; front left quarter panel shifted back behind driver's door and only opens about a foot now and what I consider minimal damage to the front. These were the only pictures I could manage as I had a lot of work to do: talk to emergency squad, call tow truck, direct traffic, etc. I will get more pics and info on the car tomorrow b/c the body shop is closed.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/5760/bmw005resizedir0.jpg
http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/338/bmw006resizedny9.jpg

Jehu

11-07-2006, 09:05 PM

Glad you're alright. Did you fall the entire 20'?What kind of tires do you have on? I'll make a note not to buy those,LOL...:)

Qube

11-07-2006, 09:06 PM

I know a good paintless dent guy. Glad you're ok though ;)

LAXman2205

11-07-2006, 09:11 PM

They were BF Goodrich Traction T/A haha, fabulous tires. They just exceeded their life and wore them out, I had actually planned to get new tires next week. Not soon enough I guess :(

Fetch

11-07-2006, 09:20 PM

Wow, another E34 loss due to rain and bald tires!, Good thing you're ok though!

angrypancake

11-07-2006, 09:21 PM

holy ****! you're ok and typing here. another example of bad tires killing an awesome e34. and it was red too! double :(

Turbo Ready

11-07-2006, 09:23 PM

Happy you are OK, your car will live again.

Thats a sweet red e34 BTW.

genphreak

11-07-2006, 09:25 PM

Ouch, sorry to hear the news.

Did she manage to save you from a serious bruising?

I hope she comes out well and you can sort out the drama. Let us know how the prognosis goes... can she recover? How are her door gaps looking?

aston_jag_tech

11-07-2006, 09:47 PM

Holy ****, thats crazy!!!

Alexlind123

11-07-2006, 10:27 PM

They were BF Goodrich Traction T/A haha, fabulous tires. They just exceeded their life and wore them out, I had actually planned to get new tires next week. Not soon enough I guess :(

I was going to say, those tires look really bald. Let this be a warning to all those who think they can go those few extra miles on bald tires!

Atl530i

11-07-2006, 10:35 PM

That sucks, glad to see your okay. Funny thing though, I have those same tires on my car. They are due for a change in about 5k miles.

Another E34 bites the bullet. Thats 3 real nice E34s gone now. Is yours able to be fixed?

pyro

11-07-2006, 11:00 PM

looks like im getting new tires now... My fuzions turnd are raceing slicks right now and its starting to rain :(

gale

11-07-2006, 11:04 PM

Wow, really sorry to hear that. Must have been a really sobering experience to go over the edge like that. Glad you weren't injured & hope the shop can put your car back on the road.

///Metal

11-08-2006, 12:18 AM

Ouch! Sorry about your car. Hope you get back on the road fast.

Yiorgos

11-08-2006, 01:12 AM

SC David

11-08-2006, 01:30 AM

Sheesh! Good to hear you're okay. Those with bald tires, make sure to get some tread before these winter months! Too many E34's have been going down due to bad rubber.

Alexlind123

11-08-2006, 01:42 AM

Glad to see that you're OK. Consider that if you were in a different car, things could have been quite different...

On a side note, I have never seen an E34 with its wheels hanging so low! Also, Alexlind how can you even tell in those photos that his tyres are that bald?

Lol, my brother asked me the same thing when i showed him this thread. I just thought the looked bald and then i actually read the post and he said the tires were bald. Maybe i couldnt see and just assumed *shrug*.

shragon

11-08-2006, 01:57 AM

glad to see you're alright!

Alexlind123

11-08-2006, 02:00 AM

glad to see you're alright!

Your new car looks like a piece of futuristic war mechanism, in a good way. =D

BillionPa

11-08-2006, 02:12 AM

CharlesAFerg

11-08-2006, 02:45 AM

i have needed new tires for about a year, everytime it rains i need to take turns at about 10mph or it will slide around way to much.

on the flip side, nearly bald tires hold grip like racing slicks when its dry out!

I am betting all of you my tires are the most dangerously bald out of everyone on this forum who drives their car every day...

Not something to be proud of, but it is a result of not having the tires i bought, ebcause i was jipped and the offset was wrong on the wheels so I still don't have good winter wheels... (The ones in my add, they have brand new winter tires and everything...)
I have two potential buyers though...

I'm literally a little scared to drive out there right now... He's not excagerrating about the 10mph turning...

The Bigfella

11-08-2006, 04:01 AM

Glad you are OK mate

Pity about the car

califblue

11-08-2006, 11:46 AM

Glad your Ok:D

consider yourself lucky...bald tires in the rain = no no

I too am running the traction TA's absolute fabulous tires they are 10X better than the Dunlop SP Sport A2's'

dacoyote

11-08-2006, 12:23 PM

Glad you are ok...

DABLACK

11-08-2006, 02:10 PM

for the love of god!!!!! ....glad you are ok......I guess this marks the importance of good tires....im buying new ones tonite!!!!

Jehu

11-08-2006, 02:35 PM

I've put off getting tires becasue six months ago when i got the car i bought just the fronts. Two Fuzion H rated . the rears are Fusion Z rated and are virtually bald.I looked at my options for snows and most say for them to work you need all four but even if i went with two snows i need to decide if i should get soemthing that i can also keep and drive after winter on the rears that will work with the fronts or get soemthing that i shouldn't drive after winter thus still requiring i buy two more for after winter driving. If i get the heavier rubber which offer less traction in winter but can be driven thereafter as well are they going to be too bulky in the rear for my sport set up and agressive driving mode? I'm hoping for a low snow winter as the weather system seems to point in that driection with El Niño in the Pacific supposed to keep moisture to my South for the most part. I am leaning toward getting a Snow i can use year round.

BillionPa

11-08-2006, 04:13 PM

Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires are the ones im looking at, apparently they are totally awesome not only in the snow but in wet/dry conditions as well.

Zeuk in Oz

11-08-2006, 04:51 PM

Am I to assume that at your tender age this was your first major accident - if so - good. You survived it. You are one of the lucky ones.

It is not until you have had at least one such incident that your imagination starts to consider what might be round a corner, what happens on these tyres if it rains, etc etc.

The mind of young male humans is remarkably good at ignoring what everyone else sees or anticipates. Otherwise there would be no fighter pilots. :D

Glad you are OK.

A valuable lesson learnt ! :) (The hard way - often the best way).

Macv

11-08-2006, 06:15 PM

Man I really feel bad for you. Truly glad you weren't hurt physically.

LAXman2205

11-08-2006, 06:16 PM

Took some pics today of it sittin outside of the shop....shop is backed up and will be estimated tomorrow. Apparently a lot more people had accidents last night than just me.
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/2575/bmw008hu6.jpg
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/7999/bmw012fh9.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9376/bmw013fp6.jpg

Thayne

11-08-2006, 06:24 PM

Damn thats nuts! Glad to hear that you are ok!

genphreak

11-08-2006, 06:34 PM

Man those tyres are terrible. No wonder you went the flipper. It's illegal to go under 3mm here in Australia... at registration time anyway.

I guess driving on bald tyres would otherwise be dealt with in an accident case (ie who do we blame for someone's death type thing) as negligence somehow- (Here's one for the lawyers.... if the tyres on a car that causes a fatal accident were really bad, could the driver be hit with manslaughter by a victim's family?)

Anyway, yea it doesn't look so bad, the rails can be straightened out, but they won't want to bother- an insurer won't have to pay you very much to write a car like this off, what's the street value? 1/3 of that won't leave much for doing a good repair job. Will you buy it back at auction and get another? (I guess you'll be sure to get good tyres on the next one!) :( Nick

Jehu

11-08-2006, 06:43 PM

Thayne

11-08-2006, 06:56 PM

bent frame? looks totaled.

Thats what I am thinking as well. :(

Jehu

11-08-2006, 06:59 PM

Thats what I am thinking as well. :(LOL looks like there's a body in there too. He didn't mention that!

Thayne

11-08-2006, 07:24 PM

LOL looks like there's a body in there too. He didn't mention that!

I think that might be him and someone took the pic or maybe its one of his buddies.

LAXman2205

11-08-2006, 07:36 PM

I think that might be him and someone took the pic or maybe its one of his buddies.
Yep, got one of my buds to drive me to the shop to check out the engine bay and snap off a few more pics. Everything in the engine compartment looks fine, just that front left frame twisted, really sucks b/c rest of the car is in good condition....in my standards at least. Im pretty sure its a total b/c the word on the street is it only takes 55% of the total value for it to be classified as a total and 535i 's are worth what now? $6,000-$7,000?

Thayne

11-08-2006, 08:22 PM

With the amount of miles on your car you probably will be getting $4000-3000 for you car.

///Metal

11-08-2006, 08:51 PM

Yep, got one of my buds to drive me to the shop to check out the engine bay and snap off a few more pics. Everything in the engine compartment looks fine, just that front left frame twisted, really sucks b/c rest of the car is in good condition....in my standards at least. Im pretty sure its a total b/c the word on the street is it only takes 55% of the total value for it to be classified as a total and 535i 's are worth what now? $6,000-$7,000?

It took about $2K worth of cosmetic damage to mine to total it. All structural components and the frame are completely untouched. But it now has a salvage title. I don't really care about resale value because I'm keeping the car forever.

Atl530i

11-08-2006, 09:01 PM

LOL looks like there's a body in there too. He didn't mention that!

Haha, thats too funny.

Damn dude the daytime is painful on my eyes as I looked at your pictures. That sucks dude. I'm amazed that that is all that happened to your car jusy by looking at your tires. Damn dude tires are something that you just can't let go. As you can tell.

Good luck getting your car fixed. It may get totalled by your insurance company so I'd start looking for another E34 just incase they total it.

Denton

11-08-2006, 09:09 PM

That car is gone gone gone.

If you have comprehensive, you'll get lucky, but you won't be able to afford payments now, so you'll probably have to back down to liability for a while.

Insurance will probably give $3k. That's about how much it was worth anyways.

///Metal

11-08-2006, 10:30 PM

All that should buff out. Just get shorter springs for the left side. :)

Zeuk in Oz

11-08-2006, 11:32 PM

Took some pics today of it sittin outside of the shop....shop is backed up and will be estimated tomorrow. Apparently a lot more people had accidents last night than just me.
I hope your insurance company pays.

Here they would most likely take one look at your tyres and wash their hands of you.

rob101

11-09-2006, 12:29 AM

I hope your insurance company pays.

Here they would most likely take one look at your tyres and wash their hands of you.
This is why i don't have insurance

Jehu

11-09-2006, 12:41 AM

This is why i don't have insurance

So, if,God forbid, you black out behind the wheel and mow down a kindergarten class how are you able to compensate for any losses? I live in a State which does not require Motorists who own their cars outright to carry any insurance whatsoever.I own this 540 free and clear yet have the max of any and all coverage available so if something like that happened i could still have my home, which i thankfully also own outright and need not worry about that ever changing.

rob101

11-09-2006, 12:46 AM

So, if,God forbid, you black out behind the wheel and mow down a kindergarten class how are you able to compensate for any losses? I live in a State which does not require Motorists who own their cars outright to carry any insurance whatsoever.I own this 540 free and clear yet have the max of any and all coverage available so if something like that happened i could still have my home, which i thankfully also own outright and need not worry about that ever changing.
I have 3rd party property fire and theft.
It is compolsory to have 3rd party insurance in australia.
so....... yeah basically i only have to worry about my stuff getting damaged every other lunatic on the road is covered

///Metal

11-09-2006, 01:19 AM

I have 3rd party property fire and theft.
It is compolsory to have 3rd party insurance in australia.
so....... yeah basically i only have to worry about my stuff getting damaged every other lunatic on the road is covered

That's the same thing as liability insurance. That's all you're required to have in the States as well. When you said that you have no insurance, you made it sound like you had absolutely nothing whatsoever.

Zeuk in Oz

11-09-2006, 02:01 AM

That's the same thing as liability insurance. That's all you're required to have in the States as well. When you said that you have no insurance, you made it sound like you had absolutely nothing whatsoever.
In Oz, as well as being required to have 3rd party insurance as a minimum, we also have what we call green slip insurance in NSW which covers occupants of all cars except the at-fault driver.
That is paid for with the registration.

e39dream

11-09-2006, 10:36 AM

I like to buy and fix cars for a hobby and am on the lookout for an e34 that needs love- that said I would not touch that particular car- it's bent in ways that will make it near impossible to fix to new. You WANT that thing to be totaled out, even if they gave you 3500 bucks you could get a celan titled one that isn't too rough.

rob101

11-09-2006, 03:35 PM

That's the same thing as liability insurance. That's all you're required to have in the States as well. When you said that you have no insurance, you made it sound like you had absolutely nothing whatsoever.
yeah I live on the edge maaaaaaaaan. lol yeah you have to have 3rd party minimum but i think that only covers damage to 3rd party people, not property.