What are the odds that our 5ers could be blown off a road?

[Macv]

Higher than you think. :(

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4599/2380627927985905990zm9.jpg
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My last pics before taking off to the Chicago 5er meet. I'm driving the on-ramp to the interstate; slow because its 7:00 am, 16*F, and wet out. Luck have it... just as I start looking to merge, a semi flys by me. Next thing I feel, my rear end breaking loose. WTF do I do? Gas it to lose more traction? Brake to spin to a stop on the interstate? OR swallow my luck and just try to steer it off road (currently heading across traffic)? My quickest decision was to just steer offroad. I'm sure someone will give me the "you should have done this" ********, but you were there to help me.

LSS: I slid off, through a fence and some shrubs. Driverside took the brunt. Nice wrinkle on the rear quarter-panel just above the taillight. Part of my rear bumper was not found, and when I stopped part of the fence was through my front bumper. The worst part... barbed wire did a number on my roof. >:[

It's all fixable, but I'm guessing they'll total it. It'll never be the same because many of the parts on the car are no longer available.

Pictures are on my friend's camera, and I'm in no hurry to post them.

Please just drive safe on the highway guys. I've lost about 2 years of hard work.

[Macv]

Can I have your wheels? I kid.



Amazingly, 3 made it without a scratch (need to check if they're still straight) however... one is completely trashed and bent..... bad.



This result is most likely better than spinning in any event. Fence to the front is nicer than t-boned by a truck. Braking probably do nothing. Gas'ing it would be a gamble of sorts...

Kinda how I was thinking.

[Ferret]

Ah **** mate, commiserations.

All that can really be said is you've walked away from it, it could have gone a lot worse.

Get the good bits off, start again :<

Sad really, when you own something that you've put so much effort into, it's hard to let go of it sometimes. Fight hard for it's value from the insurers and you may be able to pull some luck out of this, add a bit of cash and see if you can go 540i/6

[Paul in NZ]

i bet there was ice on the ramp...if thats all it took to blow a e 34 off the road half the cars ever built would be trash now.Uor cars have serious grip...

[Qube]

Can I have your wheels? I kid.

I can only imagine that since it was semi controlled, you cringed at every step of the way... going through the shrubs, scraping the roofline... etc.

This result is most likely better than spinning in any event. Fence to the front is nicer than t-boned by a truck. Braking probably do nothing. Gas'ing it would be a gamble of sorts...

Good to hear you're ok.

[pgrindstaff]

I know exactly, well, maybe not, how you feel. I was driving down the road last week not long after it had stopped raining, took a turn about normal speed and kept going straight. Luckily I regained traction somehow before I ran off the road into a bunch of trees. Scared the **** out of me to say the least. You may think you know how to recover from a skid or some other situation but knowing what to do and being able to follow through are two different things as I now know.

Sorry to hear about your car, I hope it is not a total loss.

[Denton]

Sheesh Mac...I do want to see how extensive the damage is...

As much as I hate to say it, if it's totalled you could consider parting it out. I don't want to call dibs on your car but...;)

[calibra]

Unlucky damn nice looking motor. you never know it might not be a right off

[Jr ///M5]

I'm curious, what kind of tires were you running? If you were on ice, the turbulance from the semi is what did it, once it breaks loose there's no choice, you become a passenger.

Damn fine looking E34 too! Glad you're alright and nobody else was involved. Look on the bright side, they might fix 'er up like new for you!

Good luck Mac,
JR

[genphreak]

i bet there was ice on the ramp...if thats all it took to blow a e 34 off the road half the cars ever built would be trash now.Uor cars have serious grip...An e34 is not that heavy... mayeb it was aquaplaning- those tyres are 9" wide after all.

What an awful event. Luckily you didn't hit a tree else you might not be telling us... however the damage may be more easily fixable than you think. It is easier to swap and repair panels, especially if there no structural damage (e34s are strong that way, but many don't really know)

Best of luck mate. :) Nick

[Denton]

They were Kumho summer tires, if I remember correctly...

Hockey pucks at that temperature.

[AngryPopTart]

Reminds me of the on-ramp nearest my house. I wrecked due to stupidity, however. I was in the right lane, and there is a light, less than 100 feet before the on-ramp, where people are always jockeying for position to get on the freeway. The guy to my left is creeping like he's gonna try to get ahead in his 90's explorer. So I put it in 1st and go, but someone ahead of me decides to turn into the plaza, just before the on-ramp andI have to slow down. FRICK! So the guy in the explorer slips just a car length ahead, moving in front of me, and at this point I remember I put it in first because my engine is screaming and I think, "Oh frick, did I just hit almost 7k?"

But at this onramp, the opening is two lanes wide, but they painted the line WAY out so that while making a right you should follow the outside and end up in the left lane. Thankfully, he follows the line; I try to dive in on the inside, still in first, probly around 4.5k. I didn't floor it, but the rear end got loose, I was ahead of him JUST ENOUGH so my rear end slid out in front of him, without touching, while I over-correct 3 times (holding the gas on a little bit) but finally the rear comes all the way around and the nose softly plants on the curb, while the rear swings and smashes the rear into the curb. (BTW, !@$%@# anti-lock brakes!) This bent one of my wheel centers and trashed the control arm. It was interesting watching my Paps drive it home with the wheel at a 45'.

Later, I looked over the road on that portion I lost it on, thinking, "It wasn't wet!" and, "there's not really any dirt, here" (because people cut the inside all the time) but there is a manhole cover. Som'biscuit!

[Russell]

Happened to me at low speed on hard packed snow/ice. A 4x4 passed/blew by me at about 60 (I was doing 35) and almost at once the rear end on my car started sliding. Anyway see my post from a few days ago. I think my rear tires had too little tread. Only have 4.5 to 5/32 tread. They were Bridgestones Turanza LS-H or similar all season. Lesson for me? New tires as soon as it is out of the body shop.

Sorry to see your beautiful car torn up. What parts are not replaceable?

[Jehu]

Glad you're OK. Hope you can get back into a Car you love soon. I wrote a bunch of other stuff about black ice and sleepy headed ,distracted driving but hit some key and it all vanished ..lol. keep us posted.

[Mr._Graybeard]

Too bad, nice car like that. I did something similar in an E30 some years back. Left work around midnight and the pavement was dry. By the time I was 10 miles from home (40-mile commute) there was 3 inches of snow on the road. Clobbered a guardrail a mile from home. Damage was $6K. fortunately, insurance covered it but it was close to a total.

It's all about tires, isn't it. There are so many variations of winter rubber, from H-rated Michelins to studded Hakkas. Every car my wife and I drive in winter has a set of winter tires. I'm in Wisconsin but I'd go the same route if I lived in Seattle or Nashville or DC. It only takes a few seconds of star-crossed conditions to make even an all-season tire worthless, and turn a prized ride into a mangled heap.

That said, there is a technique that can help restore stability while driving a RWD car under low-traction conditions: left-foot braking. The correct balance of braking and throttle will restore traction to the rear wheels while the front wheels plow, turning oversteer into understeer. It's not an instinctive technique, but it's worth practicing when the opportunity presents itself. In fact, it's worth seeking out the opportunity, IMO.

BTW, left-foot braking will encourage a FWD car to oversteer rather than understeer.

[Paul in NZ]

That said, there is a technique that can help restore stability while driving a RWD car under low-traction conditions: left-foot braking. The correct balance of braking and throttle will restore traction to the rear wheels while the front wheels plow, turning oversteer into understeer. It's not an instinctive technique, but it's worth practicing when the opportunity presents itself. In fact, it's worth seeking out the opportunity, IMO.

BTW, left-foot braking will encourage a FWD car to oversteer rather than understeer.

hmm might try that on our next grrass ghymkhana

[3rdE34]

sorry to hear this man but glad you are okay that is the main thing...

same sort of thing almost happened to me once, big semi went flying past in the wet and it felt like the vacum behind it wanted to take my rear end with it, if yanno what i mean, i know one thing, i had white knuckles real quick.....

[repenttokyo]

An e34 is not that heavy... mayeb it was aquaplaning- those tyres are 9" wide after all.



e34's are pretty heavy man - 3500 lbs!

[Ross]

What you should have done was...
Kidding. I think those fat tires and ice probably had far more to do with it than a truck's draft.
Fingers crossed for repair rather than a write off. Buy it back if they do.

[whiskychaser]

Unfortunately, trucks are not even able to blow caravans off the road:( Must have been a dreadful experience. Good to hear no-one was hurt

[filip00]

wow, i'm really sorry man....please post pics, i'm interested to see the damage if it's okay

[artguy]

Hey Mac, sorry to hear about the accident.

Really glad to hear you didn't get hurt though.

Maybe insurance will be kind for once.

Hang in there.

[Macv]

Thanks everyone.... Once I get the final word from the insurance I'll update you all.

Wish me some luck. I'd really hate to lose her.

[RallyD]

ouch, sorry to hear mac.

[dacoyote]

Glad to hear you are ok....

Sorry about the car.

[timandbim]

Thanks everyone.... Once I get the final word from the insurance I'll update you all.

Wish me some luck. I'd really hate to lose her.

good luck macv! don't be too bummed if it she's a goner, plenty of beauties out there for you to put your sxxt-hot highbeams on. the day i bought mine i quickly realized that if anything serious happened to it i'd most likely buy another one. must be fun shopping around... almost makes me jealous of people who don't have one! (errr... almost)

[Dragunov]

Aww what a shame, your e34 was my favorite example.

[Atl530i]

That sucks. I would buy it back and fix it. That is; if I had that much time and work into an E34 like that. GL with it.

[bubba966]

I almost lost my M-Sport on an on-ramp a few months ago.

I was driving home from work and was rather tired. It was raining and wet out. I wasn't paying attention as well as I should have to my traction level as I was too tired. The signs for the on-ramp say you should be doing 25, but I was doing 45 as I normally would. About 1/3 of the way up the ramp the ass end breaks loose and I quickly let off the gas and crank it into full opposite lock. And before I know it I'm perpendicular to the guard rail sliding sideways up the ramp about 18 inches off of the rail. I know I'm real close to losing it so I try not to panic as replacing my car isn't an easy thing to do (there's only 2 other black on black M-Sport auto's). Luckily the car handles well enough that I was able to keep it from hitting the rail or rotating any farther than it did.

A few hundred feet of going sideways up the ramp and it slowed down enough for the rears to grab again and after a little bit of correction at the wheel I was straightened out and heading down the freeway like nothing happened.

Certainly something I'd rather not repeat.

Sorry to hear that you didn't come out of your experience clean. Hope you can salvage at least some of the car to use on the next one. And if you do get a next one, know you know what you do or don't want. And you'll find it eventually. Took 2 1/2 years to find my car, and I'm glad I didn't give up on what I wanted.

[Dragunov]

Hey there Mac, any updates?

[e34.535i.sport]

Sincere condolences... I've lost the back end quite a few times but got lucky countersteering it. I get far better grip round corners in my girlfriends 45plate Ford Fiesta!!!! I'm not kidding either.