Almost Lost my Baby tonight

Evan5469 · Jun 11, 2004

Well guys I just had one of the scariest moments of my life. I was coming home from my girlfriends house which is about a 20 minute drive. It had been raining all day and I made it down there with no problem at all. Well on the way home it had stopped raining but the ground was still pretty wet. So I am about 5 minutes from my house coming around a slight left turn and my back end totally kicks out to the side. The car spins around 3 times, while I am pressing as hard as I can on the brake pedal and steering to get it straight again and I end up facing the opposite way about 2 feet from a curb. If there had been any traffic around while this happened I could only imagine what the results would've been. My hands are still shaking.

EvilEyez · Jun 12, 2004

Good to hear you're okay. I lost my Lightning in the rain. Doing about 70mph on the highway, all of a sudden it starts raining. Before I can slow down my rearend kicks out and I slam into the guard rail. 20,000$ in damage later my insurance totals it and I buy my Cobra.

SublimeRT · Jun 12, 2004

Any damage? Or did you just spin and not hit anything?

Evan5469 · Jun 12, 2004

I got lucky, spun around a few times and didn't hit anything. Thank God.

Lawman85 · Jun 14, 2004

In a spin brakes are the worst enemy. Once you car leaves it's straight line path your ABS doesn't work, the wheels lock. Every year we train on the "skid pan" at work. If your traveling over 40mph the odds of recovering a skid without a spin is almost 0. I've never done it over 45mph.

Evan5469 · Jun 14, 2004

What's the best way to handle the situation I was in Lawman?

Evan5469 · Jun 14, 2004

Sorry, double post.

az_r2d1 · Jun 15, 2004

Evan5469 said:
Well guys I just had one of the scariest moments of my life. I was coming home from my girlfriends house which is about a 20 minute drive. It had been raining all day and I made it down there with no problem at all. Well on the way home it had stopped raining but the ground was still pretty wet. So I am about 5 minutes from my house coming around a slight left turn and my back end totally kicks out to the side. The car spins around 3 times, while I am pressing as hard as I can on the brake pedal and steering to get it straight again and I end up facing the opposite way about 2 feet from a curb. If there had been any traffic around while this happened I could only imagine what the results would've been. My hands are still shaking.

I've had the exact same thing happen to me one night. Rainy, take a left turn and the rear just starts sliding, I hop over the curb into the other lane.. Almost hitting a car. Bent one rim and messed up the tire. Other than that no damage. Even had the alignment checked, perfect.
This was on my 95GT. Still did many years of good service until I sold it.

Lawman85 · Jun 15, 2004

Evan5469 said:
What's the best way to handle the situation I was in Lawman?

Tough to say. Push the clutch and countersteer. The faster you get your wheels turned into the spin the better chance you have of saving it. That is the trick to recovering a spin. If you turn your wheel too slow, it does nothing. Whenever your driving in any condition you have to anticipate what the car may do if the rearend breaks loose, or a tire blows, or anything else that may occur.

If you've never been to a school that puts you on a skid pad test, I highly recommend it. You really learn what a car does and why it looses traction. I've worked hundreds of wrecks just like yours. It's a tough situation and is well worth the money and time spent in a good school to learn the skills to save your car, or your life!

yyc95gts · Jun 22, 2004

Here's a way..Spend a winter driving in Canada. If you managed to spin the car THREE TIMES on a WET road , you were driving way too fast for the conditions.
You should also take a high performance drivers school and learn to drive properly...

Silver2003Cobra · Jun 23, 2004

yyc95gts said:
Here's a way..Spend a winter driving in Canada. If you managed to spin the car THREE TIMES on a WET road , you were driving way too fast for the conditions.
You should also take a high performance drivers school and learn to drive properly...

when your rear end starts to go, PUSH the clutch in and steer into the skid.. DON'T hit the brakes, as all that will do is lock the tires up and you'll have lost 100% control(even with ABS) the only thing that would save you in this case is active handling(like the new Vettes have) or what ever Ford has named their stuff in new vehicles

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