Hit a sheet of ice the morning after the first snow. Downshifting, ABS, and AWD totally ineffective. Slid right into a high curb at about 15 mph. The front drivers side wheel caught the full brunt of the impact. The flatbed had to drag it out of the way of traffic because it wouldn't move at all. I think there were pieces of the axle left behind. The wheel was flapping around while being dragged. The last I saw of it as it was dropped off at the shop was the front left was completely down on the ground, wheel pointing left. The Right side wheel was pointing Right.




It's just over two months old. This really sucks.

Be careful out there dudes.

 

Thats y there called summer tires.. and not all season or snow tires....
sorry to hear about the damage

 

Oh man that really sucks. I feel bad for you and your ride.
I've had a couple of close calls that would have resulted in minor fender bender damage. Both times I had to drive out of the way as breaking was ineffective, just like in your experience. This is with the ALL-SEASON tires that came with the car. I was thinking about getting snow tires after Christmas and after seeing what happened to you...

 

Ouch. I'd be pissed.

Good thing I'm getting my snow tires mounted in a couple hours I guess...

 

Sometimes it doesn't matter what kind of tires you have... Ice is ice, and momentum is momentum. Best of luck with the repairs.

 

yeah yesterday in maryland we were hit with a pretty brutal snow storm and i realize how crappy it is to have summer tires on in this weather. i had to drive my RA through it. I drove on the highway in sport mode and snow mode to maintain traction, and it helped I think, but yeah i think i really need to get some snow tires. the car was slipping a lot, and the AWD did help a lot, but AWD can only do so much, you really need the right tires.

i parked my car at a friends house yesterday, and i parked in the snow a little bit. when it came time to leave i couldn't get out at all. i had to have a friend with a dodge ram tow me out of the snow. the RA has some really nice tow hooking points in the front of the car which made it easy.

i think my procedure is going to be: mount some nice snow tires on the stock wheels, and then buy a set of forged wheels with summer tires around springtime, and then just change between the sets for the different seasons.

 

put snow tires on mine last week and have never even felt the need to put it in anything else but tarmac mode.

 

sorry to hear about your accident.. but you should hold more accountability as YOU were the ones that neglected to put winter tires on.. you live in illinois and its december.. put two and two together. some people said ice is ice. yeah thats true but maybe the winter tires could have helped with the slowing down of the speed..

 

It seems like every year we get a handful of these posts on the forums. Alot of people always seem dumbfounded that summer tires are like hockey pucks in the snow. Do they still put stickers on the door sill warning you not to drive in the winter with summer tires?

 

Yup, decided to test out to see just how bad the summers are in snow. They are atrocious (no surprise really) but at least now i know it's not really do-able especially with my driving style. Winters are going on the car Monday.

 

Glad the accident's not serious and you are safe.

Please put on winter tires where the area you are at is well-known for snow. The money spent on them could cover couple times of the potential damage.

 

ouch... yea summer tires are completely ineffective in the snow

i don't drive the car in the winter anymore, but when i did, it was snow tires or a different car

 

That sucks, but if you live in an area that gets a lot of ice and snow you should have prepared for it by buying some snow tires or snow tires and winter wheels. I picked up a set of 16" steelies with some Blizzak WS60's for my Lancer last year from TireRack.com for less than $600. The difference is night and day. I traded in my '08 GTS for the Ralliart and luckily my snow tires and wheels fit with no issues.

We're glad you're okay though, hopefully it gets fixed quickly.

 

Yeah that sucks, it is a big bill before xmas but its the responsible thing to do when winter hits. No snow here yet, but i tossed on some Hankook W300's to be on the safe side.

Good thing is you're safe nobody got hurt, The car can always be fixed.

 

Sorry to hear about your setback. Glad your okay, the car can be repaired!
When I bought my evo in 2003 winter. I had to change the tires to allseasons right away because I couldn't drive it at all to work. Same with this RA. I had to change the tire right away because i bought this car last winter.

Be very careful with it. It's like ice skates.