So I'm an idiot.

I wrecked my beloved 8 this morning. It was raining and as I turned onto the highway I hit a slick spot and then a guard rail on the side of the highway. I'm fine, but my 8 isn't. I panicked and slammed on the breaks and yeah. Tires probably should have been replaced a while ago. I have no idea how fast I hit it, but the airbags didn't deploy. I was only able to get 1 picture, but I was wondering if you guys would think if it will be totaled out our not. Car is an 05 GT with just over 70k on it.

Petty much my authentic MS bumper disintegrated. My oil cooler and AC condenser are broke in half. My radiator was leaking. My intake was sheared off. Other than that there was no noticeable damage. The headlights looked fine. I didn't look too hard at the mount points though. Corner lights were broke off, but no damage to hood or fenders.

Here's a pic of my idiocy.

 

that'll buff right out, don't worry.

You might actually be okay, the big thing will be whether there's any suspension or frame damage because that's where the repair costs to go up rather quickly and can lead to it being totalled out.

sorry to see your car in such shape.


p.s. the curse of the Silvers strikes again.

 

I don't see an issue fixing that. Accidents happen, that is what insurance is for. Good Luck.

 

Like Jedi said if there is any Frame/suspension damage that's the bigy.

Glad your alright and no one was hurt.

Tires cold and was it raining at the time. I can see its wet but was it coming down
when you spun?

What curse Jedi? No such thing.

 

You can see an oil sheen on the ground in the left side of the pic. Is that from you?


Sucks

 

Yes it was raining when I spun.

The oil right there is from me. I did walk back to where I turned onto the highway and there was a sheen there as well.

I didn't figure that it would be totaled out. My only concern was the mechanical issues that could be hiding under everything else.

 

Glad your OK. The damage I can see in the pic looks mostly external. As in just a bunch of plastic panels. Bumper cover, undertray,wheel well liners. And accompanying parts. Can't tell the condition of the oil coolers. I think your car will be fine. I don't think it's a total. Far from it (by what I can see in the pic). But you really won't know until you have a bodyshop look at it.

Edit: I enlarged the pic. You have damage to the left oil cooler.

 

I had it towed to the body shop and I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to hear back from them with an estimate.

The oil-cooler was nearly broken in half. I would assume that it will need to be replaced. My biggest concern was locating another MS bumper. I took it to the same shop that fixed mine first and they know how picky I am. The guy working there said that if he couldn't locate an oem one that he would call me in and we could look through some aftermarket ones that he would source and then fit for me.

 

Here's a Mazdaspeed front bumper for sale

 

Ouch!! Sorry that happened.

Hopefully it can be fixed up. Fingers crossed for you.

 

Curious to know, was your DSC on? It's saved my butt a couple of times in the wet.

 

Yes it was. Like I said, I'm not sure what happened. I pulled onto the road and when I shifted into 2nd I laid into it a little bit to get up to speed and it hit a slick patch. It kicked me sideways and when it did I could feel the power drop from my tires but I panicked slammed on my brakes and over-corrected into the wall. That last part is something that I don't recommend that you try.

 

And the curse lives on... If you end up scrapping it, I would be interested on your passenger side fender if it's in good condition.

 

From the look of it, I think it could be fix, and the most important thing is that your okay.

 

Sorry to hear this.
Dumb question: what would be the proper thing to do/not do should this happen to me?

 

If you are already out of control, locking down the brakes is usually the best option. But, with wet and oily roads, DSC, deep tread, and lightning quick reaction time probably won't save you...

If there is some traction to work with and you aren't completely out of control yet, then steering into the turn and keeping the throttle neutral (as in not trying to accelerate, but not off the gas into engine braking either, keep the rear tires turning the same speed as the front). You are trying to keep as much traction in the rear as possible at the same time as trying to get the rear tires pointed forward. Lifting off the gas shifts weight forward, reducing rear traction. Adding gas can shift it rearward, but if it's already broken free, it's probably just going to spin the tires, removing more traction. Since you can still steer, getting the front tires pointed forward gives them traction and you can use that to shift the car's rotation back the right direction. The overcorrection noted by Reed is usually more accurately described as accuracte correction initially, but then didn't react fast enough to get the wheel back straight when it needed to be, so it just kept the pendulum swinging the other way. I don't fault Reed for any of this, since roads wet with both oil and water is about the same grip level as black ice, and typically what grip you might have is not split evenly between the 4 tires, making even corrections unpredictable. Ice you can usually prepare for, oily roads you can't.

Recovering a car that is starting to spin is not just something you can do on a moments notice if you never have, outside of a dose of talent and sheer luck. But if you ever have a chance to drive your 8 in the snow with snow tires, you can find a parking lot and get a real good feel for correcting a spin. Low traction situation to keep the speed low. Dirt lots work too.

 

I always heard when you lose control you put it in neutral and work on braking/steering, that way you let the tires go the speed they want to/catch up to each other, and you try to steer out of the issue.

Dunno if thats the best advice but it seems to work ok with me in the winter. Regardless though its a toss up, and usually the situations where you steer yourself out of an accident is a low ratio. Murphy's law.

but thats not the important part. you being ok is the important part, old saying my flight instructor told me "Skin before Metal". Goodluck!

 

Thanks for the info! Actually, I'm quite good with spins in snow (been driving for quite some time; lots of RWD cars including an X1/9!). I was just wondering if this peculiar set of circumstances required something different. But you're saying to basically just do what you do when your car starts to spin. Stands to reason.

 

Well, it's largely the same theory. Going neutral in some circumstances CAN mean a weight shift forward in the chassis. Holding the throttle basically makes the wheels turn the same speed as the front, though it can cause it's own problems too. There isn't one always correct rule, especially for circumstances like this.

No, oil on wet roads is basically "lock down the brakes and hold on" Not that braking is helping at the moment, but it's your best chance. That low of traction doesn't even usually weight shift when you brake, just goes straight to lock/ABS.

 

It was totaled =(. I was able to pull my AP out and tomorrow I will hopefully be able to pull my MS Spoiler and AP midpipe, Raceroots Exhaust off. All will be for sale.

I think I'm going to go with a WRX, Speed3/6 or something else boosted.

 

Any luck with the front passenger fender? Would like to purchase if it's still intact.

 

Putting a car in neutral means looking for trouble since you would lose the little traction you already have.
In rainy, low grip situations it's the gas pedal that keeps you safe. Steering is just a consequence to adjust to the car's behavior and direction. Take throttle away and you can't do any useful corrections with the steering wheel alone.
Of course if you aren't a good driver slamming on the brakes to minimize damages is the safest bet after going slower from the beginning altogether.

 

What happens slowly in a minivan will happen fast in sports cars. More specifically, roll stiffness combined with neutral handling will cause them to break away fast. Some in snow country disconnect their rear sway bar for the winter to get more benign, understeer biased handling.

I like MS spoilers ...

 

So there was major frame damage? Steering? Suspension?

Sure doesn't look like a total. Hope you get what you deserve for the
reimbursement.

 

I actually made $83 on the whole ordeal. I'm sure my rates will skyrocket, but I guess that is unavoidable.

Here is a link to my forsale thread.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-s...3/#post4351934
I was just able to pull the wing and Cobb out of the car.