So yeah I was driving around and it had been raining here all day and the car had been fine, so I was pretty much almost home and I was on this road and going about 55, So all of the sudden a bridge comes up, well as the title says I hit some black ice and the car lost it, it started careening down the middle of the road sideways, and I just steered into the turn, and we did a complete 180 and facing the other way in the road. Had there been a car around at all i would've been SOL, I really hate these tires because I don't know if its my tires that lost it, or black ice. I think it was black ice but I can't be sure because i know the stock tires suck.

Also now the check engine light is on, I was running low on gas which the service manual says could be the cause, other than that I have no clue what would've happened to set that life off.

 

lucky.....

i would say the CEL is because your gas cap. I get a cookie if im right.

 

Unless your tires look like Ice Skates... or Rally knobbies, you don't get any feedback when on ice giving you the chance to look around in the cabin for a snack waiting for the show to end. Lucky indeed.

Glad your ok! oh oh CEL Bets!.. i bet... TCS/DSC CEL failure.. you didn't mention having one but Yoda already called Gas Cap

 

Where do you live? Why were you running on stock tires in cold weather?
55 on black ice? Wow, you got lucky!

 

New York State in winter, with stock tires = reckless endangerment.

Got lots'o'insurance?

 

Rain + Freezing Temps + Summer Tires = Hope God is your co-pilot.

 

what does SOL stand for?

 

U.S. expression, **** Out of Luck.

 

Yeah the problem is I dont have the $$$ for snow tires and its getting kind of late in the winter so I've been trying to make it through and not use the car when the weather is bad, next winter i will def have winter tires and for the rest of this winter i will be a lot more careful.

 

Glad to hear you are okay! That is freaky.
It's most definitely your fault though, because there is no excuse for not having snow tires. The stockers are pretty much useless once it gets cold, and you seriously can't afford to not have snows. The problem is that the stock tires suck even when it's dry and cold, not just when it is snowing or icy out.
You can pick up a set of snow tires & rims in the for sale section for ~$550-$600 bucks. If your safety, and the safety of those around you isn't worth $550....that's a problem!

 

Take the bus before you kill yourself ..... or someone else ...............

 

you needed to do a 180 on ice to know the stock tires suck in winter?

from the title, i expected some gruesome photos.

Carpool or buy a Chevette for the winter.

 

Why? Is that the "law" in NY?

 

I tried to get my summer tires to last this winter in KY... Then spent 2.5 hours going 12 miles last Monday when we got only 4" of snow... Roads were completely covered, and I got a helluva' workout/practice with the clutch...

Bought new tires last Tuesday...

 

If you don't have a lot of money you should just buy all-seasons. They're not as good in the summer as summer tires and not as good as winter tires in the snow, but they're passable at both. Cheaper than having two sets.

 

I've got some all-seasons that work decent around the ice/black ice/snow pack in my area. Never rely on the RX-8's DSC/TCS for saving your *** on any frozen precipitation, though.

 

I don't really agree with this theory. Having one set of tires is cheaper, but only by the cost of a set of cheap alloy wheels (maybe $400 if new, $200 if used) and that cost is spread out over the life of the vehicle. So if you plan to own your car for 7 years, that's a whopping $60/year. How much do you spend on gas, maintenance, repairs, car washes? Why skimp on the one part of the car that actually touches the ground?

By using all-seasons you're limiting the performance of your car in both the summer and winter. Why half-*** it when you can use the summer tires for the summer, winter tires for winter and get the best performance and safety throughout the year? Since you're only using each set of tires for part of the year, each set will last roughly twice as long as a comparable set of all-season (since they're being used continuously). If you don't have a lot of money and you're trying to cut corners, you should probably own a Honda Civic.

 

Actually I probably paid less for my 04 than I would have for a civic at the time. Dang close anyway. The cost of having two sets of wheels and tires isn't just the cost of the wheels amortized over the life of the car. It's also the cost to get them swapped out twice a year, and the opportunity cost of the money you save. I'm not going to go down that road because you can say that about anything (don't buy lunch today, go hungry and put that money in your 401k) but I think it's relevant when you're talking about $600-$800 for an extra set of wheels and tires.

I doubt most people drive their cars to the limit of it's performance anyway. I'm sure there are people on this board that disagree, but there are plenty of RX8 owners not on this board who just drive it to work and back everyday.

 

Actually, I just looked it up, and an 04 civic EX with 30k miles goes for about $14k (market value near Minneapolis). My 04 8 with 30k miles probably isn't worth much more than that. And that is with a major civic redesign between then and now, if the civic was as unchanged as the 8's have been it would probably be worth more.