How I didn't crash is beyond me

[Tempyy]

I'm still in shock of what happened, but I'll explain. About an hour ago I left for work, got on the highway, cruising in fourth gear around 45 mph. Truck in front of me in the left lane, nobody in the center lane and bus in the right lane. The light go yellow and the truck slams on the brakes in front of me, mind you guys its 20 degrees and snowing and I have the performance pack. Anyways, I swerve to the center lane and give it some gas and the car just loses all traction and starts to spin to the left almost like a rainbow around the truck and heads straight for the guard rail. I slammed on the gas and turned the wheel to the right and the car just whipped to the right and did a 360 before coming to a rest. The bus driver pulled over and stopped and I pulled off to a parking lot to catch my breath. I've had this car for 4 days. Still can't believe what just happened.

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[smav03]

count your blessings. $1,000 doesn't seem so expensive for snow tires now, does it? I've got snow here in NJ today and had plenty of grip. I'm using Blizzak lm-32's but there's many find choices out there.

 

[Tempyy]

count your blessings. $1,000 doesn't seem so expensive for snow tires now, does it? I've got snow here in NJ today and had plenty of grip. I'm using Blizzak lm-32's but there's many find choices out there.

You aren't kidding. First thing I'm doing when I go home is buying a set.

 

[GTBOB]

Good save. I make my wife and myself go to an abandoned parking lot every snow season and refresh our evasive maneuvering skills. Actual had a sheriff show up one year and ask us what we were doing. No harm no foul.

 

[doulos4jc]

Summer tires at those temps don't inspire confidence, but hey maybe that's what helped avoid disaster.

 

[Pnasty]

I spun mine in the rain about 2 weeks after buying it. I'm coming from an AWD bimmer where you really had to throw it into a turn to make her slide and I'll tell you what I was just about cleaning a mess off my brand new suede seats.

 

[CB]

Sounds to me you did a good job of not wrecking

 

[Horse]

Your GT still on summer tires?

 

[Colleton]

So you're driving a high HP RWD car in the snow. Since you've only had the car 4 days you're probably still running the summer only tires.

Good call.

 

[V8Venom]

I lived in NJ for 25 years and drove Mustangs in the snow every winter. Once drove in a state of emergency 40 miles to my house after work. Took me over 2 hours to get home. Put some snow tires on, throw some weight in your trunk over your wheel wells, and drive SLOW. Stay away from other cars, like a few bus lengths and you will have plenty of time to stop. I used to put kitty litter in my trunk and carry a shovel that way if I needed some traction I could just throw it under my wheels and be on my way. As long as you are careful it is not a hard thing to do. Summer tires in the snow though is like asking for your car to crash. Summer tires in some cold temps and some rain will spin you around really quickly too. I know, I've done it before and I was doing 40 on the highway just like you. Other than that, glad you didn't crash and that you're okay. Hope this helps.

 

[paul123]

I think its irresponsible for Ford to sell the PP with summer tires. Very few owners are going to push their car hard enough to take advantage of summer tires (in the summer), and more than a very few are going to do something like OP. Since PP tires are expensive, lots of people will resist changing them to A/S or winter tires. Figuring they will be "careful". That's assuming the even know the difference.

 

[moddirtrcr]

I'm still in shock of what happened, but I'll explain. About an hour ago I left for work, got on the highway, cruising in fourth gear around 45 mph. Truck in front of me in the left lane, nobody in the center lane and bus in the right lane. The light go yellow and the truck slams on the brakes in front of me, mind you guys its 20 degrees and snowing and I have the performance pack. Anyways, I swerve to the center lane and give it some gas and the car just loses all traction and starts to spin to the left almost like a rainbow around the truck and heads straight for the guard rail. I slammed on the gas and turned the wheel to the right and the car just whipped to the right and did a 360 before coming to a rest. The bus driver pulled over and stopped and I pulled off to a parking lot to catch my breath. I've had this car for 4 days. Still can't believe what just happened.

I think at some point we have all had those oh crap moments and thought to ourselves how lucky we are to have not had a wreck and either trashed our cars or got hurt. The big thing is to learn from your mistakes and not put yourself in that position again. I once done a complete 360 on the highway doing 55 mph in an 88 LX 5.0 and kept on driving. I had to stop at the next exit a check my pants though.

 

[Tempyy]

Good save. I make my wife and myself go to an abandoned parking lot every snow season and refresh our evasive maneuvering skills. Actual had a sheriff show up one year and ask us what we were doing. No harm no foul.

Thanks. That's also what I used to do with my dad, played with the throttle while sliding and counter steering to see how the car would react. Its a good thing to do

 

[Tempyy]

I think its irresponsible for Ford to sell the PP with summer tires. Very few owners are going to push their car hard enough to take advantage of summer tires (in the summer), and more than a very few are going to do something like OP. Since PP tires are expensive, lots of people will resist changing them to A/S or winter tires. Figuring they will be "careful". That's assuming the even know the difference.

Yeah, they can still offer a really good tired but as all season not summer only. I'll be looking into winter tires after today though

 

[Tempyy]

I think at some point we have all had those oh crap moments and thought to ourselves how lucky we are to have not had a wreck and either trashed our cars or got hurt. The big thing is to learn from your mistakes and not put yourself in that position again. I once done a complete 360 on the highway doing 55 mph in an 88 LX 5.0 and kept on driving. I had to stop at the next exit a check my pants though.

I saw my cars 4 day life span flash before my eyes. Wish I had my dash cam plugged in!

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