RIP Kal :(

[GT Pony]

Thankful tonight. The rain made some massive puddles, my car couldn’t find grip in the rain, went through three lanes of traffic and barreled through the woods.

Unfortunate, and glad you're basically OK.

Guys, you gotta slow down and not drive close to the shoulders when there's a down pour - especially in a car with wide tires and at night when you can't see standing water. Don't expect all roads to drain water off the road, so puddles can be anywhere but especially along the shoulders.

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[Vato]

At least the adjuster gave you an option.

Good luck on the new ride.

 

[WarrENDeatH]

Unfortunate, and glad you're basically OK.

Guys, you gotta slow down and not drive close to the shoulders when there's a down pour - especially in a car with wide tires and at night when you can't see standing water. Don't expect all roads to drain water off the road, so puddles can be anywhere but especially along the shoulders.

I took too much confidence in previous rides and the way it did in the winter. You're absolutely right. That, and having the tires in the state they were in...not a good mix. I thought I could last a bit longer to get to winter. Clearly I did not.

At least the adjuster gave you an option.

Good luck on the new ride.

He did. Unfortunately, as my father always says, insurance is a scam. It sucks I have to do this much work, and deal with this much frustration to get it totaled. It's several calls daily checking up....and this isn't even the GAP portion...


Then I have to figure out my next car...and that's another thing in itself.

 

[DickR]

Unfortunate, and glad you're basically OK.

Guys, you gotta slow down and not drive close to the shoulders when there's a down pour - especially in a car with wide tires and at night when you can't see standing water. Don't expect all roads to drain water off the road, so puddles can be anywhere but especially along the shoulders.

What he said plus pay close attention to tread depth. Once you get to 4/32's on any wide tire hydroplaning resistance is significantly worse than when new. You have to slow down. Combine reduced tread grooves with puddles and/or very heavy rain and your tire becomes a water ski.

Here is some general info.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=16



This video illustrates the impact on braking as tread depth is reduced. Hydroplaning resistance is similar. Note that because the tires were shaved the tread pattern is much more like original compared to what a typical worn tire tread looks like. Also note that TireRack uses high quality data acquisition equipment to obtain and analyze test data.

https://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.jsp?video=5&tab=Tires

When budget is extremely important I chose the longer tread life of good all season tires over the somewhat improved dry weather grip of good summer tires.

 

[WarrENDeatH]

agreed. I won’t make that mistake again.

 

[reek]

Glad you're OK. Hope it works out for you, aka totalled.

USAA has been relatively good in my experience. my recent wreck when a kid hit me head on in my 07 Tundra, the adjuster came to my house, picked up the wreck, paid for the flat bed used by the CHP, cut me a check via EFT all within 5 days. Best part, I paid $33,000 OTD for that tundra in 07. They paid me $33,500 in 2014. Not USAA's doing but the ridiculous increase in Tundra regional prices in California.

 

[WarrENDeatH]

Glad you're OK. Hope it works out for you, aka totalled.

USAA has been relatively good in my experience. my recent wreck when a kid hit me head on in my 07 Tundra, the adjuster came to my house, picked up the wreck, paid for the flat bed used by the CHP, cut me a check via EFT all within 5 days. Best part, I paid $33,000 OTD for that tundra in 07. They paid me $33,500 in 2014. Not USAA's doing but the ridiculous increase in Tundra regional prices in California.

Sheesh. Hell of a deal then.


I'm still waiting. Hope it moves somewhat fast. Getting antsy.

 

[RayJHT]

Glad your ok man. Mine is in the body shop also.....water is the Mustang Krytonite. What shocked me is how easily the frame bends....kind of unsettling to me.

 

[BmacIL]

Glad your ok man. Mine is in the body shop also.....water is the Mustang Krytonite. What shocked me is how easily the frame bends....kind of unsettling to me.

That's on purpose. The crash energy goes though it at a designed rate instead of into you.

 

[Fatguy]

I’ll toss in my 2 cents worth here.

I have been driving Mustangs going on 19 years and I am approaching 60 right now. My first Mustang was a 1988 Fox 5.0 and had no options at all. Roll up windows, no power locks and not even a radio. It was fast, very fast and while my current ride, a 2017 V6 Mustang is faster (no question about it)) than those old cars, remember that in those days all the other cars were ridiculously underpowered by comparison. So the car was one of the fastest on the street and came with these Goodyear Gatorbacks that they seemed to want to slap on every performance car out there at the time. Anyway I did all sorts of irresponsible things back in those days in the Stang as we did not have red-light cameras or people with cell phones recording your shenanigans with your plate in full view, so what did in my cherished Mustang? Cruising along on a major highway when it rained and going over an expansion joint. That set the car fishtailing which I could control, but as soon as the tires hooked up the car went into this violent uncontrollable tail spin going across four lanes of traffic (this was our 401 with 14 lanes total here in Toronto) and hitting the guardrail twice. I climbed out of the window and the car looked like a banana. So, totalled for sure – and – get this! Some guy calls me up a year later asking about the history of it (as he bought it totally repaired but did not know it at the time). No clue how they performed that miracle. Anyway that is why I will never buy a slightly used performance car and that is why I called those Gatorbacks “widow makers”. You start to read stories of people losing their lives on those so called performance tires, which means slightly better crisper turn in at the expense of horrendous performance in the rain that could kill you.

Long story short they totalled it and with accident forgiveness I got all my money back and no increase in my insurance. So what did I do? I bought the same 5.0 Mustang again (but this time a 1989 model), but with every possible option available. I just could not bring myself to buy the same car as before, I wanted something different and my girlfriend would need to drive the car as we were getting serious so I was able to get another one. Drove that car for the next 18 years, 375,000kms with only a warrantee recall on the plenum intake gasket as work to the engine. Sold it to a guy who restores Mustangs (Mustangs Alley). Best car and motor I ever had. So before you go off and drive something else, it still may be worth getting back on the horse again. Only this time get rid of the performance tires. I swaged on Pirelli snow tires and drove them during the summer as the Gatorback so totally spooked me from then on. So that’s my story. Corvette owners my age change the tires before they even take possession of their cars. There is some good advice there. So you guys in your 20s, even if you think your invincible, you are not and those performance summer tires more than likely will bite you in the ass the longer you drive them. I now know why parents nervously see their kid they spent 25 years feeding, changing diapers, driving to school and all that work; driving a car with those stupid ass performance tires. It’s not the car, it’s the tires and getting a more forgiving tire in inclement weather is the responsible thing to do if you drive it on the street, daily driver sort of thing.

And as an aside it’s nice to be back in Mustang land (I got tired of fixing an old LT1 engine, don’t even get me going there), so I’m going into the sunset driving a V6 Mustang which is good for me as I was one of those guys who was always ribbing the V6 and 4 cylinder guys back in the day. Now I know better and will even apologize after the fact. Anyway take what you can out of that and good luck no matter what you decide.

 

[Ecoboosted]

I’ll toss in my 2 cents worth here.

I have been driving Mustangs going on 19 years and I am approaching 60 right now. My first Mustang was a 1988 Fox 5.0 and had no options at all. Roll up windows, no power locks and not even a radio. It was fast, very fast and while my current ride, a 2017 V6 Mustang is faster (no question about it)) than those old cars, remember that in those days all the other cars were ridiculously underpowered by comparison. So the car was one of the fastest on the street and came with these Goodyear Gatorbacks that they seemed to want to slap on every performance car out there at the time. Anyway I did all sorts of irresponsible things back in those days in the Stang as we did not have red-light cameras or people with cell phones recording your shenanigans with your plate in full view, so what did in my cherished Mustang? Cruising along on a major highway when it rained and going over an expansion joint. That set the car fishtailing which I could control, but as soon as the tires hooked up the car went into this violent uncontrollable tail spin going across four lanes of traffic (this was our 401 with 14 lanes total here in Toronto) and hitting the guardrail twice. I climbed out of the window and the car looked like a banana. So, totalled for sure – and – get this! Some guy calls me up a year later asking about the history of it (as he bought it totally repaired but did not know it at the time). No clue how they performed that miracle. Anyway that is why I will never buy a slightly used performance car and that is why I called those Gatorbacks “widow makers”. You start to read stories of people losing their lives on those so called performance tires, which means slightly better crisper turn in at the expense of horrendous performance in the rain that could kill you.

Long story short they totalled it and with accident forgiveness I got all my money back and no increase in my insurance. So what did I do? I bought the same 5.0 Mustang again (but this time a 1989 model), but with every possible option available. I just could not bring myself to buy the same car as before, I wanted something different and my girlfriend would need to drive the car as we were getting serious so I was able to get another one. Drove that car for the next 18 years, 375,000kms with only a warrantee recall on the plenum intake gasket as work to the engine. Sold it to a guy who restores Mustangs (Mustangs Alley). Best car and motor I ever had. So before you go off and drive something else, it still may be worth getting back on the horse again. Only this time get rid of the performance tires. I swaged on Pirelli snow tires and drove them during the summer as the Gatorback so totally spooked me from then on. So that’s my story. Corvette owners my age change the tires before they even take possession of their cars. There is some good advice there. So you guys in your 20s, even if you think your invincible, you are not and those performance summer tires more than likely will bite you in the ass the longer you drive them. I now know why parents nervously see their kid they spent 25 years feeding, changing diapers, driving to school and all that work; driving a car with those stupid ass performance tires. It’s not the car, it’s the tires and getting a more forgiving tire in inclement weather is the responsible thing to do if you drive it on the street, daily driver sort of thing.

And as an aside it’s nice to be back in Mustang land (I got tired of fixing an old LT1 engine, don’t even get me going there), so I’m going into the sunset driving a V6 Mustang which is good for me as I was one of those guys who was always ribbing the V6 and 4 cylinder guys back in the day. Now I know better and will even apologize after the fact. Anyway take what you can out of that and good luck no matter what you decide.

Welcome with your first post. I'm a few years in age behind you. My first (drivable) Mustang I owned was a 89' GT convertible. Really loved that car. Good advise on the tires. If they start to get worn and climate starts to get cold and rain/snow is coming soon I would change out the tires.

 

[Vato]

My first mustang was an 84 GT 5.0 but I’m not as old as you guys.
[MENTION=25269]WarrENDeatH[/MENTION] look into 2016 Dodge Hellcats. I heard there are new 2016 Hellcats still sitting in some lots for $45-50k.

 

[DickR]

agreed. I won’t make that mistake again.

I was lucky with my first hydroplaning experience. Straight section of freeway slightly uphill in a moderately heavy rain. Started to get wheel spin and very mild fishtailing. Car was a 4 year old 69 Mustang 351 GT and the rear tires were probably at about 2/32. Lesson learned the easy way . . . fortunately. Especially since the car would not have protected me like a current car does.

Hopefully some others here will learn from your painful lesson.

That said puddles from heavy rain at night are very hard to spot and even with good tires if only one front tire hits a puddle the drag will jerk the steering wheel which can then initiate loss of control which even fully operable nannies may not be able to deal with.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

We've all made mistakes in cars, few ever admit it though. I know I have. Kudos to you. Good thing your ok, your car can be replaced.

I took too much confidence in previous rides and the way it did in the winter. You're absolutely right. That, and having the tires in the state they were in...not a good mix. I thought I could last a bit longer to get to winter. Clearly I did not.



He did. Unfortunately, as my father always says, insurance is a scam. It sucks I have to do this much work, and deal with this much frustration to get it totaled. It's several calls daily checking up....and this isn't even the GAP portion...


Then I have to figure out my next car...and that's another thing in itself.

 

[GTRacerX.]

Sorry for your loss

But material things can always be replaced, life is so precious. Glad to hear your ok. On the positive side you can now but a 2018.

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