Heading to the Mustang club show that I did a ton of detailing for. Around 8:15am, drive half a mile to the highway. Coming up the onramp, see a Black Lincoln towncar in the left lane, no other upcoming vehicles. I put my blinker on and started merging into the right lane, I am about half a car back on the Lincoln when they move into the right lane, no blinker. I jerked the wheel right to avoid, cold tires the back got loose. Thought I was getting it back, but it 180'd passenger side first, and I hit the center Jersey barrier with the passenger side, facing the wrong direction. Car would not start, probably fuel switch. Got out and went behind guardrail, stood on the rail trying to warn other drivers that my car was stuck in the passing lane, and was hidden over the small hill crest.

The actions of the other car, I do not think they saw me when they moved over, or when I got loose. They did not stop, nor did they make contact with my car.

While the other car probably should not have moved, or used their blinker at least.. I take full responsibility as I should have expected the unexpected and I was the vehicle merging onto the road they were already on.

I'm ok, neck is a bit tight but I woke up a bit stiff so hard to tell... of course I'm really upset about the car.. makes me sick to my stomache to look at it.

I received a ticket for failure to maintain lane, which is fine because I am a big mouth about merging drivers must yield.

There is the obvious body damage, front & rear bumpers, front & rear quarters. Door is just scrape, might be saved. Trunk, hood and sideskirt seem ok. All glass & lights seem good (minus that rearside light). The wheels are obviously broken, I think the way the bottom of a Jersey barrier is wider, all the energy was expended on the very bottom of the wheels. What is scary is the broken in half rear disc. The other thing that really bothers me is there is a slight wrinkle near the top of the door.. but the door opens/closes perfectly, the doorframe looks straight. We'll have to see if it's straight, what the suspension took... what can I do about checking the rear axle itself?

Already called insurance, adjuster scheduled for Wednesday, but they also gave me the option of going straight to one of their normal places who will handle picking up the car, all estimates, work, and lifetime guarantee. R&C autobody in Shelton... looking for some thoughts on them. If they are open tomorrow I am going to go talk with them.


Thanks for letting me vent

 

that sucks man

 

Wow thats terrible. I'm sorry for the accident but at least you're okay. I hope it all works out and you get your car back the way you want it.

 

 

whoa buddy...you started it

 

1st and foremost I'm are glad you're ok and know how you're feeling. Looks like a helluva hit seeing those rims like they are. I can't believe you even got a ticket after going through that, talk about pouring salt into the wound, the officer is a jerk for it.

Good luck with the repairs, keep us up to date!
Hang in there bud!

 

Wow that's not good news at all.I'm blown away by looking at your rims.Ouch.Hope it works out for you.

 

sorr yto see this. I am glad I didn't get a blue one, apparently they crash alot

 

Ouch, at least you came out of it okay. Hope everything works out.

 

When something similar happened to me, I upgrades to the California Special front and rear bumper covers. You might want to consider that. Also any body modifications that you have considered. Or if you wanted stripes, now is the time to paint them on. If had to do it all over again, I would have spent the extra $3k for Mystichrome paint for the entire car. Just some thoughts.

 

The GT/CS is one of my questions for them, did yours carry a premium over the regular GT?

 

With my line of work I've seen a LOT of wrecked cars and don't ever recall seeing a rim break like that. Scary.

 

I was thinking about that. I would've expected to see them bent, but not broken where the spokes come lose from the ring itself... scary...

 

You see it more often in road racing where sticky tires and accidents occur. In fact I've seen stock C6 Z06 wheels do the same thing.

It's just the right amount of force applied at the correct spot and wheels can do that.

To the OP, I'm sorry for your loss. From the looks of it you had a very nice looking Mustang.

Good to hear you were injured. Hopefully you can get her back together how you want quickly.

 

Not often, but these were direct sideway hits to the wheels, not glancing blows. Scary is a LOT of us are running these wheels, although I have no idea how other wheels would have done.

that's not very nice! lol, jk... keeping my spirits up with my usual sarcasm

 

Glad you are ok to tell us about it. I hope all goes well for you.

 

I'm glad you're okay, too. That really ticks me off that you got a ticket! Why did the Lincoln have the right-of-way for the right lane any more than you did? Maybe I'm wrong, but to me that's no different than you just signaling a lane change on a road with 3 lanes going the same direction. The person in the Lincoln clearly made an improper lane change since they did not use their signal.

I'm a huge advocate for signaling lane changes (and of course it's the law, too). Sadly, I see cops failing to signal all the time. Kudos to you for signaling and taking responsibility for the accident. I think it was the jerk in the Lincoln's fault....at least 95% their fault!

 

Sorry about your accident! Glad you're okay, though. Cars can be replaced, but people can't.

 

I've got a new sig for Shotokan -

"If you can't figure out how to use the turn signals, what makes you think you can operate the rest of the car???"

 

Sorry to see the car...hope they can fix her up- the tiny wrinkle up top worries me more than anything, hopefully nothing structural with the floor/panhard mount pulled...the rest looks like 'a mere fleshwound' to coin a Monte Python phrase...its only sheetmetal- yeah it still sucks, but glad you walked away OK

On the cast wheels, well theyre cast wheels...years back, we used to run cast at work, if a lathe crashes, or one rolls off a bench, expect chunks to break out...the forged wheels, even the super thin Lamborghini or 20" Shelby wheels could be twisted like a pretzel without a single crack...if folks realized the ductile vs. brittle/expensive vs. cheep sides of the forged/cast decision, a lot more would want forged...my boss told me years ago if you could machine a forged wheel for free, it would still cost 2~3 times a finished cast wheel...cast wheels get 2~3 pounds skimmed away, where forged might have 50+ pounds to take out...even if the forged price 'sounds' expensive, in reality I bet cast is a far higher profit margin for manufacturers...I was told some of the die sets for the forgings were over 1/4 million a set, and they do wear...

I just wish Centerline or someone in the 2 piece business would stamp a torq-thrust looking center and weld it into a spun rim (like the 'Telstar' style, but more oldschool looking)- would be a cheap/goood looking, yet still not brittle wheel...