Well I re-learned the obvious the other day. Re-learned the hard way. I was turning left onto a 4 lane major road from a side street at about 20 mph in the cold january rain and shifted into 2nd and put foot slightly back on the gas about 3/4 or the way through the turn. To say the rear end broke loose was an understatement. Goes flying out to the right, I compensate and foot is completely off the gas and the rear tires hook up again long enough for the rear to change direction and sends the car into a 270 before I can compensate in the other direction and WHACK! Left rear tire eats the curb at about 15 mph. No other cars involved. I happen to be facing a church parking lot facing against traffic so I pull in and check the car out.

The pictures do most of the talking but I'll point out that not only is the rim tore up but the whole axle is shifted 2 inches or so to the right. Changed to the spare and drove around the parking lot to see if there was any noise. There wasn't any so I drove it 1/2 mile back to the apt and then after a trouble free drive, I swapped the intake back to stock (didn't want any more power than I could handle with a spare tire) and headed for the dealer. They told me to call the insurance company first and Geico told me that the earliest they could look at the car was Wednesday afternoon because they were complete backed up (DC drivers are morons). So I'm waiting on that for the time being. Here are the pics. The left rear brake makes a little bit of noise under light braking.

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So here's what I noticed while under the car. It appears that the underbody where the shocks mount distorted in the impact. The trailing arms are obviously no longer perfectly straight back, but at least it looks like they're just torquing on the bushings and not actually bent. And I'm actually kind of glad for Ford's 2-piece driveshaft, look at the pics and you'll see why. The coil spring on the left side is also tilted way off to one side, but not quite sure if it's still seated good enough or not. Needless to say, I'm avoiding driving this thing whenever I can. It's also my only means of conveyance.

 

Sorry that happened to you. Good Luck with the repairs.

 

what a major drag to say the least

 

Sounds about like what I did in August. Hopefully it doesn't end up costing you 3000 dollars like mine. Did you crack one rim or both?

 

Sorry to hear about the damage. Glad you are ok.

Mental note... the Bullitt rims cannot sustain a 15mph side impact to a curb. Ouch!!!!

As a side note. When I was a teen I destroyed my dad's FWD Grand Prix drive shaft and lower A arm hydroplaning into a curb at about 35mph. Surprisingly the rim survived with a few scrapes. Lesson learned on that one; FWD cars don't react like RWD when it's wet.

 

Holy axle shift batman!

Glad no body damage was done, to you or the stang.
Nothing a good alignment/repair shop cant fix. Do you really want to go thru the insurance co and risk rate increase?

Good time for some suspension upgrades.

 

Did you disable the traction control by any chance?

What happened was you overcorrected and dropped the throttle too suddenly. The Traction Control usually helps a little, but slowly correcting using the steering wheel is the key in this scenario. Good luck with the pony.

 

These cars are missing Ohhh Chiiiiittttttt handles!

 

That doesn't sound like hydroplaning, but rather oversteer. Be careful giving the car throttle mid corner, especially when it's wet outside.

 

i feel your pain, i almost did that and thank god the rear jumped the curb instead of really banging it up, but these new tunes make my axle kick like a mule to one side, i need a new panhard bar, oh and with axle shift like that, check the panhard bar and the mount plus the support

 

Thats a tough break. I almost did the same thing to my 69 BOSS 302 late one night entering the 405. By the time I stopped the spin I was across the freeway almot into the divider.

To add to metroplex's suggestion. Next time the rear breaks free, you need lots of opposite lock on the steering to catch it before it completely spins around, w/o completely getting off the throttle. You need enough throttle to just keep the tires spinning (else they will hook up as you experienced). If you catch the car spin in time, then you gradually unwind the opposite lock and relax the throttle together. If you can get on to a big empty lot that is wet and has no poles, you can practice the technique.

If you find you self in a complete spin, as you are coming around to 270 degrees, stay off the brakes, center the steering and the spin will stop but you still have forward motion.

 

That's not correct from what I've learned. They teach you in racing school, "in a spin, both feet in". Hit the brakes and depress the clutch.

 

Just the one. Your axle get messed up at all?

Yeah bullitt ate it but at least I took a good chunk of the curb with me!

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Yeah, to tell you the truth, it's slid out on me before, but not nearly this bad. And those times it did, it felt a lot more controllable than my 96 monte (FWD). I think i'd rather have the rears kick out than the tires that are used to steer the car!

It made more financial sense to go through the insurance. The dealer told me offhand that each rim goes for $600 a piece, so my $500 deductible already saves me money. Plus the damage is minimal compared with most accidents, no one else was involved, and it wasn't wreckless driving. After doing some research, this type of thing as a low risk of rate increase.

NOOooo!! Worthless traction control was on. I've tried to make it kick in before in a straight line and it takes a good 3-5 sec to kick in, then takes too long to deactivate once you regain grip. Only had it ever kick in successfully once when I needed it, and that was when it didn't even really matter.

Everything looked OK, like it was just torquing on the bushings. the only part that actually looked distorted were the shocks mount. But then again, I don't think the shocks could hold the entire axle over like that. Hmm... Or I could be wrong.

I tried to match the speed of my correction to the rate it was sliding at, but I think, like you suggest, that my downfall was allowing the tires to hook up when they did. I'll definitely try out your technique when this thing gets fixed...

Maybe speed's a factor in that scenario?
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Anyone think the car is particularly unsafe to drive or that i'm going to cause serious damage to it by driving slow and steady 9 miles to work? I don't have many options for transportation right now. I didn't opt for rental coverage, and I can't afford a week or two of a rental car at even the discount $24 a day. By the time the insurance company looks at it and I get the check and whatnot, It's probably going to be 2 weeks before it's done.

Also, anyone have any idea how long it might take once the thing is in the shop, based on the pics?

 

The brakes aren't very effective in a spin-out. I've had the rear try to spin out on me with the Crown Vic (on ice). Slowly correcting with the steering definitely helped out. If you react too quickly and too suddenly, it exacerbates the condition.

 

OUCH. I always say it's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them...although this one looks like an expensive mistake

 

From the looks of this pic, I'd say the panhard bar attachment point on the axel hosing is cracked or bent. Good luck with the repairs.

 

Guys, seriously! Both feet in really does work. I'm the safety inspector for my High Performance Driving Club and I've seen a fair share of wrecks and near wrecks. And, have been in a few spins myself (dang wet VHT!) this is Race Driving School Basics 101 and it does work.

Here is a basic FAQ on "both feet in."

"If you spin, both feet in" reminds racers to pound both the brake and clutch pedals to the floor when all hope of catching a spin has evaporated.

"If you spin, both feet in" accomplishes three things:
a) Locked brakes help scrub off speed before something hard is hit. Though not as effective as maximum straight-line braking, locked tires still rapidly slow a car. Every foot-per-second you shave off before reaching a concrete wall is a plus.
b) With brakes locked, a vehicle will continue in a straight line and be a predictable obstacle for those behind. If you're in the spinning car, you'll pray that it works and your competitors can avoid you. If the spinning driver does not lock the brakes, as soon as the car slows enough for the tires to regain traction, the car will dart in whichever direction the front tires are pointed.
c) Clutching it keeps the engine running. If you don't rip the wheels off the car and the engine is running you'll be able to grab a gear and get out of the way of the next pack of cars. This also prevents engine damage that may be caused by forcing the motor to revolve backward.

"If you spin, both feet in" is good advice for out-of-control highway drivers. On the street, if you sense that hope is long gone, pound the brake pedal to the floor and hold it there. Additionally, you may close your eyes and say a bad word. If you have antilock brakes, also center the steering wheel to make sure the front tires are pointed straight ahead. This is so that the car doesn't drive off in an unwanted direction — like toward the ditch — when it slows enough for ABS to allow traction to return.

 

You just described by first auto accident 24 years ago in an 1979 TA, and like you I only ended up on a curb, but broke the axle and moved the rear end over a couple of inches.

These cars need stability control! It really helps out, and may have prevented this accident. Rain + turn + live axle with limited slip + Goodyear tires slightly worn = a slippery situation. To this day I'm still paranoid when approaching a turn in the rain.

I hope your car is ok and it is only a few tweaked parts that need replacing.

 

Not when I went to Boundurant ... and not when I did my spin recovery on two different race tracks ...

 

Yeah I tried that once and hit the wall at Brands Hatch in a formula ford. Brain went into panic mode. You are right it keeps the car going strainght in the direction it was going once the spin went into full swing ... but you may not really want to go that way. I watched two other cars in that same corner, not do it that way and they completely avoided a wreck and recovered from a full 360 degree spin.

Centering the wheel requires the right timing in the spin, to soon in the spin and you may break the spin and find your self going straight backwards.

Fully agree with disengaging the clutch once the spin is fully entered. Too soon and the rear wheels will hook up and snap the car in the other direction.