Tibbychick

So, I'm driving along the NYS Thruway at about 85ish mph, in the left lane, when suddenly, someone's rusted exhaust pipe that goes in between the cat and muffler, literally FALLS OFF THE CAR and ONTO THE ROAD. I watch it happen, and watch it bounce smoothy sideways.

At first, it looked like it was going to remain in the slow lane, so I stayed in my lane to avoid it. But, nope, as soon as I approached, it jumps INTO my lane HORIZONTALLY across the lane (it had been vertical in the other lane, and could have easily been driven clear over).

So, I have no shoulder to the left to jump into, nor can I jump into the right lane because there's a car there. So, I swerve as much as I could to hit as little of it as possible. I hit it straight with only the front passenger's side wheel. Then, the thing gets STUCK under my car and DRAGS. Keep in mind, my car is very low and has a full fiberglass bodykit.

Finally, it breaks free from under my car. I pull over onto the grass on the left shoulder, wait for traffic to clear, and dart over to the left shoulder. I jump outta my car to inspect the inevitible damage. I'm expecting at least a smashed front bumper, maybe a blow tire or bent rim, and who knows what else. I get to the front of the car, and I see.....NOTHING. No cracks, no bends, nothing looks out of the ordinary. Under the car looks ok as well.

Ok, well thank god for that, since I'm only around say maybe Rochester and have maybe another 400 miles to go. I start driving, and everything feels ok. The wheel shakes a little, but it had been shaking a little ever since I put on the wheel spacers. I make the rest of the drive home and all is good in the world.

Yesterday, I get in the car to drive to work after the car had sat for 2 days. Now the wheel is shaking like a bandit, and all I hear is THUD THUD THUD. WTF? I assume its the front driver's side tire, cause I've had to fill it a couple times recently. I stop on my way home to fill the tires. The driver's side was a little low, but the passenger's side only had 10 PSI. WTF! I know there's a nail in it, but its a sealed hole. So I fill it up, listen for leaking air, and there is none. Drive it home, hoping that the thudding and shaking was from the flat tire.

Nope. Still THUD THUD THUDDING and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKING! Damnit. So I let it sit, couple hours later, still holding air at 35 PSI. Ok, so what could be causing that thudding and shaking? Jed tells me to jack the car up and test the wheel at 3 and 9 and 12 and 6. I do so. 3 and 9 is ok, no play. 12 and 6, yikes. The entire hub/bearing, rotor, wheel + spacer are moving up and down. So, maybe I got lucky and the bearing simply popped out and can be easily pressed back in.

Nope. Bring the car to the shop this morning. $422.55 gets me a brand new hub, bearing, balanced wheel and fixed flat tire.

blowup.gif

Moral of the story: next time, fly.

On the bright side: at least this time I didn't get a $300 speeding ticket.

zoned019

Damn.. That sucks. You have the worst luck I swear. I guess this was better than more body damage though, and at least you made it home safe.

Tibbychick

Well, yeah, I was just mostly glad to have made it home ok. And yeah, at least the bumper didn't explode, but then again, that I could have fixed myself for a lot less. Ah, whatever. Sh!t happens. I convinced my mom to pay half for an early birthday present.

zoned019

Haha nice. Looking back on it, $420 + gas, it would have been cheaper and easier to fly, lol.

If all that other stuff got damaged so badly, you sure the axel is ok too?

When I hit a curb last winter I broke all that plus the sway bar, axel, tire and rim. Cost me over $800. I would have done the work and stuff myself, but it was the dead of winter in Wisconsin, and I don't have a heated garage 02.gif

Tibbychick

Well, my mechanic kicks ass and only charged me $350. He checked the car thoroughly cause I told him exactly what had happened. He balanced all 4 wheels and did an alignment as well. The rest of my suspension is new to. The ball joints and tie rods are fine, I checked them myself last night.

UGH!!!!!!!! The wheel is STILL shaking violently! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thudding noises are gone. Just it shakes really badly from 30mph+. Around 60mph is the worst. I didn't dare take it any faster than that.

Jed118

heh, that reminds me of the time when I was driving down to mississauga for some reason and the car far ahead of me (it was a VERY rough Crown Vic) suddenly got louder and sparks started to come out of it... I swerved out of the way, clipped the tail end of the intermediate pipe (it was an X pipe, from the cats I suppose, to the rear pipe) and sent it flying into the ditch... I watched it in my rearview spinning and sparking all over, and others slowing down to avoid it. I gunned all 98 HP of my 89 Topaz and pulled up beside the driver (a small indian woman, much too small and very close to the airbag!) and began honking wildly. She remained TOTALLY immobile, I even got REALLY close to her car: NOTHING.

I just swerved away and got to where I was going. Didn't even check the car, but several days later, the muffler fell off completely. It may or may not have been related: The Topaz ALWAYS had exhaust peices falling off. lmao.gif