Got in an accident! :(

[Arno_Scirocco]

Hi guys,

thought i would do a post about this. Not very happy with what happened but very happy with the car itself.
Here is the scenario:
Driving to work on friday morning and just got on to the motorway at Yatala southbound. Immediately merged to the fast lane and followed a bunch of cars (4 i think) in train formation.
I think i was only in that position for about 2 minutes because at the Ormeau exit the cars in front of me all started swerving very violently towards the left. 2 of them missed the object they tried to avoid and the third one clipped it.
I couldn't see what they were swerving for or where exactly it was lying.
So because i didn't know where the object was i started slowing down and moving towards the left as all the cars moved in that direction to avoid it... anyway so when the third car clipped it he flung the object right into my path!
It was a massive industrial sized ladder.
I swerved then further as well as hitting the breaks to minimise impact as i realised i couldn't miss it. Unfortunately on my left a commodore caught up that i passed before and we made contact at the same time as i collected the ladder...

The contact with the faster moving commodore sent my car bouncing off it side ways towards the barrier but i managed to steer it straight and pull up before hitting anything else.
The rocco was great during impact and steering after. My neck was a bit sore for a week or so but all good now. The commodore had his right front wheel broken off and some panel damage.
my car had damaged rims and damaged panels, door and front bar. but suspension etc were fine.

The guy who dropped the ladder on the motorway did pull over, but just to tighten his remaining load and piss off again. I got his license plate number but was unable to get his details... As i am writing this i JUST got a call from an insurance company telling me they are representing the guy with the ute, so i am no longer required to pay the excess!! woohooo!!

Anyway, Car is in for repair and i should get it back next week. New panels and door. They wont replace the wheels because they are apparently $1600 each?? wow... really? That is insane.

I am considering getting some 18's with semi slicks fitted and popping the current set of wheels in the garage.
Has anyone done this? Gone down an inch and increased the tire profile to 40? I think ride quality would be a bit nicer but i don't want to lose performance.

I will post some pics this afternoon.

Cheers,

[Dutch77]

Ouch, that sucks.

A lot of the guys tracking swap out their 19s for 18s for the track - I believe in most cases you will end up with better performance (and not just because of using the semi-slick).

Not sure on the appropriate profile change on the Rocs but should be easy enough to sort out.

[JustCruisn]

Good result with the tradie, pretty rare for someone to own up like that.
Whats with them not replacing the wheels, what is the damage to them? Could they not be repaired?
Surley your insurance is required to reinstate the car back to the condition it was in before the accident. I know then often don't do tyres but wheels are about as importand and say the door etc. Who really cares how much they cost that's all reflected in the sum insured value.

[Guy_H]

Ouch, glad you are OK.

[Arno_Scirocco]

Hi JustCruisn,

The story with the wheels is quite a strange one. They are 'seeing' if it can be repaired first because it is more acceptable for them money wise i suppose? I am not overly happy about it but from what they said they are definitely going that route unless if the wheels absolutely cannot be repaired.

Total repair sum came to something like $6000 and if they quote near $1600 each per rim and they said 3 need repairing then i see why they want to go for option A instead. Not that im happy about that!

[dylan8]

Good to see you're ok!
Seen plenty of ladders on high-speed roads, seems to happen far to often.

Sounds wierd about the wheels.
they insured the car, that's there responsibility to know the value of them being they are standard

[JustCruisn]

I had a wheel damaged in an accident and they wanted to repair. It took the brunt of the smash and I was worried about fractures etc. insurance would not cover xray. So I arranged with the repairer to have the amount for the repair to be paid out to me. I was able to get a new set of replicas.

[kazsiddique]

Im sorry thats bull**** about the wheels...which insurance company are u with??? Total and utter crap....wasnt ur fault that douch dropped his ladder...they should be rewarding u for having an amazing car that stopped u gettinv hurt through amazing wheels and tyres not being all cheap about it...take them all the way and get whats rightfully your bruv...


Kaz

[kaanage]

I am considering getting some 18's with semi slicks fitted and popping the current set of wheels in the garage.
Has anyone done this? Gone down an inch and increased the tire profile to 40? I think ride quality would be a bit nicer but i don't want to lose performance.

You're kidding, right? Losing performance with semi-slicks? They'll out corner any "sports" tyre of similar width.
And the sidewalls of semi-slicks are MUCH stiffer than normal tyres (which is why many semi-slicks are available in fairly tall profiles) so you'll almost certainly find the ride will worse. Plus they're noisy as anything and wear stupid fast.

But you'll gain performance in almost all respects except for fuel economy

Good to hear that you're ok, though and that the 'Roc came out pretty well

[Guest001]

You're kidding, right? Losing performance with semi-slicks? They'll out corner any "sports" tyre of similar width.
And the sidewalls of semi-slicks are MUCH stiffer than normal tyres (which is why many semi-slicks are available in fairly tall profiles) so you'll almost certainly find the ride will worse. Plus they're noisy as anything and wear stupid fast.

But you'll gain performance in almost all respects except for fuel economy

Good to hear that you're ok, though and that the 'Roc came out pretty well

They will be great on a real wet day Im sure. Wonder why the racing cars change off slicks in the wet. Cant be right.

[kaanage]

They will be great on a real wet day Im sure. Wonder why the racing cars change off slicks in the wet. Cant be right.

SEMI-slicks will aquaplane slightly earlier than normal road tyres but will stick better in the wet up to that point. They will lose grip more suddenly (both on dry and wet surfaces) when the limit is reached

[Martin]

Man, what a freak accident, glad you were not hurt!

You're kidding, right? Losing performance with semi-slicks? They'll out corner any "sports" tyre of similar width.
And the sidewalls of semi-slicks are MUCH stiffer than normal tyres (which is why many semi-slicks are available in fairly tall profiles) so you'll almost certainly find the ride will worse. Plus they're noisy as anything and wear stupid fast.

But you'll gain performance in almost all respects except for fuel economy

Yes, fully agree

I found the semi slicks had softer rubber and gave a really comfortable ride even on poor road surfaces
(I didn't use them long enough on public roads to notice the fuel consumption)
They are noisy, it's because the tread is not harmonically balanced, they are for performance not everyday road comfort

As for grip and performance, they are fantastic
The turn in response is immediate with great feel
The braking is awesome
The extra grip means you can get on the throttle earlier and the inside wheel does not spin
(more so on the track than crappy public roads, never the less RWD and AWD are still on the throttle even earlier)

[Arno_Scirocco]

You're kidding, right? Losing performance with semi-slicks? They'll out corner any "sports" tyre of similar width.
And the sidewalls of semi-slicks are MUCH stiffer than normal tyres (which is why many semi-slicks are available in fairly tall profiles) so you'll almost certainly find the ride will worse. Plus they're noisy as anything and wear stupid fast.

But you'll gain performance in almost all respects except for fuel economy

Good to hear that you're ok, though and that the 'Roc came out pretty well

Thanks for the comments, I wasn't kidding however it was a legitimate question as i've never owned a set of sportier than street tyres. So thank you for the information. I will probably opt for something more towards street performance then.
My main concern was the sidewall stiffness. The other issues you raised i was aware of to some degree.

[preeman]

Just be careful with the new tires. I am having issues with my 20"s now as the new load rating is not high enough!! (91Y+)

With the 18" it is 95Y so you would need to be greater than that. Well that is what RTA in NSW tells me.

[Guy_H]

Arno. get your car back yet?