Spinning your car = not fun

[Honoop]

Accidentally spun my car last nite and I can say now that it has freaked me out!

Was my own fault - bombing down a country lane, took corner too fast, road was wet so I slid and ended up facing the opposite direction half up on the grass verge. Rear end hit the kerb so I need to get it to a garage today now see if Ive broken anything, tho it drives ok just steering is a bit wobbly so Ive probably knocked the tracking. But I must've hurt other bits of my car.

I was dead lucky tho... nothing coming the other way else I could have been in serious trouble.
Whole thing has shaken me up tho - hence Im awake at 5am.

Will deffo be more careful now, and concentrating might be a bit of a plan!

[5lab]

rear wheel drive car?? if not it might be something is a bit wrong with the car.. fwd shouldnt spin..

know how you feel thou - i took my car to a wet deserted carpark when i first got it in order to learn how to control slides.. got it nailed now but if it catches you unaware you can get a shock, and probably wont control it quite right..

wobbly steering might just be a jolt has knocked a wheel weight off..

[Vimeous]

#1
Glad to hear you're ok

#2
Not enough info!
What hit the verge first the front or back wheels? In fact can you describe the whole thing? Us car nutz want to analyse what happened!

Did the front slide a bit hit the verge and the backend overtake you as it too touched the grass?
Did the front end slide, you lift off the power in surprise and the front suddenly grip followed by the backend letting go and overtaking you?
Did the backend simply overtake you?

More info needed.

Of and if it's the last one you've probably got your best tyres on the front, not to be advised for general road driving

[Honoop]

FWD - Ive only got a little Fiesta. Poor little thing puts up with all the abuse I usually give it - but I wasnt with it last nite.

And as for details... I did everything wrong!
Mustve been doing about 60ish, took a left hand bend as I went round car lost grip and I started sliding onto the other side of the road. So I hit the brakes! Car slid back over to the left then to the right and spun 180 degrees. Ended up on wrong side of road facing other direction to that in which I was originally going. Front left hand wheel on grass verge back left hand wheel having slid into kerb and stopped.
I hit the hazards - got out. Pitch black country lane, can see sweet FA, gave back a tyre a kick to ensure it hadnt popped or anything. Checked the front. Got in car - sobbed my eyes out, started engine and limped my car to a friends house.

Feel like such a stupid girl today. All the stuff I knew I should do like not hitting the brakes etc I just didnt do.

Oh well... we learn by our mistakes just hope Ive not broke anything too major.

Bit of advice needed - do I take it to a Ford Dealership as its not even 2yrs old yet or to any old garage??

[Romanov]

Ended up on wrong side of road facing other direction to that in which I was originally going.

Sounds like you were overdoing it quite a bit to end up like that tbh, 60 is pretty fast for small back roads as well...was it icy? Your lucky to be alive but so is the person coming the other way that you might have hit. It could have been a heck of alot worse, were you in a rush?

[[GSV]Trig]

Car slid back over to the left then to the right and spun 180 degrees.

180...
U told me 360, bah, anyone can 180 a car
Hows ur head this mornin?

[Honoop]

No it wasnt icy, just wet and thankfully there was no other traffic on the road at all as it was like 9.30pm on a Sunday... but I know I was lucky and I know it could've been a hell of a lot worse.

No I wasnt in a rush, I pretty much always drive like that especially on the back roads. I was on a road that I dont really know all that well and I wasnt concentrating enough to be driving that fast.

I believe that me and my litle Fiesta are invincible... perhaps not quite as invincible as I thought now tho.

[Honoop]

180...
U told me 360, bah, anyone can 180 a car
Hows ur head this mornin?

Yeh I know... it didnt occur to me til the early hours of this mornin that I was facing the opposite direction, not the same way I was going. Besides u gotta exaggerate a bit eh?

No in all seriousness it was really scary n I will be more careful now without a doubt!

Head is ok, just didnt sleep all that well. Better get on the phone to a garage now tho...

[Vimeous]

AHHH ones of those.
Understood and sadly I too have done something similar in the past. Plenty of obvious things to say but by the sounds of it you've already been through all the things you did wrong, could've done better and what could have happened.
Needless to say glad you're still here.

Tracking may well be out and it's quite possible you may have bent the rear wheel that hit the kerb (as I did). Any wobbling or vibrations will certainly suggest bent wheels etc. Hopefully you won't have bent the rear axle, depends on how hard you struck. A check of the camber angles will tell you that, something that a tracking check should tell you.

If it's not bad a decent tyre garage would probably be your best best. They'd rebalance any wheels and check tracking (ring first to make sure they offer the service). With no new tyres it may cost £10-20.

Keep us informed

[Jiff Lemon]

rear wheel drive car?? if not it might be something is a bit wrong with the car.. fwd shouldnt spin..

Errrr Sorry?

ANY car, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive or Four wheel drive, can go into a spin.

[Zak33]

/\ thanks Jiff....saved me

[Butuz]

Everyone says dont hit the brakes dont do this or that etc, but until it happens to you, untill the instant hit of adrenaline fires into your brain just as you realise your actually out of control and probably going to crash, you dont know what your gonna do. Some people panic and do all the wrong things, some people know what to do but just dont get a chance, and sometimes time seems to slow down and you get a chance to react ive had that happen once when someone pulled out in front of me on a fast big roundabout, ive no idea how i did what i did but i managed not to crash into them.

It all happened in about 2 seconds but it went through my head very slowly and i can remember telling myself when to lift of when to steer, and when to countersteer, and when to brake.

Really wierd that one was. But i think once youve had a really bad scare and ended up facing the wrong way, you kinda learn the lesson internally, i doubt it will happen again for a long time.

Butuz

[Rave]

But i think once youve had a really bad scare and ended up facing the wrong way, you kinda learn the lesson internally, i doubt it will happen again for a long time.

True. Sounds like a classic 'tankslapper' Honoop, where the car slides, then suddenly grips and fires you round the other way. That happened to me the second time I spun my car, I ended up hitting into the central reservation of a dual carriageway going sideways, facing the way I'd come! Luckily the only damage I did was a couple of big dings on my wheel rims. I'd brought that one on myself by going round the corner too fast so I wasn't all that shaken, but the first spin I had really shook me up even though I didn't hit anything, I'd only had the car about three days and that really taught me to respect it.

Rich :¬)

[Zak33]

poor David had a tank slapper....in his MX5...thing is tho, I was driving but even THEN he learned summit.

Dont let me have a go

Honoop.....the luck held out missus you hit no one

[TiG]

Glad to hear you are alright, believe me when i say it could have been a lot worse

TiG

[XTR]

poor David had a tank slapper....in his MX5...thing is tho, I was driving but even THEN he learned summit.

Dont let me have a go

Honoop.....the luck held out missus you hit no one

Zak... remember when i came down to MK... what had happened to me that morning when i was just leaving for MK........ *oopsies* slidy slidy spinny spinny on a roundabout.