Oh shit.

[Nomake Wan]

I just got back from California today. I took a nap, I woke up, I wanted Taco Bell. So I hopped into my car, started it up, and took off.

There's this lovely back-road I love to take. Tonight was no different. It was a little damp on the road, but not too bad. Humidity was high, it was sprinkling, I had my windows down, all was good.

So I come upon a 95-degree right turn going 55 MPH, right on the speed limit. I get into the turn, I use my left-foot on the brake, car turns properly right through the turn--until the apex. Right then, the rear broke loose violently. I countersteered, trying to slide through it, hoping to go straight. Traction came back, the rear snapped the other direction, the car lost all control and spun off the road, going between two trees but slamming into a fencepost, bouncing off of that and spinning into a field. The windows were open, so I've got plants and bugs up the wazoo in my car.

Worst part is, the road is above the field, and the ground was damp. I tried going out the way I came in, but I couldn't even get the rear up. So I turned around and tried driving up and out. That didn't work either, but at last I got the front over the top and put my brakes on. An SUV drove by and asked if I needed help, I said yeah, he hooked up a tow cable and pulled me out. Then I drove home.

Here are pictures of my car after the crash: http://www.thawa.net/gallery/Crash

Good god. This sucks so much... I planned on using my graduation money to get the A/C fixed on it... but now it all goes into collision repair. F*cking hell... >.<

Anybody know a place around Ithaca, NY that'll do collision repair on first-gen Legacys? I would like to avoid Bill Cooke if I can...

[AWD_addict]

Oooo, that sucks. Looks like you are lucky the post went between the mirror and the wheel/tire. Better bodywork than mechanical and bodywork.

[vrg3]

Aw, that sucks!

Where was this exactly?

Definitely do not take it to Bill Cooke. Any local body shop should happily work on a 1st-gen Legacy.

But you already know where I say to go for repair work: Mark Mann. In fact, send me another PM with your phone number. I'm thinking of paying Mark a visit sometime soon; maybe I can come with you to get the estimate.

Is there a lot of damage other than the passenger-side fender? It's hard to tell from the picture.

[Nomake Wan]

As far as I can see, there's no damage aside from the fender and the front license plate. However, a guy on another forum said that there's probably frame damage under the fender, but that's yet to be seen.

This was on uhh... I can never seem to remember the name. It's the road past Buttermilk Falls. The one I always drive, which makes this even worse. >.>;

PM sent.

[skid542]

Oh man, I feel for you brother. Not a lot of reconciliation I know but at least you weren't hurt in the process too.

[legacy92ej22t]

Ouch, that sucks. That is one thing about these cars, they can hold traction to points well beyond most but when they do break loose it tends to be very violent.

Same kinda thing happened to me once but I was able to save it before hitting the concrete center divider that I was heading for.

Hopefuly you'll get lucky and it will just be the fender that is toast. They aren't too expensive or hard to replace.

[corsair]

Similiar thing happened to my car (back when it was my mom's car), my dad smashed the side of it with our Toyota Cressida, right where you got hit. Took it to the body shop, I think they fixed it and I don't recall many expletives being thrown after my Dad showed Mom the estimate. It was that long ago.

But anyway, glad you're ok and you might want to clean out that salad in the back seat.

[Nomake Wan]

The salad and all of the bacon bits that go with it. Ugh, I hate bugs. And they're all overrrr... >.<

Hopefully it is just the fender indeed. As long as it didn't compress into the inner fender it should be all right.

I agree on the traction thing. I really shouldn't have countersteered, I think. If I had kept the wheel where it was and hit the gas, I probably could've kept going. The whole reason I spun off the road was because it got traction and tried to go where the front tires were pointing... which was towards the outside of the turn.

[evolutionmovement]

You didn't know about counterswing - that's the problem. Overcorrection leads to counterswing and if you don't anticipate it, this kind of thing happens. Unfortunately, the only good way to handle it is through experience. For me it was an '84 wagon in every snow storm.

Steve

[scottzg]

I did the exact same thing in my bmw, except i hit a concrete abutment at 45 and pushed the engine back 6 inches. Trust me, it will never happen again.

Anyway, in your case, i would pick up a new fender from a jy (if you could find the same color that would be bonerz), and see if everything lines up if you bolt it up. My guess is that you can tweak it back to correct fitment by wiggling a few contact points with some vice grips. You got really lucky not hitting anything important or expensive.