Learn From My Mistake - Don't Talk, Type Or Anything Else While You're Moving!!

S

sbbamafan

New member
Well I have proven my wife right...again. I was replying to an email I received on my Blackberry - while I drove. Going about 45, not paying attention, I went offroad by way of a curb. Front tire and wheel are ok. Right rear, not so lucky. Gouged a small chunk out of the wheel along with a good scrape. Tire was totalled. I consider myself very lucky that there wasn't another car on the road to bounce off as I came back onto the road. Here is where my stupidity comes in, as if I didn't already demonstrate it. I put the jack under the wrong place on the T4R. In my haste and hositlity I, again, wasn't making good decisions. I put the jack under a bar in front of the rear axle instead of the axle, itself. I raised it up for about ten seconds and looked at it. It appeared to be bending. I immediately let it back down and repositioned the jack while continuing to cuss myself. I got the tire changed but I'm concerned that I did more damage. It appears that this steel memeber still has a bit of a bend, but I'm not sure if it was like that before. The car seems to ride and drive the same as always. What should I do? Also, what should it cost to get the wheel repaired? I'll use it as the spare and keep the former spare on the ground.

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE - DON'T TALK, TYPE OR ANYTHING ELSE WHILE YOU'RE MOVING!!
 
Register to hide this ad

So sorry to hear about your mishap. Be thankful that nobody was hurt. Sure, there may be some minor damage to your vehicle, but cars can almost always be fixed -- people sometimes cannot.

I find myself reading e-mail while driving, although I generally don't send any unless I am on a wide-open road with nobody else around. When on the phone, I try to use the hands-free ear bud or the loudspeaker feature so I don't get so distracted by having that thing clinging to my ear.

Be careful out there, folks!



 
First thing I would do is take the car to a tire shop and have them realign the wheels, preferably all four (something that many dealerships can't do). It's cheap and hopefully they might be able to spot any problems that will give you a heads up before going to the dealer.

No offense (and glad you're OK) but yours is a good example of why cellphone use should actually be banned while driving IMO, as it is in many parts of Europe.

Here in SF there seems to be an epidemic of people on cellphones doing stupid things while driving with one hand. Every time I see dumb, inattentive driving (like an illegal u-turn with no signal right in front of me today) it turns out that 95% of the time the driver is on the phone paying no attention to anyone around them.

I don't buy the cellphone industry's response that all sorts of things cause distraction and cellphones are no worse than, say, playing with the radio controls. You don't fiddle with the radio for half an hour, for example, or decide to change a CD right in the middle of a busy junction. But people happily yak away on their cellphones for long periods and through many red lights with one hand on the wheel and their brains somewhere far, far away.

As you can tell, it's a pet peeve of mine!
 
Do you have any pics of your wheel? As long as it's still round and the part where the tire is mounted isnt bent you should be okay to remount a tire.

A curb "jumped out at me" when I had my Eclipse and bent my rim enough to where i had to go to a junkyard and buy a new one because the tire shop (Sams Club) wouldn't mount it with it bent.
 
Mythbusters did a segment where they showed it is not the process of driving with one hand that causes bad driving, it is actually the conversation taking place. Your mind and attention are not focused on the job at hand (driving), it is on carrying on the conversation with the other person.

I'm glad you're ok and I hope you take this a wake up call (forgive the pun) because it could have ended up much badly.

I'm guilty of talking on the phone while driving too. I try to keep conversations short so I can get back to sitting in traffic (LOL).
 
pipspeak said:
First thing I would do is take the car to a tire shop and have them realign the wheels, preferably all four (something that many dealerships can't do). It's cheap and hopefully they might be able to spot any problems that will give you a heads up before going to the dealer.
Click to expand...

There isn't an alignment setting for the rear wheels, since it's a live axle.
 
sbbamafan said:
I put the jack under a bar in front of the rear axle instead of the axle, itself. I raised it up for about ten seconds and looked at it. It appeared to be bending. I immediately let it back down and repositioned the jack while continuing to cuss myself. I got the tire changed but I'm concerned that I did more damage. It appears that this steel memeber still has a bit of a bend, but I'm not sure if it was like that before. The car seems to ride and drive the same as always. What should I do?...

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE - DON'T TALK, TYPE OR ANYTHING ELSE WHILE YOU'RE MOVING!!
Click to expand...

First, glad to hear you are OK.
Second, as for the bent linkage, bite the bullet and take it to a good mechanic (last resort is the stealer, but do it) to replace the rear linkage (it should be straight.) Open your wallet and correct the rear geometry for tracking in order to avoid any long term problems. Your wheel, tire and linkage are peanuts compared to what could have happened.
Third, don't even get me started about paying attention to what you are doing (driving or otherwise...)
 
That rear link has to be straight. When bent, the link will actually be slightly shorter than when straight, thus it will pull one side of the axle closer in than the other, making your axle ride at an angle. This will affect the tracking of the vehicle. This link should be easy to replace, you could probably do it yourself.
 
T4RMatt said:
That rear link has to be straight. When bent, the link will actually be slightly shorter than when straight, thus it will pull one side of the axle closer in than the other, making your axle ride at an angle. This will affect the tracking of the vehicle. This link should be easy to replace, you could probably do it yourself.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Sounds like you bent the traction bar. On top of this member now being shorter because it is bent making the axle ride sideways, this member is also one of the primary suspension members in compression carrying the load of forward thrust. When the wheel is turned by torque from the engine, the axle tends to wrap up and forward while transmitting equal and opposite forces of wheel torque at the road into forward thrust on the axle. That means under hard acceleration that bar can deform even more and do serious damage.

Another issue you may run into (if you haven't already, based on how bad the bar is bent) is now that the bar is shorter your propeller (drive) shaft is entering the rear differential at an angle which could do serious damage to the rear dif if not corrected ASAP. Get it fixed now and get it fixed right. DO NOT try and fix it by yourself. Make sure you have a reputible shop do the repair and check your axle/drivshaft angles to make sure they are correct.
 
That sucks man.....I'm dreading the day I rear-end someone gawking at scantily clad girls on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, it's coming and there's nothing I can do about it.....
 
Northof49 said:
That sucks man.....I'm dreading the day I rear-end someone gawking at scantily clad girls on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, it's coming and there's nothing I can do about it.....
Click to expand...
Where do you find scantily clad girls in BC.......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 510 (members: 1, guests: 509)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,315
Messages
3,554,104
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top