Tonight my buddy and I were driving on a 2 lane highway to his place. The speed limit is 50mph, and my spectra was leading his civic hatchback. There's a slight bed in the road after a straight, and even at the speed limit, we both hit black ice and lost it. Two weeks ago I bought new All Seasons (Continental Extreme Contact Dws, great tire btw) and my front tires gripped no problem. Then my rear tires lost it completely and I did a 270' ending up in the ditch sideways on the other side of the road. My friends Honda has summer tires on it (Riken raptor IIRC) and he just slid straight into the bushes with his wheels fully turned. I was lucky enough to back out okay. Only damage to my Kia is some scuffs on the fender from some reflectors I took out. My friends car will need an alignment and a new fender though. :(

For some reason there's no salt/sand or any de icer on the road. I'll try to get a pic up, but I only have my phone so idk how I'll do that haha but ill figure something out. Scary stuff though, I came close to sliding sideways onto some trees, and that would have sucked. My buddy and I are okay and our cara could be in a lot worse shape.

Moral is: respect the roads during this time of year. Your traction can quite literally vanish right under you.

pic.twitter.com/aTvGokSL

My friends Honda buried in the bushes, and my mound of frozen mud that my front tight wheel pushed.

Hmm, couldn't pull up the Twitter pictures page. Thanks for the warning and sharing your story though! You are absolutely correct, this time of year certainly demands respect from your driving. More so for our Northern climate friends!

- Jeff

Whoa, that's some scary stuff dude. Glad to hear you're ok and that the cars are fixable. Be careful out there!

its happened to me twice. both times on a turn. its a scary thing when you go to turn into a neighbor hood and your wheels turn but you car continues forward.

I know what it's like to hit black ice... last year I was driving my moms Ford Escape, had winter tires on it (not sure what they were) and I hit a patch going over a bridge, and I rear-ended a dump truck, the escape needed a front bumper, push bar, fog lights, headlights, grill, hood, and rad... it costed me alot of money... and I'm still paying dearly with insurance... hence why my Sephia isn't on the road yet...

Gotta get bridgestone

Quote:

That has nothing to do with black ice.

Yeah no combo of car and tire will ever grip on black ice, or really any smooth icy surface. Unless you've got studs or chains that brake into the ice you're pretty much at the mercy of direction of your car when you hit it. If its snow AND ice you're a bit better off cause you can slide into the snow or off of the "path" on that road and grip in the slush/snow, but if it's just frozen rain or standing water forget it.

I will say that tires do make a huge difference in the snow and rain though. If you live in an area with a lot of rain/snow get some nice name brand all weather tires. Or do as I am and get a spare set of winter/weather tires.

ask anyone who attended Cupcake Meet 9 in texas. it was the hardest drive if you lived north of austin.

I have some great all season tires that are AWESOME in the snow and rain. Hell even in the dry, I can keep pace with my buddies Honda and his cheap-o summer tires. I use Continental ExtremeContact DWS.

Neither of us had grip though. My front did, but the back decided to not follow and slide out on me. Next time I get to a PC, I'll post a picture of the mountain of mud passenger side pushed up as it slid to a stop. My friends Honda is in the background in the bushes. :( After i stopped, i watched my friend hit the bushes, and jumped out to make sure he was okay and could barely walk on the road. Then i back my car out put on my hazards/threw out some flares while we called our friend with a truck to come pull him out.

I hit black ice a few years back. Scary stuff, even at slow speeds. I got spun 180* trying to come out of the entrance of my park. I approached the entrance to stop, and it didn't. The car abruptly spun me backwards, and into cross traffic. Lucky for me, there was no traffic. Took a few seconds to get the car to go anywhere. Tires just spun on the ice.

Got straightened out and immediately went to the field, next door and grabbed several hand fulls of sand/dirt for the other residents of the park. Worked well.

Ice is least of my worries, seems in rain let alone snow my rear passenger side wants to kick out. I have replaced the upper control arm that had blown bushings now when she kicks it is a much tighter kick but still a kick out none the less. Not looking forward to snow. She may end up in the ditch :(

Here is the picture I was talking about in the second post.

Black ice is very common up here in our area... One thing you learn.. Rubber does not grip black ice, Period! SUV's may seem like the thing to get in New England... but you'll still find them off the roads when there is the thinnest layer of ice on the ground and new drivers involved.

Everyone be careful.