Crash Course

While there was only about 4 inches of snow last night on the roads last night, it certainly seemed like more. The plow train just seemed to be getting started on 202 when I left work at 6pm.

After turning onto the unplowed state road on the way to my house, I finally slid into the curve going down the curving hill to my street. I hit the curb sideways at about 10mph.

My tires weren't flat, but driving into work this morning something seemed wrong. I drove to my dealer.

It looks like a bent tire rod. If it's only that, I'm looking at about $300 for the rod and an alignment.

Since I didn't bring my laptop home today, I'm using a vacation day.

The only good news for me is that the Dervish concert in Malvern is still on for tonight.

Well I made it about 1/2way down Lincoln Drive and saw that it was closed the rest of the way. Shortly before this I had a nice little skid. I turned off onto the maze of side streets to try to get to Ridge Ave. and then to City Ave. I was having a lot of trouble getting moving each time I had to stop, and I was a bit leery of Ridge Ave. I called a coworker who lives near me & who I knew was about 10 minute ahead of me, and he told me he was doing OK on Ridge with his 4WD but that a lot of other people were having trouble. So I turned around, went back to work, and took SEPTA home.

Glad you're okay, Rich.

Is there a new sport of annoying people in the snow?

I was driving home last night, after midnight, and some dumbass came up behind me, insisted on tailgating (which annoys me at the best of times, and really pisses me off in the snow) and keeps laying on his fucking horn the entire time he was behind me. Not "my horn is broken and it's blowing all the time" ... it wasn't a constant sound. He was clearly hitting it and letting off on occasion.

Because I judged him to be unpredictable, I even blew a red light.

I never blow red lights.

Slide through on yellow from time to time, but never red.

wolf wrote:

...and some dumbass came up behind me, insisted on tailgating

I thought of an invention once to deal with that. There would be a switch in the car that, when flipped, would crank up a thing mounted underneath and to the rear of the car that would emit (massive quantities of) essence of skunk such that their air intake would gulp it in before they had time to figure it out and turn off the heater/AC.

No harm but plenty foul. :)

Snow tailgaters are the worst.

Well, apparently the total is now about $1100. A spindle in the rear was also bent. AAAARRRHHHH!

With a $500 deductible I don't think I want to present the remaining $550 to my insurance company (about $50 is for an alignment, which I know they won't cover).

Beestie wrote:

I thought of an invention once to deal with that. There would be a switch in the car that, when flipped, would crank up a thing mounted underneath and to the rear of the car that would emit (massive quantities of) essence of skunk such that their air intake would gulp it in before they had time to figure it out and turn off the heater/AC.

No harm but plenty foul. :)

Snow tailgaters are the worst.

My mechanic and I designed a Spyhunteresque smoke-screen that would only take about $30 and an hour of time (with the right tools) to install.

Take a generic wiper-fluid resevoir, mount the fluid pump to it, hang the tank of the fire-wall, run the power and the switch and then tap a fluid fitting into your exhaust manifold. Fill the resevoir with brake fluid. When necessary, a one or two second burst should generate enough smoke (which incidentaly causes a tremendous headache) to dissuade such close pursuit.

During those times in which I drove a car that I just didn't give a damn about, my secret weapon was to lock up the brakes.

If the tailgater has decent reflexes, he doesn't hit you, and gets the idea.

If he hits you, the person who does the rearending is always at fault.

(A friend of mine would reverse into people who tailgated him. I don't have that kind of balls. I also never had a 1967 Buick LeSabre.)

richlevy wrote:

Well, apparently the total is now about $1100. A spindle in the rear was also bent. AAAARRRHHHH!

Oh no, rich!!!!:eek: I'm so sorry!

richlevy wrote:

...It looks like a bent tire rod.

Uh, you meant tie rod, right? Never heard of a tire rod.

My solution to tailgaters is to slow down, pull to the right and wave the guy past. Problem solved. Unless of course he pulls over with me, then the .40 S&W is snugly clenched in my left hand... ;)

Troubleshooter wrote:

My mechanic and I designed a Spyhunteresque smoke-screen that would only take about $30 and an hour of time (with the right tools) to install.

You better feed that into the exhaust AFTER the catalytic converter.
Or you can feed freon into the intake manifold and produce phosgene gas. heh heh heh

Southbound I-95, just south of Philadelphia, according to the TV news, some sort of truck wiped out two of the big overhead signs. Now these signs are mounted on a "sign bridge" that straddles all 5 southbound lanes and must be 18 ft in the air. Just before them, 95 goes under Stewart ave with a normal 16ft clearance, so the "truck" got on at Stewart with a really high load or something magical happened.
The only other thing I could think of is a dump truck, maybe a salt truck, tilted the bed up while he was moving. oops. :smack:

404Error wrote:

My solution to tailgaters is to slow down, pull to the right and wave the guy past. Problem solved. Unless of course he pulls over with me, then the .40 S&W is snugly clenched in my left hand... ;)

I did that. There was also more than ample room for him to pass me at any part of the adventure. His and mine were the only two cars on the road, which, although lined for two lanes is more than wide enough for four lanes (sometimes five) of traffic. It was after midnight, in a snowstorm. Only healthcare workers and raging drunks are typically driving at that time of night.

I did everything short of pulling into a shopping center parking lot, as it happens.

If he stayed behind me much longer I was going to call the cops. (I wasn't close enough to their station just to drive in, and none of them were parked in the Dunkin' Donuts lot).

richlevy wrote:

Well, apparently the total is now about $1100. A spindle in the rear was also bent. AAAARRRHHHH!

Generally, a force strong enough to bend a spindle will also bend (or warp) a wheel rim. This can be overlooked especially when the replaced wheel is realigned to a warpped tire. Spinning a wheel even on a bent spindle (with something held directly adjacent to tire treads) should expose the bent wheel. If a spindle (wheel) assembly is aligned with the same wheel - as is standard - then the alignment would be off later when tires are rotated.

Just a cautionary note that might be relevant some 6+ month later.

This snowstorm was unique for this year. Some where noting how many drivers were clearly driving way too fast because the previous snow was so dry and therefore not so slick. This one being wetter meant many were now surprised that their vehicle is not snow proof.

$50 for an alignment? Not enough money or a kind dealer.

tw wrote:

$50 for an alignment? Not enough money or a kind dealer.

It's actually 59.95. I was estimating. Thanks for the advice on the wheels, I'll check it out.