Kass failed with her new car. (Now with pics!)
Kassia - Thu, 09/30/2010 - 18:53
So you may or may not know, but last week i got a new car, a reaaaally nice 01 ford focus that was like a myth of cars for me. well, 10 days later and it's really rainy and wet out on the highway, i hydroplane in it back and forth between the guardrails several times, pretty much totaling the front and rear ends of my car :( no one else was involved, luckily i was the only one in my general area. i'm okay, i have really bad whiplash and shock right now, and luckily i have my old shitty car that i'll now extremely hate driving sitting there waiting to be used.
what's worse is that my insurance doesn't cover collision -.-
R.I.P. Watson.
it even had an awesome bumper sticker that says i <3 bacon :(
- Kassia's blog
- Login or register to post comments
| Posts: | |
User login
Navigation
Comments
Late to the game but!
So this is more two bits about the car (however crochetted hats are so winning!)... be sure to have the alignment checked. Also if the Focus stays in your life just be prepared for some random quirks as you go. We have an '01 and since it was early in the Focus run, the engineers were still figuring out the glitches.
If alignment hasn't been done yet, you might also be able to get the front springs replaced. That was one of the glitches (some of the springs were poorly manufactured so Ford issued a warranty recall on them). Your dad's friend may or may not know if that's been done, but it's worth asking about as it might be something that comes up during the alignment discussion.
Happy driving all the same though!
yah..
watson (the car :P) has a lot of little quirks about him, like the rear driver's side door only opens a speical way and the trunk button inside the car doesn't work, but i did get an alignment done and my dad replaced the springs as he was repairing it :)
also. is it just me or do these things really dislike windy highways? i feel like if i stuck some wings on it i'd fly away :P
How windy?
Like small gusts? Or like wind that would push you around? It's a fairly lightweight car and strong gusts will push around most vehicles. It's something you'll get used to, just compensate by counter steering.
it's been pretty windy lately..
it's probably just something normal with the car, there've been some crazy winds around here lately and i'm used to my old tank of a car corsica that didn't move even if you wanted it to :P i could also be really touchy since my accident, i feel every little movement now and feel like i'm gonna die like all the time -.-
Shocks?
I had a 2001 Focus ZX3 (2 door hatchback) and it had no problems in high wind.
If there are more mechanically inclined people reading this, please correct anything I say here. I am just a shade-tree mechanic so take what I say below with a grain of salt and contact your local expert for better advice.
How is it moving around in high wind? If you are getting a lot of body roll (the car feels like it's leaning over real hard or the front or back end are lifting up into the air) it might be that your shock absorbers are worn out or damaged. The springs help keep the wheels on the ground when you hit a bump, but they are just springs; they can be moved around with sufficient pressure (wind on the car) and the car will feel like it's "moving around" or "floating" on the road. The shocks help dampen this movement out; and they dampen high frequency oscillations so the car won't shimmy quite as much after you hit a speed bump or pothole or such.
After and accident like you had where it may have moved the suspension around (requiring your alignment) it could easily have damaged one or more of the shocks. If the push-rods in the shocks are bent they won't move freely and can lead to a 'weird' feeling in different driving conditions. more commonly when a shock is damaged it leaks the fluid out and then the shock is basically not working at all, leading to many of the symptoms listed above.
Fortunately shocks for a focus are dirt cheap (do not buy USED shocks) and easy for a shade-tree mechanic, like your dad, to replace.
pics!
for those who are curious and don't have me as a friend on facebook. this is what i did to it.
and this is what my dad did to make it (mostly) pretty again! (no, he has nothing to do with cars, just a handy man)
Hm.
I give you three weeks before you break it again. Maybe four.
yah.
same here.
Do it like this next time
Wow
Nice turn around, the front seemed mostly cosmetic, just replace all the bad stuff. The rear quater pannel just screams body shop unfortunately. But hey, it's driveable right? That's what matters most, that and no one was hurt.
Btw, awesome I <3 Bacon sticker!!!!!
mhmm
my dad did the best he could with it, but i'm getting a big bandaid magnet to stick over it so i don't mind :P and it's totally drivable, i drove to lowell MA which is like a half hour away last night and it was perfect :)
Glad your alright Kass :)
Sorry to hear about the whiplash though.
Ugh, that is some shitty luck to what happened to your car. At least you do have a backup.
You definitely have talent that you can profit from, hopefully if things work out you'll be getting another new car before long :)
*Cries over the death of the bacon bumper sticker*
Dead Bacon? /cry
If your airbags didn't go off that'll cut down on repairs alot. Unfortunately with body shops they replace everything and anything they can, it depends on how bad it is or else I'd say have someone you know do it.
yah,
if it's fixable my dad's going to try to fix it himself. he's like super-handyman or something.
Nice
From your description, it may be mostly cosmetic damage. Hopefully no frame damage. Or you could jsut go out and get a 93 civic ex. Then you could drop a k20a in there. Ohhh... maybe a nice k24 vtec. Ok. I'm gonna stop day dreaming now.
Ewwww
Honduhhhhhhhhhh? Psh just call it a day and get an S2000 =D RWD FTW
Well...
a civic would be waay cheaper. Not after an engine swap, but before that it would be. =D
I love the s2000, I still would love to pick up a 91 NSX though. /drool
Wayyyy
to overpriced. If I'm gonna be dropping that kinda money on a car I'll just get myself a Supra mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm or shit an R32 /passout
They aren't too bad
30-40k? 20s for the shitty ones. I can't help it though. They still look incredible even after 20 years.
Bah, NSX who's suspension
Bah, NSX who's suspension was designed so poorly that they had to toe in the back tires so much they wear through in 5k miles. S2k? My dad had one I'll take a Mazdaspeed Miata instead. Atleast the Miatas have power below 5k rpms or give me my old Mr2 Turbo back 200 lb-ft torque at 1500 rpms. Or get an Elise and put the TRD supercharger on it *drool*
TRD and Lotus?
Why not just get an exige at that point? I don't remember hearing anything bad about NSX suspension. Maybe they just had track spec camber.
I have a Miata :)
gave it to my oldest, with a Stage 1 Supercharger, and liquid cooled intercooler..about 215 to the wheels....it's sick.
i would love to have a 95 RX7, i just love 'em
240SX /enddebate
KA-T
SR20
JZ
RB
F20
LS
FD & FC
VG & VQ
This car can fit whatever engine you need with a near 50/50 weight ratio, love it or else!
How many
How many require you cut into the firewall? =)
I love Rx-7's too Soaps... I'm just too big for them. My head touches the liner and climbing in and out is like medevil torture.
Holy Crap!
Damn girl, so glad it was only the car that got hurt.
I love the the Cthulhu hat - my brother needs one. He has the "beanie" baby already.
Bacon - Archie McPhee? Or however you spell the name for that site. Have gotten a few strange gifts over the last couple of years from them.
Saw One Of These Bad Boys Here In G.R.
of all places...think I was drooling.
I think I would take one or maybe the M600 :)
Glad to see that your not
Glad to see that your not permanently damaged. I do want to say that its not exactly easy to get a focus fishtailing around like mad even in the rain unless there is something wrong with the car or you were driving recklessly fast. Where did you get the car? Small buy here pay here, private owner or larger dealership? Did you see a real Carfax on the car, was it free from accidents? Were the tires very worn down or worn down in certain areas but not in others? Just asking because if the seller sold a car that had problems or safety issues and did not inform you they are possibly cuplable even with a AS-IS clause.
deets.
the car is pretty much in mint condition, several things were replaced on it as soon as i got it, including new tires. and i wasn't going more than 60, and it's a 55 zone, and the only thing that happened to it beforehand is that a tree fell on it during an ice storm, so it had an enitrely new front end. my dad bought it from the guy that repairs cars as a hoby or something, and my dad wouldn't let me drive it if it was unsafe. soo i guess i just really suck at driving?
Front end repairs can be
Front end repairs can be tricky although I would say that in times of severe weather speeding may not be your best bet. The replaced tires, were they worn unevenly like the inside or outside worn more. How many miles were on the old tires was the car chewing thru a 30000 mile set of tires in half the time. These are signs of things that can cause some very bad handling issues
i think
the tires might have been original tires, or close to it, and the car has 110k miles on it, and they were pretty much worn evenly
we wanna see pics of the car
and donations?
i can probably take some pics tomorrow..
but to give you a general idea- the passenger side front panel is completely caved in, almost touching the tire, my front bumper is hanging on by a thread, the driver's side front isn't as bad but still iffy, and the driver's side back light is completely caved in, my trunk is crooked, and the bumper is also pretty much destroyed. the back panels are kinda crushed in as well. no one knows how i wasn't hurt in this, aside from the fact i had my seatbelt on
srs
better get cracking making those beanies....15-20 bucks a pop with 35-40 for custom deals...
well.
i was planning on crocheting a ton of stuff and selling it over the course of the winter, so maybe that can happen too?
actually,
what would you charge to make a corset?
My wife really liked the one with the Sugar skulls on it...she's into the whole dia day los muertes stuff.
oh and beanies like that, bunny/cat eared beanies...Waka would buy one
hrm.
i never actually thought about it. i suppose it would depend on the fabrics i need to buy and the size it needs to be. when i made both of mine it cost around $70 for materials alone, the metal bones are pretty pricey.
think about it and lemme know.
charge me for the mats, and for your time involved :)
seems yer car's gonna need some work, and you need some green:)
Waka wants a Furry HAt
i neeed this!
(No subject)
!
win.
i can one-up that.
made this for mr. kass :) cthulhu hat ftw!
!
But wait, you need the toque specially designed to work with the sun glasses. A small cut out hole at its edge on either side would work.