So... driving home late last night from a friends house on a back country road. At this one stop light (in the middle of nowhere) a minivan is stopped at the light. The light turns green, and we start to move across the road. I am not on top of the guy or anything but you know how it is when you first start to accelerate. Next thing I know there are pieces of something flying up into the air.

Apparently someone had been through just before us and had hit some sorta large critter. Bigger than a dog, but smaller than a deer. This moron in front of me did not even try to dodge this thing and just barreled right over it. Since he did that I had very little warning that this thing was even there. Had I hit it I am sure the ground effects on the 8 would have been trashed. Thankfully I was able to get around it instead of over it. Did not change the fact that this guy is an idiot and I had to go home in the middle of the night and wash blood off my car.

Today I am driving down the road and again I am behind another vehicle that is larger and hard to see around. Next thing I know there is a giant piece of a retread flying through the air!!!! And again this guy had more than enough room and time to avoid the darn thing.

First thing is that I think truckers should get a gigantic fine every time they blow a tread. If anyone on here is a driver, I apologize, but that is how I feel about it. Those things are friggin dangerous. Nothing like a big steel belted piece of rubber flying through the air at you. Autos have to pass a rediculous inspection in this state but they do not seem to hold semi-trucks or buses to that same standard.

Second thing... WTF is with these morons just plowing over debris in the road!!! I am happy for them that they do not have ground effects or whatnot but COME ON!!!! When I am driving my F150 I do not just drive over stuff and forget about the people behind me.

Third... Anyone have any suggestions on protecting that front clip? I have seen those clear bras but are they worth it/any good? Thankfully the damage to the car from the retread is only two small chips in the front bumper. It could have been much worse. But I am wondering what I can do (aside from leaving it in the garage) to help protect the finish on the car.

Any ideas?

 

REminds me whats it like driving in my home state jersey!!! Yea i hate that The trucks tires are se expensive and they just retread and leave the debris. I have hit a liver squirrl 1nce but neveer hit a dead 1 but PPL SUX AND EVERY 1 SUX AT DRIVING GET USED TO IT AND THEN DRive faster!!!

 

i am using the mazda bra, love bug season in fla is ugly. as to the other issue, i dont follow anything i cant see over or around closely.

vans, semis, i back off and wait to get around. just words of wisdom.

beers

 

At least you were able to get around the thing. If you were in some heavier car that doesn't handle as well (I don't know, maybe a 350Z?) you could've plowed right into it, ruining your front end.

 

I forgot to add dump trucks that don't put the cover over their load in my list of people that suck.

The truck was in the left lane this morning and hit a bump and all sorts of stuff flew out of the truck and right on the car behind him. Thankfully I was in the far right lane passing people.

But here is the funny thing about that.... They have these friggin noticed painted on the back that say, "Stay back 200 ft. Not responsible for broken windshields."

MY EYE!!! Not responsible my butt. Anyone here every TRY to leave 200 feet between you and ANYTHING in rush hour? And let me tell you... gravel will bounce more than 200 feet.

ARGH!!!!

 

Truck drivers rarely even know that they blow a tire when it happens. They certainly aren't going to stop either. Sometimes their tires get so hot they catch fire, they are supposed to just keep driving and let it burn off, the worst thing they can do is stop cause that will burn the whole truck down.

 

My point is more to the fact that they are using retreads at all. Retreads are illegal for CARS in most states but because the trucking companies have deeper pockets they can buy off the legislation to get a waiver or whatever. You would think a company like UPS could afford to buy new tires.

The scary part is that I know more independants that buy new tires. If Joe Trucker can buy new tires why can't the big guys. It is just annoying.

BTW- RX-Hawk That interior on your car rocks!!! where did you get that?

 

If you were further back you would have more time to react to stuff on the road. This is not other drivers' fault. It is yours. If you can't see past someone, drop back or get behind someone you can see past.

john

 

sounds like you're driving too close behind other cars went_postal.

 

WentPostal - you are following way too close. If you can't see around and ahead of the person in front of you, you're the one who's too close to them. Whether they straddle something in the road or go around it has nothing to do with you nearly hitting it.

For the sake of your own car if nothing else, back off some.

 

I saw a V-8 engine block sitting in the middle of the road once (must have fallen off of someone's truck). It would have been interesting to see someone drive over that thing!

*BaM! crinkle....slurp!....plah!*

 

Retreads are probably illeagal for cars because its so unsafe for a passenger car to have a blowout. A trailer truck can easily blow out a tire and keep on truckin' without any problem. Forcing hundreds of thousands of trailer trucks to buy more expensive wheels would make shipping costs all over the US go way up.

PS. got my leather done from an aftermarket leather place, through my dealer when I purchased my 8.

 

Retreads are unsafe but cheaper than new. The trucking industry has a big enough lobby to prevent unfavorable (read: more expensive) legislation however.

I concur with others who say you were probably following too close. You should always give yourself enough lead to react to sudden things like you described.

Swerving is not always the best course of action. My wife once totalled a car because she swerved to avoid a traffic cone. In that case it would have been better to run it over.
________
Homemade weed vaporizer

 

Your anger at the drivers in front is misplaced. It is not their responsibility to make sure you are clear of road hazards. That's your job. Back off and leave enough room to react to road situations. That's called "Assured clear distance".

On the other hand I heartily agree about the danger of retreads and they should be banned. Drivers definitely should be liable for road debris that they originate.

 

I have an idea how that could happen. One time there was a pickup with no tailgate to my left and slightly ahead. We were sitting at a red lite, and there was an engine block in the bed, near the cab. The light turned green, he floored it, the block started sliding back. I didn't want to be near it when it hit the ground, so I floored my little Toyota. It slid right out the back, and hit the ground with a thud. I was going as fast as I could, but still got splattered with oil. He kept going. I looked in my mirror, and I saw some guys trying to figure out how to move it.

 

Nice seats RX-Hawk. Care to show us a picture of the full monty?

 

I will agree that sometimes I am too close. However.... In the middle of the night and when it is dark.... With pieces of bloody meat flying at your car you do travel a foot or two before realizing what the heck is happening.

As far as flying retread.... Put absolutely no one on the road but the bozo that is going to drive over the debris. At 60-70 MPH that tread is going to fly a good distance. That is without anyone behind him. No... put another car on that road doing the same rate of speed and let's say you are two to three car lengths behind... it is still going to hit you.

My point is more to how I do not understand why people just drive right over stuff. Even without ground effects I try not to drive over "harsh" materials.

And I am glad everyone eles lives in places where they can leave several car lengths between them and the other guy during rush hour traffic. All the places I have ever lived if you leave too much space people cut you off and leave little to no space anyway.

 

In rush hour traffic, if you're moving at 5 mph you don't need to leave as much space. If you're moving at 70 mph, yeah, sometimes people will cut in front of you if you leave safe distance. But look what happens when you don't

john

 

There are a couple places in the country where you can be in bumper-to-bumper traffic but still going 70. Kinda scary.

 

swoope, spoken like a true pro. stay way back until you rip past them safely. if you can't see over, around, past the car around you it is not a healthy proposition to put you or your 8 in.

 

WP, I don't mean to pick on you but you seem to have a misconception that is shared by many drivers (the vast majority, in fact), in that you think that "two or three car lengths" at 70 mph represents a pretty good effort on your part to assure safe following distance. Let me give you a shocking number - how about 400 feet! Well over a football-field. A home-run into the center field bleachers. This gives you 4 seconds of reaction time. As you noted there are several stages to avoiding hazards, including visual detection, analysis and recognition, decision-making, and finally taking action. tick. tick. tick. tick.

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My point is more to how I do not understand why people just drive right over stuff. Even without ground effects I try not to drive over "harsh" materials.

And I am glad everyone eles lives in places where they can leave several car lengths between them and the other guy during rush hour traffic. All the places I have ever lived if you leave too much space people cut you off and leave little to no space anyway.

I live in SF Bay area and the drivers here are about as aggressive as anywhere (except maybe Boston) and we have some of the worst commutes in the nation. Yes, they'll fill in the space, but that's a good thing. Check out this web page:

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html