So this can only happen to me...
I'm on my way home from medic school last night on the Mass Pike west. It's been snowing for a little while and the roads are starting to get slippery. As I'm moving along at about 60mph I feel the car wiggle a few times. Remeber I just got the car 3 weeks ago and it had new tires on the front but not on the back. Anyways so I slow down to 50mph thinking "boy I dont wanna crash" and go to move from the left lane to the middle lane. Then it happens. The car goes into a spin, and not a slow spin, but a fast holy mother of God spin. All I saw was lights and guardrail. I spun 3 or 4 times across the highway without hitting a single car and hit a snowbank at the entrance of a rest stop. The car shook violently and went up onto the passenger side, nearly flipping over. It came back to it wheels though and it was done. The whole thing probably lasted 3 seconds, but I seriously thought I was in a lot of trouble. When it was done I sat there for a second thinking "wow I'm not hurt, I can't believe that just happened". After a minute or so of collecting myself I got out of the car. It was now buried in a snowbank. The pass side showed a badly dented door, dented front fender, poss broken mirror, and that was it. NOBODY stopped to make sure I was OK, and 45 minutes after my call to the State Police a tow truck showed up. It wasnt until about 10 minutes after that that a trooper finally came, looked at my car, and left. Useless. Anyways after some digging and working at it the tow was able to winch my car out of the snowbank and tow it home. I checked out the underside of the car while it was hooked up and everything looked to be OK, but who knows what's under there. I also haven't tried driving it yet which I'll do today and report back later. I'll also post some pics later too so everyone can share in my pain. Luckily I only have a slightly sore and stiff back and no other injuries. Here is why I was really lucky...
1. I'm not really hurt.
2. I didn't hit anyone else.
3. If I hadn't hit that snowbank I would have hit the guardrail full speed which would have been much worse.
4. 10 feet more towards the rest stop and my car would have been on a snow hidden guard rail which would have been sure to tear up everything under the car.
5. If the snowbank wasn't as high as it was, I surely would have flipped over, and who knows how bad that would have been.
6. The damage looks only cosmetic. If it is, I have gotten pretty lucky.

Anyways there is my story. What's the moral? ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!! If I hadn't been wearing it I would have been tossed out of my seat when the car went up on it's side. So stand by for pics, they'll be up later...

 

I got airborne once in a Mercury Sable about the same way. Luckily, it was built Ford Tough and didn't have any problems. However, the head gaskets, mirrors, windows, seats, brakes, ect... that is another story!

Glad to hear you're OK. Now go get that Max fixed!

 

Glad you're OK. Another Moral: 50mph + Snow + Blotenzas = Accident. I hate Bridgestone tires - overpriced and underperforming.

 

Ouch, thats crazy. glad your alright..

as for the car, expect a hefty bill. I am having an accident fixed that happen 3 months ago, and the bofy shop is quoting me 5 grand+ just for a door, front 1/4 panel, and a mirror. but the important thing is that you were not hurt much, and you were able to walk away. post some pics when you get a chance.

 

Although I no longer have Potenzas (ZE512s here), driving the Maxima in wet weather of any sort still gets me a bit nervous. So far, the Falkens have soldiered on way better than the Craptenzas.

 

Thanks to insurance and a great body shop guy that knows my family I'm thinking the most I'll have to pay is my $500 deductable. We'll see...

 

Afriend of mine airborne his 200sx for about 30' and flipped it! All the headliner was crushed but he was uninjured!8)

 

djsoniq, I have a good (cheap) auto body guy in North Reading MA if that helps. Maybe you can get a check from the insurance (do they still do that?) and use the extra for tires...

oops never mind

 

Good nothing worse happened and you're fine. As you unfortunately experienced it doesnt take much for a spin out. With crap weather like that requires 4 good winters and less speed.

 

Good to hear that you're ok.

The craptenzas suck in almost any condition so take it easy esp in the snow. I've got summer tires on my car and was caught in the snow on a roadtrip. I just drove extra slow and made it ok...

 

glad to hear your physically alright, the head & heart will take a bit to pull together though. did a spin-o-rama like that in a old camaro, same weather as you - HOLY **** - didn't hit nothin and dumped it in a ditch as well.

not to stick up for the plowtenzas - but newer tires with the combo (how bad are your rears?) will often lead to the seeing the *** of your car in front of you scenario more thab likely. i've seen this even in the tiretrends forums.

 

I need to replace my Tires SOON.. with all the stories Damn Potenzas,,,,,

 

Pics are up...
Accident Pics

Also I took the car for a ride without any problems, so it looks like it will all be cosmetic. This would be GREAT! Keep your fingers crossed for me guys...

The other sad thing is that my FSB, fog light bulbs, and new LED's all came in and were supposed to go on the car today, as well as window tint... that will all have to wait now...

 

that sucks dude. glad you're alright. looks like you'll just need a new door and fender. i'm starting to get worried with my tires now too!

 

Yeah, well tires might be in fault. But Maxima in general doesn't drive that well in the snow. I have HTR+ trires now, which rated much better than Potenzas and I can get it to slide so easily especially when it is so slippery outside.

Good to hear that you are ok.

 

There was a dude here who wrecked his ride because of craptenzas. I would suggest any Maxima owners to replace them asap.

 

are falkens the brand of choice for guys on here?

 

For most, but not for me (at least the 512s). Too damn squirmish. Do yourself a favor and pick up a set of steelies with snows on and then put on a good set of summer tires on the OEM rims.

 

Either Falkens or Mich. Pilot Sport A/S's. Falkens and the Pilots get about the same traction in the wet and white, but the Pilots have a stiffer side wall for dry cornering.

 

For summer tires, I've used Falken 115s, Nittos 450 and 555s. I use Falken 512s but they are more for spring, summer, fall weather. They don't do so well on snow. Better than OEM though.

 

def good to hear your ok dude,
For everyone who still has their potenza's on their car - GET RID OF THEM ASAP!!!
I have blizzak's on my car now for the snow (yes still made by Bridgestone) and they are pretty good in snow which is what they are suppose to be good for, but i still slip and all. As said before, a max is not made to chug around in the snow too much.

Good luck with fixing it up though and keep your head up that you didnt get hurt.

 

Wondering if they can save that door...might be too big of a dent, but it wouldnt hurt to see if they can pop it out...May be a way to save a lil cash for Pilot Sport A/S's?

 

I was driving home from work in Worcester around 11 p.m. in the same storm last night. The crap-tenza's are horrible, but it really didn't matter what tires you had since it was wet heavy slippery snow. You are lucky damages were not any worse. I felt my car get loose a few times.. So I just kicked down a gear and dropped speed. I have Nitto 555's and regardless of the tires Maxima's do not have the right dynamics for driving in more than a few inches of snow.

 

For whatever reason, I expected MUCH worse. Looks pretty cosmetic to me as well.

 

How many miles do you have and why didn't you change your ****enzas yet?

Mine were changed at 28,000 miles (or so).

 

I have BFGoodrich Traction T/A on the front and Michelin XGT4 on rear...they are both good all season tires its hard to get the car to slide sideways in rain...BFGoodrich bite through the snow well. They are a good cheap tire to buy they got ALL rave reviews.

 

I spun my Maxima out on Tuesday in light snow. I had just replaced the front tires (Monday!) with good snow tires (with studs). Driving along at 35 to 40 mph when I could feel the car start to "wiggle"; next thing I know, it started fishtailing left and right. Lost control and did a complete 360. Luckily, no one was coming the other way, and the car slid to a safe stop. Very, very scary.

The rear tires are Continental all season; very disappointing in snow...I couldn't get out of my neighborhood a few weeks ago, which is why I bought the snow tires for the front.

It felt like the rear gave out first and tried to "pass" the front.

I'm going to REALLY slow it down in this car in the slush. I've never driven a car that acted like this in the slush.

Glad you're OK.

 

i feel u the girl im seeing called me last night and told me she spun out and hit a guardrail in her maxima too.. she has ****ty tires... the trooper never came.. so she just drove back hom.. she has extensive body damage to her driver side

freakin snow


p.s. this was on 290 not mass pike

 

Seems like everywhere last night there were problems... I have 30k on the car, so when the car is done in the shop I'm replacing the Craptenzas, maybe with the BFG Tractions, we'll see... MaxecOut, tell your girl I feel her pain, this sucks!

 

Tire shops strongly recommend putting better tires on rear. Better for your case would have been your snow tires.