First off, I'm not looking for sympathy.. doubt any will be given actually. Well anyways, to the story: I was driving to a friends house with 3 other people in my car and I basically took a turn too fast, the car understeered unlike anything I've ever seen in my life. I think it had to do with the fact that the turn was uphill and the road slanted with the oncoming lane higher than my lane. The front wheels must have lost traction and instead of turning right, I more or less drove straight ahead into a low curb and a dirt hill which was just over the curb. I havent gotten an estimate yet but my friend who was with me is a mechanic and he said it looks like the only damage was a bent control arm and a lot of deep scratches on the underside of my bumper and a couple on my drivers side fender. Oh and my drivers side front rim is a little bit scratched up on the edge. Normally my car oversteers but I guess since there was a lot more weight in the back thanks to two extra people, it did just the opposite. I'm pretty upset with myself right now, but nobody was hurt, and no property was damaged except for my car obviously. Maybe my incident will make you guys think twice before driving wrecklessly, because unexpected things happen. PS. I was driving on a seldom traveled road at around 11pm, and not under the influence of any foreign substances.

 

First step to recovery is admitting you're wrong.

Took me a speeding ticket, licence suspension, and writeoff of my old car to come to a realization.

When you take a hard look around these days, ONLY, and ONLY morons and idiots drive around wrecklessly. Few people these days learn until a close call like what you described happens to them..

Good to hear you and your friends walked away unscathed.

 

thank you for sharing. let it be a message to all of us. you were lucky that only the car was minorly damaged. also, in light of what recently happened in santa monica, the horror of that, my driving has calmed a little, too. my worst fear is to hit a person crossing the street in an undesignated area. in the city, it is not so hard to do that. and driving fast, as i do often, only ramps-up that possibility.

 

Hm, anyone know about how much a new control arm + install is going to cost?

 

at least 300.

 

u need a RSB
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=4&catalogid=1
$$$160for hte part, no clue how mcuh labor

 

I am used to driving alone and what strikes me about carrying passengers is how drastic the performance suffers: acceleration, braking, handling all go down the tubes! I definitely drive very cautiously when carrying even one extra passenger. And always remember, the life of every passenger in your car is now your responsibility!

 

yes. i notice that, too. just one passenger in the front makes a difference, but does not matter as much, performance-wise. especially if they are 150lbs or less. but when you get above that, then the car's handling and performance just sucks - a huge statement about extra weight compromising performance. it makes a great case for getting all aluminum/titanium parts for the engine.

 

Yeah, I think a RSB is the next mod I do once this all gets taken care of. Looks like this wont be terribly expensive afterall, my uncle can get parts wholesale since he is a mechanic, and install em at his house. I'm prolly going to have to deal with very scratched up bumper for a few weeks though.. sucks not having a job.

 

i had a control arm problem with my first max after sleeping on the wheel and grinding onto the sidewalk. Yea it sucks but the control arm i ordered from tustin nissan for 90 dollars and install is like 50-60 dollars. Anyone that can take out a transmission can easily do this. I've seen the install on my car and its not that difficult. But its not up to 300, nowhere near unless u plan to fix the scratches on your car.

As long as u learned your lesson thats mainly what counts.

 

The only thing that makes a FWD Maxima oversteer is a RSB . . .. my Maxima always understeers!

 

Oh, 90 bucks for the control arm... I checked some website and they listed it for like 160-180, guess they were overpriced. I'll probably just buff out the scratches for now but there is a crack on the underside of the bumper so it probably should get replaced eventually. I'm lucky though, I honestly thought my hood and bumper were going to be totally smashed

 

its a dam rod with rubber at the end like an organ...i think it was 90 or was that labor that was 90? hmmm, check with tustin nissan before doing anything, them, courtesy all have discounts for us...