Last Tuesday afternoon I was travelling home, along a road I know well, close to my house .. it's a country road with a 60mph limit.. a friend was following me in his focus..
we where doing between 45- 50mph the road was moist after a short shower.. approaching a left hand kink in the rd I lifted off the power gently turned in to the bend, re applied the power at which point
All HELL LET LOOSE..
the back end stepped out in a big way.. I steered in to it.. it fishtailed and the back end swung round the other way.. leaving me 3/4 of the way across the centre line of the road.. and directly in the path of an oncoming vehicle
I've done 18,000 miles in this car.since I've owned it, and with the asc always switched on.it's near impossible to get any wheel spin even if you wanted too .. so how the hell did this happen.?
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e266/ ... f25b31.jpg
I've spent 5 days in hospital have a fractured vertebrae and ribs
the person in the other vehicle didn't do so well and I understand they are still in hospital but stable and on the mend.. for which I'm deeply saddened
I'm still in a complete state of shock
Can't believe the damage caused @ 50mph
Does anyone have any idea as to what may have gone wrong
I've been told by a couple of people in the motor trade that the 3 series had a problem with the rear bushes locking and kicking the back of the car out..?
I'm not that mechanically minded and don't understand how a bush can lock up .. and how this would throw the rear of car round so violently.. but that what I'm told
.
My last post
Thoughts are with you Whimble, scarey stuff.
Gazza.
Gazza.
Gazza
"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"
Z3 S54 M roadster
, BMW Z1, BMW M3 CSL, Z4M Coupe
"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"
Z3 S54 M roadster
, BMW Z1, BMW M3 CSL, Z4M Coupe
I had that happen to me once but missed an Espace coming the other way. It was a white nuckle ride from gutter to gutter to gutter with no sign of the ASC activating. I stopped the car with the footbrake eventually.
Good luck with your recovery.
Good luck with your recovery.
Use the Search button before posting newbie questions about hard tops and fitting kits, footwell speaker amps, water in the boot, hood maintainance and those horrific angel eyes. We get like 10 threads a week on the same subject, it's obvious that you haven't searched.
Sorry to hear your frightening story 
Good luck with your recovery, and the other people involved.
Similar has happend to me twice, once it mounted a pavement and escaped a brick wall, luckily no one was on it.. and once going in a straight line, dry, it spun round and I couldn't get control, and ended up on the other side for a long while weaving, fortunatley, there was nothing coming the otherway. No explanations for why it happend.
Thoughts are with you
Good luck with your recovery, and the other people involved.
Similar has happend to me twice, once it mounted a pavement and escaped a brick wall, luckily no one was on it.. and once going in a straight line, dry, it spun round and I couldn't get control, and ended up on the other side for a long while weaving, fortunatley, there was nothing coming the otherway. No explanations for why it happend.
Thoughts are with you
Suzy
Jesus Whimble - I think you are lucky to be alive. That looks very very serious indeed. My heart goes out to you, I sincerely hope both you and the other driver make a full recovery.
That makes two nasty accidents in the same week. I can't believe how unpredictable the Z can be to throw a nasty surprise on a driver like this. Again I would suspect either mud or diesel on the road and under those circumstances I guess any car would be diffcult to control. Truely shocking picture
That makes two nasty accidents in the same week. I can't believe how unpredictable the Z can be to throw a nasty surprise on a driver like this. Again I would suspect either mud or diesel on the road and under those circumstances I guess any car would be diffcult to control. Truely shocking picture
Sapphire Black 02 S54 M Roadster
Hey Whimble I hope you get well and can get back to driving soon. I feel sorry for the other driver. Thats very bad luck for them (and you). These cars are not good in the wet. Mine has no TC and I had 2 moments in it yesterday in a shower. I cant really see how a bush can lock up. After hearing this mine is going to get a suspension strip and rebuild this winter, plus new brakes and a strut.
Z3M with a few mods...and a little bit more power
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Tourniquet
- Joined: Sun 12 Mar, 2006 11:21
- Posts: 353
Better luck with your next car 
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TheGriffter
- Joined: Thu 16 Jun, 2005 12:18
- Posts: 46
Jeez, that's a horrible accident - it's a miracle that you've got out alive and credit to the zed I suppose - I'm no mechanic but I've never heard of bushes locking up and causing a spin, could well have been diesel spill as others have suggested but then again others are saying similar has happened to them too, so there may well be a known fault which we are unaware of but I find it hard to believe BMW would not have recalled to fix if that was the case.
Regardless, I wish you and the other driver a full and speedy recovery. Get well soon.
Regardless, I wish you and the other driver a full and speedy recovery. Get well soon.
Commiserations Whimble, you were lucky and unlucky
I really would like to know which bushes they are referring to, I find it a bit hard to understand how any bush, [ I assume it is a suspension bush] could affect the asc operation. I hope someone can come up with some info. On 2nd thoughts could it be in one of the sensor units
I really would like to know which bushes they are referring to, I find it a bit hard to understand how any bush, [ I assume it is a suspension bush] could affect the asc operation. I hope someone can come up with some info. On 2nd thoughts could it be in one of the sensor units
Whimble,
Really sorry to hear what happened to you, glad both drivers are alive and recovering. Scared the sh1t out of me to be honest as I treat the dsc as a safety net. In prevoius cars without it I've driven very carefully in the wet, this system is so good I don't think about it.
With any traction/stability control system there is a period of time before the car senses you're in trouble, the better the system the less time it takes. It is possible to lose control beyond the point where the dsc can save you, ie - if it engages when you've already spun too far.
There may be a fault with your system, equally you may have caught the dsc out.
I am genuinely sorry this has happened to you and I hope you recover quickly, I also hope it hasn't put you off buying another Zed. For what it's worth I would expect the system on the Z4 to be better but the possibility remains that this could happen to any of us, it's given me a wake up call.
Kipper.
Really sorry to hear what happened to you, glad both drivers are alive and recovering. Scared the sh1t out of me to be honest as I treat the dsc as a safety net. In prevoius cars without it I've driven very carefully in the wet, this system is so good I don't think about it.
With any traction/stability control system there is a period of time before the car senses you're in trouble, the better the system the less time it takes. It is possible to lose control beyond the point where the dsc can save you, ie - if it engages when you've already spun too far.
There may be a fault with your system, equally you may have caught the dsc out.
I am genuinely sorry this has happened to you and I hope you recover quickly, I also hope it hasn't put you off buying another Zed. For what it's worth I would expect the system on the Z4 to be better but the possibility remains that this could happen to any of us, it's given me a wake up call.
Kipper.
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Guest
Asc/dsc?
Did the car have ASC or DSC? it may even have been the cause of the accident, by making an incorrect decision and applying a brake on the corner, or maybe correctly, but just after such action was necessary.
Whatever the cause, I have never trusted these systems, where the gremlins can make braking inputs on one corner when they feel like it. Such systems are fine when they are working properly, but like all electronic systems they can operate incorrectly. In such cases the usual reaction is to blame the driver or the road surface, while never suspecting the electronic gremlins.
Whatever the cause, I have never trusted these systems, where the gremlins can make braking inputs on one corner when they feel like it. Such systems are fine when they are working properly, but like all electronic systems they can operate incorrectly. In such cases the usual reaction is to blame the driver or the road surface, while never suspecting the electronic gremlins.
It could have been diesel spilled on the road. I once had the DSC on the 750iL completely fail to engage on a notoriously "dirty" roundabout. The car did a slow and very embarrassing 180 degree turn with loads of witnesses inside and outside the car. 
But luckily no-one was hurt. It also never, ever happened again.
But luckily no-one was hurt. It also never, ever happened again.Ciao,
Spokey
Spokey
jackal on PH wrote:i love your profile... an endless pornographic paroxysm of the letters BMW
do you actually like driving at all or are cars to you just a manifestation of some sort of pathological mother complex ?
Sorry to hear of the new Wimble. Hope the other person also makes a full and speedy recovery.
As mentioned, if your car is ASC, then it has no effect on the cars direction, all it can do is cut power to prevent wheelspin under acceleration. DSC is the clever bit, which may have helped in a later car.
I think on here we'd know of there were a problem with bushes 'locking' or whatever and so far, I cannot recall such an issue before.
What the Z and it's old style rear suspension is very prone to is fishtailing after you've already caught a slide, which it sounds is the situation. What usually happens is that you steer into the slide, the car then flicks back the other way very quickly. This is down to the suspension and it's why some BM's have a reputation for 'snappy' handling at the limit.
I've done the Pro Drive Driver Training day in the Z (before Sylv broke the suspension) and it's something that can be tamed, once you're used to it. It does take a lot of getting used to though and I'd thoroughly recommend people to get on this type of day rather than upgrading a stereo or wheels first as DRIVER TRAINING COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.
At an event at Bruntingthorpe, I recently span the Z at high speed, trying to provoke the oversteer I knew was there and it caught me out, so I disappeared into the bondu and had a whole load of grass to clean off the car. I do this kind of thing where it's appropriate though, on track or airfield days.
I think a major contributor at the moment is that we've had a very warm summer and therefore the tarmac has given up lots of oils and other contaminants and when we get a lot of showers on top of this surface, the road in effect becomes a skid pan. It's just one of those things we all need to watch out for, like when the leaves fall in Autumn and when the first snaps of frost come too.
Anyway, very glad to hear you're ok and sorry for the huge waffly post, but I thought it may be of benefit to other Z'ers who haven't been through a winter yet.
P.S. get good tyres on your car too as those old Michelin Pilot's or Dunlop 8080's really out to be in the bin!
As mentioned, if your car is ASC, then it has no effect on the cars direction, all it can do is cut power to prevent wheelspin under acceleration. DSC is the clever bit, which may have helped in a later car.
I think on here we'd know of there were a problem with bushes 'locking' or whatever and so far, I cannot recall such an issue before.
What the Z and it's old style rear suspension is very prone to is fishtailing after you've already caught a slide, which it sounds is the situation. What usually happens is that you steer into the slide, the car then flicks back the other way very quickly. This is down to the suspension and it's why some BM's have a reputation for 'snappy' handling at the limit.
I've done the Pro Drive Driver Training day in the Z (before Sylv broke the suspension) and it's something that can be tamed, once you're used to it. It does take a lot of getting used to though and I'd thoroughly recommend people to get on this type of day rather than upgrading a stereo or wheels first as DRIVER TRAINING COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.
At an event at Bruntingthorpe, I recently span the Z at high speed, trying to provoke the oversteer I knew was there and it caught me out, so I disappeared into the bondu and had a whole load of grass to clean off the car. I do this kind of thing where it's appropriate though, on track or airfield days.
I think a major contributor at the moment is that we've had a very warm summer and therefore the tarmac has given up lots of oils and other contaminants and when we get a lot of showers on top of this surface, the road in effect becomes a skid pan. It's just one of those things we all need to watch out for, like when the leaves fall in Autumn and when the first snaps of frost come too.
Anyway, very glad to hear you're ok and sorry for the huge waffly post, but I thought it may be of benefit to other Z'ers who haven't been through a winter yet.
P.S. get good tyres on your car too as those old Michelin Pilot's or Dunlop 8080's really out to be in the bin!
someone in a minority once wrote:I know I'm in a minority
