**** RAIN!

I just got back from slamming into a guardrail with my precious cobalt SS.

The Story:
Woke up early to go get my haircut in a town about 15min from my house. I go out like usually to my baby and hop in. The weather is crappy, wet, cold, and pouring rain. I get on the highway and am crusing along. Note: I just recently rotated my tires so my rears were EXTREMELY bald and my fronts are pretty decent. This makes for sub-par rain grip. Well anyways I get to merging onto the other highway formt he one im currently on and I notice its really wet out and there are some bad spots that could cause major hydroplaning, so I slow down to about 60mph to take the off ramp.
As im going over I hit a bad spot and my rear end fishtails out to the right. I correct and then it goes out on the left. Im frantically trying to work the brakes and wheel to straighten it out, but it was to late. I spin sideways and do a 180. Im looking at traffic coming at me and I notice im sliding towards the guardrail. I couldn't believe this was happening. I smash my drivers side into the rail and skid for a second and my tires catch and spin my back around facing the way I was headed. I pull to the side and look at the damage.
My whole side is scraped badly and there are some dents and dings. It looks like im going to need to replace my door, rear and front bumpers, left side main and left front quarter panel. I didn't know what to think and my heart just dropped. I never expected it and I still don't believe it. I called my mother and the police and awaited their arrival.
The cop showed up and took my info and had me sit in the car with him and talk to him due to the rain. We talked and he wrote me up a Violation of Basic Speed Law ticket. The fine is $125 and 2 points. We talked about the conditions and the condition of my tires. He told me that he had to give me the ticket but he suggests I fight it an take it to court where he will have no objection of reducing the points and fine, if not dropping it completely. He was really cool about it, which is a change for cops around here.
So thankfully my balt was drivable and I made it home safely. And luckily I suffered no injuries and harmed nobody else. The only thing that hurts is my pride and soul and of course my beloved cobalt. After I settled down I headed off to discount tire and picked up 2 205/50R-17 Yokohama YK520's for the rear and had them mounted, costing me a touch over $275.
This is defiantly another lesson learned and I will for sure never let my tires get that bald again. But what can you do when your a poor college student. Im taking her to the body shop tommorrow and hopefully they can give me an estimate. My deductible is $550 and hopefully I won't have to pay much of the ticket, so Im not out to much.
I should have pics up in a little bit if I can find the camera.

Sparknotes:
1. Hydroplaned with my bald ass tires
2. Did a 180 into a guardrail
3. Got a VBSL ticket
4. Bought new tires
5. Cried

 

wall of text...

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/07/07/

 

should have taken the subie AWD is safer than FWD.

 

Would have been cheaper to just get new tires... lol

 

Awww buddy... I hurt for you.... THat sucks

 

Next time leave the bald ones up front if they're that bad. You'd have been better off wearing them down to the belts than having a wreck like you did. This is actually true of any car, FWD, RWD or AWD...bald tires in the rear are extremely dangerous.

Sucks though man, good luck with everything.

 

Crap that sucks... My tires are bald too but I just ordered a set from tire rack. The rainy season just started where I live and I don't feel like dealing with the water hazards as I basically live in the Everglades. Good luck on the body repairs. Some lady dinged my door in a parking lot once and the paint alone was 500 o.O

 

I hope you have learned that its better to maintain the vehicle rather than risk stuff like this happening.

Is there anything else that needs to be replaced that will prevent you from getting stranded by you car somewhere? Battery, fan belt, brakes, etc. You could pay a little bit now, or A LOT later...

 

Don't run with bald tires ever. It doesn't take much to hydroplane if your tires don't have the proper tread depth to channel away water.

 

****, i know how that feels, literally, http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3146230/2

 

lol no kidding.

Thanks for the advice, this will be the last time I ever let my tires get that bad though.

Yepper, trust me If I knew I would crash if I didn't get tires, I would have got them for sure, but I was never expecting this so I was just going to get some tires when I could afford them, now im in debt to my parents because of this.

 

Ah, if your car was driveable and you were the only one involved why would you wait for the police to come and give you a ticket?

 

Well my insurance needs a claim number from the incident, so I kinda needed a police report.

 

pix?

 

in a few days ill have them most likely.

 

Yeah it needs to stop raining already! We dont need now more water the rivers are over flowing now. But anyways glad your ok get the car fixed and drive her again!

 

Yeah, the lake by my house is flooded into the road and is causing some horrible potholes. Im driving it for about another week until the shop gets my parts in and then it should take them about a week to fix it. Hopefully its done by June 1st cause thats when I start my new job.

 

Yeah i hear you there bud. The river by my house is overflowing too. Hopefully this weekend dryies it out my grass is so tall i havnet had a chance to mow it yet lol.

 

Same here lol, My yards huge too and takes 3hrs+ to mow and I think we are going to roll it too, so I need a nice long day to get that done. Im tired of this gloomy rainy weather.

 

Well this sat and sun look real nice not hot but sunny!

 

not.
fun.

 

If it was drivable and no one else was involved why did you call the cops?

 

Insurance reasons!

 

If you hit a guard rail, you can be charged with a hit and run involving property damage since the guardrail is owned by the DOT. That is why he called the cops to report it. You are liable for the cost of repairing/replacing the guardrail if you hit one.

 

^^^ what she said