Hit a snowbank tonight

Antonio DiMarco

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2010 Mazda CX-9 GT Dolphin Gray
!$@&%!(pissed)

Coming home I pulled into my driveway which has a 30 degree incline at the entrance and a right turn at the bottom of the incline. Took it slow (< 5mph)but the freshly fallen snow was hiding a sheet of ice. I turned but the car kept going straight right into a 4 foot showbank. The bank was a mix of old hard snow and newly fallen snow. I felt like I hit pretty hard, snow flew everywhere. I went in far enough where the car bottomed out and prevented the front wheel from getting any traction. Traction control was on constantly. Glad it was because I took my anger out on the clutch for a minute.

Took a solid half hour to shovel out all the snow that was packed below the car. My driveway boarders lawn that has a 10 degree drop, which complicated the extraction.

When I finally backed out I surveyed the damage and compared spacing between the hood and the bumper, lights, and the seam between the front fender and bumper. It looked like the bumper got bent down a hair, probably within the tolerances of what is acceptable in manufacturing but enough to aggravate the hell out of me. And all of us with OCD know how our minds make problems look bigger than they actually are.

I pulled up on the bumper a bit and it seems to be fine. Provided the touchless car wash is open in the am, I'm going to give it a rinse and see if there is any scratches hiding below the dirt.

All in all a pretty aggravating evening. The thing that upsets me most was that I nicked the inside edge of the bumper along the wheel well- right below the seam between the fender- with the shovel. It's barley a nick, but I know it's there! I've already gone down to the garage twice to recheck the damage. In a way I'm surpised there wasn't more damage considering how hard I hit. It was defintely over 5mph, when you consider I picked up speed on the slide. No doubt the snow absorbed most of the impact. I know though that there was a layer of old solid snow that made contact with the car.

We'll see what the morning brings...I'm crossing my fingers. My baby defintely isn't new anymore. (shrug)

This stuff certainly screws with your mind.
 
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That sucks. Slid up my driveway too today.:bs:

All and all I am surprised how well the MS3 drove in the snow with the summer tires. Or maybe it is just the fact I have done the same in the past with other FWD cars I had.
 
Whew!

!$@&%!(pissed)

Coming home I pulled into my driveway which has a 30 degree incline at the entrance and a right turn at the bottom of the incline. Took it slow (< 5mph)but the freshly fallen snow was hiding a sheet of ice. I turned but the car kept going straight right into a 4 foot showbank. The bank was a mix of old hard snow and newly fallen snow. I felt like I hit pretty hard, snow flew everywhere. I went in far enough where the car bottomed out and prevented the front wheel from getting any traction. Traction control was on constantly. Glad it was because I took my anger out on the clutch for a minute.

Took a solid half hour to shovel out all the snow that was packed below the car. My driveway boarders lawn that has a 10 degree drop, which complicated the extraction.

When I finally backed out I surveyed the damage and compared spacing between the hood and the bumper, lights, and the seam between the front fender and bumper. It looked like the bumper got bent down a hair, probably within the tolerances of what is acceptable in manufacturing but enough to aggravate the hell out of me. And all of us with OCD know how our minds make problems look bigger than they actually are.

I pulled up on the bumper a bit and it seems to be fine. Provided the touchless car wash is open in the am, I'm going to give it a rinse and see if there is any scratches hiding below the dirt.

All in all a pretty aggravating evening. The thing that upsets me most was that I nicked the inside edge of the bumper along the wheel well- right below the seam between the fender- with the shovel. It's barley a nick, but I know it's there! I've already gone down to the garage twice to recheck the damage. In a way I'm surpised there wasn't more damage considering how hard I hit. It was defintely over 5mph, when you consider I picked up speed on the slide. No doubt the snow absorbed most of the impact. I know though that there was a layer of old solid snow that made contact with the car.

We'll see what the morning brings...I'm crossing my fingers. My baby defintely isn't new anymore. (shrug)

This stuff certainly screws with your mind.

Well after running my car through the car wash this am and doing a thorough inspection of every gap and reinforcement behind the bumper I've concluded that little if any damage was actually done. I even took a look at the plastic retaining clips that fasten the bumper to the fender right below the headlights and all of them look secure. As I said last night the gaps defitnely fall within manufacturing tolerances and there's nothing blatantly outta whack. Car drove fine today and cleaned up nice, no rattles, buzzes or loose fittings. I only found some hairline scratches along the right edge of the bumper near the fender seam. My guess that'll come out with a good waxing in the spring.

I think the snow absorbed much of the impact and the lower lip of the bumper may have caught some hard snow that causes the slight bend of the bumper.

I have had enough of winter!
 
All and all I am surprised how well the MS3 drove in the snow with the summer tires. Or maybe it is just the fact I have done the same in the past with other FWD cars I had.


I disagree...I'm trying to push the ms3 through the winter w/ the stockers on....but I think they tires are horrible in the snow. Next year I'm definitely going to get snows, but considering I've never had issues w/ any of my prior cars in the snow, I thought I could make it through w/ the stock tires. Just this Thursday, I got caught in a storm and had to leave my car overnight at a gas station. The stockers are so bad in the snow. Thank god my work allows me to take a vehicle home when the weather gets bad
 

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