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Old 13th July 2017, 14:10   #11
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Diesel on the road could well do that. We have to deal with that quite a bit round here as the local farmers love nothing more then dropping the off bit of diesel on the road from their tractors! Had a close call on the A47 not so long ago, went round the Brundall roundabout, went to accelerate on the other side and the car just went nuts and it felt like I was driving on ice despite being a clear summers day. Thankfully the Merc has amazing stability control and it managed to fix it.
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Old 13th July 2017, 14:17   #12
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Bends and roundabouts are not the sole preserve either. Two years ago I was on a straight downhill run, maybe 30-40 mph when the back end of my tourer suddenly went crazy on me. No warning and it was a struggle to get her back under control. Fearing a major mechanical failure I pulled over and checked her out. Finding nothing I walked back up and hill and sure enough, large patch of diesel

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Old 13th July 2017, 21:07   #13
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goodness, glad you are ok.

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Old 14th July 2017, 06:56   #14
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Have you ever considered that you were just going toooooooooo fast
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Old 20th July 2017, 20:42   #15
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Yes ken, I did think that and assumed it was my fault. Later though I started to wonder as it was at least 2/3 of the way around the curve, the skid marks were 2 lines both starting very close to the verge and as I recall it at that point I was travelling sideways. I then started to think about alternative explanations. As I said above there had been a problem with the bolts holding the caliper in place, they were firm but perhaps the rubber bushes were weak and under pressure failed dramatically.
Hence trying to share this though on the forum just in case it helps others. But yes, perhaps I just went too fast and screwed it up myself.

PS Your logo, excellent, and next season ..... YNWA

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Old 20th July 2017, 21:08   #16
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Diesel is lethal stuff when on the road instead of in the tank, I once lost the back end of my 75 on a roundabout, tyres were good and the speed was well within appropriate, the exit for a petrol station was just before the start of the roundabout, I think a possible explanation was an overfilled car/van with diesel going round and slopping some out as it went round the roundabout leaving it for the next poor soul following behind.
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Old 20th July 2017, 22:33   #17
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Default Glad you are ok

Glad you are ok and survived the crash. The difference between walking away and not being able to is a fine line often the result of luck.

Count your lucky stars and let the incident serve as a warning. Make sure your car is roadworthy and don't drive too fast. I have unfortunately seen the result of fatal accidents and believe me they are not pleasant. They can happen very easily indeed.

Chris

PS ..be thankfull you were driving a sturdy well put together car too. They have ofetn survived nasty accidents
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Old 21st July 2017, 07:37   #18
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Hi.

First and foremost glad you're OK.

Cars (and bikes see later) don't just fall off the road for no reason.

To quote from Scotty in Star Trek "I canna’ change the laws of physics." That's centrifugal forces and friction.

So, for something unexpected to happen, something else is going on - the forces change or the friction changes (Newton "....an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.").

You were a good way through a sweping bend so the car would be nicely settled on the suspension and the forces would be nicely in balance.

Radius changes - tightening the bend - on roads do happen but are pretty rare. Highly unlikely the cornering forces changed. If you were going too fast I'd have expected to hear tyre squeeling - road tyres don't just "let go" and dump you off the road.

If all 4 tyres looked OK afterwards that doesn't sound like a blow out type puncture. A slow puncture or low pressure wouldn't generally have you straight off the road without a fair bit of warning something was amiss - and they were OK a couple of days ago.

If the car was going broadside that suggests loss of grip at the back. I would have thought a broken front spring would have simply understeered you straight off the road? (Happy to be educated if that's not what usually happens).

Catastrophic suspension (or other) failure? Maybe, but without a "forensic" type strip down very difficult to say. You didn't hear anything suggesting a broken spring or similar. From what you've said there's a high standard of general repair & maintenance - you had it all checked over (no disrespect if your car is absolutely mint - I'm a newbie so don't know many yet). Maybe a fault in one of the new springs????

Which brings us on to road surface.

Those of us with 2 wheel history know all too well the joys of extra "stuff" on the road. There's the "Diesel Kills" campaign aimed at educating those that have a tendency to overfill their tanks not to - because it puts you on the tarmac in an instant.

I've had to "rescue" an friend at a set of traffic lights - they stop, foot goes down and waahayy....... Absolutely no warning, no tell tale pretty patterns just there she goes.

Accidents don't just "happen" they develop so a completely unexpected turn of events is something external, not a gradual deterioration.

So, in the absence of something obviously breaking I'm going with diesel (or something similar) on the road which caused the problem.

As before, the most important bit is that you're OK.

Just my twopenneth.

Thanks for the heads up to check out odd noises etc.

Andy.
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Old 21st July 2017, 15:48   #19
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Have to agree with the general consensus - either rear suspension failure (not as unusual as you might think), or diesel on the road.
The suspension failure could be rear shocks (its shocking how often you see the "rear wheel hop" syndrome), or, more specific to the 75, upper link arm failure due to rust. This is guaranteed to afflict most cars at around 10 years old, unless especially cosseted. You can discount bush failure, since they are designed as captive flexibles, which can't "let go" totally.
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Old 22nd July 2017, 14:11   #20
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Thanks all for being pleased I am not injured and the suggestions about what may have happened. The more I think about it, and read your ideas, the more I feel it was some suspension failure. However there is no knowing, not least as any damaged unit could have been the result of the crash not necessarily the cause. Whatever else I am glad to be in one piece and definitely drive more a cautiously. My driving is the easiest thing to influence and I'd like to have more room to act if anything goes wrong.
Not sure how to "thank" individual posts, so here's a general thank you.
Ed
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