Well, Kansas City had their first 5 inchs of snow. I was driving home, major interstate clear. Got onto secondary interstate and come over a hill, highway workers had plowed snow onto road from a side street. I ended up sliding left, no sliding right, too late and I made a slide into a ditch. Luckily slow impact 2-3 miles hour with my right side in a small stream. I ended up at about a 30 degree angle but still right side up.
Waited 30 min for tow when a couple of nice kids in a truck offered to pull me out. Used the tow ring that I attached to the front bumper. So, for the cost of a couple of cases of beer (I offered the money, they did not even ask!) I was free from the ditch.
I need a new front bumper and maybe an alignment check.

Before today, I never took much stock in the tire debate on the 04's but a strong argument was made that they are crap in slick conditions.

There was no directional control once I started to slide. Obviously, I was going faster than conditions warranted, I accept blame for sure. But I was not speeding, actually under the limit!
To top it all off the snow plow came not 5 min after I went off road.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Sorry for your plight, but glad you weren't hurt. it's a shame what happened to your car, but those things do occur. Be well and have a nice holiday!

 

Sorry to hear your car got accident like this, but glad no one got hurt.

What tires do you have? Your speed at that time?

 

if you weren't speeding, and you hit some snow from a highway plow, you think you could go the the town office tell em about it?....maybe they'll take care of it. what do you think?

 

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Sorry for your incident. Winter tires have 50-100% better traction than "all-season" and make a world of difference in bad conditions. Winter tires are worth the investment in my opinion and cheaper than all wheel drive in the long run. FYI: There are plenty of take-off factory alloys on eBay for winter tire mounting.

 

Glad to hear you were not hurt. Reading your post makes me appreciate the socal weather even more!

 

Thanks for the support! Went of town and got back tonight. Took the TL out for a spin and the steering wheel had a bad wobble. Once I removed handfulls of clay type mud from the wheel the balance/alignment seemed just fine.
I had just had car detailed/hand waxed not 3 days prior, so went to the car wash tonight. When I got home I had to duct tape (silver goes nice with Black) the front lower right bumper secure.
As far as I can tell no adjacent panels were damaged. Checked the tire pressures, all low at 28 but front right was only 24.

I have the insurance company looking at it for me, make sure no frame damage etc. I have a $500 deductible and hope the total bill is in that ball park.

All in all I feel pretty lucky.

I was doing about 50 in a 55 on a cleared interstate. Crested a hill and the snow plows had pushed some snow from a side street across the highway (best I can tell). I braked prior to the snow and hit the patch doing 20-30 tops. Slid left then right, steering into the turn each direction change. While headed right I was at a 90 degree angel from the road. Corrected and stood on the brakes, but too late. Slid down about a 30 degree hill and was able to straighten the car relative to the road. The final impact had to be under 5 mph, and the front right bumper took the hit.

In retrospect, I am sure tires geared more for all season or winter tires would have helped control the car better. Was I travelling too fast?, maybe for conditions.
I have the standard bridgestone tires and the 5 speed Auto as an aside.

 

Glad you are safe, I think you were driving too fast, I drove in the snowstorm and it the worst driving conditions I have ever experienced. I drove 30-40mph for like 3 hrs.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear that.5 inch in November sucks