The Price of Ice

The sleet started coming down heavy around three o'clock, and it was nerve-wracking to try and drive through it, even though the distance from the office to the house is five miles.

For the most part, the other drivers were being careful, keeping the speeds down and the distances up, no one in a rush, no one careening around the slowpokes to get a headstart on the next accident.

Even so, it was stressful. There is no advantage when driving an all-wheel-drive car on ice; the tires slide regardless of whether the engine is directly connected to them.

So I breathed a big sigh of relief when I finally got home, thinking it was all over and now I could kick back and relax for awhile, take my shoes off and turn off my brain and stop thinking about stressful things like work.

Then the phone rang.

Cheryl answered it, and from the look on her face I could tell it was not pleasant news. Then I heard Adam's voice. And remembered that he wasn't home yet.

Funny how little things like that, little equations like, "Son not home yet + icy roads + unexpected phone call" can get your blood pressure going.

Yes, he was calling for help.

Seems he and his car had run afoul of the Laws of Physics (or PhysICE). Icy roads + curve = slide into curb.

Add a little extra speed / momentum, and the equation multiplies into (Icy roads + curve) * (amount of speed in excess of that strictly required to maintain control) = broken wheel.

Seeing your son's car in the middle of the road with a police car behind it, lights flashing, and then observing that the two front wheels don't exactly line up anymore -- well, that's not something I'd care to repeat. Although it could've been worse.  Thankfully, he was less than a mile from home; the police officer was very understanding (and arrived very quickly); and the tow truck arrived within ten or fifteen minutes. All in all, it wasn't the way I would've hoped to spend a Friday afternoon, but we didn't make out too bad.

Adam got a bit more experience in winter driving, and I got another weekend project!

It was tricky getting the car up onto the tow truck because the left front tire was hanging on by the lower support arm (with a little help from the still-attached brake line). The tow-guy had to put a slider underneath the wheel so he could drag it up the ramp; then, back at the house, he had to borrow my trolley jack to get it back down (because the wheel was so bent over that the slider wouldn't stay in place). 

Then it was a bit dicey to get the car the rest of the way into the garage -- after the tow-guy had left -- because the front end of the car was still sticking out about two feet shy of being able to close the garage door. And even with the trolley jack under the front frame, I couldn't budget it.

Thankfully (again) the rest of the family was available for shoving duty, so they all came out to the garage and put their backs into it and we finally got the poor car far enough into the garage that we could shut the door and keep out the cold.

(And then it was time for dinner!)

Afterwards, I came back out to the garage and took a look at the damage. Not really too bad. The strut looks OK. The brake line is good. The drive shaft boot doesn't look damaged, even though it got pulled out of the transmission. Nothing looks bent; looks more like the strut support and the wheel had a disagreement and decided to part ways.

Owing to the slight angle that the car had when coming down from the tow-truck, and the fact that we couldn't effectively turn it, it didn't line up in the garage the way I wanted it. So it is too close to Ruby for comfort.

But I'm thinking I need to get a set of four dollies so I can move my cars around in the garage, even when they don't have wheels or tires installed. I've got a lot of body & frame work to do on these Subarus (and on Adam's car as well), so it'll be a worthwhile investment.

Meanwhile, this weekend is already full of other activities. I won't be able to get around to the car repairs until Monday or Tuesday, at the earliest.

But that's OK, too, since Adam is (again, thankfully!) on Spring Break this coming week.

If it was going to happen, this is probably the best time of all.