bridge freezes before road surface -- Quattro and ESP FTW!!

[dougyfresh]

Super early morning drive back to CT from NJ. I'll spare the details of how tired I was/am and cut right to the chase.

Rolling through Bristol heading east on I84 I'm now wide awake because I'm inside 15mins from my house. The roads haven't looked good since I got off the Merritt and shot up I8. Slow and careful was the name of the game. Time is around 5:30am.

So, I come into this sweeping left turn as I'm leaving Bristol on I84. Its a bridge. I knew something would be up so I slowed down a lot and wound up coasting through it at around 60mph with my foot off the gas pedal (I can take it around 90 [safely] when its dry).

Made it through the bulk of the bridge safely but I did feel the car was a tad loose. Sure enough, I've got another 20-30ft left on the bridge and the back end breaks out and I start drifting. Fuck! Foot is off the gas and I'm easing the steering wheel to keep 'her straight. ESP light is flashing like a mofo. Next thing I know I'm heading to the left towards the curb and bridge from the left lane that I was in. Quick, gentle, steering wheel movement and now I'm straight again but instantly broke loose and now driving right. Well, there was a car in the right (middle) lane so now I'm really freaking out. There goes my Avant and someone else's car and probably me and the dog. Couple more very gentle movements with the steering wheel and the car straightened itself out as I'm coming off the bridge onto regular ground.

This all happened within a 10sec window. I thought I was a gonner and I wasn't even accelerating. Guess 60mph with some black ice is still waaay too fast.

Point of the story. Quattro and ESP saved both me and the AVant. If I was in my Jeep it would have been totaled. It was really amazing to witness the awd and computer control system in full effect. I just did my best to keep the front wheels pointed straight and the car corrected itself. Not once did I press on the brakes. I just stayed off both the brakes and gas.

Now I can go to work for my last day of the year. Enjoy!

[El_Chapusca]

WOw man thats crazy. Good to hear a fellow Az'er is alright. Audi Ftw

[martini]

i crashed my work vehicle at 10mph into a curb on black ice this year.

coming off a red stoplight, making a left onto an overpass. The overpass was a sheet of black ice. I was literally going 10mph and it just slide sideways and smashed the curb...

then, my wife was the vehicle behind me.... she did the same thing with her civic...


2 bent control arms and 1 wheel bearing later we are good to go...

black ice blows

[PRVWing]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-hHWSQhKuc

enjoy, lol

[African2.7T]

Dang thats a crazy story glad to hear that you are ok tho

[VAG_4ever]

be safe!!! we wouldn't want to see another totaled avant around here...

[ziggituning]

nice to hear you made it out OK, winter sucks. Notjing better than seeing all your hard work salvaged by the car responding the way it is supposed to!

[rocketheavy]

haha I had the same thing happen to me in my auto 4 wheel drive explorer except i was doing 74 with cruise control on, heading to VT! The rear end slid out, thought i was a goner and then the auto 4 wheel drive kicked in and straightened me out. Im All wheel drive for life!

[vdubstreets]

Going to work yesterday i hit some slush in the snow going around a turn 35ish, just paved road so it was completely flat. I feel the ass end sliding out and the ESP flashing i just give let off the gas a bit and it pulled through the corner.

if i was in my jeep i would of fish tailed really bad, but at that speed its controllable.

Glad to hear everything is ok i bet your heart was racing.

[Exanimas]

I probably would've needed new pants after that. Good to hear you, the dog, and the Avant are OK.

[A4natomical]

way to stay safe doug.

[AudiA4Turbo22]

Glad to hear u r ok, that would suck.

It's sad to know after 1 year of working hard on ur car it could all be lost in less than a few seconds huh?

[dougyfresh]

Thanks everyone.

It most definitely was a jolt to the system.

The snow tires also helped so much. Those things have excellent grip.




I remember the ESP and AWD got me through the snow with bald tires. I was heading up the Killington access road back in '05 with about two inches of snow on the ground. Bald summer tires equated to a difficult time. Well, with quattro and ESP I made it up the access road no problems. The next day I bought new, winter, tires.

Glad to hear u r ok, that would suck.

It's sad to know after 1 year of working hard on ur car it could all be lost in less than a few seconds huh?

Yes, even scarier to know that I had a dream a few weeks back that the AVant got totaled.

[AudiA4Turbo22]

^^i hate those man, makes u feel like it is happening everytime a wheel gets loose.

I hate parking my car anywhere too everytime i feel some dufus is going to run into it or scratch it or something, it has happened before, and boy does it hurt.

[i_c_the_light]

Was about to ask what tyres you had on at the time. Black ice sucks big time.

[inaforest]

Glad to hear you're safe

[jackyaudi]

Glad you are safe Doug

Best thing you did was not to press on brake or gas pedals, the car could have lost control easily even with the quattro & ESP. Ice has no rules.

[absolutegtr]

Damn Doug......glad to know everything went ok.

A major part of that was because you stayed calm....had anyone else slammed on the brakes....bye bye

[CO AVANT]

I hear ya there Doug. Got the rear end out on the avant doing 85mph down the interstate 2 days ago while driving in a straight line. Black ice no likey the summer yoko advan neovas

[romell]

good to hear youre ok doug.. and thanks for the text messge wishing me luck. i think i did good. hopefully ill see you this weekend if the snow "blizzard" we are expecting does not hit

[wolfdog]

Grats on the adrenaline rush and grats on the last work day of the year!

[dougyfresh]

Grats on the adrenaline rush and grats on the last work day of the year!

Design review was a success. I pulled off the impossible. 3 months worth of work in 6 days with help from two individuals with very little experience (I spent most of my time mentoring them). Now that I am home I can sleep seeing as I got, on average, about 2-3hrs of sleep every night for the past week. Agh. 2+ weeks of no work. I'm stoked.

You in VT anytime soon?

good to hear youre ok doug.. and thanks for the text messge wishing me luck. i think i did good. hopefully ill see you this weekend if the snow "blizzard" we are expecting does not hit

Your OBDII cable arrived while I was in Puerto Rico. Might not come down to NJ on Saturday. My friend I was supposed to meet up with on Monday to go mountain biking in NC has to work. I might drive down there on the 23rd or 24th and stay through New Years. Let me get some rest tonight and call you and Daniel tomorrow to figure out when we can fix your lights and when I can schedule Dyno time with Daniel while in NC.

I hear ya there Doug. Got the rear end out on the avant doing 85mph down the interstate 2 days ago while driving in a straight line. Black ice no likey the summer yoko advan neovas

Scary! Glad to hear you are okay too, Jordan! I know for a fact that my snow tires helped so much. That reminds me. I gotta switch to my low boost file since the roads are bad and it supposed to snow tomorrow and Saturday. File switching FTW but 30psi in snow and icy roads does not. Gotta find a usb-compatible PDA to load this software on. The valet and ignition kill mode is stellar.

Might have a job opportunity that brings me down to Puerto Rico for a 2-3 year stint. Can you say morning surfing followed by mentoring all day followed by evening relaxing on the beach? Gotta put those cards together and see if it'll manifest itself.

[bwoy1981]

I love Florida!!! Glad to see you made it!

[Das General]

Geeez I haven't seen 5:30 am in a LOOOONNGG time.

[svo142010]

good to hear your ok!
man i miss quattro...
winters here and im stuck with a pontiac grand prix....
rain, ice, snow.....you name it.....the GP sucks in all conditions....

Quattro would be really nice right about now...

[downhillracer]

quattro and ESP FTW

[CO AVANT]

Scary! Glad to hear you are okay too, Jordan! I know for a fact that my snow tires helped so much. That reminds me. I gotta switch to my low boost file since the roads are bad and it supposed to snow tomorrow and Saturday. File switching FTW but 30psi in snow and icy roads does not. Gotta find a usb-compatible PDA to load this software on. The valet and ignition kill mode is stellar.

yeah don't ever drive the audi in these conditions anymore cause of all the road sand, and with summers on... but had to since the truck was in the shop getting some tranny/diff leaks fixed. Thankfully still under warranty. Yeah I did that while accelerating at 25psi. I immediately put the boost down to 12psi. Roads are dry now and had boost at 27psi yesterday because of a barometric pressure of almost 30. Almost felt like sea level power