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I was stopping by my dad's after work to pick up a charger for his cell that works on my GPS. The roads were slightly wet. No big deal. I have a small roundabout to go through with a recomended speed of 20 MPH. I enter it at 26.1 MPH (checked on my GPS after getting home). I figure it will be no problem since I had to brake slightly as someone came in fast from my right. Shortly after making the slight right I turn the wheel to the left. My car doesn't respond. I hit the brakes, still nothing. All I could do was keep going, right up the curb. and this isn't one of those curbs with a little hill. This is a good 4-6" step straight up. After pulling off the curb I drive the rest of the way since it is just around a mile away. I borrow my dad's flashlight. The only visible damage is to the under body panel at the bumper, and even that is just some good scraping. So, I have decided to attibute the minimal damage to the 60 PSI I have in my tires not absorbing the impact and lifting the car up over the curb.

I concluded that the rain must have pulled an oily patch up and I ended up hitting it just right and went for a little ride.

By the way, anyone at the MiHG meeting Saturday that would like to take a better look at it please do. I am not sure I know what all I should be looking at and for.

Is your steering wheel still centered - not turned right or left while you are going straight, or does the car go in a different direction when the steering wheel is straight?

Even if the body damage is cosmetic and the tire and wheel look ok, it is possible that the alignment could have been knocked off or some minor damage to some suspension could have happened.

Hmmm. I might attribute it to entering a 20 MPH roundabout at 26.1. :)
Larry

The allignment has always been off just slightly so it may take me a little bit to know for sure if there is any problem with that.

Larry, I have taken that roundabout at that speed before without incident.

In the rain?

Had it just started raining? Roads are often extremely slippery when rain starts, especially if it has not rained for a while. Oils that have accumulated on the surface are released, and you can often see a whitish soapy appearance until further rain washes it away. BTW, asphalt is made from oil, so I suppose oils may leach out of it gradually.

Paint is also very slippery in the rain, even after it has rained for a while. Painted lines are more of a problem for motorcycles than cars, but a large painted area can be a problem for cars too. The coefficient of sliding friction in less than that of static friction, so once your tires have broken loose they tend to keep sliding.

Another scenario that can make for an unexpectantly slick road surface is in the winter when there is a spell of warm humid weather while there is still road salt on the road. The salt absorbs the moisture from the air to make a slick "oily" brine, so the sections of road that are salted are slick while the rest of the road is totally dry.

Painted lines are more of a problem for motorcycles than cars, but a large painted area can be a problem for cars too.

I can vouch for the second half of that statement!! I got yelled at for looping my car on a parade lap at 20 MPH at Sears Point raceway... We were doing parade laps to help dry off the track, and I got too close to the apex curbing. Which was painted, all the way down onto the pavement a little ways. The car went straight around, and I had no clue why!! Definitely scared the crap out of me!

A gal who was following me told me what had happened.

-soD