What have you hit while driving your Miata?

[WASABI]

We all know these little cars handle amazing, but sometimes the unexpected happens. Share your stories of road carnage here!

(Please nothing graphic, and this is not a roll bar pro/con thread)

http://pics.imcdb.org/0is142/crash19968te8.1706.jpg

[kung fu jesus]

Hit a diving hawk on the freeway at about 70-80 mph.

Cruising along the freeway, heading to a track day, saw a little ball of fur running across the road. Maybe a newborn rabbit or something. I line it up to pass over the top of it and just as I get to it, WHAM!! a diving hawk nails the front of the hood, just in front of the bulge. The bird died instantly, flipping into the windshield, smearing blood over it and the rest of the car as it trailed off, but its wingspan was easily as wider as the car or more. My wife screamed because she was sitting in the passenger sear chatting away. It put a nice crease and dent in the hood, too. It was a little hard to explain to my insurance agent, but my favorite body shop is owned my extended family, so it went well. I got a new aluminum hood and my cousin talked the agent into having the whole front clip painted "to blend the paint to the rest of the car". ;)

[tsingson]

Killed a raccoon that decided that midway across the street, he was going to go back where he came from. Pretty good size too. Also destroyed a bird that came from the trees in the middle of 85. Came out of nowhere and when I looked in my rear view mirror, just saw a puff of feathers. I guess my Miata doesn't like animals much.

[Demon I Am]

A mountain. jumped a 3 ft deep rain gulley to do so. bad tires + torrential downpour + NC215 = Bad times

[kung fu jesus]

So us NC guys are dangerous, apparently.

[WASABI]

I was coming home last night and at the end of a long sweeping onramp to a two lane road that immediately goes under a bridge. There was only one car traveling on the the main road. I was going to let him pass the onramp, and duck behind, then with my momentum, sweep around him and pass them on the left... well, as I put that plan into action, I didn't see that one of the two lanes was closed, and I ran into a construction cone. It was very dark, and the grass was high, so I never saw the cones. It clipped the the driver's side of the front bumper and whacked the driver's fender. I can feel at least two small dents in the fender. It's been raining since last night, so I haven't been able to really look at it.

[kung fu jesus]

Our move from Socal to NC, my wife followed behind me while I was driving the moving van. Somewhere in eastern NM, I ran over a delaminated truck tire carcass (road gator). I couldn't change lanes or alert her because my radio died, so her NB took it in the front bumper after the trailer I was also towing kicked it up.

That gator took a lot of paint off the bumper, spider webbed the rest, destroyed the plastic undertray, punctured the AC condenser, then punched and spider webbed the rear bumper on the way out, also cracking the driver's side taillight at the bottom. :(

[Phatmiata]

I ran over a few bobs barricades on the shoulder of the road once. I was coming home late and fell asleep at the wheel while driving down the highway. I remember dreaming I was asleep in bed and heard a weird / annoying noise. vrummp rump, vrummp rump, vrummp rump, and was I thinking WTF is that annoying noise, as I opened my eyes to see what all the ruckus was I went right into a row of barricades. It destroyed my then Racing Beat type II nose. I looked for signs of police, nothing, so I got back on the road and drove home WIDE awake. :shock:

I avoid night time driving, and if I feel tired, I just pull over and take a 10 minute nap in the car.

[RuckkehrMiata]

Ruckkehr was slowly scraped down the side along a metal post. I was in a position that it couldn't be avoided, and it felt terrible all the way through. Then she was finished with a 30mph entry into another cars bumper. I am sure it is fully repairable, but I took the opportunity to acquire the new one.

Nothing hit with 二回目 yet *crosses fingers*

[Dentman]

Just bugs so far. Hopefully that's all I will ever hit.

[BoBo]

During this spring semester that just ended, I was driving on my way to school and ran over a sharp metal object on the freeway. It cost me a tire blowout and I was 1hr late for class. I had a group presentation that day, but I still managed to do my thing and graduate on time before I transfer to SSU. I was lucky that I didn't bend my NB wheels. These OEM wheels can surely take a beating.

[The Driver]

6-7 weeks ago, I was hot dogging off of an exit ramp, at three times the posted speed limit. I was using all the available real estate (meaning the edge of the road) when I hit a patch of "magnesium chloride" aka salt. I lost traction, went on a 4 wheel drift, recover the car, but there was one more bend to clear. I over corrected and hit the curb, front wheel first at about 30 MPH.

Two control arms, tie rod end, and two damage BBS rims later; I learned a very valuable and humbling lesson.

[WASABI]

I over corrected and hit the curb, front wheel first at about 30 MPH... Two control arms, tie rod end, and two damage BBS rims

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSx_9nhQ1SnY0fTJg1bj-17o-MKJgE3p96tRw78BBM8w0dOhmW

[maharaj]

One morning around 5am a deer ran into the side of my car. Totally not my fault.....here I am driving along and then Bambi's mother decides to ram the side of my car. Talk about a 'WTF' moment.

[The Driver]

Folks, the title to this thread is "What have you hit while driving your Miata?"

Lets keep it Miata centric, alright?

[BlitzWing]

every f**king speed bump in my town. I don't know why it is this way. My car is not super low but the local government insist on putting them all over the place and then don't maintain them so when the tarmac on each side breaks down they slowly get about 2cm taller over the winter and the gov are just too cheap to fix it until the following summer. I have no clue how the local dubbers deal with it.. I guess a lot of spare sumps in the VW scene

I did hit what I think was a plank of wood on the highway. I'm guessing it fell off the back of a truck heading for the dump. scare the crap out of me.

[Ihatecars]

~NOT MY ACCIDENT~

A guy I know was speeding through a neighborhood during a thunderstorm one night. He tried taking a corner way too fast and under steered right into a rain gutter. He luckily only bend his control arm, and screwed up a his wheels really bad.

:|:|:|:|:|

[rebeljohn]

I've been in my Miata for a month now, and I think I've hit every bug in the state of NC. I work 3rd shift, so I travel mostly in the late evening. Hoping the deer hate red vehicles...........

[Ezalis]

Other way around. 16 year old girl does some texting and driving and plows into me at 50+ while I'm stopped waiting to turn left into my driveway. Still having to deal with Allstate to get the proper value of my car.

http://mazdaroadster.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=11861&d=1398126562

[KAL]

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l89/tronderjet/IMG_0250.jpg

One of those exact sticks. Luckily, I ended back on the road after that. Small chip in the front.

[Big Red]

Hit a Kangaroo @ 60mph

I had no way of avoiding the kangaroo :/ so I decided to make a split second decision.
1.- If I went left I would have put myself in the marbles on the left shoulder & most likely putting myself off into the trees.

2.- Hit him straight on & have the chance of the kangaroo hitting the front of the car taking out my cooling system & the off chance of going straight through the middle of the windshield & who knows what else could happen?

3.- Maneuver to the right lane (oncoming) & try to beat him or minimize the damage to the front of the car. (Being 6am & being early there was no traffic around.)

It all happened pretty quickly. The kangaroo was moving at full flight out of the bushes from my left.... No time to brake basically & would have locked the front wheels most likely anyways.... So I took option 3. I wasn't lucky enough to get around the front of the roo. this experience of me seeing the kangaroo's head bounce off the windscreen was a very sobering moment. The noise of the impact & the dust and small pieces of glass floating around the cabin in nearly like a slow motion state. after the roo hit the screen & "a" pillar it took out my mirror clawed my side window & rippled my passenger door. Also left some fur jammed in my door handle & mirror stalk. And buffed some paint off the damage guard. :/


So the Damage :'(

-Bonnet
-Left front guard
-Front window
-Passenger door + Glass
-Passenger door mirror

About a 3 days after the impact I my wonderful girlfriend tracked down a decent panel shop to do the work. The owner came over on that Saturday to my house to asses the damage & quote the job. I'm usually a DIY guy & that's the whole spirit of things here I took the option of the panel beaters because they could produce a far better finish than what I could ever dream of.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/1240646_10152106271129888_1559280009_n.jpg
https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/1011084_10152106271434888_1977013137_n.jpg

[WASABI]

^^Gareth you win so far!

[ScratchNSniff]

This was back 5 or so years ago driving up in the mountains...the relay for the fog lights decided to fall out of the dash where it had been for close to a year if not longer...got stuck perfectly behind the brake pedal coming downhill into a turn...bounced into one guardrail with no brakes and then right back into another before I got it out...needless to say I didn't have that relay in there after that...destroyed the front end and 3 of the 4 wheels/tires...

Right before the crash...

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/letmeyagrill/Horns_zpsa6d9485b.jpg (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/letmeyagrill/media/Horns_zpsa6d9485b.jpg.html)

Right after once home and pulled my rack to paint...

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/letmeyagrill/Hornsss_zpsd3e99dd7.jpg (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/letmeyagrill/media/Hornsss_zpsd3e99dd7.jpg.html)

And day I picked it from being fixed and my Honda Express...

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/letmeyagrill/Hornss_zps81f04ee8.jpg (http://s243.photobucket.com/user/letmeyagrill/media/Hornss_zps81f04ee8.jpg.html)

[DK Wolf]

There's a thread somewhere where I hit on a girl on the freeway and got her number in the Miata and intimacies took place at the local coffee bean and tea leaf.


That has to count.

[The Driver]

Hit a Kangaroo @ 60mph

I had no way of avoiding the kangaroo :/ so I decided to make a split second decision.
1.- If I went left I would have put myself in the marbles on the left shoulder & most likely putting myself off into the trees.

2.- Hit him straight on & have the chance of the kangaroo hitting the front of the car taking out my cooling system & the off chance of going straight through the middle of the windshield & who knows what else could happen?

3.- Maneuver to the right lane (oncoming) & try to beat him or minimize the damage to the front of the car. (Being 6am & being early there was no traffic around.)

It all happened pretty quickly. The kangaroo was moving at full flight out of the bushes from my left.... No time to brake basically & would have locked the front wheels most likely anyways.... So I took option 3. I wasn't lucky enough to get around the front of the roo. this experience of me seeing the kangaroo's head bounce off the windscreen was a very sobering moment. The noise of the impact & the dust and small pieces of glass floating around the cabin in nearly like a slow motion state. after the roo hit the screen & "a" pillar it took out my mirror clawed my side window & rippled my passenger door. Also left some fur jammed in my door handle & mirror stalk. And buffed some paint off the damage guard. :/


So the Damage :'(

-Bonnet
-Left front guard
-Front window
-Passenger door + Glass
-Passenger door mirror

About a 3 days after the impact I my wonderful girlfriend tracked down a decent panel shop to do the work. The owner came over on that Saturday to my house to asses the damage & quote the job. I'm usually a DIY guy & that's the whole spirit of things here I took the option of the panel beaters because they could produce a far better finish than what I could ever dream of.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/1240646_10152106271129888_1559280009_n.jpg
https://scontent-a-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/1011084_10152106271434888_1977013137_n.jpg
Geez, Crocodile Dundee had to show up, and take the wreath! :jelly:

There's a thread somewhere where I hit on a girl on the freeway and got her number in the Miata and intimacies took place at the local coffee bean and tea leaf.


That has to count.
No, not really... Unless she somehow cracked your windshield, then all bets are off...

[Big Red]

^^Gareth you win so far!


Geez, Crocodile Dundee had to show up, and take the wreath! :jelly:


Not something I really want to be winning at ;)

been a bit bummed lately.... been 5 months since the accident & I still have not got the car back on the road. :( Its still sitting in the panel shop awaiting paint.
bare metal respray because I was over the 50 shades of red & the clear coat was peeling in various places on the car... So its getting a new coat of red :D

SO KEEN TO GET HER BACK!!!!!! :(

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10373642_10152265217794888_5967448633639054498_n.j pg?oh=2478aeb21e22984156c180b822f6e181&oe=5425083E&__gda__=1410741099_902cb8bbeb88e4d64712dc0964b6381 a

[The Driver]

^ Been that red (among other colors) did not have clear coats, I'd say your Miata had been previously painted, and good thing you are doing it right!

[revlimiter]

I was driving Sharka to the track one morning for an autocross. It was cool and lovely. I had the top off and race tires on. Zooming along about 80 on the backroad to the dump, jail, and track (yes, really). Not a care in the world.

I notice a flock of birds in the sky they kinda fly low and past the windshield by maybe 50 feet.

They swoop around and past again.

Then one bird decides to land on the ground. Literally not 1 second before my driver's front was going to occupy that space. I felt a very small thump.

I still feel sorry for that bird.

[DK Wolf]

Alright, I guess I'll share my actual stories.



Driving through Carbon Canyon in SoCal (seriously.. that NFS game? Carbon Canyon? rumored to have been designed around that specific canyon). I'm with a girl I was seeing at the time, blasting away going balls out at what seems like the top speed of a 1.6 at 70mph.. and a freaking dumb ass bird just flies straight at the window aiming at Diana.. she's screaming, I'm laughing yelling out "HAHA IT'S ALL SMASHED AND STUFF" and it left multicolored liquids on my windshield... I think it dedicated itself upon impact.


And this story was getting actually hit.

Rear ended driving out to VA from CA in NC. I was 2hrs from my destination, it's like 6am and an SUV just plows right into my rear, sending me off the side of the road into the guardrail, they never stopped and kept going. My rear suffered significant damage, was deemed a total loss... I rebuilt it myself. Check my build-thread to see.


Then I've hit a fair amount of monkeys in Algeria in my R4. You can't stop or slow down because they will throw feces at you or climb onboard and try to crack the windows open to get that sweet smelling food.

[Big Red]

^ Been that red (among other colors) did not have clear coats, I'd say your Miata had been previously painted, and good thing you are doing it right!

There was a bit of damage around the front indicator holes around the rad support & a little bit of damage on the rear bar.... I'm assuming its damage from the previous owners (my car was not in the greatest condition & looked very unloved when I got her.)

So yes I'm trying to do the job right rather than doing a band-aid coverup.

[Jeremiah]

Last week I ran over a squirrel and I think I hit the critter before running it over because I had a paint chip/blood splatter on my front bumper near the fog light.

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/squirrel-standing-up-lucinda-vanvleck.jpg

^He was standing up like this on the road. Pretty surprising because squirrels are usually good at dodging cars.

[Sean5294]

Well I just hit a small dead deer on the way to work this morning. No damage to the car but there is hair all over the back bumper.

[Andy]

When I have more time I need to tell my story about hitting a bear at miatas at the gap last yeear.

[Sean5294]

We had a bear wandering around here yesterday. The used to be native to the area. http://www.fox19.com/story/25856520/bear-on-the-lose-in-clermont-county

[kung fu jesus]

I had forgotten about this one...

I was driving to KINOD one Friday night, it was autumn and Santa Ana season, so it was windy, dry and hot. I was driving a toll road along the Santa Ana Mountains with an SUV following me pretty close. I was doing 70-80 mph. A giant tumbleweed bounds into my lane, taller than my car. I hit it dead on and it bounces up over the car. It kicked straight into the windshield of the SUV behind be who was borderline tailgating me at that point. I just saw the SUVs headlights pitch left, then right, then left again before it looked like it swerved off the road. No rollover, but I kinda thought it was it was karma. :) No damage to my car at all.

[tsingson]

Karma seems to have been mentioned a few times recently.....

[atlnb]

OP, is that screen shot from Crash?

worst i've hit was an alligator tail.

[kung fu jesus]

That tumbleweed story reminds me of driving up to Thunderhill in '11 for the 25 Hour event. I was riding shotgun with Andrew Kidd driving. We had already had an eventful trip. We were in his pickup, pulling a 26-28' enclosed trailer loaded with the team's primary car, tools, tons of gear. It was windy all the way up. We get around Sacramento and there are tumbleweeds rolling all over the highway. Then we start noticing cars, truck, buses coming from the other direction, a lot with these massive tumbleweeds stuck in grills, air vents in front bumpers, etc. Some of the cars looking like they had tumbleweed clown noses stuck on the front, open 'mouths' (air vents) trying to eat the tumbleweeds in a 'nom nom nom' manner. I don't know if we were tired or punchy, but we were both in tears from laughter as more and more of these sights passed us the other way on the freeway. Good memory. :)

[WASABI]

When I have more time I need to tell my story about hitting a bear at miatas at the gap last yeear.

I'm waiting for your story Andy. I thought of it when I started this thread.


I had forgotten about this one...
A giant tumbleweed bounds into my lane, taller than my car. I hit it dead on and it bounces up over the car. It kicked straight into the windshield of the SUV behind be who was borderline tailgating me at that point. I just saw the SUVs headlights pitch left, then right, then left again before it looked like it swerved off the road.

Great story Jesus!


OP, is that screen shot from Crash?

Yup!

[Andy]

I'm waiting for your story Andy. I thought of it when I started this thread.


Ill do it when I get off of work today. I need to get all my pictures ready.

[WASABI]

Ill do it when I get off of work today. I need to get all my pictures ready.

http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/I’m-comin-at-you-bro-bear.jpg

[pnoy1duh]

Big rock coming off of a dump truck heading in the opposite direction two weeks after getting the bumper repainted, and a large sheet/chunk of ice literally minutes after picking up the car the first time the bumper was painted.

[Pyr0monk3y]

I nailed a rock on the way to work today. There's a sharp, blind, slow, 90 degree corner near my house that people have no idea how to handle. As I was turning in, a car came the other way taking up 50% of my lane at the apex of the corner. I had no choice but to dip two tires in the mud on the inside of the pavement. The drop off on the side of the pavement is about 3 inches and there's a decent sized rock sticking up. It didn't sound good but the car still drives ok. I'll check the alignment when I get home.

[kung fu jesus]

I hit a big chunk of asphalt like that once. It exploded under the car, so I thought it shattered my oil pan and quickly pulled off. It had only hit the lower front subframe brace, thankfully. :)

[vote4pedro]

I kinda find this thread annoying for the following reason. I have never hit anything with my miata. I have been hit, and I have had the car hit five (5) times while parked, all with damage that needed to e repaired, and always with the same response too: "I did not see your car when I was backing up". WTF

I am not touting myself as a supreme driver, but I am a defensive driver when in my nautilus air horn equipped miata, especially when tooling through the SUV tundra.

The only time it was hit, I had had the car for only 6 months. I was driving to work at 6am on a clear morning with dawn breaking, when a deer RAN into the passenger side fender. It swung its hind quarters into the passenger door, and extended it's head across the windshield waggling it's tongue and spewing deer spit all over the driver's side windshield. Then it was gone. A hit and run by a deer. 4K in damage.

AND, 2 years ago, I was driving to work @ 6:30am in a drizzle when I heard a 'WOP' on the drivers side and looked in the side mirror to see a 50-60 lb fawn had run into the side of our passat. It hit square where the front and rear doors meet. Only a slight dimple in the sheet metal. And it scampered off. WTF

TWO hit and runs by deer in two different vehicles.
I hate Bambi. Rudolph kinda pisses me off too.

[The Driver]

^ Dude, bambi tastes so good! :D

[Andy]

As promised, I am now home.

I was at MATG last year with my car half in primer half flaking paint. The paint place that was repainting my car got pushed back by a month on the job and I needed my car. So I took the car to the gap mostly in primer. While at the gap I went on the fat buddies run. On the way back from fat buddies, as a group of 40 or so miatas, we went on a drive through something called "Road to nowhere." The story goes that the road has a tunnel that was suppose to connect to the Tennessee border, but Tennessee could not get the required permit back then so the road literally goes up a mountain and just ends. I imagine not many cars go through it as it is a large dead end, so animals must run in the road often.

To paint a picture this area looks like a road was placed in the middle of a forrest. I am car number 34 in the group of 40 or so. Right after a corner out of the blue a black bear comes running down the side of the mountain, jumps the guard rail, and bolts right into the road. I did not have ample time to stop, and in hindsight if I did I probably would have been rear ended by the guy behind me. So i had two options. Drive straight and hope he runs faster than i am moving (Would have ended in a head on collision with a bear) or option 2, swerve. I swerved and the bear just glanced off of my passenger side fender spun and then hit my door. The bear was fine and ran off.

The fender was ultimately destroyed beyond reasonable repair. It was pretty dented in multiple places and it would have been more work to fix than it was worth.

At the end of the day I avoided a much larger collision than could have happened and I was able to drive my car back home 1000 miles to miami. I still have that fender in my garage. I am debating hanging it from the wall.

The picture of the fender doesnt look too bad but the whole creased area next to the wheel well was pushed it. It would never have been fixed properly.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5520/9399179559_06495aa334_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/9401954118_68b5adab80_h.jpg

[Big Red]

Hit a Kangaroo @ 60mph

I had no way of avoiding the kangaroo :/ so I decided to make a split second decision.
1.- If I went left I would have put myself in the marbles on the left shoulder & most likely putting myself off into the trees.

2.- Hit him straight on & have the chance of the kangaroo hitting the front of the car taking out my cooling system & the off chance of going straight through the middle of the windshield & who knows what else could happen?

3.- Maneuver to the right lane (oncoming) & try to beat him or minimize the damage to the front of the car. (Being 6am & being early there was no traffic around.)

It all happened pretty quickly. The kangaroo was moving at full flight out of the bushes from my left.... No time to brake basically & would have locked the front wheels most likely anyways.... So I took option 3. I wasn't lucky enough to get around the front of the roo. this experience of me seeing the kangaroo's head bounce off the windscreen was a very sobering moment. The noise of the impact & the dust and small pieces of glass floating around the cabin in nearly like a slow motion state. after the roo hit the screen & "a" pillar it took out my mirror clawed my side window & rippled my passenger door. Also left some fur jammed in my door handle & mirror stalk. And buffed some paint off the damage guard. :/


So the Damage :'(

-Bonnet
-Left front guard
-Front window
-Passenger door + Glass
-Passenger door mirror

About a 3 days after the impact I my wonderful girlfriend tracked down a decent panel shop to do the work. The owner came over on that Saturday to my house to asses the damage & quote the job. I'm usually a DIY guy & that's the whole spirit of things here I took the option of the panel beaters because they could produce a far better finish than what I could ever dream of.

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1240646_10152106271129888_1559280009_n.jpg?oh=f94d 030ef561aeb740216338cb699991&oe=56AB446E
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xla1/v/t1.0-9/1011084_10152106271434888_1977013137_n.jpg?oh=935d 3ae84d518d9decda428d41b63b5f&oe=568E47F1





Geez, Crocodile Dundee had to show up, and take the wreath! :jelly:

No, not really... Unless she somehow cracked your windshield, then all bets are off...

Sorry for the thread revival.... but after a long time I finally got the old girl back on the road :) took the painters 12mths :'(
all worth it in the end :roll:

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t31.0-8/12015014_10153305719249888_8344982276873297387_o.j pg

[Demon I Am]

Are those the MS03, or the Advans? Either way, beautiful choice on the wheels!

[Martin]

Sorry for the thread revival.... but after a long time I finally got the old girl back on the road :) took the painters 12mths :'(
all worth it in the end :roll:
I'd go crazy if I had to wait 12 months for a repair! But the car looks great now.

[Big Red]

Are those the MS03, or the Advans? Either way, beautiful choice on the wheels!

Thanks for the compliment on the wheels, They are Mazdaspeed MS03's 15x6.5" +38's. I get mixed responses from the wheels, It's not everybody's cup of tea. But I like them & that's all that matters ;)

Trying to make my car look like a period correct car thats straight off the Pages of InitialD

[Demon I Am]

Period correct, they are. I've wanted to pick up a set for a while, but now that I'm in an NB, I don't know that they'd work well. The MS01r seem to work well for both.

[horribleR]

back when I was much happier in my Miata days... I hit a speed bump and got beached at my grandmothers condo.

[Demon I Am]

Even looking at this thread makes me anxious