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A warning to all,

Last Thursday night of the long weekend, I left Lithgow with the wife and 2 my year old boy, on my way to my mums house near Mudge. It had been raining, the road was a little slippery, so I set the cruise at a little under 100. I got about 30 min out of Lithgow and approached a 85Km bend. Thinking "Im not in the GTR" I turned the cruise control off, in an instant, the car kicked out 90Deg and drove me into the wrong side of the road. I counter steered to stop us going through the fence and into the trees, where there was a 5-10M drop. The car got into a flat spin, we first hit the rear of the car into a 20cm X 20 cm white fence poll, then 2-3 of them into my side, then the wife's side then my side again as we did 2 x 360's up the road.

When we came to a stop we were unable to open any doors, had to kick the wife's door open and get the boy out from the front, lucky, we all walked away without a scartch! The fence did just enough to stop us and keep us away from the tree's and 5-10M drop. If there where any cars coming the other way I have no doubt we would all be dead.

When the cop arrived at the sceen, he commented the only reason we were OK was because the fence stops anyone doing the speed limit. I attribute the accident to the tyres, I will never allow the manufacturer determine what tyres I use. I research the best tyres for the GTR, but I let ford dictate the best tyres for the family, never again.

The 01 Fairmont was writen off yesterday and I recieved a neg driving ticket (probably lost 1/2 my license due to double points), this means nothing to me because the family is still alive. It looks like the wife has bought a new black, 7 seat territory, but my first act will be to buy some 18' rims with some good wet weather tyres.

The moral to the story, have good tyres on the car, drive to the speed limit and stay alive!

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Damn, I'm glad to hear you all made it out without any injury. I'm guessing the car was an AU-III Fairmont? My parents have the same car, which tyres were you using? The ones on our car are the same ones as the dealer recommended and I can vouch for them being complete crud in the wet.

Guest Xinhua

Mate glad your OK, lucky nothing happend to your family. a 2 year old kid, that would of been hard. Monday on my way to canberra i hit a kangaroo doing 110Km/h, span out and hi trees. Dislocated my shoulder but everything was good, car wasnt written off, but had all panels changed. they're diff colours now hehe. Glad your ok mate

good to hear u are ok, and good tyres are definetly worth the money for the rain, with crap tyres if anything goes wrong u have no chance.

Xinhua thats bad to hear too, what exactly was the damage? and was the damage from the kangaroo or the trees?

Yes, it was an AUIII and I think it had Dunlop Monza's.

Im about to buy some MKW MK21's

post-42-1145681172.jpg

with Falken Ziex S/Tz04's

post-42-1145681079.jpg

I cant find a lot of info on this tyre, but it is a SUV/4WD tyre

Monzas are super crappy tyres in any conditions!!! the only thing they are good for is burnouts since they last forever!

i wouldnt trust any falken tyre with 'ziex' in the name, ie 326's (crappiest deathtrap tyre ever)

cant u just put normal car tyres on there assuming u wont go off road anyway?

Bloody hell Paul that's very scary mate.

I'm very glad that you and your family are all fine.

I was also in the area that same day, about mid-day,

turned left into Jenolan Caves Rd and then to Oberon.

Roads were all very slippery and I found myself on opposite lock a few times, bloody turbos.

Apart from being safe, another good thing about those Territories is they can tow track cars. :)

Bad news!!!!!

Doesnt double demerits only apply to speeding and drink driving this time round though?

A friend of mine was out last night at a party, some smart ass took his p plates off the car while he was inside, he came out, got in, and drove off not thinking someone would tamper with the plates - almost home there was an RBT set up on the side of the road, they ended up booking him for no p plates, and he has double checked - apparently that particular fine doesnt attract double demerits

Glad to here your ok paul. S#$t can go bad pretty quick in the wet with crappy tires hey. Had some very unnerving experiences in my dads vs commodore due to crappy tires designed to last and not to grip...... I don't think it can be stressed enough that even if you have a car that handles really good, unless you have good tires its going to handle like crap.... See way to many people going to fast in the wet with crappy tires, it scares me!!!! (not saying you were going to fast though):D

I'd steer clear of Falken Ziex myself, there's sure to be better tyres around for those wheels. Pirelli maybe would be a better choice? Bound to be plenty of reviews around the net anyhow, but definately don't purchase a Falken Ziex tyre unless you can find some positive reviews on it, as Falken's are either really good or really bad..

Scary situation, no doubt! As long as you, the wife and your kid are all okay, that's the main thing...

Good to hear you've got the right attitude to tyres as well, so many people put so little thought into this.

Good to hear you're all okay, and best of luck.

Scary situation, no doubt! As long as you, the wife and your kid are all okay, that's the main thing...

Good to hear you've got the right attitude to tyres as well, so many people put so little thought into this.

Good to hear you're all okay, and best of luck.

This post summed it up.

Aslong as you're all safe.

All the best

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