XxGoKoUxX

So today, making my daily route on the 417 toll roads (to UCF), I was behind a garbage truck on the right side. Apparently they were being careless and left trash overflowing and falling on the roads, so I happen to move to the left and attempt a pass.....

Well a work truck was driving in front of there, and I was inching forward to avoid the debris from the trash from the trash truck. Staying behind this truck I started to notice a black flat ribbon-style strap getting longer and longer, as it got longer I gave myself the car more and more distance, up until the point where I was doing 40 in a 65 (keep in mind i'm in the left SPEEDY lane).

The car behind me started getting irritable and inched forward with a face, I didn't care much because my safety was more important than a irritated driver.

Anywho, the ribbon came off the back of the truck, and got stuck to my passenger side mirror, at this point the ribbon strip was fully extended, and people behind me noticed and gave me LOTS of distance (simply because if their wheel catches that ribbon, it would have ripped my mirror CLEAN off, detailed pictures below of course).

Me trying to save my own self, I attemped to pull the cable in, while driving with my left hand. I noticed the ribbon got really heavy, so I attempted to strap it to myself while I pulled and pulled in (HORRIBLE IDEA BTW) to simply keep from further damage and catching the strap onto someone else's car, or even worse, MINE'S! As I was driving down, I slowly pulled over as the ribbon cable got a bit shorter.......

Here comes the part that had my adrenaline PUMPING HARD! The ribbon had caught onto a side-road rail guard, and my hand was STRAPPED TO IT, I nearly got yanked out of the car and the car would have probably gone off in a frenzy while I was horribly injured.

BUDDHA had saved me that day! As the ribbon had ripped clean off, and my arm was still in one piece!

The work truck had pulled over to see I was okay, in which when I approached them, my attitude was more calmer than normal (surprisingly.... I'm ALL about being pissed when it's usually someone's fault). We both agreed that stuff happens, and waited for the police to arrive and have our paperwork exchanged.

Below was the aftermath: My mirror's completely seized, and making the teeth clicking noise, so I'm sure the mirror's shot (please excuse the weird gallery orientation also).



Above is the ribbon style cable that was stuck to the mirror.



There was minor PAINT damage to the mirror, nothing too bad at all really..... Even the HWP was wondering why I was going nuts over the whole ordeal.... He didn't know that these were auto-folding mirrors.



There's my side window, the damage was pretty bad on that as I couldn't recover any paint and I may have to just order a new visor, as it's cracked from the pressure of me pulling in the cable.



As the ribbon was slapping around, it left a bit of damage to the paint's finish and it was slapping enough chip off some paint on the corners! (Trust me, this isn't old damage as I detail, wash, and check my car from top to bottom every week). You can see the mirror scratches I had, I did a bit of buffing and got SECTIONS of the scratches off.



The bottom half's bumper damage was unknown, as I don't know where that came from honestly.... It was definitely not left by the ribbon cable because paint was still intact. But the top fender portion was damaged and there's a black mark that just wont come out, so I'm unsure how to approach this with the damage to the car...... Either way that rear bumper was scraped up a bit too, and i'll have my painter refinish that also.

All in all, lesson learned, stay 6+ cars away from TRUCKS and even worse, GARBAGE TRUCKS...... It's too little too late now, but I wanted to share my experience with fellow CL members..... NEXT TIME if there's something strapped to your car???? YOUR HEALTH is more important THAN YOUR CAR!

I'll definitely let the darn thing rip my mirrors off next time . I'll probably have the car 100% refinished and back on the road imperfection free this time around (this incident being the excuse for me).

On another note, I came home, and walked towards the stairway to this package I happen to see.... (excuse the photos' backgrounds, as I like to open my presents in bed like it's Christmas day LOL!)



(Care package received )



The alt was packaged pretty nicely! Lots of cotton and plastic wrapping around it to prevent damage from FedEx.



Inside, the alt sat very nice and snug, i'm very very excited to have this installed as I've been contemplating since January or so.



These alts are actually HAND tested before they are shipped off to the consumer, talk about QC! Lovin' it more and more as I look through it! I assume this because there were scratch marks on the alt, showing signs that it has definitely been bolted up for testing..... to you Mechman!



Final photo, I will post my results after with my voltage (current readings range from 14.0v at STARTUP, to 13.5/13.6v after warmup) readings. Possibly a DIY if I do get around to doing this by myself (with test season being thrown at me every two weeks, I only see myself doing slight details and washes on the car).

I'm a little disappointed in my voltage readings (12.4v) with my current Optima Yellow and may opt for more pricey alternatives (Stinger, XS power, or Kinetic).

I'll let ya'll know how it goes!

alchemist

iTrader: (1)

Sorry for your troubles. Did u need new alternator? How many miles?

XxGoKoUxX

I needed it because of the stress my alternator has gone through, I am currently at 97k mi. The alt is still running strong, it is the battery that is really stressing out the alt, hence why I may jump ship from optima..... Reading recent reviews, they lost a lot of customers due to the fact that they cheapen out on their quality now....

I'm also on air suspension, so that's stressing the alt out (but still, it's running STRONG). I have full accuair system (assuming with everything, it's drawing ~50-80a, since it uses a 80a relay). I'm using a Kicker kx750.1 (750w full load, aka ~60a draw) for now (will probably move onto a sundown SAZ series, which will take 100a+ soon ), and a JL G6600 (600w, 6-ch (40-50a, considering it's a mids and highs amplifier).

worker

how much did you pay for the alt? I wonder why it has the hand written amperage.

Rphilip

I am glad you are ok, you could of had your arm ripped off.

I travel that road everyday as I work in research park. Crazy stuff always happens on that road, I lost my front spoiler on my Integra from hitting a rail road tie in the middle lane, couldn't go left or right because of traffic and had a 18 wheeler behind me. If I slammed on my brakes I would have gotten hit and rolled over by the 18 wheeler, so I had to eat it! Needless to say the spoiler ripped off and got stuck under my car, I thought for sure i blew out all 4 tires and bent my rims. When i had the chance to pull over I noticed no damage of any kind to my TSW rims or tires. Unfortunately the spoiler was toast , had to jack the car to pull the shreded spoiler from under it. Long story short the insurance replaced my front spoiler.

Just the other day I was in my GS350 in the left lane(417 heading to UCF) and a guy in his Accord was following me , I came up on this pick up truck , his back tires kicked up some metal object that flew over my car and smacked the windshield of the Accord, instantly it shattered his windshield! What a great way to start the day off!

When traveling the 417 , you got to be alert 24/7. If its not the cops trying rope you off, its debri trying to take you out!

XxGoKoUxX

$399+18 shipping. 417 shipped, no tax (I believe they're in CA or NY). The reason why it has hand written amperage is because it was strapped on a machine and tested. It's sort of like a birth sheet, to prove the alt has the capabilities of 240 amps (in this case it's 242 amps). Overall I'm happy with the birthsheet altogether . Higher ended amplifiers have the same thing. They're hand tested and usually clamped for wattage and written on the birth sheet, to show you, for example: a 1200w RMS @4 ohms @ 14v amplifier will maybe have 1300w RMS @ 4 ohms @ 14v or 1350w @ 4 ohms @ 14v.

Hope this clarifies things .

That really bites!!! I was at a point (inconsideration IMO) where I was stuck between two semi trucks who were both doing 60mph on the road..... This is when 417 turns from a 3-lane to a 2-lane.... debris from road work (the small rocks) was flying all over my car... leaving chips everywhere, I had to just eat it up and pull back really far, whether or not the idiots were mad at me or not, I didn't care.... This is the reason why my front end is getting a refinish also, along with my upper roof and etc.

You aren't kidding about being alert on 417! I'm always doing 65-70.... Sometimes 75 if I'm really really late, but no faster than that! Too much endangerment and risks while driving on there..... This is probably my 3rd crazy incident...... My first was while attending VCC on the east side.... I looked down (stupid, yes I know.... cell phones can take lives people!) at my phone to check a text really really quick, in a SPLIT second, I looked up and a car was doing 360's right past my GS and flying towards the side of the road..... All I saw was sparks from his 2 front bare wheels flying down the road towards me.... missing me by about 5ft, I assume the person was being cheap and using his tires till they blew.

Stormforge

wow glad you were not hurt gokou! that could have been some serious injury if you had bad luck. as for your nice car, everything can be fixed and brought back to mint condition. most important is having good health.

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

glad to hear your ok. also glad to see the gald isnt too bad. as soon as i saw the title of the thread before opening it i was like

XxGoKoUxX

Thank you Storm! I'm glad I wasn't hurt either! That seriously could have been disastrous if it were made of stronger fibers (pulling me out of the car probably).

Car's going to the shop in a week or two, so I'm somewhat content .

Thank you IXI! It isn't TOO too bad, but with the action of the driver of the other vehicle moving the mirror back and forth trying to remove the black ribbon cable, I'm opting for a new mirror, as he probably worn it out more than I am comfortable with.

At the end of the day though, I got the package I was waiting 2 weeks for (quick turn around time IMO for a massive factory that had to hand make my alt ). So i'm happy.... After my test this upcoming Friday, it's off to the shop for a quote and off to the audio store to pick up some nice 0-gauge copper cables for positives and negatives. I figured I'd jump on the big 3 upgrade while i'm replacing the alt.

yardie876

Wow that's a fairly decent sized ribbon. It really could have been a bad day for you and your arm.

XxGoKoUxX

it definitely was I'm pretty sure the ribbon had a few hundred feet on itself.... it was 3+ car length's long.

I pulled in the thing for so long that my arm got tired, hence why I wrapped it around my arm many times pulling it in.

yardie876

Man that's crazy. What are the chances of it attaching to the mirror. Sheesh.

XxGoKoUxX

It was just seriously sheer bad luck brother... I tried yanking it and when I realized it wasn't gonna come off, I attempted to pull the ribbon strap in.... All this while driving with my left leg and gas on my right (making sure the car doesn't slow down enough so that the strap doesn't gets caught under the wheel/driveshaft/etc. etc.). All in all, lesson learned lol! Next time i'll just let the mirror fall off

mjlexus

I see that you really love your GS. I can imagine a headline that reads: Lexus GS Owner Sacrifices Arm To Protect Beloved Car. Glad that is not the case.

XxGoKoUxX

I have been known to love my car more than my fiancé. She's finally come to terms with it .

My excuse everytime she's brought up that topic is..... "Does the car talk back to me when i'm mad?" LOL.