Just wanted to share these with everyone. My little brother slid on the snow and ice Friday night and hit a curb. Instead of calling me he let the cops call a tow truck and tow it to their garage which wasn't open over the weekend and the car had to sit inside, so he was bummed. Now, for the good part. He has a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix, a very nice car. He told me when I picked him up Friday that he was only going 5, maybe 10 MPH when he slid into the curb and damaged the car. I'd like your opinions on the speed he was likely going, lol.

Sorry for the pic quality, phone camera FTL.

Busted the steering knuckle in two, bent the control arm, ripped the CV joint apart, and the front wheel is bent and about 8" of bead was broken off as well (sorry, no pics of that).

So, any opinions? LOL

I'd say atleast 30 mph.

would depend on how he hit the curb and what kind of weight are we talking about ?

keep in mind that cars are not build to slide against curbs whith all that weight on one point ... this just might be easier to fix than a frontal hit..

Just hard to imagine, no more than that car weighs that it could do that damage at <10mph which he claims. 10-15 maybe, 20-25 certainly, but <10 just too hard to imagine...

Going from 5-10 MPH to a dead stop = tons of damage.

Yeah, even though that slow speed would cause a lot of damage, I'd guess 20mph or so...

Going from 5-10 MPH to a dead stop = tons of damage.

though not as spectacular as 55-60 MPH to a dead stop

Hard to say. Just believe your brosky lol all i have to say.

LOL.... yeah... it's more fun to give him a hard time though.... He's only 18, so he can handle it.....

I would have to say at lease 20-25mph....was he turning a corner? or was it a straight away? cause grand prix's are front wheel if im thinking correctly. so he may have pulled it into the curb trying to give it gas to get away and had him slide smoother into the curb so there is a chance he was only doing 10....but not 5 thats like walking!

Maybe he was only going 5-10 lol. If the roads wer slippery, then maybe he whipped the car around and whipped that broken wheel into a low curb... Maybe lol. That is a lot of damage though.

Well, his car at 10 MPH has a kinetic energy of 20,000 lb-(mph)², certainly enough to break some things

I would think this is feasible. Wheels are not necessary designed for lateral forces which could be compounded if the wheels were turned during impact.

I would have to agree with Duran, once that car started sliding on ice there is no rolling resistance so the speed I feel would have increased. The manf. just don't build cars like they use to. Mostly aluminum and plastic, they just can't take the hits any more. Glad your bro is ok and good luck with the repairs.

I would have to agree with Duran, once that car started sliding on ice there is no rolling resistance so the speed I feel would have increased. The manf. just don't build cars like they use to. Mostly aluminum and plastic, they just can't take the hits any more. Glad your bro is ok and good luck with the repairs.

New cars are designed to absorb impacts, it's much better to have the vehicle take the impact and crush like an aluminum can than to have an old all steel and iron car transfer energy and instead your head is crushed like an aluminum can.

Agree with Duran.

New cars are made in a way they can be destroyed in accident instead of you the driver.

Look at the crash test on u tub !

I would have to agree with Duran, once that car started sliding on ice there is no rolling resistance so the speed I feel would have increased. The manf. just don't build cars like they use to. Mostly aluminum and plastic, they just can't take the hits any more. Glad your bro is ok and good luck with the repairs.

No extra force no extra speed. Perhaps it didn't slow much.

As for the damage, my buddy was driving his mom's grandprix in 1992 (was a 1991) and hit a curb at a 45 degree angle and did similar damage. We were going much closer to 60mph though.

Do you also know what kind of shape that side was in before the accident? If it was cracked then I would say even 2mph to a dead stop may be been enough to do it. I would believe him, he also may have been guessing and not just staring at the speedometer. I would assume he was going between 10 and 15 very tops.

I had a similar accident. Driving my 98 sentra. Was going about 15mph on a slight curved road which I didn't realize had not been salted at all so there was ice under the newly fallen snow. Here is stupid part number one, I had my 17 enkei rims on the rear with some low profile kuhmo tires and just stock on front. Don't know why though. So the road curves and eventually there is a fork in the road separated by a little island of grass and trees which has a curb about 8 inches high. So I feel my car slide and try to correct the angle but I turned too quickly so the car slowly begins to pick up momentum while it starts to spin. I end up doing almost a 360 towards that island which where I headed was shaped like a V. Here is stupid part number two A split second before that I release my seatbelt and lean towards the passenger side window which was headed toward that V shaped curb. Here is stupid part number three, I turn to my left and open my drivers side door and get out, car still sliding. About a second later the car hits the curb. My front tire the stock one was bent and the shock absorber, arm, brake calipers, andpart of the tire rod broke off. My rear right rim, the enkei one broke in half and busted the mounting assembly for the wheels. WTF!! Repair cost me my first 4 checks from my new job. This was like 6 years ago.

I had an old Ford Tempo, I slid sideways while trying to make a turn onto the street an ex-girlfriend lived on. I know for a fact that I couldn't have been doing more than 10mph even with the studded snows I had on, can't even make the turn on dry roads at 15. Anyway, slid sideways, and bumped the curb. Didn't get hung up in the snow, thought everything was OK, drove to her house about 100 yards up the road.

About 4 hours later, started to head home. My steering wheel was offset a bit, thought maybe I bent a tie rod, would have to get it fixed the next day. Had about 15 miles to go, didn't dare drive over 20mph, I was all over the road, had to drive with my flashers on on the edge of the highway.

Took it to the shop the next day, tie rods were fine. Control arms were fine. Rack and pinion was fine. Turned out, as I did that little slide, the front wheel was turned perfectly, hit the curb completely square...... and with enough force to actually bend the frame of the car. Tweaked it enough so that the wheel no longer was 90* perpendicular with the road, it was shoved in at the bottom at about a 15* angle.

If it had been a control arm, or a tie rod, the parts would have been about $35, plus the alignment. Took the Body Shop almost 4 hours on the frame machine to get it as close as they could, and at $75/hr.... and I still needed an alignment.

No extra force no extra speed. Perhaps it didn't slow much.

As for the damage, my buddy was driving his mom's grandprix in 1992 (was a 1991) and hit a curb at a 45 degree angle and did similar damage. We were going much closer to 60mph though.

This is pretty much what was going on with him. Turning a corner after leaving his buddies house, and to my eyes the marks in the snow/ice show he hit the curb at a about a 45 degree angle. When the front hit it swung the rear into the curb as well, but didn't cause any damage to it at all, luckily.

He's been havin' woman troubles (3 of them) so I know for a fact he was driving pissed off, which is why I highly doubt the 5-10 estimate he gives. When he drives pissed off he could give any given nascar driver a run for their money, LOL.

He's no mechanic, so I'll be the one having to do all the work to put the damn thing back together. He's going to owe me a VERY nice steak for workin' on the car and what I went through last night to load it onto a trailer, haul it home, then turn around and go pull his ~girlfriend's car out of the ditch she slid into on her way out to the house to see him. Last night was so much fun.

my friend slid my car into a curb. hit it hard with the side of the rim. we were going 20-30, my guess. just chewed up the rim, no other damage.

as for weight, we had 3 or 4 people in the car, plus snowboards and gear. 300lbs+ in audio. and its an SUV.