After (Above), Before (on right)
As a fellow E36 owner (non-M), my heart momentarily stopped when Mike S. sent us this link to BimmerForums, where one member had a close encounter of the multi-spoke kind while driving down I-880 near San Jose, CA. The wheel apparently fell off another vehicle going in the opposite direction on the freeway, hit the center divider and flew into the air, landing with a tremendous amount of force onto the roof of kpipalldaway2's incredibly clean M3. Judging by the lack of damage to the rest of the vehicle, he was able to pull off the road safely, but even more amazingly, he only suffered a broken shoulder and some cuts from the broken glass. While it's sad to see such a pristine example destroyed by such a gaudy piece of rolling stock, it gets worse. The M3 driver was on a basketball scholarship and his broken shoulder may have put an end to his game days.[Source: BimmerForums]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
indymcsc @ Apr 30th 2008 2:02PM
That's really bad luck. I'm glad he's ok though.
3seriesisking @ Apr 30th 2008 10:12PM
Agreed. I really hate to hear that. Beautiful car. Hope the hoops career is able to be continued. Just another reminder how dangerous roads can be even when you are minding your own business. Best of luck to the driver. Hope everything works out.
tekdemon @ May 1st 2008 8:25PM
Bad as his luck was that it happened to him, you could also argue that his luck was pretty good that it didn't land a couple more inches to his left.
I've been in an accident where another foot would have meant the front of a bus meeting my body at 40MPH...so I'm sure while he's sad about his shoulder and basketball he should also be feeling pretty thankful that it didn't smash his face to pieces.
G_Money @ Apr 30th 2008 2:06PM
This almost happened to me on friday evening. A I was on the Cross Bronx heading west onto the approach for the GWB into jersey when on the other side of the divider (same direction) a chevy astro/gmc safari lost its wheel. The wheel rolled around and bounced OVER the divider. Luckily for me I saw it coming and speeded up to outrun it. It was quite scary and I couldnt imagine what the driver of the E36 thought when the wheel came out of nowhere to hit his car. Good thing he wasnt seriously injured.
MKIV @ Apr 30th 2008 7:00PM
That'll buff right out.
AMcA @ Apr 30th 2008 9:51PM
Similar experience on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A race car trailer ahead of us dropped a spare tire that was rolling and bouncing directly toward us. I managed to steer around it, but my passenger (who was in a horrific wreck in her teens) was so freaked out we had to pull over and let her calm down.
CarlosMC @ May 1st 2008 3:08AM
I witnessed the result of one of those: a car was hit in the front from across a highway ("autopista", it was in Spain). No one injured.
I have a picture, somewhere.
Luis @ Apr 30th 2008 2:07PM
What can you say.This sucks on all counts.Glad the kid's ok.
Matt W. @ Apr 30th 2008 4:59PM
The kid is not OK, he's been injured. Just because someone is ALIVE doesn't mean everything is great.
nissanfreak87 @ Apr 30th 2008 2:09PM
holy crap, that really sucks, did the owner of the wheel have any responsibility in this?
I hope he has a speedy recovery and continue with his college career. sucks about the uber clean M3 as well
Scotty @ Apr 30th 2008 2:14PM
My dad is a truck driver. About 10 years ago a tandem wheel came off of a truck from the opposite interstate lane and took out the whole front of his truck- hood, driver steer wheel. They never did locate the truck that the wheels came off of. My dad- ever the optomist- said he was happy that it hit his truck instead of a family in a car.
Vinay @ Apr 30th 2008 2:15PM
Yep. Very sorry for the hard-working M3 owner.
That car looked really good before.
John @ Apr 30th 2008 2:23PM
He's just lucky to be alive. A few years ago three girls were killed in St Louis when a wheel came off a car in the opposite direction, bounced over the median and crushed the roof of their car.
Richard @ Apr 30th 2008 2:23PM
Check out that tire.
A mid-high performance (Eagle F1)?
Wonder if it is fairly new and mounted to an alloy wheel whose nuts hadn't been torqued in a while.
CarbonBlack @ Apr 30th 2008 2:25PM
Looks like a lowrider wheel.
It would be fun to know whose it is
P.S. How the F*** do you loose a tire and not stop
geo.stewart @ Apr 30th 2008 2:37PM
"the wheel is one of those that screws on literally. "
you have to have a few screws loose to ride around with those.
not sure is that is a Goodyear F1 or one of the copycats but seriously underused on a car with those wheels
Richard @ Apr 30th 2008 2:44PM
Ah!
A Dayton Wire. Ergo, the headline.
Not light!
Hmm.
Frightening!
John @ Apr 30th 2008 2:50PM
thats not a goodyear eagle f1. i've got the f1, and it doesn't have the smaller veins inbetween the larger ones. must be a knockoff or a different brand
Robert @ Apr 30th 2008 2:26PM
The poor bastard good job hes ok though
Robert @ Apr 30th 2008 2:28PM
Some ppl might not take the bastard thing too well
The poor guy*