I'm posting this (with my brother's consent - he's not on here the forum.... yet) for entertainment and warning purposes. So here's the scoop...

My brother was out in his X with another SUV (Tahoe i think) in an ungraded field that was on his friend's property. For some reason they decided to have a donut competition. The damage from rocks flying alone would have been enough for me to not do this in a STILL UNDER WARRANTY '05 Xterra. From what I understand the donuts from a stop were not going as well as planned so he started taking a run up, cranking the wheel hard and going into a power slide, followed by as many donuts as possible. This seemed to be working well but one of his friends even mentioned that the X was looking mighty top-heavy on some of those turns. Just like my brother, he didn't heed his friend's warning. Sure enough on a later run the X's front right tire hit a rut of some sort and stopped on a dime... while the rest of the truck continued upward and over. The X landed upside down resting on the front of the hood and just above the front windshield. I'm not sure why the X didn't lay down on the rack instead of rest on the hood, but I guess it had to do with the engine being so heavy compared to the rest of the car. My brother, despite being upside down (and quite angry with gravity, the rut and himself), was unscathed. And as you can see from the below pictures the Xterra windows didn't even break or crack, which impressed me. My brother's friends rolled the X back just using a tow rope. The X didn't start (which surprised me) so my dad had to come and tow it back home with his suburban where the troubleshooting began. After inspection engine was found to be still mechanically sound, oil had just flowed into the pistons (and everywhere else possible) while it was upside down. After draining things out she started up beautifully... well maybe beautiful isn't the best word haha. She started. And while the insurance company is going to cover the event, at this point it's looking like the X might have to be totaled.

:heul3-big:

It's a shame that something like this happened to such a pristine car (he was crazy obsessive about it) while doing something so stupid such as donuts. Needless to say, lessons have been learned, both financially and action-wise. Who has the prettier Xterra now bro?!?!?! haha

Poor Xterra
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/munkman1984/Xterra/Bretts%20Xterra/brettsX4.jpg

Skyward Headlight
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/munkman1984/Xterra/Bretts%20Xterra/brettsX5.jpg

Missing Mirror
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/munkman1984/Xterra/Bretts%20Xterra/brettsX3.jpg

Back Wheel Well Damage
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq165/munkman1984/Xterra/Bretts%20Xterra/brettsX1.jpg

Good to hear your brother was unhurt. Sucks he had to learn that lesson in that manner. Those pics are another testament to the structural design of the X. There have been quite a few people roll them and to the best of my knowledge, EVERYONE has walked away pretty much unscathed.

If it's totaled, will your brother get to keep it or will the insurance company take claims on it?

If he gets to keep it, I see a good SAS project in the making. :)

They would take it and give us a check for the minimum amount they could find an X in similar condition BEFORE the roll. I've considered following the Xterra to the insurance action... hehehe

So, what Happened Chad...you didn't tell him about the air dam spoiler action did you?

Always painful to see and X in that shape... Glad to hear that your bro's ok.

Ouch... That hurts me just looking at it.. Glad your brothers ok, but smack him for me!! Haha, Im suprised insurance is taking care of it, most of the time if they know your being stupid and mess it up, they wont do anything for ya.. even with full coverage.. but thats Kansas too... Kansas is a F*d up state.... haha. Hope everyone learns a lesson from this!

Ya know, that doesn't look bad at all for the circumstances. The only part that looks like a tough repair is that rear quarter panel.

I think there's a fuel cutoff switch that cuts off the fuel supply in a rollover to keep the car from blowing up. There's usually a switch that needs to be reset somewhere and sometimes resets itself depending on circumstances, it should be in the Owner's Manual.

TBH, it really doesn't look bad for a vehicle that's rolled. I've seen more beat up trucks on the trail. If it runs good and seals up from the weather... ta heck with insurance.

Might need to re-aim that headlight though. :lol:

Find out if the insurance company will let you buy it back, if so PM me, I'd like to buy it.

Damn,
It actually doesn't look that bad for a roll over.
I see a rolled one practically daily at my job.......
I could have been much worse trust me.
I am glad that he was OK:wink-big:

Damn,
It actually doesn't look that bad for a roll over.
I see a rolled one practically daily at my job.......
I could have been much worse trust me.
I am glad that he was OK:wink-big:

I forgot you worked in claims, lol. I'm looking for a light roll over like that one. PM me if you come across one that's available.

lol at "dumb donut" in the tags section. :lol:

Glad everyone is ok.
The fact that all the glass stayed intact is amazing to me but that's a perfect excuse to go mod wild...the heck with insurance claim.

Maybe we need to get Creepy to make some big band-aid stickers for boo-boo's like that quarter panel. hehe.

I was rear ended in my '69 truck and their insurance wanted to total it, I told the agent I'd be willing to take $700 less of settlement if I got to keep the truck and the guy couldn't print out another check fast enough. That way everything was settled and he didn't have to deal with the 'junked' vehicle.

You might consider asking for a smaller claim but keep the X.

I forgot you worked in claims, lol. I'm looking for a light roll over like that one. PM me if you come across one that's available.

Ok I will keep my eyes peeled
05+ I am assuming is what you are looking for?:lutscher-big:

lol At "dumb Donut" In The Tags Section. :lol:

Lmao I Saw That Too Hehe

Fzzt, that's an awesome idea!!! If that doesn't work I'll keep you posted Creepy.

Ok I will keep my eyes peeled
05+ I am assuming is what you are looking for?:lutscher-big:

05+ X or Armada or 4 door Titan, 4x4's only.

And you know me I don't really care what color, if I don't like it I'll just change it, lol.:aufkopfhauen-big:

Sucks for him.

Glad he's ok.

What ever you do don't let him drive your X. Sux what happend but it really doesn't look that bad. Could be fixed IMO.

let me get the fog lights if they let u keep it lol i cant seem to find oem ones anywhere

let me get the fog lights if they let u keep it lol i cant seem to find oem ones anywhere
Here you go:

http://www.yournissanparts.com/catalog.aspx?storename=nissanofturnersville&DeptID=191675&ItemID=9888020&detail=1

http://www.yournissanparts.com/catalog.aspx?StoreName=nissanofturnersville&DeptID=191675&page=4

Now I know what my X would look like if I rolled it. lol

im sorry but daym! ur brother got boozled! should listen to his buddy about it being top heavy for a bit. nice pix though

05+ X or Armada or 4 door Titan, 4x4's only.

And you know me I don't really care what color, if I don't like it I'll just change it, lol.:aufkopfhauen-big:


4x4's only? Hmmm.... Creepy... am I sensing this may be a project vehicle going in the opposite direction from your norm? Instead of slammed, taking it sky high?

Or did the trail bug finally fester inside of you and you're wanting to SAS a rig and go rock crazy? hahahaha

4x4's only? Hmmm.... Creepy... am I sensing this may be a project vehicle going in the opposite direction from your norm? Instead of slammed, taking it sky high?

Or did the trail bug finally fester inside of you and you're wanting to SAS a rig and go rock crazy? hahahaha


I wish, lol. No time for wheelin. If and when I build one though, you guys would be the first to know and you know it would be crazy, lol.
:aufkopfhauen-big:

No, I'm looking for something new for my wife and I like to build light rollovers, They're a great challange, and usually pretty cheap because they are very labor intensive to fix so the insurance companies write them off quick. Oh' and I can mod it anyway I want as I go, lol. It needs to be 4 wheel drive though, because we get lots of snow here.

The dealership is checking pulling off all of the panels to check for structural damage before the insurance company will make a verdict. Should know by tomorrow, I'll keep everybody updated.

Well, bad news, they're declaring it totalled. When they took of the roof panel the main roof frame was pretty cumpled up (or so we're told). We could have bought it back for $6k but it's not worth it. So we took the check and walked. My bro is in the process of finding one EXACTLY like it. I told him that's not the easiest way to move on ;-)

How much did they give him??
Did he have GAP insurance?
Make sure if he finances his new one he gets GAP insurance...
It is usually only like 350 for the life of the loan, and it will pay off the balance
if any is owed if this happens again.
Sometimes the insurance company will give you less than you owe if it is totalled. Then you are responsible for the rest that is due! It sucks.

Asking while thinking out loud..... From my understanding, it pays the difference if there is more owed on the vehicle than it is worth??? Like, if the X is worth $15k but he still owes $20k, the GAP will pay the $5k difference but he would still be responsible for paying off the $15k. Then I guess the claim would payoff the $15k owed so he would be out debt free but the bummer part is that he'd he'd come out with $0 to buy a new car with???

True $0 for a new car...
But you could at least finance a new one!!
I see people everyday, who are 5K upside down....
The only way they get out of it is to pay out of your pocket or refi that into the new loan......
That is not good, you will create more problems for yourself!
It's worth it ........trust me.
If you pay too much for the car, and or you get a high interest rate..
you will most likely be upside down for at least 3 yrs of a 5 yr loan.

Hmm....thanks for that tip, Tina! I just may hit you up for some questions about that when the time comes for a new car! :)

I'll second the motion on the gap insurance. My wife and I traded in her minivan on a new Xterra a couple years ago. It was when the '05's were just rolling onto the lot and we were buying an '04. Even with heavy rebates, we just weren't getting much on our trade, so we ended up basically paying sticker after all was said and done. Problem is, by NADA standards, the truck was a year old when we drove it off the lot.

We didn't hesitate to purchase GAP insurance, since we were nearly $6K upside down on day one (we added a 100K Nissan Gold warranty to the deal).

As luck would have it, someone broadsided my wife's truck 6 days later (300 miles on the truck), spun it and it flipped onto its roof, totalling it (nobody hurt).

Within a week, she was in another new '04 X (again with gap insurance but not nearly as upside down since we weren't financing a negative equity trade-in). It did take the GAP insurance almost a month to pay the balance after our insurance paid their share (the day it was declared a total). So all we were out additional was one month's interest on the original loan.

I'm definitely a proponent of GAP insurance if you are at all upside down on your loan.

Thanks for all the advice on the GAP ensurance, I passed it along to my brother.

They gave him a check for ~17k and the X was bought a year ago for ~18k so that was a pretty good deal. And... that 17k was with the 1k deductable already removed!

So yeah, we feel lucky. My brother is already on the hunt again for an '05 Red/Black/Night Armor (did they make Night Armor in '05?). The shame is that he had only like 30k something miles on his and anything we've seen so far is twice that. Ah well, I guess it's deserved.

i've got GAP on my x.....it wasn't expensive at all to get it when i finanaced it....better to come out with a zero balance god forbid something happens then to be in the whole and trying to get a new ride on top of that. i would strongly reccommend it when financing

Talking with my insurance and the gap cost will add something like $8.90 to the yearly premium when I finally get my X. No brainer for me.

ive always wanted to take mine out and do some donuts but i was always afraid of it rolling over. and it is my everyday driver so the risk was too great. and now i know not to do that. but sorry that had to happen to such a great ride.

i do smart donuts all the time :D if you feel it gettin top heavy and leanin.. that means stop lol... and also dont do it in a field with ruts... but it honesty doesnt even look bad for rolling over