Did that really just happen?

[Peter B]

Hey everyone. Haven't posted in forever. Bought a house about a year back and have been slaving away on it ever since.

So a while back I picked up an old beater to make the 100 mile round trip drive to work and back again. An old 1996 Avalon XLS with 156K on it for $750 off a friend. The height of Toyota luxury in the mid 90s. She has a front right fender that was remodeled by another car at one point, stick on hood scoops, and a Peter Griffin as Che Guevara sticker. She is called the GREEN DRAGON (she came with the name) and over all is a pretty sweet ride

Anyhow getting the dragon meant I could garage the speed for a bit to fix it up. Its a 2008.5 with almost 80K and it has some road wear. So last winter I took an auto body course to fix some of the dings and dents. Course was $400 is plus some materials. It was great. I learned a lot and got a bunch of spots fixed on the car, including a baseball sized dent in the hood left by some retarded deer. I still have a few things left to do. Touch up one of the rear fenders, re-install a rocker panel, buff and polish the hood.

Anyhow tonight the dragon was due for an oil change. Part way into the project I realized I couldn't find my oil funnel. The one I placed on the shelf next to my other tools and have not touched since my last oil change. I searched everywhere for it. EVERYWHERE. While searching for it in the garage I knocked over some yard tools that were leaning against the wall. One of these was a metal snow shovel, which proceeded to hit something as it fell over. Guess what it hit? Yep, the speed. Left a 6 inch semi circle of scratches. And a nice little chip that went all the way down to the metal. Awesome. I just fixed all that s*** in my course. God was I pissed. (Its possible I proceeded to murder the shovel that caused the damage immediately after).

To be honest it's not the fact the car got scratched up. It's more of the fact that it was like 1 weekend of work away from getting back on the road. Between the house, my s*** job, and current job hunt I'm WAY over stressed and strung out. The thought of another project is boarder line crushing at the moment.

You guys ever have days like this? I don't know what it is but my speed 3 is a magnet for this sort of crap. I tried to share my frustrations with some of my non car friends, but they didn't quite get it.

Oh well.

-Pete

 

[ras]

Yes we all have days like that, but the bright side is that you own one nice looking ride. So relax.

 

[Peter B]

I did let it go. Just frustrating.

Does anyone else besides me feel that Mazda's paint is a bit thin and fragile? Sometimes I almost fear a stiff breeze is going to cause it to chip up. This car seems to get paint chips far easier then any I have owned in the past. My buddy at work has an old Miatta and his experience has been similar.

Anyone here had to do any repainting notice a difference between the OEM paint and after market in terms of durability?

-Pete

 

[60181]

I feel your pain. I hardly drive my MS3 and had it cleaned up and installed new mods, etc... and a couple Friday's ago I ran some errands on a beautiful sunny day only to come home to what you see here. Some **** on a bicycle (at least that's what it appears to be) must have road through a parking lot and wiped out into my car.

I'm still a little miffed, but I have zero deductibles and insurance kicked in to fix it. I"m actually walking away with $500 extra as the body shop working it is managed by a good friend. His work is awesome and he's even going to take car of the road rash on the front clip for me. Goes in on Monday and will be back to me upon my return from vacation.

Get it fixed and chalk it up to potentially being worse.

 

[speed3 britz]

I feel your pain. I bought my speed before I got my job 45 miles away and now I'm stuck driving it expressway and its getting some road rash and the miles are piling up as well not staying as nice as I had hoped upon initial purchase. And then the truck I purchased to give my car a rest needed up needing a motor and trans rebuild. Ugh one thing after another, and I have a small list of things I would like to fix on the car. So yes I know what you're talking about

 

[JDM_Pro5]

I know the feeling. I just bought a house that wasn't lived in for 6 years. I'm busting butt pouring TLC into this house. My wife's 2004 Mazda3s sedan is running bad, my 2002 Mazda Protege5 got a new paint job thanks to some insurance money. The Shop did a lot of auto body work and then painted it. It looked great. A few months later I went off-road to avoid a dog in a turn and smashed my front bumper into a mound of mud. Normally this wouldn't be so bad, however I learned that they mixed their paint wrong and instead of scrapping, it shattered and chipped everywhere. This paint is horribly brittle, it doesn't stick to the primer an I can snap huge pieces off. The bumper was pretty much fudged since all of the tabs were busted. I got enough money to buy a MSP bumper since it doesn't have side marker lights and I bought my car with those missing. I just changed bumpers after driving with the broken bumper for almost a year. I've been waiting for paint but it costs more and more. I plasti-dipped my MSP bumper black and it's on now. Paint is more expensive than ever since it all has to be water-based now. The shop that painted my car painted the front bumper, hood, rear driver-side quarter-panel, and rear bumper. There was a life time warranty on their paint-job but guess what, they went out of business right after painting my car. My hood now has two chips in it and it's a matter of time before it all starts falling apart. I tried sealing the chips with clear fingernail polish. I took the car in to the shop originally because some doooosh-bag merged into me at the mall and bashed in my driver-side rear quarter panel. It looks good now, but they didn't flare it out enough so now that i'm lowered, it's the only place that rubs (no biggie, I can roll the rear fenders). I don't even want to began with how bad the Mazda dealership ****** me over on my 3. Sorry for writing this book, it's just good to vent.

Hope all goes well with your speed!

 

[taylaswift]

Be glad that you guys have your car still. I woke up one morning to find my first car, a 1994 acura integra ls, completely gone. Stolen and parted out along with the new subs I had put in the day before, literally 8 hours and $200 down the drain. Oh and not to mention a new clutch I had just put in a week before hand, another $950 down the drain. Probably one of the worst days of my life. I have a 2007 MS3 now so it's all good, but trust me I definitely feel your pain times 10

 

[Gravity]

I can sympathize for sure. Last fall I was travelling on the hwy and a bucket came off a truck and scraped up my front bumper on the 2... Well by the time the paint job and FULL decal set for the Yozora badges were factored in it was gonna be a $1300 repair. No problem, file a comprehensive claim with insurance, pay $200 and away we go.

THe following week some asshole backed into my rear bumper with his/her trailer hitch. Since I've already burned through one comprehensive claim.. I can't file another for 3 years without my premiums going up.

*facepalm*

I'm thinking of buying the rear bumper sill plate thing just to cover it up...

 

[Peter B]

I knew you guys would understand. Non car folks just don’t get it. I worked my ass off to get that car and I work my ass off now in order to keep it. I put a lot of work into keeping it nice. It gives me a feeling of pride when I see people turn their head and stare as I role by and it makes me giggle like a fat kid in a cake factory every time I get on the gas.

@ Britz that’s what happened to me, only I got the job first. I didn’t realize how quickly driving 90-100 miles a day would start to wear on the car. I also didn’t realize how expensive it could be to fix. After all 90% of it is just a regular 3. Last summer I spent $1700 in one visit on basic maintenance (new tires, 75K service, alignment etc). That was why I bought the Toyota. The cost of the car, new breaks, fixed front suspension, new parking light, 4 new tires, battery, inspection, oil change, welding a hole in the exhaust AND registering the car only came to about $1500-$1600. And all that work was done by a shop, not in my driveway. You can’t beat it. It will need new shocks by the end of the summer, but I will just put the cheapest one’s available on her and keep going. It’s a v6 toyota. It will never die.

@taylaswift. That sucks hard. If someone stole my speed I would hunt them down, follow them home and burn their house at night while they were asleep inside. Did your insurance cover any of it?

-Pete

 

[taylaswift]

Didn't get a dime from insurance because the deductible would have been as much as the car practically. I had no idea theft was under collision, that makes absolutely no sense to me but oh well. It was the best looking integra around, 90k miles with no dents or chips at all.

 

[Peter B]

I would have changed insurance companies after that... and maybe torched one of their buildings. That hurts though. I wonder if anyone had been watching it, waiting for an opportunity.


I spent my weekend fixing the dents and scratches in the speed. Saturday I drove around blowing stupid amounts of money on supplies, then prepping the car. Sunday more prepping and applied the paint. Next weekend I get to clear and buff/polish it all out. In theory.

I do not do this crap because i enjoy it. uhg.

 

[Kain]

Since we're bitching, a hotel valet curbed one of my Volks. I filed a claim with their insurance company, and they denied the claim because I can't prove with zero doubt that the valet was responsible. What was I to do, stand guard with a video camera next to my car 24/7 for those four days at the hotel? I'm trying to escalate the claim to overturn it. It's not like I'm asking for a huge settlement; it's going to cost about $200 to fix the curb damage. C'mon, you guys probably spend that in pillow mints for a week.

This was for a conference, and I told my meeting planner that I'm never valeting my car again.

 

[WillD]

I will only valet my car in the winter when I have my winter wheels that I don't care that much about for that very reason. That sucks though I hope you get them to pay for it.