Damn Bodykit :(

Riksta · 21-03-2007, 10:46 PM

So I'm still getting used to parking my AU, and because its lower at the front than what I've ever been used to driving, I parked it facing the gutter and scraped all the paint off underneath the front of my kit :(

Minor cosmetic damages, which can wait a while to be fixed.

Until.... reversing off the gutter. Broke a couple of clips on the passenger side and put a small crack in it on the side just under where the indicator gets to its triangular point. Anything over 60k's an hour and the bit that connects it to the underneath wheel arch blows back, rubbing against my tyre.

When I first inspected the car it had a similar crack on the back of the bodykit, which I requested be fixed before I took delivery. A great job was done on it, you can hardly tell its there (edit: that's a lie, you can't tell there was a crack there at all). By luck I have the name of the place that the dealership used to fix it, so hopefully it won't cost me too much more than a couple of hundred bucks to get this one fixed up. I can hold off getting the underside resprayed for now, but I just want it not looking dodgy with a crack and out of alignment anymore! Plus I value my tyre, I don't want all the rubber taken off by that guard thinggy.

That's my vent for the night.

XR8GRL · 21-03-2007, 10:55 PM

Gutters, speed humps are a bugger.. you'll know now to avoid all :P

philstoj · 21-03-2007, 10:55 PM

How big was the curb? your car needs to be lowered 3" going by your pics..lol.

Riksta · 21-03-2007, 11:00 PM

LOL, the surprising thing is that it wasn't that big at all, just a normal height at the local shopping centre. I guess I was so used to putting the wheels of the Camry I used to drive against the actual concrete, I'll have to remember now that I can't do that anymore. Pity I've learned the hard way!

And one of the first things I want to get done to it is lowering it, now I'm not so sure, I think I need to fully get used to it first, if I drop it any lower I think I'm gonna be cracking the bodykit even more.

But yeah, I think I'll park in the more open section, facing other cars now, instead of against the bloody curb.

Speed humps haven't proved a problem.....yet........

JC · 21-03-2007, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riksta

LOL, the surprising thing is that it wasn't that big at all, just a normal height at the local shopping centre. I guess I was so used to putting the wheels of the Camry I used to drive against the actual concrete, I'll have to remember now that I can't do that anymore. Pity I've learned the hard way!

And one of the first things I want to get done to it is lowering it, now I'm not so sure, I think I need to fully get used to it first, if I drop it any lower I think I'm gonna be cracking the bodykit even more.

But yeah, I think I'll park in the more open section, facing other cars now, instead of against the bloody curb.

Speed humps haven't proved a problem.....yet........

I always reverse into car parks that have a gutter. The back usually clears the gutters no worries at all.

Riksta · 22-03-2007, 07:43 AM

I thought that afterwards, when looking at my car side on from a bit of a distance to see how noticable the damage was, I thought the back looks a little higher, maybe I should reverse in from now on, or not park against the gutter at all.

eXi7w0unD · 22-03-2007, 05:14 PM

riska, same problem cept i havent dunn it yet. i got ts50 kit on and this sat its getting low, real low

autickfordfairmont · 22-03-2007, 05:27 PM

Yeah just gotta be real careful of it on gutters, steep driveways etc. Mine went on the back of a tilt tray today and i tell ya that was a mission. both front and back skirts were just scrapping and thats with chocks of wood to help. I have seen what happened to you happen so many times before, people drive over the gutter, it scraped so they reverse off tearing the front bar off. I back in to most parks now aswell as the rear is a little higher than the front.

Riksta · 22-03-2007, 07:47 PM

Lucky it wasn't torn right off.

Got under the car after work tonight in daylight instead of torchlight and it looks to be a couple of broken bits held with screws, but the main part was the front inner wheel guard which I managed to get clipped back onto the main bumper bar, so hopefully that will hold for a few more weeks until I get time to get quotes to repair the thing properly and get the crack in the kit fixed.

I'm going to be so much more careful in future, I've been driving the car carefully as, haven't even had the guts to give it a thrashing (I'm used to 4-cylinder vehicles that have about -1 dead horsepower)!

bodes-sh · 22-03-2007, 10:38 PM

depending on how bad the crack / tear in the bar is, i'd probably consider putting some sort of tape over it, as vibrations from driving may make it worse