[gabrielthomas]

Mod Note : Please do NOT use more than 2 smileys per post. We advise you to read the Forum rules before proceeding any further.

At last I have got my membership approved in this prestigious forum. So far I have been an avid reader of this fantastic site. Now I feel so blessed to be able to post my views as a part of this community.

Well I have something "really terrible" to post as a part of my street experience which happened yesterday evening on my way back to home. (I think this is an irony situation where I'm having something to post on the first day after my membership is approved hehehehe..) Well coming back to my woe, it was near Guduvanchery Traffic light this incident happened. It was a red light for a few seconds and it turned green. The vehicle in front of me(i think it was an Alto 800) he did not move, there was another car in front of him(not sure what model it was) and before that it was just an empty road. So I thought i will just steer to the left and pass these two vehicles to drive away to glory. I turned on my left indicator and started moving slowly towards the left(there was ample space between me and the Alto 800) In fact the Alto guy also started moving in the front, so I had enough confidence that I can move over to the left without any hassle. So i just turned my head towards the left to look behind so that I don't miss any vehicle coming over the left in the blindspot and yes there was a share cab(people in chennai will know this for sure). I was seeing him and moving slowly ahead and suddenly there was this kaaaaaboooom!! I had rear-ended the alto 800. I was so shocked, as I had never rear-ended any vehicle in my 10 year driving career. I got down and in the meanwhile, another gentleman from the Alto 800 passenger seat also got down and we inspected the damages, in fact there were no damages to the Alto 800 not even a scratch!! after a few seconds the driver too came out and finding that there were no damages he said "Ok lets go" to his co-passenger and they left and me too heaving a sigh of relief started and went home. It was at my home I found out that there were not damages to the bumper, but above the Suzuki symbol on the Hood Lid there is a small dent!! I really couldn't digest this. It was my new car that I got in December 2013 on my Birthday and I couldn't see a dent like this on the body. I was so upset that I could not sleep yesterday.

Can this be repaired without claiming insurance? Please let me know

[swiftnfurious]

Welcome on board! You seem to get a lot of learning from your first post (?) itself.

1. You should have a proper thread title. I thought this is your introduction post - never mind, our Mods will move it to the right section.

2. Too many smileys. Please restrict it to 2 per post.

The first ding does put a lot of pain. But since this is quite a minor one, you can let it go. There, infact, should be a small nick to ward off evil, is my theory!

[Recompose]

Is this beyond repair? Its a nine year old Hyundai Santro which was side swiped by a truck. The truck's bumper has pierced through the sheet metal of the quarter panel. The bumper is largely unaffected and door is dented but not heavily damaged. Honestly, I don't think repairing it is an option. What would the community advice?

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Recompose

Is this beyond repair? Its a nine year old Hyundai Santro which was side swiped by a truck. The truck's bumper has pierced through the sheet metal of the quarter panel. The bumper is largely unaffected and door is dented but not heavily damaged. Honestly, I don't think repairing it is an option. What would the community advice?

Ofcourse you can have the panels put back into shape and repainted Question is, how much it would cost, and whether you think it is worth it.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by sohail99

You can try and press it out using your hand.

or try this?


If you do decide to go through with this, never touch the paint while its warm/hot as it will leave an impression on the clearcoat. If you have to cool it after the procedure, cool it from the rear!

This works flawlessly. It so happened that the BBMP guys had removed the stone slabs from the storm water drains and placed it on the street in my grandmoms road. I parked the car in front of her house and while leaving, I was too concerned about the two wheeler parked to my left corner(narrow road) and totally forgot I had two stone slabs right in front of my right corner

I just drove into the slabs, went over it and the car almost landed on the slabs, thanks to the high GC of the SX4 which didnt make the car sit on the slabs. The right corner of the front bumper went inside creating a HUGE crater. The fog lamps were pushed in too. Was not in a position to take pictures and it was the first time I was so ignorant.

Took out my hot air gun and initially thought of heating the area from inside. But that didnt seem to be easy since reaching the place as well as trying to push it out would be difficult. Since paint had already been bruised at that area, I decided to heat it from outside. After a minute or so of uniform heating, the bumper became soft enough and a gentle push from inside brought it back to shape like a balloon! Now I just need to touch up the scratched area and the bumper looks as if nothing happened to it! Thank god it wasnt torn or cut.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sohail99

You can try and press it out using your hand.

or try this? ... ... ...

Brilliant!

Originally Posted by audioholic

This works flawlessly...

... ... ...

Took out my hot air gun and initially thought of heating the area from inside. But that didnt seem to be easy since reaching the place as well as trying to push it out would be difficult. Since paint had already been bruised at that area, I decided to heat it from outside. After a minute or so of uniform heating, the bumper became soft enough and a gentle push from inside brought it back to shape like a balloon! Now I just need to touch up the scratched area and the bumper looks as if nothing happened to it! Thank god it wasnt torn or cut.

The guys in the video are using hair driers, I think? (I watched it without sound). A real hot air gun is much hotter. They strip paint, and burn the wood if you go too slow.

I have used my Bosch hot air gun on pieces of PVC that I want to change from pipe-shaped to flat strips. They quickly become too hot to touch and completely floppy. Granted, a car bumper is much bigger and will absorb a lot more heat, but caution is advised, both for the bumper and one's hands.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Brilliant!



The guys in the video are using hair driers, I think? (I watched it without sound). A real hot air gun is much hotter. They strip paint, and burn the wood if you go too slow.

I have used my Bosch hot air gun on pieces of PVC that I want to change from pipe-shaped to flat strips. They quickly become too hot to touch and completely floppy. Granted, a car bumper is much bigger and will absorb a lot more heat, but caution is advised, both for the bumper and one's hands.

The last time I tried with a hair dryer, it took a lifetime to heat up the bumper. How damaging a heat gun is, depends upon how long and how close you hold it to the surface. In the video, the guy almost touches the hair dryer to the surface.

The trick lies in using the hot air gun. It should be moved along the entire area of damage in a uniform manner, without letting the hot air blast at a single area for a long time. If the gun is kept at the same place, it might even burn the plastic. Since I have used the gun extensively during vinyl work, it didnt cause any damage as such. While my left hand was pressurising the dent from inside with a thick glove, the right hand moved the gun around the area. At the right point and temperature, the whole crater got back to its original form in one go. If one does not know how hot the bumper must get, its better we heat it up slowly.

[bread]

Hi,
My car is a red honda brio.My carelessness or lack of judgement resulted in deep scratches on the car.(photos attached)
The scratch seems to have peeled off the primer too I think.
If it has indeed peeled of the primer then is there risk of rusting?I used rubbing waxpol compound to clean the scratches out.

Another piece of damage that my car suffered from that very day is a deep gash on the protruding corner of my front bumper. This has resulted in offsetting the front bumper on the left side.

Advice/suggestions I need from you guys is for the following :

1. Is there a possibility of rusting due to scratches on the rear fender area?(ref. photo num. 3)
2. If yes, should I visit a local paint shop or should I go the honda service center? For me it is Hallmark honda,Nerul.
3. If a local shop,then can you recommend a good body shop in Navi Mumbai area.

Captions for the photos in ascending order.
1.Front bumper damage(left side)
2.Bumper offset due to the aforementioned damage.
3.Scratches on the rear left side fender area.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by bread

1. Is there a possibility of rusting due to scratches on the rear fender area?(ref. photo num. 3)
2. If yes, should I visit a local paint shop or should I go the honda service center? For me it is Hallmark honda,Nerul.
3. If a local shop,then can you recommend a good body shop in Navi Mumbai area.

1 - From the picture, no. But still its better to do a temporary brush touch up if you don't want to spend money.

2 - I prefer a local specialist for such jobs.

3 - You might want to use the search option and visit the listings section.

[SmartCat]

1) The fender will not rust.

2) To fix the fender at the dealer, the entire panel needs to be repainted. My estimate for maximum cost of repainting that particular panel would be Rs. 2,000 at the authorized dealer. If the dealer quote is in low thousands, I suggest you go for it rather than risk getting a bad paint job done elsewhere.

3) The bumper mis-alignment can probably be fixed (to some extent) by removing it and putting it back.

I'd suggest you avoid getting the scratches fixed for now - who knows, you might pick up more in the near future. Get these things fixed after a year or so.

[thoma]

My two cents:

* If you have found that there is loss of primer, there is a chance for rust in the long run. But that too, if the rust sets in, it can easily be treated.

* The bumper clips might have got broken and I have experienced that it is difficult to get perfect bumper alignment back after such nicks. But it is worth to give a try refitting it.

* If it was me, I would have saved money by touching up the front and the back and tried to realign the bumper. At the ASC, they may charge around 2k for a portion of a panel, so ~4k in total. A touch up, even at the ASC would not cost you anything. On your next service visit, just point out these three areas specifically. Or take it to a FNG if you can't wait that long.


EDIT: Experts, I have a doubt. Will a touch up help protection against rust, if the primer has been lost?

[bread]

Will visit a local shop and the HSS to get a quote . If not the paint touchup, I have to get the bumper setting done. Next Service Is due in October so if there is no risk of rusting,I will wait till then to get the brush touch up. Thanks guys

[chittybang]

My wife was stationary at a signal in her Punto when a truck came hurtling towards the car and rear ended it. The car was thrown ahead across the signal, completely destroying the back. My wife had her seat belts on and survived the ordeal. A check up reveal a fractured cervical vertebrae.
She followed the procedure, got hold of the truck driver's keys and contacted the cops. I called up FIAT assitance and they arrived in 15 mins. The vehicle was towed away to the nearest service centre. We got an FIR registered and had a word with the owner of the truck and took a copy of his insurance.
Now, this is where things begin to confuse me. At the police station the cops gave me a sermon on why I should learn marathi if I am in Mumbai. My wife is fluent in the language and so took charge of the conversation because he wasnt willing to talk to me. The truck representative kept having discussions with the cops on the sideline as we waited for the FIR.
Finally we returned home and went for a check up since my wife was having a stiff neck post the hit. A CT scan revealed that she had a fracture on her cervical vertebrae.
The FIAT service centre advised us to claim it on our own insurance because the other option can take very long and will need a court order. A close inspection of the FIR shows that the cop has in fact conveniently not mentioned the name of the driver in the report. He even added a reason for the cause of the accident being a rainy day. We were so harassed with the entire experience that we didnt read through the report. Add to it , it was in Marathi.
Now I feel helpless. I am glad the punto took the entire hit and ensured the cockpit was solid enough to protect her. Her seatlbelts did the rest. She had the presence of mind to avoid the divider. But how do I go about the claim? Is it even possible. Do I need to file a seperate case or the FIR is enough? Many people advised us we must take whatever cash the owner was willing to give. Some say we must take them to court. I want justice but I dont want it delayed. I think we need a list of to do's in such a situation.

[saket77]

Court proceedings, esp. for third party insurance will probably take a long time. You better first decide what you want to do with your car? You want it to be totaled or do you want to go for a repair? If the chassis has taken a hit, even from rear, I would advise you declare the car as total loss. If the damage is superficial, like the body panels only, then you may go for a repair and the cost will not be too high as well.

If you are ready to go through the hassle of the Courts, plus, if you are comfortable sitting your car in a garage for months or years, then you may opt for a case in the Court of Law, otherwise, talk to the truck owner and try to get it sorted out of court with reasonable expectations. Make sure that in the settlement, you do not incur a loss because during the repair, you will have to shell out some money from your pocket too, after the insurance company pays off, plus also factor in the considerable amount of NCB that you will lose. If you plan to total your car, push for an amount after deducting some depreciation, Regn & road tax, insurance, etc. which you will need to pay to get a new Punto; after the insurance company settles your case.

[chittybang]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am going to claim from my insurance. The surveyor has informed me that it is not a total loss. The cost of repairs is roughly 1.5 lacs. I will be billed the depreciation cost that amounts to about 30 percent.
All I have asked the truck owner to do is pay this depreciation amount that I will have to give from my pocket. So far he has not replied.