Team-BHP - Beastie winks at Snow White & Red Riding Hood. My Tata Safari Storme EX

Quote:

Originally Posted by vipulkamboj (Post 3386275)

I am sure the beastie will come back to the original shining self. I too had an experience when a scooterist decided to jump the red light through me :0 and banged it behind. The rear footrest took the entire brunt but the black plastic broke on impact. I have not changed that till now but surely it is a niggle in my mind.
I did not say anything to the scooterist when I noticed that the entire mudguard and the left blinker of the scooter was demolished.

Thanks bro. Yeah, she back to her fit and fine shiny self. Got her polished as a treat too. Black really stands out after a polish. Can't stop turning to look at her after parking her and walking away on reaching office. :) Finally removed all those plastic covering sticker things on the dashboard and door lock levers etc as well (yes, after a year LOL).

You are lucky because the plastic part that broke in your case was unpainted. Half my cost of repair was for the expensive Dupont pain and special process (they have a Dupont guy who comes down to actually do the mixing and matching).

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Originally Posted by ebonho (Post 3386339)

ebohno - good to hear that. BTW I still have the plastics on. My daughter is bent upon removing the same this Sunday and I have yielded to the same.

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Originally Posted by sasi405 (Post 3386628)

What's happening to the Stormes? I too had a minor brush with a motorcyclist who decided to come towards me at full speed while I was moving into the service lane. Have posted in the official review thread. Gaadi is back with me today, after the 2nd service and repair of the minor dent on the bonnet (whole bonnet had to be repainted, as they refused to do a patch repair, which was fine with me too).

Which service station do you visit?

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Originally Posted by ebonho (Post 3379817)

Rear left fender section (2500 bucks)

Rear left fog light (300 bucks)

Painting (2500)

Misc. / labour (500 bucks)

Vat/taxes etc. (another 1000 odd bucks)

Approximately 8000 bucks because I wasn't looking or had my head screwed on right.

Decided to pay out of pocket, because my insurance is not zero dep, the parts are all plastic (so only 50% I will get - so 2000 out of pocket anyways) + 2000 is the minimum you are to pay out of pocket regardless of claim anyways = 4000 out of pocket anyways, so can get max claim benefit of 4000. While from what I found out from the New India guys, no claim bonus after the first year would be somewhere about 4500-5000 bucks.

What a crappy POS day man ......

My Storme had 3 damages in ownership of just less than a month. :deadhorse

Luckily all three damages are on same area/panel.

1. A fool reversed from his parking and collided on right side rear fender.
2. I reversed on narrow Kokan road, touched brick wall and damaged same right rear section.
3. A fool activa rider decided to go below rear bumper and which resulted in broken bracket of fog light as well as from bumper.

The damage is not visible to normal eye but as fog lamp came out I will have to replace the right rear fender section.

I tried to feviquick the broken bracket on fog lamp but don't think it will stand firm on bad roads so will replace that.

Does the fender comes in black? The above painting charges are just to match the shade or full paint?

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Originally Posted by Thar4x4 (Post 3424521)

I tried to feviquick the broken bracket on fog lamp but don't think it will stand firm on bad roads so will replace that.

Does the fender comes in black? The above painting charges are just to match the shade or full paint?

The section comes in black. The above costs are for full prime + paint + rub/polish + topcoat (factory specs - supervised by Dupont technicians on site).

I have kept the old section and plan to get it repaired (dent removal + plastic welding + paint touchup) by my denting/painting guy, and then kep it as a spare.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebonho (Post 3471318)

Spent the morning first washing Beastie and then giving her a full body polish. Don't know if my very ordinary camera phone captures the gleam, but she was sure sparkling in the sun after that, as I sat tired and sweaty, sitting on my garden swing sipping black coffee and admiring her.

Sharing the snaps here .....

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She looks beautiful. As always, well maintained Blacks rule. Btw, how are you managing without a rear bumper guard? I have already had 2 or 3 brushes with excited and over eager bikers kissing my trucks rear but luckily got saved due to the guard.

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Originally Posted by storme'd (Post 3471681)

Same here. please: Four bikes rammed/scratched in bumper to bumper traffic and one Ritz reversed on right rear fender. Not visual damage however rear fog lamp came out which is holding with help of feviquick.

I am not satisfied with the look of available option so have inquired for rear guard similar to Innova however not available for Storme.
Now only option is to use less in city traffic and keep the truck for long rides only. :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by storme'd (Post 3471681)

Thanks bro. The photos suck .... these are actually from WhatsApp share image. The phone camera is not so bad (pixelated). Truck or car or bike always run and feel better when they are clean and shiny. Cal it psychological but that is my experience. The drive to office today morning was plusher than usual! clap:

I am always terrified of bikes and scooters whizzing past from the left hand side inches from my mirrors. But what to do? All we can do is drive such a huge haathi defensively and position ourselves properly in terms of lane and traffic (safest to stick to line of cars, never take the left lane close to edge of road - that where all the two wheelers try to squeeze through, especially when traffic comes to a standstill/crawl, use the full width of the lane by placing haathi bang in center - remember sharafat ka zamaana nahin raha - if you leave space, macchars will squeeze, so best to shut the door and keep them out, no sudden brakings, use all 3 RVMs judiciously, start slowing down well in advance so clueless/blind macchar gets the idea well in advance and moves to overtake from the side or starts slowing in advance as well, and if macchar is tailgating you make sure you keep scowling at him in your RVMs - its amazing how visible you are to macchars/smalller cars/sedans/autos through your RVMs, stay wel out of the way of racing macchars and give them enough space and width and let them go - if they hit your mirrors, you are down 5-8K, and even if you catch them eventually if the road and traffic opens up, when you finally come up on him you cannot run him down - so its a lose-lose situation for you ...... fellow haathi drivers could please contribute and add to this list of urban warfare! :D)

The good old days were so much better man .......

Beastie winks at Snow White & Red Riding Hood. My Tata Safari Storme EX-seleucidchariotff8.jpg

^+1000, still early days on my truck but me too have kept a check by doing the following:

1) Easy take off and anticipating stops well in advance
2) Sticking to the car lane
3) leaving no space by virtually standing next to the divider on a signal or traffic jam
4) If a two wheeler tries to squeeze in, I just honk once and move my truck a bit to block his way, 99% of the time they have not made another attempt
5) If I end up near a moronic driver then I let my ego take a rest and give him the right of way