Bashed up my front end

[TimAustinW]

Yesterday I was heading into work from downtown Dallas towards Mesquite on I30. We were supposed to have had snow the night before but when I got up, no snow and roads were dry. For the first two miles the roads were completely clear and dry. Next thing I know I hit an icy overpass. I lost all traction and rammed the guard rail with the front left corner of the boxset. When I hit the rail it launched my back end around and I must have done two full revolutions before my rear wheels hit the curb and stopped me. It was morning rush hour on a major freeway filled with traffic all around me. I managed not to hit anyone else and nobody hit me. Even when I was spinning I was really zen and kept a check on everything around me. It was like a slow motion ballet. Very surreal. Very lucky.

Since the only impact was with the guard rail only the damage wasn't too bad. I'm looking at a new front bumper, radiator, wheel well liner and some paint and body work for the fender and rim. $500 deductible.

[Scbrindley]

Glad you're ok. We didn't get much snow or ice over in FW from that storm....sorry that you found an ice spot.

Your car doesn't look too bad given what could have happened. I'm sure it will look as good as before once the repairs are finished.

SB

[jderiansf]

Bummer deal. . .

Maybe time to modify/change front bumper?

[23109VC]

i also had a recent front end / fender bender..... mine was not as bad as yours...but yours is still NOT bad.

i don't know how many rock chips you have - but my 2000 was full of them. the upside to the whole ordeal was that after my car came out of the body shop - they did a whole new front end respray / paint job - and my car looks like a new car.

also get a full blown exterior detail - a good one. the end result is a car that looks brand new.

makes lemons into lemonade.

if you ever wanted to upgrade to a gT3 bumper - do it now. i looked into it but it was too much $$. my bumper did NOT need to be replaced, only repainted. the GT3 bumper, the cool one, is like a $1500 part...the ones we have..the basic bumpers are like $500...so you will be fronting almost $1000 to "upgrade"...

unless you can find it cheaper. good luck!

[al83s]

glad you are ok.
My car's PO did the same exact thing, hit an ice patch on the highway and went into the concrete divider. he wasn't so lucky though (or me, I guess, since I bought his car unrepaired).
I replaced 2 airbags, 2 seat belt buckles, alluminum bumper support, bumper cover and some other things Im sure Im forgetting. No frame damage though.
Strange thing is, my bumper actually looked less damaged than yours does.
So be sure to remove the bumper and look for other signs of damage before you accept insurance offer. Consider buying a used bumper, you can get them for a coupel hundreed bucks, I bought mine for 50.
Good luck with repairs and post updates.

[al83s]

Oh, and what tires do you have...just so I don't buy them.
Thanks

[Mike_Yi]

That sucks, but it doesn't look too bad. Glad you didn't get hit.

[TimAustinW]

Originally Posted by al83s

Oh, and what tires do you have...just so I don't buy them.
Thanks

I have Kumho tires. Not the top end but they're less than a year old. Still, I don't know if the best tires will do much for you when you hit ice.

Upgrading the bumper isn't really an option for me right now. I'd rather spend my cash elsewhere. And call me crazy but I like the look of the stock bumper.

My biggest upset is that my weekend project of installing my new JVC AVX77 is now on hold.