the good karma you get will more than offset the cost

We all are passionate about our vehicles and hate to see them blemished particularly due to other's errors. That said, we all can stand from catching a break here and there and you'll never feel bad helping out someone in need. Sounds like "Rhonda" could really use the break you are giving her and hopefully she will pay it forward to someone else.

A hassle for sure but the juice ain't worth the squeeze. In this instance you'll feel better helping her out rather than making her pay.

Good decision and an even better lesson for us all. :)

If Rhonda fessed up, under the circumstances I think I would tell her Merry Christmas, make a joke about it, and just take care of it myself.

But I don't like being lied to or taken advantage of, I certainly don't want to set a precedent of just rolling over when this does happen, and I don't like reinforcing bad or antisocial behavior in others, so if I thought she was lying I might just press the issue even if it would ultimately cost me more in this particular case.

Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man.

Take bumper off heat it with blow dryer and pop it out best you can bring it to get resprayed no more than 400 dollars new or used taillight .....done. I have 2 stock 02 taillights maybe I could pass on. I think yours may be aftermarket. I just put my bumper back on yesterday for the second time only reason I know. Also painted bumperettes while i was there

Have yours sanded and painted you will love it i am sure

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. To me, that looks like someone backed into your bumper with a trailer hitch. The dent looks too focused and small to be the middle of a bumper.

Thanks all...
I really don't have any doubt at this point that it was that Suburban. Given the layout of the parking lot and what was parked there that day, it wouldn't make much sense for any of the other vehicles to have done it. I'd park back to back with an early '90s Suburban to prove the point, but I've obsessed enough about this already.
Here's a pic with a slightly downward view of the Suburban bumper and how it lines up including the scuff on the bumperette.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1575727660.jpg

Considering the mass of a Suburban slowly backing into the soft plastic bumper of a 986, I think she may not have felt it happen. ...I hope that she didn't.

I have another matching tail light already. I can do the paint work myself. I plan to get a gallon of Arctic Silver, so that along with the bumper, I'll have enough paint to fix some spots on THAT as well - hood and a rear fender.
:cheers:

I replaced the tail light and spent a few minutes with a heat gun to pop the dent out without taking the bumper off. Prepping and repainting the bumper is going to take a lot of time. For now, I have a temporary solution to cover the paint damage:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1576291276.jpg

I have too many projects and too many cars. I plan to sell THIS and THAT. ...but I want to fix up a few things before I sell them so, MORE projects. THIS only has a few issues that I plan to address and one of them was the rear bumper damage. I didn't want to sell it with the stickers covering the bad paint.

I found a spray can of Arctic Silver Metallic 92U paint among my boxes of stuff that came with cars. It came from one of the several vendors... scratch-something or color chip. When tested, it matched color well and sprayed smooth. "Awesome." I thought, "I can just spray the bad corner and blend it in with the rest of the bumper." I did a few hours of prime and fill to get it perfectly smooth and feathered. I sprayed the color, the clearcoat and it looked decent, but was a little dark at one edge when it all dried. No big deal I thought, there was just enough paint left to go back over that edge. I did a light wet-sand then went to wipe it with a cloth that had some industrial grade alcohol. The alcohol turned the paint gummy and the cloth pulled streaks across the paint. Ruined and not much paint left. Time to pull the bumper off and do it right.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591330777.jpg

THAT needs some paint work too. It had a few rough spots when I bought it and they have gotten worse over time. I decided to get a full gallon of paint, a Nason single stage acrylic, and use it for both cars. About $200 at O'Reilly Auto Parts for the paint and hardener with Military (retired) discount. I already have some basic supplies, a 60 gallon air compressor, and Devilbiss spray gun set. All I need is some skill and more patience.

Re-sanded. Re-primed.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591330859.jpg

Re-painted. It looks pretty good from about two feet. The paint was still soft and a little tacky last I checked. Hopefully I can just put it on the car and leave it alone, but part of me wants to do a very fine sand and polish on it still - which will probably ruin it again.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591330915.jpg

Looks spotless to me. You really made that with a spray can? Great job, don`t ruin it! :cheers:

I'm with itsnotanova. No way that bumper did that damage. Too sharp of a crease for that bumper to do it. Nonetheless, I commend you for cutting Rhonda a break while you were so certain she did it. I hope you get all you ask when you sell it. :cheers:

Thanks, my picture doesn't show it well, but in person and with the small chips of Arctic Silver Metallic paint still on her bumper, I have no doubt.

I first tried with a spray can, but messed it up. When painting it is Very important to make sure that all the paints and solvents that you use are compatible and mine weren't. The re-paint was done with a spray gun. The paint I used was a single stage acrylic, meaning that there is no need for clear coat over it - it has the gloss as one of it's components.

I set it back on the car today to see how well the color match was. Tomorrow, I'll finish mounting it. I'm really happy with the color and how well the paint laid smooth. I'm going to have to polish the original paint now.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2915fc40_c.jpg

Yes, I saw that. Could it be that the silver paint came off the other car from the other accident? (A lot of cars have the same shade of silver. You'd be hard pressed to see a difference between Porsche's Arctic Silver Metallic and Dodge's Bright Silver Metallic, for example. I know, I have both.) And it's also obvious to me that the big dent on her chrome bumper and warpage on the plastic bumper tread was caused by the other accident. There's no way those damages could happen at low parking speeds. So, the silver paint could be from the other car, right?

Maybe she did it, but there's no certainty there, IMHO. To me, the dent on your bumper doesn't match up with the shape of her bumper. Also, the horizontal part (under the license plate) of her bumper is the lowest point on her bumper, yet the marks on your bumperette are higher than the bottom of the crease on your bumper cover. More importantly, the bumperettes stick out farther than the crease on the bumper cover, yet the aforementioned horizontal part of her bumper is either on the same plane or sticks out farther than the rest of her bumper. So, if that hit your bumperette, as you indicated in your drawings, the horizontal bend in her bumper could not have hit your bumper cover to cause that vertical crease damage.

Your damage was more likely caused by something like this:
https://realtruck.com/p/ami-swing-step-grille-guard/asm-19285-505-asm-19285k/?kpid=go_cmp-9884836042_adg-100686975739_ad-431585076121_pla-313046400386_dev-c_ext-_prd-ASM-19285-505%26ASM-19285K_sig-EAIaIQobChMIvIjNwJnu6QIVTeG1Ch1tWAj1EAYYCSABEgK_Nf D_BwE&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaig n=Grille%20Guards%20%26%20Bull%20Bars%20-%20Smart%20Shopping&utm_term=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvI jNwJnu6QIVTeG1Ch1tWAj1EAYYCSABEgK_NfD_BwE

I just wouldn't want you to go on resenting this person if she didn't do it.
Either way, huge respect for letting it go. I hope you get all you ask for it when you sell. :cheers:

Thanks for sharing this. I`d like to do a very similar paint job on my SAAB convertible, the rear bumper has some deep scratches and looks very ugly. Would you recommend anything special to use to patch them up before sanding and painting?

I have a Polyvance Plastic Welding kit that came with some material called FiberFlex welding rods. It's a fiber reinforced plastic. I have also used the kit to repair cracked and broken under-belly panels. This page has information and a video of a bumper repair similar to how I have done it:
https://www.polyvance.com/video/bumper-repair/fiberflex-bumper-repair-3
On a bumper cover, I prefer doing a 'plastic weld' type of fill to using a body filler such as Bondo.

I did some plastic welding with a soldering iron before I bought it, but really like the temperature control and materials included with this kit. Repair a couple plastic panels and it has paid for itself:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591983867.jpg

Next up for body work is THAT. The paint on the rear was obviously a re-spray that had been done at some time in the past. About a year ago some of the clear coat started to peel from the repair and there were some fine cracks in the paint. Yesterday, I started sanding off the bad clear and Dremmeling out the cracks. The cracks were almost 1/4" through body filler before I got down to metal. That's not good. I had guessed that it was only a little over a millimeter thick.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/lrq1591984503.jpg

I had planned to just use filler after digging out the cracks. Now I think I should try something different. I happen to already have a left rear quarter panel cut from a car that I scrapped a few years ago. I have never done a body panel welding-type repair, but I think that it will be the best way to proceed.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1591984721.jpg

...and to think I started 'cleaning' these two cars up to sell because I have too many other projects that I want to get to.

Thanks, lots of useful information. Looks like the "Bondo" is what I will need for this job.

Starting on the quarter panel repair video:

https://youtu.be/m-xhVzEb9tM

So far it seems to be working. Bonus: No blood lost, I still have all my fingers, used a mask for the cuts and grinding, and I can still see with both eyes.

Prepping the patch panel.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1b37dc90_c.jpg

Cutting the old panel off.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a71da094_c.jpg

Fitting the patch.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...91b6cd58_c.jpg

It's hot and I'm tired. I'm going to hold of on the final fitting and welding until tomorrow. :cheers:

Yeah, it`s more labourous, but this is the right way to do this. The patch is fitting nicely! :cheers:

At one point I was regretting not just slapping more Bondo on there and calling it done. Now, I'm glad I did it; for the learning and development of skills. My biggest problem now is the the old re-spray that it had is not the original color anymore. It had faded and yellowed. Now I need to paint from the doors forward for a good color match.

Weld. Lots of spot welds across the seams.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1593296134.jpg

Bare metal primer and spots of filler.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1593296186.jpg

Prime and sand.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1593296236.jpg

Paint.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1593296285.jpg

Very impressive patch job! :cheers:

Looks good. FYI, these butt weld clamps come in handy for joining two pieces together with a butt weld and they're dirt cheap at Harbor Freight. https://www.harborfreight.com/butt-welding-clamps-8-pc-60545.html?cid=paid_google|||60545&utm_source=goog le&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&gclid =CjwKCAjw_-D3BRBIEiwAjVMy7PHEKdqhNP9q3eMJs-6Triql6ylnMDMI6--3hQAhzAYN8yp1AyhMXBoCB0kQAvD_BwE

Those clamps look very useful and super inexpensive. I may have use for them again soon:

https://youtu.be/cbLXpMSgRDs

I couldn't help but pick up another project.

I can totally understand that emergency.:cheers:

Why is it that like every 914 is either dilapidated or AMAZING. I mean I haven't seen like a daily driver 914; maybe I'm too young. :confused:

Good man. Everyone needs a 914 project.

Here's mine. :D

Rick, I'm going to have to check out your 914 next time I get out there. I've got the pair of them home now and it looks like the black one is solid enough to rebuild. I joined 914World.com and I'm going through the PelicanParts forum; Lots of stuff to learn. It doesn't belong here at the 986Forum, so I've started a thread on GRM under my name AAZCD: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/learning-about-porsche-914s/174425/page1/#post3045604

The 914s as purchased:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1593925775.jpg

Now, back to the Boxsters. THIS is sold and awaiting pick-up in a couple weeks. THAT has a few things that I still want to fix up before putting it for sale. I ended up doing almost a complete paint job in my garage to fix the old paint. Everything, but the clamshell and trunk lid. It was a 'quick and dirty' respray, but it's a big improvement over how it was. Pics later when I get the whole car ready.
:cheers:

Excellent job on the Boxster rear quarter replacement! That yellow 914 looks like it had factory air conditioning, I think that was pretty rare. If you don't use that in your project, hope you can sell some a/c parts from it to recoup some money.

Time for an update...
I sold THIS in late July. It went to a good home and I'm looking forward to seeing how plans develop for some mods he has in mind.

Our text conversation went something like this:

...Now I think he may get Florida tags for This and his 996, “That”.

THAT is ready to sell. It's not perfect and is not worth making perfect. At 150k miles it's a good daily driver car that can be improved, or driven reliably as it is. My daughter enjoyed it for a couple years, but drives a Cayenne now.
The last bit of paint work after replacing the quarter panel was getting the driver's door done. It had a big run/sag in the paint near the mirror and I had to sand it and do it over. It is much better now.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1597519166.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1597519179.jpg

I had two codes causing a check engine light. P1126 cleared up after I found that the intake tube on the throttle body wasn't clamped tight. P0197 cleared after I replaced the oil temperature sensor. Replacing the temp sensor on a '99 wasn't as bad as I expected. I didn't have to unbolt the left intake runner.

Video: https://youtu.be/44xTIZyulcY

I've submitted the paperwork to transfer tags for my red '97 to be THIS and the black 2000 to be THAT. As long as there's enough Boxsters around, I might as well keep the names.

So, I listed THAT on Facebook marketplace for $4,000 being clear that it's a good driver, but not perfect. 4 hours later I had over 600 views and about 15 inquiries. A couple buyers seemed very serious, but my time availability is difficult this weekend. Pretty sure it is sold now, but waiting for Wednesday (day off) to close the deal.
:cheers:

Someone is getting a deal


4k is what I paid for my wife's first 986... it was about the same condition, so I guess its normal. GLWS :cheers:

Love the text message - sounds like it could be a Seinfeld episode :D

THAT's buyer is coming this afternoon. I remembered that I had disabled the passenger side airbag for my grandson (disconnected and jumped with a resistor based on info from Rennlist). This morning I am swapping in some nicer (no cracks in the leather) seats and restoring the airbag function. ...plus found out that an H7 headlight bulb was out.
I never really had time to prep the car for sale until this morning.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/jump1597846407.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/seat1597846475.jpg

Hope all went well with selling the car! I will have to do this mod on the airbag in my car too, once it runs. Do you happen to remember the value of the resistor?

I think I used a 2.8 Ohm 1/4 watt. Various Porsche forums show from 2.2 - 3.2 Ohm works.
https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/802831-boxster-986-air-bag-delete-pls-help.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-forum/785847-passenger-airbag-connector.html#post10920866

Great, thanks for the info. I`m thinking of adding a switch to disable/enable the airbag on demand.

The buyer of THAT texted me a couple days ago to say the it had a check engine light with code P1124 and P1126 and just wanted advice on where to look to fix them. I thought that I had fixed those codes already by tightening up a clamp on the intake and replacing a cracked hose on the AOS. I advised him to try cleaning or replacing the MAF sensor and look to see if there were any obvious leaks around the intake. I really hoped that it wasn't the AOS. He lives about three hours away from me and I didn't think there was any way I'd get out there to take a look at it myself.

Today I drove to Springfield MO to pick up a nice freshly rebuilt Porsche 914 engine I found on Craigslist. I realized that the guy who bought THAT was only about 45 minutes out of my way on the three hour drive back home. Before I left home I grabbed a known good MAF and my manometer to check the AOS. Timing worked out well and as I left Springfield, I let him know that I was going to stop by. I didn't do it because I felt bad or because the buyer asked me to. I did it because I thought I had fixed the problem and it really bothered me that it came back. ...it was personal between me and the car. I think its good now after replacing the MAF.

Hi @78F350! Wow that is nice of you that you even tried to help the buyer! Well so far I have good relationship until now with several of the car I sold since I do check them once in awhile.

You have nice collection of porsches too! Well welcome to 914world also. My ID with 914world is the same with my ID here.

Have few 914s before on our old house. Currently still have ‘74 914 project and ‘99 986.

Read the whole thread Jon. I appreciate the care you take with your cars. Thanks for the Christmas card :-)