Oh, my poor car! (aka What a way to start Thanksgiving) - Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras

JoelK · 2004-11-26, 12:14 PM

On Wednesday, I just started a road trip to Idaho, but I ended up smacking into a polein Washoe when attempting to get off the road at a gas station (bad chain of events). Here are the pics:

http://www.kleppinger.com/crashed-wrx1.jpg
http://www.kleppinger.com/crashed-wrx2.jpg

The car is drivable, but quite a bit of the front end is messed up. The bumper and the styrofoam type stuff behind it both have to be replaced. The metal bar behind the bottom of the bumper was pretty bent up and probably has to be replaced, too. Unfortunately, there was a chain attached to the pole I hit and it swung and hit the front right side of the car and left some marks. I'm not sure how to best deal with that, either.

I'm thinking that if I have to basically replace the front end body, I might as well see what I can do to improve the front-end aerodynamics. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.

UPDATED 12/1
Here are some new pics with the bumper cover off. I'm trying to decide what parts to replace, and I don't know the names to all of the parts. Please help if you can.

These are large images to preserve detail (all but the first are 1MB each):
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-hood.jpg (notice how the hood isn't flush)
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-smashed-hood-down.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-right.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-top-hood-latch.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-ac.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bottom-ac.jpg

MattR · 2004-11-26, 12:19 PM

Crap man...that sucks...Looks fixable at least....bummer.

tysonK · 2004-11-26, 09:19 PM

Ah man that hurts to look at. I'm glad to hear nothing terrible happened to you are anyone else though! I know the gods look down on us with a glint in their eyes as part of the SECCS group!

If you were going all out for a new bumper you might look at the Do-Luck stuff it's supposed to be tested(source: nasioc... I know... thread that JC also was involved in) to give more downforce which is a plus.

the minuses are:

cost

and

the Do-Luck stuff tends to be a bit wild looking.

I'm not sure if any else is even tested at all from other companies

JoelK · 2004-11-26, 11:10 PM

Thanks for the comments, guys. It's really frustrating and disappointing to see a car with only $20k miles taking a good bit of damage like that.

I've turned up Chargespeed and Zerosports, and thanks for the heads up on Do-Luck. Do-Luck and Chargespeed seem to look pretty good to me. I'm less excited about this Zerosports look:
http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ior&prodid=595

It's been really difficult to find some solid discussions and lists of different bumpers. It's also been tough to locate anyone selling the OEM bumper (preferably the STI bumper since it seems to have some additional downforce on the stock WRX bumper) to get some pricing on that for comparison's sake. I also think I prefer having fog lights.

This site has all 3 bumpers for comparison (and there is indeed a wide variety of pricing)
http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop.../21_26_134_163

tysonK · 2004-11-26, 11:32 PM

Yah,

"Body kits" parts are notorius for having the largest price swings for vendor to vendor.

An STi bumper sounds like a nice idea to me, you might find a decent price from www.subaruwrxparts.com or www.allsubaru.com I forget the other one JC like damn it!

JoelK · 2004-11-27, 09:04 AM

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a WRX or STI bumper at either of those places. I did locate this bumper at a different place, but it is for an 02-03 WRX. Pricing was quite a bit more attractive.

http://www.subaruparts.com/diag/?mod...category=590-1

tysonK · 2004-11-27, 09:58 AM

I'm sure they have one for an 04 maybe not on the site yet?

AtomicLabMonkey · 2004-11-27, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Carbon Fiber Canard Bumper Flaps are constructed of carbon graphite composite with aluminum leading edge. Canards increase front downforce at high speeds stabilizing the chassis during hard cornering. Found on many GT race cars, they allow you to customize your car front end downforce by either installing two flaps or creating maximum downforce with a full set of four canards.

While I'm impressed that someone in the ricer world actually has a large enough vocabulary to know the word "canard", it's a misapplication of the term. Their c/f addons pictured there are more properly termed "strakes".

Dean · 2004-11-27, 06:02 PM

You might also try the recyclers in Rancho Cordova for both a WRX, or STI bumper. They might even have one the right color...

sperry · 2004-11-29, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

Quote:

Carbon Fiber Canard Bumper Flaps are constructed of carbon graphite composite with aluminum leading edge. Canards increase front downforce at high speeds stabilizing the chassis during hard cornering. Found on many GT race cars, they allow you to customize your car front end downforce by either installing two flaps or creating maximum downforce with a full set of four canards.

While I'm impressed that someone in the ricer world actually has a large enough vocabulary to know the word "canard", it's a misapplication of the term. Their c/f addons pictured there are more properly termed "strakes".

I thought the technical term for those was "mad tight shark toof bumper wings, yo."

Dean · 2004-11-29, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperry

I thought the technical term for those was "mad tight shark toof bumper wings, yo."

No, they are simply know as +2s, or Coners.

ArthurS · 2004-11-29, 10:20 AM

Sorry to hear about your accident.

AtomicLabMonkey · 2004-11-29, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sperry

I thought the technical term for those was "mad tight shark toof bumper wings, yo."

They might actually have an effect. It depends on a lot of variables...

http://www.mulsannescorner.com/vortexlift.html

(Ignore the red arrows)

JoelK · 2004-11-29, 10:07 PM

I took the car to Morts Auto Body in Gardnerville, and he quoted roughly $2300 to repair the damage to the front end. He estimated 21+ hours of work plus $1k parts cost. I'm not convinced that all the parts he estimated actually need to be replaced, and I can get them cheaper from allsubaru.com (about $150-200 cheaper in total). So I'm thinking about doing all the parts replacement myself and just paying them to paint a new bumper and passenger fender (estimated about $300 for the painting). That way I can possibly survive the wreck for about $1000 put into the car.

I do need to contact the recycler in Rancho Cordova on the off-chance they have a JBP fender and/or front bumper cover.

ScottyS · 2004-11-30, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoelK

I took the car to Morts Auto Body in Gardnerville, and he quoted roughly $2300 to repair the damage to the front end. He estimated 21+ hours of work plus $1k parts cost. I'm not convinced that all the parts he estimated actually need to be replaced, and I can get them cheaper from allsubaru.com (about $150-200 cheaper in total). So I'm thinking about doing all the parts replacement myself and just paying them to paint a new bumper and passenger fender (estimated about $300 for the painting). That way I can possibly survive the wreck for about $1000 put into the car.

I do need to contact the recycler in Rancho Cordova on the off-chance they have a JBP fender and/or front bumper cover.

Plus, that way you know where the parts came from and that they got installed correctly. :wink:

JoelK · 2004-12-01, 12:35 PM

Yes, I'll know where the parts came from, but I can only hope I'll install them correctly.

Here are some new pics now that I have the bumper cover off. I'm trying to decide what parts to replace, and I don't know the names to most of the parts. Please help if you can.

These are large images to preserve detail (all but the first are 1MB each):
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-hood.jpg (notice how the hood isn't flush)
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-smashed-hood.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-right.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-top-hood-latch.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-ac.jpg
www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bottom-ac.jpg

If the images are too big for you, please let me know, and I will tone them down. Detail isn't as important as help.

Here is my initial amateur analysis:
The front bumper beam and the metal underneath the AC radiator (that's what it is, right?) has to be replaced. The little plastic attachment piece with the arrow and word replace (image WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg) also needs to be replaced. What are the names of the metal support for the AC and the plastic part? My theory is that replacing these parts should allow the hood to latch flush, but I'm not 100% sold on that theory.

The support frame under the metal support for the AC is bent slightly (you can see it in bottom-ac). What do you think? Can I just push it back and that's good enough? The support frame above the AC is also bent upward slightly, but I think it won't be a big deal. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The support beam for the hood latch is bent slightly. The latch still works. Do you think either of these need to be replaced? Do the left side and right side of the radiator/AC look ok to you? Is there anything else I'm missing that needs to be done?

Thank you very much for your help.

tysonK · 2004-12-01, 08:47 PM

Man I wish I had some expertise on this but all I know is if it doesn't look perfect replace it.

How many quotes did you get for repairs?

Kevin M · 2004-12-01, 08:50 PM

Bad news Joel... that lower frame under the radiator isn't bolted on, it's welded to the frame. you're looking at a $5-7k repair. Sorry dude.

JoelK · 2004-12-01, 10:06 PM

Thanks for the reply. $5-7k is indeed bad news.

In the image above, is the frame you're talking about #1 or #2? If #2, you wouldn't say that it could just be hammered down a little to smooth it out? It doesn't seem to be very deformed (my very unprofessional guess). Hammering is what I had planned to do, but if that won't really be right for the car, then I'll get it fixed properly.

Kevin M · 2004-12-01, 10:09 PM

#1... hammering it won't hurt anything. I'd be more worried that the corss member piece might have tweaked the rails on either side of it. If so, the car wouldn't be the same anymore. A good body shop can make it good as new though.

sperry · 2004-12-02, 01:31 PM

What Kevin said.

If the front is pinched in, then there's a good chance all the pickups for the suspension are also slightly out of whack. The unibody's gonna have to be straightened on a rack to get it right.

If you get under the car, check the U-shaped subframe that's under there. If it's distorted or if it's under load if you try to remove it, then for sure you're screwed. And even if it's straight, the rest under there might not be.

It might be time to put the insurance company on this one... you're rates will go up, but it might be cheaper than the cost of repairs.

AtomicLabMonkey · 2004-12-02, 02:46 PM

Put the car up on ramps under each wheel, and drop plumb bobs from all the suspension pivots to check if everything important is still squared.

JoelK · 2004-12-03, 04:21 PM

I reported it to my insurance because I really don't know what those rails should look like. I figure it's something I can't really repair at all so I might as well have a pro do it. My one hope is that I can convince the body shop to install an STI front bumper since it is the same price as the WRX front bumper.

Kevin M · 2004-12-03, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoelK

I reported it to my insurance because I really don't know what those rails should look like. I figure it's something I can't really repair at all so I might as well have a pro do it. My one hope is that I can convince the body shop to install an STI front bumper since it is the same price as the WRX front bumper.

Yeah, they should be flexible about putting the different front bumper on. If it happens to be more expensive, they ay ask you to pay the difference and they may just pay it themselves. Now would also be a GREAT time to add a front lip, or get your sideskirts painted while you're at it.

JoelK · 2004-12-06, 03:49 PM

I dropped the car off at the body shop this morning. The guy who quoted me ~$2300 said that he had included replacing everything around the radiator in the quote.

I haven't really seen a lip that I liked that wasn't painted in the first place. I wouldn't mind a nice, aerodynamic rear lip, either. I don't want to dramatically reduce my overall ground clearance, or at least I want the lip to be easy to remove.

2004-11-26, 09:19 PM	#3
tysonK warehouse SECCS Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: SoCal... Posts: 6,253 Car: 04 Evo 99 Cadillac Class: street de le mod	Ah man that hurts to look at. I'm glad to hear nothing terrible happened to you are anyone else though! I know the gods look down on us with a glint in their eyes as part of the SECCS group! If you were going all out for a new bumper you might look at the Do-Luck stuff it's supposed to be tested(source: nasioc... I know... thread that JC also was involved in) to give more downforce which is a plus. the minuses are: cost and the Do-Luck stuff tends to be a bit wild looking. I'm not sure if any else is even tested at all from other companies __________________ Anjali? Anjali?

2004-11-26, 11:32 PM	#5
tysonK warehouse SECCS Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: SoCal... Posts: 6,253 Car: 04 Evo 99 Cadillac Class: street de le mod	Yah, "Body kits" parts are notorius for having the largest price swings for vendor to vendor. An STi bumper sounds like a nice idea to me, you might find a decent price from www.subaruwrxparts.com or www.allsubaru.com I forget the other one JC like damn it! __________________ Anjali? Anjali?

2004-11-27, 09:58 AM	#7
tysonK warehouse SECCS Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: SoCal... Posts: 6,253 Car: 04 Evo 99 Cadillac Class: street de le mod	I'm sure they have one for an 04 maybe not on the site yet? __________________ Anjali? Anjali?

2004-11-27, 06:02 PM	#9
Dean Señor Cheap Bastarde Real Name: Dean Join Date: May 2003 Location: $99 Tire Store Posts: 9,294 Car: $.04 STI Class: Fast,Cheap & Reliable=STI Deal, did somebody say Deal? Oh, Dean, yeah that's me.	You might also try the recyclers in Rancho Cordova for both a WRX, or STI bumper. They might even have one the right color... __________________ I am a Commodore PET --- Now get off my lawn you kids...

2004-11-29, 10:20 AM	#12
ArthurS EJ207 Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Reno, NV Posts: 3,707 Car: 2011 Chevy Battle Wagon	Sorry to hear about your accident. __________________ Captain Murphy: I dub thee Sir Phobos, Knight of Mars, beater of ass. Be a hitter, babe.

2004-11-26, 12:14 PM	#1
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	Oh, my poor car! (aka What a way to start Thanksgiving) On Wednesday, I just started a road trip to Idaho, but I ended up smacking into a polein Washoe when attempting to get off the road at a gas station (bad chain of events). Here are the pics: http://www.kleppinger.com/crashed-wrx1.jpg http://www.kleppinger.com/crashed-wrx2.jpg The car is drivable, but quite a bit of the front end is messed up. The bumper and the styrofoam type stuff behind it both have to be replaced. The metal bar behind the bottom of the bumper was pretty bent up and probably has to be replaced, too. Unfortunately, there was a chain attached to the pole I hit and it swung and hit the front right side of the car and left some marks. I'm not sure how to best deal with that, either. I'm thinking that if I have to basically replace the front end body, I might as well see what I can do to improve the front-end aerodynamics. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'm happy to hear them. UPDATED 12/1 Here are some new pics with the bumper cover off. I'm trying to decide what parts to replace, and I don't know the names to all of the parts. Please help if you can. These are large images to preserve detail (all but the first are 1MB each): www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-hood.jpg (notice how the hood isn't flush) www.kleppinger.com/WRX-smashed-hood-down.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-right.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-top-hood-latch.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-ac.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bottom-ac.jpg

2004-11-26, 12:19 PM	#2
MattR El Matador Real Name: Matt Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Reno, NV Posts: 10,660 Car: 2012 Toyota Tacoma Class: ?	Crap man...that sucks...Looks fixable at least....bummer. __________________ "Dallas..We have a problem.”

2004-11-26, 11:10 PM	#4
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	Thanks for the comments, guys. It's really frustrating and disappointing to see a car with only $20k miles taking a good bit of damage like that. I've turned up Chargespeed and Zerosports, and thanks for the heads up on Do-Luck. Do-Luck and Chargespeed seem to look pretty good to me. I'm less excited about this Zerosports look: http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ior&prodid=595 It's been really difficult to find some solid discussions and lists of different bumpers. It's also been tough to locate anyone selling the OEM bumper (preferably the STI bumper since it seems to have some additional downforce on the stock WRX bumper) to get some pricing on that for comparison's sake. I also think I prefer having fog lights. This site has all 3 bumpers for comparison (and there is indeed a wide variety of pricing) http://www.rallysportdirect.com/shop.../21_26_134_163

2004-11-27, 09:04 AM	#6
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	Unfortunately, I couldn't find a WRX or STI bumper at either of those places. I did locate this bumper at a different place, but it is for an 02-03 WRX. Pricing was quite a bit more attractive. http://www.subaruparts.com/diag/?mod...category=590-1

2004-11-29, 10:07 PM	#14
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	I took the car to Morts Auto Body in Gardnerville, and he quoted roughly $2300 to repair the damage to the front end. He estimated 21+ hours of work plus $1k parts cost. I'm not convinced that all the parts he estimated actually need to be replaced, and I can get them cheaper from allsubaru.com (about $150-200 cheaper in total). So I'm thinking about doing all the parts replacement myself and just paying them to paint a new bumper and passenger fender (estimated about $300 for the painting). That way I can possibly survive the wreck for about $1000 put into the car. I do need to contact the recycler in Rancho Cordova on the off-chance they have a JBP fender and/or front bumper cover.

2004-12-01, 12:35 PM	#16
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	Yes, I'll know where the parts came from, but I can only hope I'll install them correctly. Here are some new pics now that I have the bumper cover off. I'm trying to decide what parts to replace, and I don't know the names to most of the parts. Please help if you can. These are large images to preserve detail (all but the first are 1MB each): www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-hood.jpg (notice how the hood isn't flush) www.kleppinger.com/WRX-smashed-hood.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-right.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-top-hood-latch.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-left-ac.jpg www.kleppinger.com/WRX-bottom-ac.jpg If the images are too big for you, please let me know, and I will tone them down. Detail isn't as important as help. Here is my initial amateur analysis: The front bumper beam and the metal underneath the AC radiator (that's what it is, right?) has to be replaced. The little plastic attachment piece with the arrow and word replace (image WRX-bumper-ac-above.jpg) also needs to be replaced. What are the names of the metal support for the AC and the plastic part? My theory is that replacing these parts should allow the hood to latch flush, but I'm not 100% sold on that theory. The support frame under the metal support for the AC is bent slightly (you can see it in bottom-ac). What do you think? Can I just push it back and that's good enough? The support frame above the AC is also bent upward slightly, but I think it won't be a big deal. Correct me if I'm wrong. The support beam for the hood latch is bent slightly. The latch still works. Do you think either of these need to be replaced? Do the left side and right side of the radiator/AC look ok to you? Is there anything else I'm missing that needs to be done? Thank you very much for your help.

2004-12-01, 08:47 PM	#17
tysonK warehouse SECCS Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: SoCal... Posts: 6,253 Car: 04 Evo 99 Cadillac Class: street de le mod	Man I wish I had some expertise on this but all I know is if it doesn't look perfect replace it. How many quotes did you get for repairs? __________________ Anjali? Anjali?

2004-12-01, 08:50 PM	#18
Kevin M EJ22T Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Reno Posts: 9,445 Car: '93/'01 GF6, mostly red Class: 19 FP	Bad news Joel... that lower frame under the radiator isn't bolted on, it's welded to the frame. you're looking at a $5-7k repair. Sorry dude. __________________ FWD is the new AWD

2004-12-01, 10:06 PM	#19
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	Thanks for the reply. $5-7k is indeed bad news. In the image above, is the frame you're talking about #1 or #2? If #2, you wouldn't say that it could just be hammered down a little to smooth it out? It doesn't seem to be very deformed (my very unprofessional guess). Hammering is what I had planned to do, but if that won't really be right for the car, then I'll get it fixed properly.

2004-12-01, 10:09 PM	#20
Kevin M EJ22T Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Reno Posts: 9,445 Car: '93/'01 GF6, mostly red Class: 19 FP	#1... hammering it won't hurt anything. I'd be more worried that the corss member piece might have tweaked the rails on either side of it. If so, the car wouldn't be the same anymore. A good body shop can make it good as new though. __________________ FWD is the new AWD

2004-12-02, 01:31 PM	#21
sperry The Doink Real Name: Scott Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 20,335 Car: '09 OBXT, '02 WRX, '96 Miata Class: PDX/TT-6 The way out is through	What Kevin said. If the front is pinched in, then there's a good chance all the pickups for the suspension are also slightly out of whack. The unibody's gonna have to be straightened on a rack to get it right. If you get under the car, check the U-shaped subframe that's under there. If it's distorted or if it's under load if you try to remove it, then for sure you're screwed. And even if it's straight, the rest under there might not be. It might be time to put the insurance company on this one... you're rates will go up, but it might be cheaper than the cost of repairs. __________________ Is you is, or is you ain't, my con-stit-u-ints?

2004-12-02, 02:46 PM	#22
AtomicLabMonkey Nightwalker Real Name: Austin Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Oshkosh, WI Posts: 4,063 Car: '13 WRX YGBSM	Put the car up on ramps under each wheel, and drop plumb bobs from all the suspension pivots to check if everything important is still squared. __________________ "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you.. you're locked in here with me."

2004-12-03, 04:21 PM	#23
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	I reported it to my insurance because I really don't know what those rails should look like. I figure it's something I can't really repair at all so I might as well have a pro do it. My one hope is that I can convince the body shop to install an STI front bumper since it is the same price as the WRX front bumper.

2004-12-06, 03:49 PM	#25
JoelK EJ22 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minden, NV Posts: 144	I dropped the car off at the body shop this morning. The guy who quoted me ~$2300 said that he had included replacing everything around the radiator in the quote. I haven't really seen a lip that I liked that wasn't painted in the first place. I wouldn't mind a nice, aerodynamic rear lip, either. I don't want to dramatically reduce my overall ground clearance, or at least I want the lip to be easy to remove.