Hit and run, advice on repair
Three guys in a stolen car ran a red light in Midtown Atlanta and hit me. The driver floored it through the intersection, I heard their engine before I saw them, presumably they were trying to get around in front of me. The light turned green for me while I was half a block away and I hadn’t even gotten up to speed yet. They turned all the way to the left and ended up half way down the street before they all jumped out and ran away. An APD officer on patrol stopped a couple minutes later, I told him it must have been stolen. He looked up the car and it had already been reported. He said guys steal guys, go for joy rides and abandon them all the time. The officer dusted for fingerprints but said nothing was likely to come of it.
So it was a hit and run, with them literally running away. The car’s owner's insurance has no responsibility to pay since it falls under authorized use, and mine doesn’t cover it. I’ve already talked to a lawyer about the insurance situation, so there’s no need to comment about that. As you can see I've gotten some good wall art out of it:
They hit me with the passenger corner of their car, and turned away from me before impact so they were pushing inwards and towards the front of my car. that pushed the front rail over, but all in front of the subframe and most of the bend being in the first 10 inches after the bumper mount. Of course this mashed the bumper and all the trim in the front, and pushed the radiator sideways so the plastic shroud hit the fan. The bumper getting pushed over moved the passenger side bumper mount. The shock tower is also over a little less then 2 inches.
The doors open and close fine, all the panel gaps look perfect. I’ve measured across from the steering rack bolts to the lower control arm bolts and everything’s still square.
As you can see in this photo album I’ve taken off everything I can that was damaged (the AC didn’t leak) and I put a video in there too.
Some of you may have seen this car at the E30 Picnic in Washington this past summer. I won the Furthest Traveled Award and was selling seat shocks. (If anyone needs some it could really help me out with this car) I’ve taken this car all around Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and countless cities between the coasts only to have it run into in Atlanta less then a mile from my house. It’s the first car I’ve ever owned, I bought it a couple months into my freshman year of college and have but countless hours into it. I’d really like to fix it.
I’ve read there’s hope for fixing it since the damage is all in front of the subframe and the shock tower can be pulled back out. My plan is to take it to a body shop (looking for recommendations in Atlanta) to pull the shock tower and rails back where they need to be, then weld in new upper and lower radiator supports from the front of the inner fender over, then get some new parts painted and bolted on.
I don’t really need to drive it until May, and can gather all the new parts to piece it back together. My neighbor was a professional welder and is more then happy to help me with new upper and lower radiator mounts, and the other damaged sheet metal. Or I could have a body shop do it and bring them the pieces. This car cost $700 to register, so I’d rather put that money into fixing this one then into a new shell.
I’m going to be driving from New Jersey to Atlanta on January 6th and 7th if anyone has parts, or knows where I can get them cheap, in between here and there.
So it was a hit and run, with them literally running away. The car’s owner's insurance has no responsibility to pay since it falls under authorized use, and mine doesn’t cover it. I’ve already talked to a lawyer about the insurance situation, so there’s no need to comment about that. As you can see I've gotten some good wall art out of it:
They hit me with the passenger corner of their car, and turned away from me before impact so they were pushing inwards and towards the front of my car. that pushed the front rail over, but all in front of the subframe and most of the bend being in the first 10 inches after the bumper mount. Of course this mashed the bumper and all the trim in the front, and pushed the radiator sideways so the plastic shroud hit the fan. The bumper getting pushed over moved the passenger side bumper mount. The shock tower is also over a little less then 2 inches.
The doors open and close fine, all the panel gaps look perfect. I’ve measured across from the steering rack bolts to the lower control arm bolts and everything’s still square.
As you can see in this photo album I’ve taken off everything I can that was damaged (the AC didn’t leak) and I put a video in there too.
Some of you may have seen this car at the E30 Picnic in Washington this past summer. I won the Furthest Traveled Award and was selling seat shocks. (If anyone needs some it could really help me out with this car) I’ve taken this car all around Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and countless cities between the coasts only to have it run into in Atlanta less then a mile from my house. It’s the first car I’ve ever owned, I bought it a couple months into my freshman year of college and have but countless hours into it. I’d really like to fix it.
I’ve read there’s hope for fixing it since the damage is all in front of the subframe and the shock tower can be pulled back out. My plan is to take it to a body shop (looking for recommendations in Atlanta) to pull the shock tower and rails back where they need to be, then weld in new upper and lower radiator supports from the front of the inner fender over, then get some new parts painted and bolted on.
I don’t really need to drive it until May, and can gather all the new parts to piece it back together. My neighbor was a professional welder and is more then happy to help me with new upper and lower radiator mounts, and the other damaged sheet metal. Or I could have a body shop do it and bring them the pieces. This car cost $700 to register, so I’d rather put that money into fixing this one then into a new shell.
I’m going to be driving from New Jersey to Atlanta on January 6th and 7th if anyone has parts, or knows where I can get them cheap, in between here and there.
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