Collision Damage Help + Reminder to Drive Safe.

[Panici]

Happy to see you saved it!
Mine also went to the bodyshop and had the quarter panel replaced properly.

[Mike36]

Congrats! Good to see you got it back on the road!!

[BaconMafia]

I know, old thread but I thought I'd post an update.

The car has been fixed since late spring and been working great since then. It got a new quarter, tail panel and all of the little pieces that got damaged. Paint doesn't quite match up but oh well, I'll just respray the whole thing later down. I moved up to 15 inch wheels with Yokohama 205/55s and the car really grips and handles great especially after putting in a e46 ZHP rack. The suspension turns out it has been in spec all this time.

I'm still pissed at myself for letting it happened but I am so happy to have it back and thankful that nobody got hurt in the wreck.

Now time to plan an itb stroker build.....

[TC Baur MD]

Move up to the 15's with ~205's. Made all the difference with handling and traction on wet road. Riding on 14's scarred the crap out of me.

[moatilliatta]

This is what I've learned from over a decade of E30ing.

For proper E30 rear alignment:
Good subframe bushings
Good diff bushing
Get and alignment and see where you are with the ride height you want
It would optimal if you could find a body shop to bend back into "Spec" if out of "spec"
Then disassemble and weld in eccentrics for fine tuning
Align and Rip

Now the factory rear alignment "spec" is so huge because there is no adjustment, just additional tolerance. (Rear Tow -0°04' to 0°26)
You want no toe out what so ever, this will cause the instability, aim for some toe in.

Camber is all about what you want to do with the car -.5 to -2.75.

If you buy a subframe / Axle carrier with the eccentrics ready, you may or may not get the desired alignment you're looking for.

[BaconMafia]

There is no adjustment from factory unfortunately and for this reason the rear alignment spec tolerance from factory is huge. There is no telling after 30 years where the alignment is without getting it checked out. Poor alignment, poor unpredictable handling. Some are lucky, Some are not.

Thanks. Good to know. Just from eyeballing it, there seems to be a decent amount of camber even when it had stock springs. I'll put getting an alignment a priority on the list of to-do. This might be overkill but would an adjustable subframe/camber and toe correction brackets such as the ones Garagistic sells help if the alignment is off? If it is a good product, I'd be willing to save up for one since I recently was part of a scientific study that concluded not dying in a fiery car crash is sorta cool.

Insurance will likely give you a lowball value for the car. Try using values from cars sold on Bring-A-Trailer.

Thanks for the tip. I'm still trying to determine the cost/benefit of getting an insurance check vs. increase in premiums. Thanks again though.

It's super unlikely that there's no frame damage with the quarter panel crunched that way. Everything's repairable with enough money and determination. Even if insurance wants to total it, I'm assuming you're fixing this because you intend to keep the car so I wouldn't be way too wary of a salvaged title. You can always play the game of finding a shop that'll write a quote low enough for them not to total the car, and then pay the difference out of pocket to have it fixed properly. Good luck

Thanks I'll need it. Frame bending was definitely part of the quote I received. The only saving grace from what I was told was that it was a high impact so the metal where the wheels/suspension mount is fine. I've pulled the interior and the trunk floor is fine. I plan on keeping this car for the rest of my life so I cannot really care less about title status but in my state, I'm pretty sure having a clean title makes things a-lot easier. I still have PTSD from my Honda motorcycle registration taking half a year lmao.

[roguetoaster]

Edit: haven't been here in a while--no more signatures?

Think they still work, but you have to renew them, same for notifications for PMs, at least generally. Pretty sure the forum was expected to transition away from this format, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Vivek]

It's super unlikely that there's no frame damage with the quarter panel crunched that way. Everything's repairable with enough money and determination. Even if insurance wants to total it, I'm assuming you're fixing this because you intend to keep the car so I wouldn't be way too wary of a salvaged title. You can always play the game of finding a shop that'll write a quote low enough for them not to total the car, and then pay the difference out of pocket to have it fixed properly. Good luck

Edit: haven't been here in a while--no more signatures?

[McGyver]

I didn’t want to kick you while you’re down, best thing to do now is to fight insurance and get good money to have the car fixed.

Insurance will likely give you a lowball value for the car. Try using values from cars sold on Bring-A-Trailer.

[moatilliatta]

I have no idea how much toe there is or the alignment. I did a rear subframe refresh back in April with oem rubber bushings, bilstein heavy duties and h&r oe sport springs. I'll take a look to see the condition of the bushings. I thought that the stock e30 subframe didn't allow for camber/toe adjustment other than lowering it or welding adjustment plates. Is that true?

There is no adjustment from factory unfortunately and for this reason the rear alignment spec tolerance from factory is huge. There is no telling after 30 years where the alignment is without getting it checked out. Poor alignment, poor unpredictable handling. Some are lucky, Some are not.

[BaconMafia]

Thanks so much for your reply. This is the info I needed. That's a bummer that it will need a new panel though. The shops that I went to said that it will need new panels. Looks like more shopping time.

[Panici]

Sorry to see this, I know first hand how much it hurts. Take comfort that it's repairable.

As 2mAn just mentioned, my car took similar damage recently. More pictures in my r3v build thread (link in signature)
My agreed value (20k) policy worked out well. I was paid out for the damage, and the car still has a clean title as the damage was much less then the 20k it would take to total it out.


Just finished my "temporary" repair job this afternoon.
I say temporary, as to repair it properly I really need to source a new quarter panel and cut/replace what is on my car.


Biggest step was finding a shop I trusted to pull the body and frame back out straight. I can't really believe how good a job they did.
I'll take my car back to them for the quarter panel replacement if I don't tackle the repair myself.

[BaconMafia]

look in the members rides for Panici, he just had very similar damage and has repaired it.

This previously would’ve been a r3v’d total followed by a lot of shit talking but the cars are worth more now

Dont give up, fight and come back stronger.

Thanks so much for your reply. This is exactly what I wanted to see. Looks like the damage got fixed nicely. I'll try and contact insurance but I'm worried they'll just total it and raise my rates. Gonna get a second opinion from other shops too.

Sorry again for the earlier rant. I had no reason to go off and need to take the shit talking better with a sense of humor lol. I'll get the car fixed I promise.

[2mAn]

I didn’t want to kick you while you’re down, best thing to do now is to fight insurance and get good money to have the car fixed.

look in the members rides for Panici, he just had very similar damage and has repaired it.

This previously would’ve been a r3v’d total followed by a lot of shit talking but the cars are worth more now

Dont give up, fight and come back stronger.

[BaconMafia]

Sorry for the rant. Its been a long day.