Just an update. The repairs are coming along. The wheel has been refinished and looks good. The suspension has all been replaced. He's waiting until the fender is painted and installed along with the bumper cover to align it and check for any signs of things not being straight. Apparently the weight of the missing parts is enough to matter. The new headlight hasn't come in yet but is expected any day. If all goes ideally the painting of the fender will be finished Thursday and everything could be back together by as soon as Friday, but more realistically the beginning of the week.

The door wasn't damaged, but he's removed the mirror and handle to sand and re clear coat the door so it matches the fender better, so I'm told. Also getting a couple paint defects from someone else's bad touchups on the hood fixed that are pretty minor but bug me....

Seeing my car without all its parts on is both interesting and sad at the same time....

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...712847a6bc.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...a9a7622142.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d776b46ce0.jpg

Did you end up getting new suspension components?

Would be nice if they can straighten the original fender and bumper cover.

-- Chuck

Not as such. The insurance company was very obstinate. Got a lot of talk about how salvage parts are "the industry standard. Every insurance repair in the country uses salvage parts." And my favorite "using salvage parts is good for the environment, very green." Then they trotted out their customer satisfaction guarantee and pointed out the section that says my satisfaction is guaranteed. That the final choice in parts used to repair my car rest solely with me, the customer. If I am not happy with any parts used to repair my car, I just have to notify them and select the parts of my choosing. Asterisk, very fine print at the bottom of the page, the customer will be responsible for any increase in costs over what was specified. I will be completely satisfied, so long as I pay for that satisfaction. However the body shop deemed the parts not up to their standards and replaced all bushings, ball joint, wheel bearing and strut. As he put it, basically, now all you have left is the cast metal parts, and if they're straight, theres not much else that could be wrong with it." And i suppose I can't really argue with that. The proof will be when he puts it on his alignment rack. And from there it will go straight to my regular mechanic's alignment rack to compare it to the alignment from just about a year ago.

The bumper cover has been saved, probably. I'll know for sure when he gets done and see if he can get the scuff marks out. He seems confident, but some of those felt pretty deep to me, but he's the expert. The fender on the other hand, I wouldn't expect that to be salvageable, some of those wrinkles were pretty deep and the bends pretty sharp. I really doubt it could be straightened without access to the original machine that formed it.... So, bottom line, I am only losing one VIN tag it looks like.

The front tire sidewall was gouged. Insurance replaced the tire with the same brand and model of tire. Falken ZE950's. I'm not really crazy about them, but I guess they've been pretty OK. So, I have a left front tire that is about half worn and a new right front tire. What do you all think about that? I was planning on replacing them with some summer tires next year possibly. Was looking at Firestone S04's last fall. I can't really afford to drop that money today, but if its going to be an issue for regular around town and highway driving, I'll find a way.

If it was the rear, one new tire, one worn, you'd definitely have handling issues (due to how sensitive our diff is to rear tire diameter). On the front, eh, not much of a big deal.

Interestingly, for situations like this, Tire Rack will save a new tire down to match the existing tire. You just have to tell them tread depth of tire you are matching to.

If its me, I'd probably get a new tire for the other side on my own nickle, or maybe just get a set of summer tires, (probably Firestone Indy 500 because they are good, and cheap). Tires are huge with this car.

I think your car is going to end up great.

Do you plan on replacing the driver side headlight with a brand new one so that it will match with the passenger side? Also, since you're getting new paint on the bumper, fender, part of the hood, and new headlight, have you consider having 3M Clear Bra or Expel applied to the front? Now's the best time to protect the paint going forward.

Ever thought of running dedicated summer performance tires?
I had all seasons on mine when I bought it and felt the handling was suffering. I threw on some new Michelin PSS tires and wow what a difference that made... not trying to bash, just curious why the all season tires?

Also - just curious. What is the reservoir behind the passenger tire for?

Washer fluid.