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Notice the red paint, otherwise there is no damage to this behemoth.
This happened on Tuesday 8/16, am bringing it to the body shop next week on Tuesday 9/6 since I just didn't have time before. I just had parked in that spot, was bending down to SMS on my phone when I felt the car shake and heard a nasty crunching sound. Needless to say, the driver of the behemoth of a Suburban wasn't looking when backing. The pics tell the story. The lady apologized profusely and admitted fault to her own insurance company on the phone while I was standing there, so the direct damages won't cost me anything. At cursory glance, the bumper, front passenger quarter panel, passenger headlight, and underbody and wheel well plastic lining needs replacing.
Here are some issues.
1. The driver headlight has been pitted to hell after almost 50,000 miles of driving and the beam color is probably a bit bluer compared to a new beam. I'm betting the insurance company won't cover the driver headlight. So it seems I have 2 choices - either be stuck with a gross mismatch or pay out of pocket for a new driver headlamp. How much would it cost me if the body shop got it directly from Honda?
2. Also, immediately after I got hit, being the anal and retarded freak that I am, I was concerned about how the S2000 emblem would align after the fix. Does Honda provide body shops with exacting templates to use for applying emblems on the car after a repair, so it would be like factory-spec?
Since the bumper and front passenger panel would need to be painted, the body shop offered to repaint the hood for $300 while they are at it. I think I might as well since the hood has plenty of chips and pits, after being driven for 60k miles. Now if I do that, the whole front of the car will have new paint, except now for the front driver panel. Should I have that repainted too as well lol?
Btw, this shop painted my front bumper last year and they did an awesome job, I trust the shop.
Any suggestions/recommendations on what to have the shop look for in terms of damages?
OMG, that parking lot looks more than big enough to back that tank out of the space. Folks are blind these days. At least she was nice about it tho. A good repair shop shouldn't have any problems aligning your emblems back straight. good luck on your repairs.
I'd get as much as you can repainted. For $300, it's not a bad deal to paint your hood and make it look like new. It kinda sucks about the headlight, though. I don't know what to call on that one. It will most certainly look different than the new one, and that just looks straight up ghetto. You may wanna just spring for a new one and sell the old one here or something. If you take the car to a quality shop, paint matching/blending into other panels should never be a problem.
Glad to hear you were in your car when she hit you. Otherwise you never know, and she may have taken off.
I would definately get the hood repainted for that price. As for the driver side 1/4 panel, if it is still great shape, which im sure it is, then leave it, save the money for something else.
So much for parking way over to the side in the end space, so nobody will open their doors on you. I do the same thing, but it looks like any other space woud have been better at that moment. Good Luck ... in the end, it's just transportation. I repeat this to myself about 100 times whenever something bad happens to my car.
I would get the bodyshop to try and get the insurance company to allow "blend" time for the hood to match the new fender and bumper, then give the bodyshop like $100 and tell them just to paint the whole hood. As for the headlight I'd probably live with the difference in light color rather than pay for a new unit unless the old one is really dim compared to the new. Good luck, hope the repairs turn out nice.
So do you think a new driver headlight assembly costs at least $500?
And does anyone know if Honda provides templates for applying emblems to their exact locations? I know I'm a meticulous freak.
Also, I forgot about this one before - is it difficult to aim the headlight beam after they put new ones in?? Do I have to bring the car to the dealer and have them use tools to measure beam length up against a wall and get exact beam angles? Is this relatively painless? I want the car to be as close to pre-accident condition as possible. Thanks.
Originally Posted by Kodokan_4,Sep 4 2005, 10:15 AM
There is no way to align the "H" emblem. It has tabs that fit into pre-formed holes in the bumper, so alignment is not an issue.
It's simple to adjust the headlight beams. You just need an extra long phillips head screwdriver to reach the adjusting screws. Adjust the beams at 25 feet. I think the leveling height is 19.5 inches but it's been a long time since I did mine, so you'd better check. You want the beam pattern to look like this (the beam is lower on the driver's side to keep the beam out of the eyes of oncoming traffic):
LEVEL:
NOT LEVEL:
Get a service manual, so you know what you are doing.
-Pete
Thanks for your reply.
About the emblem, I was referring to the "S2000" which goes on the quarter panel.
And regarding the manual, I'm assuming you are referring to the standard Honda manual and not the ones from Helms, etc?
09-03-2005, 08:54 PM
A Suburban backed into my S2000
Does Honda provide body shops with exacting templates to use for applying emblems on the car after a repair, so it would be like factory-spec?
