Dear Fellas,

Long story in short. I'm on my way to Tulip Fest in Holland Michigan from Chicago this noon. My babe G35 (2003 Sedan) was enjoying the weather on the highway 290 east bound and switching from the lane (slow traffic <5mph) twd I-90 W to the lane (fast traffic >40mph) twd I-90 E. I saw a big truck from my right side mirror basically STOPPED behind me trying to switch to my lane. So this truck blocks my view of the traffic on my right lane. I was scared at the time of switching lanes and distracted. Because my speed is low and the right lane traffic is very fast.

After 0.6 sec, i finally decided to hit the gas pedal and turn. And then --- "BAM!!!!!!" I was shocked left side of my babe G hit the right rear corner of a Yaris in front of me. I was seriously blind in mind for 1 min, my girl sit on the passenger side said she never saw a face like that of me. Then we pulled over and exchanged the info........ Well, on the tow truck the AAA driver was joking me "why go to Michigan? There are plenty of tulips in downtown Chicago".. Here is a demonstration graph of how it happened.



As a result, the bumper left side got scratched, left side fender is wrecked, left headlight is cracked and displaced but bulbs seems fine. Worst thing is the left front wheel seems not aligned anymore. Basically, when my right wheel is straightforward, the right front wheel is bending towards left for about 15 (or less) degrees, looking from driver's view. Like below. The other thing is the wheel is pushed back towards the driver a lil bit, so it's not symmetric anymore w.r.t the curve of the fender.

|------|
driver
|------\

Here a few pics I took.








Ok, this is the end of the entertaining part for you guys.

So it's my first time got such an accident. I hv no idea about the repair in a body shop. So I got a few questions for you guys to help me out. Hopefully my time spent here will get enough sympathy

1. how severe is the damage in you guys opinion? What are the possible damages? Axle, suspension, control arms, ABS, break system(line, toe, fluid leak), steering...???

2.After repairing it, will it still drive like my old G babe? I mean, it's a performance car. Could there be any damage irreversible and it won't just be the same car as out of factory?

3. Is it safe to drive after repair?? I'm not a car guy. So I always think the axle is a rod, once you bend it and bend it back, the back and forth process will reduce the reliability of the rod and I'm scared that after repair, one day when i'm driving fast, the axle is gonna break and my wheel will fly to the sky, car will go out of control and... disaster.... You guys can feel free to laugh at me if my panic is too much But answer my question.

4. Is it better off for me to purchase some parts myself (if the shop allows me to do so) to ensure the quality in the repair and also cheaper? Any suggestions where I can buy those parts?

5. Do I need to go to a suspension shop to double check just to ensure safety after the body shop work??

6. Any suggestion for Chicago area body shop? And how much you guys think it will cost to repair? I found one on yelp called "Guys and Sons" and it happened to be quite close. So I just towed it to there and going to get an estimate tmrw. And i will keep you guys updated in case your interested.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/guy-and-sons...ilders-chicago

Lots of words here so I really appreciate your time and help!!

Thank you my dear G35 owner friends!!

 

sorry to hear that.

now you can get the lip painted too!! or a new bumper

 

From the pics the damage doesn't look too bad. I doubt you did anything to the axle. If anything you may have pushed the control arm out of place. Just make sure you have it re-aligned.

On the plus side, you did a civil service and took out a Yaris.

 

Welcome to the forums!

Damage doesn't look too bad to me.

 

wow seems you were pressured in a non pressure environment, hope next time you chill out and just take the next exit if you are scared and unsure.

The damage does not look too bad, If the headlight is not cracked seems it will just be the fender, but there might be more when they take it off.

 

damage isnt a lot. you prob have less than 1k with paint job in there, including the light.

 

yeah fix that thing man....damage isnt bad at all. tulip fest man how i miss grand haven

 

agreed you should relax there is no rush.. and the damage i think would be +1500 atleast b.c. your replacing your bumper and fender and paint and labor is atleast 50 per hour in sd. a bumper job alone here in San diego would be 1000. i know because some girl didnt know how to drive stick and backed into me =[. i say go through insurance and say you parked at some bull **** location and you came back to your car like that. they will believe that

 

Thank you ALL!

ScreenSaver, lesson learned indeed here. When I say bye to the tow truck driver, he was joking me "Well, stay away from the flowers!!", while my gf was by the side.

Yea, will just chill in the future. At least it's not that crazy accident. Could hv been way worse.

 

lol

 

Here comes the quote:









1. labor total $874.70 including suspension work of replacing 2 control arms (lower control arm and compression rod) including alignment I suppose. Now I finally got a chance to replace the compression rods to get rid of the squeaking noise. I have been delaying this for a while.

2. parts: HID headlight $600 + Fender $150 + both control arms $500 = $1250 all are After Market. I will prob accept re-painting the bumper.

What I plan to do is to buy OEM parts online (better and cheaper) :
HID headlight Assembly $350 (River Side) + Lower Control Arm $180 (driver side Circle Infiniti) + Both sides Compression Rod $350 (OC Infiniti) + salvage yard fender $220 = $1100 All are OEM New except fender is used OEM.

So w. tax everything i'm looking at $2200 I think. My insurance had $2500 deductible. (yea, i know. stupid choice. well, i'm a budget G35er, always wish had money to add on all the sick s**t like nismo stuff )

I'm still shopping around for a better labor rates. Will keep you guys updated.

Plz comment upon this quote if you feel sth.

Thank you all for the help and night!

 

what shop is this? Did you pick it or did the other guys insurance?

 

It's this one I found on yelp

http://www.yelp.com/biz/guy-and-sons...ilders-chicago

It's my fault. So all expense on my car will be out of my own pocket. On side story is that, hilariously, I hit the Yaris of an associate attorney who has had 8 years' practice in Chicagoland. So when I was trying to ask her insurance info, she was like "Why do you need my insurance info. Are you gonna claim that I had a sudden stop causing the accident?!" I'm like "Uh, no. It's ok..."

Back to the shop, I don't know. The owner is just ok. A lil cocky on price. But never push me on anything...

I just submitted to an online quote hub. Hopefully will get me better rates.

 

That total seems about right if you go to a really high end shop..could be more because i had almost the same damage as yours, but way less. It was in the same spot but i just had a dent on my front fender and my bumper had some scratches, so it had to be repainted, also had some rim damages. My total came out to be $1800.

 

Grab the lights off ebay, that's $450 cheaper... well, more like $375 once you get an HID kit for them...

Anyway, use the money you save on the headlight to get an aftermarket bumper like the Vis Techno-R (Nismo-Areo replica) I believe it's one of the cheapest options, and looks very very very much like the real thing.