Rock Damage

A chunk of concrete was bounding down the freeway on the way to work on Wednesday, 6 November. I saw it hit the highway in front of me and then it hit the front of the car and then I heard it hit the back of the car. It may have been dropped by one of the big dirt carriers used for highway construction and then was picked up by the 18-wheeler in front of me and thrown up into the air, but I never saw that. A freak occurrence that seemed to be rock from the sky.

The insurance company inspected the damage and gave me a check that matches their estimate of what it will cost to fix the car. The body shop then did their inspection and brought the insurance adjuster back to the shop and they agreed to replace both the hood and the rear window. An additional check was sent to me covering this additional work.

I have decided to add to the job by having the two fenders, the bumper and the passenger door painted at the same time. This is work I had planned to do last summer, but postponed because of budget issues.

Hood

An earlier repair used a thick layer of bondo. You can see in the first picture below how it cracked. This material is porous to moisture and if not very well sealed can provide a conduit to water making its way to the metal surface and eventually forming rust. That has happened to the old hood.

A new hood was found in Germany.

	Here is the hood damage.
	The hood was removed and the paint removed leaving this view. The position of the dent and numerous rust pits in the surface convinced the body shop that the hood should not be repaired. A new hood was shipped in from Germany.
	This shows a staging area for parts including the new hood which has had the Aga Blue color applied to the bottom side. The 912 hood is the tallest of those shown.
	Here is the top of the hood which has been primed and a light guide coat added which will help the block sanding required to make the surface true.

Rear Window

A new rear window was found at the PCNA warehouse in Atlanta. All of a sudden 4 windows without tint and without defrost wires appeared on the inventory. We got one of them.

	The white places are where the rock hit the back window.
	The label on the new rear window.

Extra Work

In addition to the hood and rear window that the insurance assisted in paying for, the two front fenders, bumper and passenger door will be refinished.

	The bumper and fender trim has been removed in this shot.
	Now the fenders are being sanded down to bare metal.
	Right fender. Note the plastic protecting the inside of the front compartment from the sanding dust.
	Passenger door. For now the door looks better than I had expected, but more old paint will have to come off.
	Here is a block sander on the fender.
	A couple of days later the car is in the paint shop.

The Final Result

	Finally on Friday, Jan 3, 2003, seven weeks after it went to the shop it is safely back in our hands.
	Compare this with the view after the rock hit the hood.

Last modified: Fri, 13 Dec 2002

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