Navaros911

Just had the car two months and someone just failed to see this was a WTL body I guess, crept up to close and scuffed the left rear wheel. Fortunately some swirving and manouvering from my side in traffic managed to keep the damage down (rather than the whole side being taken out only the left rear wheel was hit). Pictures below.

I need your advice on how to deal with this guys...

A/ What are the alignment tolerances for the 964 in Turbo Look trim?

B/ What is the finish of the wheel (cup wheels from the early 90's)? Anodized, painted (def not chromed)?

It doesn't look too bad, but one can't tell any other damage until you can get underneath. I would be surprised if there is any... I wasn't even convinced the other party hit me or not. It felt as someone was leaning against the car and decided to push himself off from the car. But sure enough, the result can be seen in the picture below (taken with a camera phone - so applogies for the low quality). So this makes me think that the damage is only to the wheel and that there is no other damage to be found to any mechanical elements. The alignment will need to be checked anyway.

First of all, the other party was not aware of any traffic laws, the conversation we had when the police "interrogated" us was amusing and went like this:

Me - asking other party: Did you see the stop sign?
Other party: Yes!
Me - asking other party: Did you stop at the stop sign before entering the intersection?
Other party: No!
Me - asking other party: Who is at fault then?
Other party: You!
Cop: Shakes his head and starts writing up the report.

Now the annoying part: insurance.
This accident happened in Bahrain, where insurances take cars older than 5 years outside of the official dealerships... so they want to take my car to their garage around the corner (you can rest assured that this is the cheapest garage they can find). I'm not convinced they are capable, let along that I trust them with my car in general. I barely trust the official dealer (who are not bad, but a little issue prone in the service department, don't get me wrong). I don't even want to leave my car there as it may come back in worse condition than when it went in. Fixing a wheel is one thing, having people qualified to do proper alignment checks/adjustments is another thing. Even with the fanciest laser measuring equipment I've seen people do this incorrectly.

So these are some of the options that I can think of:

1/ Take it there and hope for the best - I'm not inclined to this at all

2/ Take it there and have them check it with me there (also check drive train of any possible damage), talk to them and assess their competence. Have them do the alignment on the spot so I can verify the work they do. Then take it back home and take only the wheel to them for repair (I hope they can at least take care of that part of the work). If I'm not convinced of the alignment work, I will take it to another location and hope the insurance refunds me (very little chance - they believe they have a fully qaulified worksop - to work on Toyotas maybe, not on cars with fully adjustable suspension).

3/ Take the cash settlement from the insurance and have it taken care of myself (but I would still like to have the car checked with me present to assess any "invisible" damage). But this cash settlement will be way less than the actual cost of repair at a decent location.

Your valuable input please gentlemen?

Thanks,
Michiel

Here's the wheel after the incident:

Navaros911

This is my first accident (with another party at least)... so I'm not sure how to weigh up my options.

Anybody with some experience in this field that can offer some advice?

Nine11

Darn. Too bad about the misfortunes. Don't know what the rules are around insurance. But I'd never agree to take my car to a place that I didn't think was qualified. Insurance companies would have more than one shop on their list....

Computamedic

That damage looks very minor indeed. It MAY even be possible to polish out with something like T-Cut although even some deep scratches (not possible to see enough detail in the pic) could be handled by a typical SMART repairer on-site. In the UK £50 would cover it.

Regards

Dave

Navaros911

The scratches are about 1mm deep... so I'm sure it is fixable.

But what is the finish of the wheel?

I think it is anodized, but not sure on that yet.

What worries me more is things that can't be seen (alignment and - hopefully nothing else on the drive train).

I looked in he 964 Ultimate companion guide (from Bentley Publishers) and the alignment tolerances are described, so I have some base data to work with. But I also noticed it needs some specialty tools... and I'm sure they don't have any.

Will call the insurance today (if I can get to it - just got back from leave - or tomorrow).

To repair the wheel I believe a buildup with a "metal paste" followed by polising and re-anodizing would do the job.

Rocket Rob

Sorry to hear about the accident. Glad you are ok.

They are painted. I had my wheels refinished a few years ago.

springer3

I agree the damage is minor. 964 suspensions are very strong, and a shove like that will not bend anything. I would get the rim checked - if that is bent, you need a new one. If it is straight, the cosmetic damage will be easy to fix.

911porschefan

Get the rims refinished. Looks like surface scratching anyways. Don't bother with insurance.

Navaros911

That's good to hear that the suspension can take a beating... the rim is most likely straight. The impact was close to where the bolts are, so I don't see how it could be dent from impact in that place (I've bent a rim before and I thought the whole car was ready for the trash... this I barely felt).

Then again, having it checked is a good idea. Thanks for the tip.

Navaros911

OK... I'm starting to lean towards taking the cash from the insurance (whatever they offer me) and having it sorted myself...

I'll talk to them about that today.

911porschefan

In Canada, I see wheels like this all day long. We would normally charge between $125-$150 to refinish the wheel. If your insurance is not going to increase because you did a claim, see what you can get from them. If your insurance will increase because of the claim, pay out of pocket or get the other driver to pay for the damage. Of course, this is assuming there is no other damage to the vehicle aside from the wheel.

theporscheguy

I think the wheel is an easy fix, as long as it is not structurally damaged. I would consider myself lucky. You might have someone check the suspension as a preventative measure. Better to find out now rather than at speed.

Navaros911

Some good news: the suspension and drive train are fine and straight... so I'm relieved in that. So only the damaged wheel needs to be addressed. The alignment is out by fractions only... so I'm inclined to have that added.

Now here's the catch: the dealer has recommended to replace the wheel.

Tomorrow the claim will get opened with the insurance (that is if we can this time - paperwork drives me crazy here)... and the insurance claims guy will come to asses the damage.

He will most likely not go with replacing the wheel and want to repair it. So I'm thinking of ok-ing that and having it properly repaired and the alignment done. So it will be a negotiation... recommended cost: 2000 USD... actual settlement probably 600 USD and I get a wheel repaired and the alignment done.

The dealer says there may be stress cracks in the wheel.... but if the impact didn't even alter the alignment much, I don't think there would be many stress cracks.

Any advice or tips?

Wachuko

If you have cracks in the wheel, replace it.

Our recommendations to repaint it was only if the wheel did not suffer stress related damage.

Navaros911

Hmmm... only an x-ray would point that out I think.

When I spoke to the dealer it sounded more like a we suggest to replace the wheel since we are 100% certain all is fine... but I think they know the insurance will want to lowball them... so ask for 250% and get your 100% you want.

With impact I couldn't even notice, in the strongest place of the wheel the chances of cracks would be very low I guess.

I will go to the dealer when the insurance claim agent comes, just so I can talk to him and adress this point.