entdoc

I was driving home from Chicago in my Basalt Black '08 S Cab this afternoon when a truck tire disintegrated in front of me. I was able to swerve to avoid the flying pieces but I ran over a couple of good chunks. I really thought they had passed under the car and wasn't too concerned until I got home and had a look. The front bumper cover and the passenger rocker panel are dented.

1. Does anyone have experience with this type of damage?

2. Do I need a new bumper cover and rocker panel or can they be fixed (well)?

3. Can they be ordered painted from the factory (as opposed to a body shop)?

4. How much will this set me back? I don't think I want to involve insurance because I have a clean record and I think they consider this to be an 'at fault' accident (even though it was unavoidable).

5. They paint finish on the lower rocker panel is different - kind of bumpy. Can that be replicated at a body shop?

Thanks for any advice. I'm still a bit suicidal.

Skibum

I know you are half crazed. How about an in focus shot of the damage?
Yes the texture finish should not be a problem.

mdrums

Better pics please....looks like bumper 3rd pic can be fixed as long as it is not cracked near a mount point.

okbarnett

it looks like all those parts are plastic. They dont look that bad. They can be repaired. The ins wont pay for new because the damage is not that bad. A good body shop can fix it snd blend the paint so you cant tell. I would start with a local body shop that does work for porsche and mercedes etc.

Macster

Best bet is to take the car by a Porsche approved collision repair center in your area for a professional estimate of the damage.

The damage appears to be to exterior body panels, plastic ones at that.

Unlikely they can be repaired, though, and used/salvaged ones are generally worse than the ones on the car. A good body shop will work with you and the insurance company to get factory replacement parts so they fit just fine and paint them so you won't be able to tell the difference.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Edgy01

Definitely take a good look UNDER the car. The bottom closure panels are designed merely to keep a clean wind-cheating surface--and are extremely vulnerable to impact damage.

entdoc

I took the car to a Porsche dealer body shop. From what I understand, they have a reputation for good quality work. They advised that I need to replace the front bumper cover which doesn't surprise me.

They advised that the rocker panel could be repaired but they would have to paint the entire rocker panel (not just the bumpy surface where it's scratched and dented) and, because of that, they would have to repaint the whole rear quarter panel as it is contiguous with the rocker panel!!!

I asked what people do when installing aerokits - he didn't seem to know much about it but said that, unless they clip on, the rear quarter panels would also need to be repainted.

Does this make sense? I'm really unhappy about repainting a pristine rear quarter panel.

I've attached some better photos.

Thanks all.

Edgy01

They should replace the nose piece and paint it.

For the rocker panel, it can be beaten back into fair shape--recall that it is covered with a paint that has flex agent in it--that will hide any imperfections. I would recommend AGAINST repainting the entire rear quarter panel. It's factory paint and fine--just have them blend the rocker panel in.

Kuhan

I had a couple of scratches on my car and the local Porsche dealer used a guy who blended the paint - I could not tell where it had been done, the work was that good. Since my car is silver, it may be more forgiving to this kind of thing - I don't know. I just picked up another scratch and I'm going to take it back and have the same patch job done when it's time for my next service.

Personally, if I was in your situation, I would have it patched and blended. What's to say that next month something similar doesn't happen again? Are you going to replace your bumper every time? I know it's nice to have your car perfect but the only real way to ensure that is not to drive it and these cars are meant to be driven!

axhoaxho

I had a similar damage to the side rocker panel of my previous 997.1 S. Some debris (a metal rod) got kicked up from the freeway and hit my rocker panel.

I used one of my local dealers' body shop for the repair. The body shop was previous owned by a Porsche dealer, was very experienced, had very good reputation, and was recommended both by the forumers here and the dealers.

The repair of the side rocker panel was perfect to match the color and texture of the surface, and it cost me around $650.

As for the bumper, my wife also had a similar small damage to the bumper of her Mercedes (she hit a tall curb while parking, oh well.) She brought it to a local shop that was also very reputable in the area. They repaired & repainted the bumper, the resut was perfect and I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Cost was around $750.

The key is to do some homework to find the best local body shop, and ask them to take the best care of the repair. With modern computer technology to match the paint color, and an experience body shop that is familar to repairing the make/model of our cars, your car will be back on the road and looks just like it was before the accident.

With best wishes,

boolala

I had the front bumper cracked recently when someone backed into my car in a lot. One of the cracks was around the headlight area and, because of the shape, I thought that it would be hard to repair. But the reapir is simply invisible, looks like new. $750.

Macster

Well, if you took the car to a Porsche approved collision repair center and that's what they told you that's what it takes to do the repairs right.

The quarter panel will not be completely repainted just the area nearest the rocker panel in order to blend in the paint. Otherwise you'd spot the difference in paint.

If a full panel is resprayed what happens is that any difference in the paint color/tint can be highlighted by the panel gap and the eye notices this. When the adjacent undamaged panel is blended the eye can't see any change and the paint looks well, factory, which is what you want from paint work.

The rocker panel is painted/treated with a rock/chip resistent covering and if this is damaged (cracked) it needs to be removed and replaced to effect a water/weather tight seal or water will work into the cracks and can start corrosion.

Just hammering out the dent doesn't reseal these cracks.

I do not know anything about aero kits. Many people want to use an accident as an excuse to pardon the expression tart up the car. I prefer to focus on the most important thing the only thing that matters in the long term and that is getting the car repaired as good as humanly possible, to getting the car returned to its pre-collision condition.

If afterwards you want to add aero kits and stuff do so. But only after you're sure the foundation is once again sound.

Sincerely,

Macster.