Trigs "Car in front" - Bonnet repairs!

[Parky]

Little whinge on twitter might generate a response?

[JohnK]

What a bummer mate, especially just after you has got the bumper sorted etc. Hopefully you will be able to get it sorted pretty quickly without too much chew on...

[trigger]

Progress at last, My insurance company have been struggling with the 3rd party, it took 50mins of being on hold to to them to get through the other day and when they contacted the 3rd party himself he just said no comment so they still don't know what's happening.

 

Meanwhile my insurance company have said that if we pay the £150 excess they'll sort the repairs for us, I've just got of the phone to the accessor who's seen the photos of the car and he's agreed that it's a very tidy car and doesn't justify writing off so he's happy to pay us a £400 cash settlement for the repairs that's going to be paid into our account tomorrow and I've got to repair it.

 

Next job is to find a replacement bonnet, headlight & indicator. 

[Partridge]

Great stuff! I really thought they were going to write it off, which is why I kept my trap shut...

 

I sympathise with you Trigger, dealing with a claim is a pisser isn't it? Hope it gets back on the road soon!

[mrbenn]

Great news, best possible outcome under the circumstances I'd say!

[Pillock]

So are they still chasing Mr Audi Furniture Store Man to claim back? Or since you've accepted and paid £150 will they just forget it and put it down as a fault claim?

[trigger]

No they will be chasing him still to claim back the £150 excess. We still haven't heard if he's admitted liability yet.

 

I need to find a black bonnet now which is going to be fun, I might end up having to buy a second hand one and getting it painted.

[Shep Shepherd]

Glad that it's going to be mended

[Felly Magic]

There are a few Starlets on ebay being broken at the mo, none are black, but most seem to have the bits you need

[hairnet]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-STARLET-EP91-1996-1999-HATCH-LEFT-NEAR-SIDE-FRONT-INDICATOR-LAMP-/331351666898

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-STARLET-1996-Bonnet-/251786141400

[hairnet]

[Billy SR]

hold out man, plenty of SR's get broken for spares! Iddy or Amir from ID-WORKZ are usually good to ask. Satin black comes in many different shades in spray form so you might not get the perfect match if you was to spray yourself

[greengartside]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-STARLET-GT-TURBO-GLANZA-BREAKING-SALVAGE-REPAIRS-AND-SPARES-/181646662228?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2a4afc1a54

[trigger]

I still haven't heard anything back from the 3rd party, I think that will be a battle for our insurers personally, on the plus side the £400 has came through for the repairs. I spent a little while straightening the front end but the bonnet is still a little high I'll get the bumper off over the weekend and give the front a gentle tug and see if i can straighten it out better.

 

I've got a 2nd hand headlight and indicator for £20 and a bumper iron for £25 delivered, (Everyone else on ebay wanted £65 for the iron!), the dent on the bonnet has mostly come out so a decently bodyshop should be able to skim some filler over it and paint it saving me buying a new bonnet.

 

So all in all it's not turned out so bad really.

[alf892]

Looks to be turning out ok if the £400 covers parts and a bit of your time.

 

Did you check out what was going on with the door gaps though? With that impact if the o/s one got smaller (as opposed to being smaller in the first place) then it would not be good news.

 

Maybe look around the seams around the inner wings/chassis legs where cracks in the paint can sometimes show displacement

[trigger]

I'm sure you've all been itching to see how I've got on with this... Well, I went round my dads today and we stripped the front end off to see what was bent, Thankfully it was only the bumper iron which i have a replacement off, the front edge of chassis rail as slightly bent so we straightened that out and also reshaped a bracket.

 

 

 

That all seemed to line up better so I boshed back on the replacement bumper bar and headlight.

 

 

Then after a lot of adjustments with a persuader, a block of wood, and some gentle pushing we managed to get the bumper and bonnet to all line up perfectly again.

 

 

 

 

Much better i think you'll agree, Tomorrow I'm going to repair the bonnet, I was going to get a bodyshop to do it but i think i can do a good enough job with a rattle can for now, If a 2nd hand bonnet turns up on ebay at some point I could always change it.

 

Total costs have been £15 for the headlight, £5 for the indicator, £25 for the bumper iron, £2.83 for a indicator clip and £7 for a replacement SR bonnet sticker, Not bad for a £400 payout! Mind you I guess the bonnet will cost £40 or so to fix. 

[Anglevan]

Yeah - great result. Bet your chuffed and it's looking super

[Cheggers]

Top work Trig, looking good

[Felly Magic]

Not looking bad at all now mate. 

[junkyarddog]

Good job of repairing it.

 

Great little cars these.

[mat_the_cat]

Total costs have been £15 for the headlight, £5 for the indicator, £25 for the bumper iron, £2.83 for a indicator clip and £7 for a replacement SR bonnet sticker, Not bad for a £400 payout! 

 

You should hand back the difference, it's people like you who are pushing up all our premiums!

 

Seriously though, if you factor in your time doing something you shouldn't have to be doing, plus the stress and hassle factor it seems like a fairish result. Glad it's almost there now!

[Timewaster]

The only ones I ever see around here are pink.

 

Good work Trig.

[trigger]

I thought I'd save myself some money and having a go at fixing the bonnet myself, It had a fair sized dent in it, the bottom edge was bent in and the paint was split so it needed doing,

 

 

I managed to get shape back and after a few skims of filler i got some primer on it last night.

 

 

This morning i flatted it down and keyed the rest of the bonnet up, I was happy with the repair so it was worth doing.

 

 

WCPGW?.

 

 

Well it started off ok.

 

 

and then i started to lacquer it which was when disaster struck...

 

 

for some reason the can stopped straying and then suddenly loads came out at once making it run.   It didn't help that in my wisdom i used some white paper to try and wipe it and it all stuck to it making it even worse. 

 

Once that dried i had to flat it out and key the bonnet up again.

 

 

The rest of the paint went on pretty well, not perfect by any means but nothing a good flat down and mop can't sort once it's dry.

 

 

The worse problem was the streaks, they aren't great. I think i may have had the aerosol can too close. 

 

 

 

 

Still, It's the first time that I've tried to paint a full bonnet with a rattle can, If it was anything more expensive i would have got a bodyshop to do it. I think once it's polished and has had the badge and sticker refitted it won't look so bad.

[cort16]

Its hard doing a big area like that. I think it needed more paint though.

[trigger]

It took two rattle cans and 5 coats so I thought that would be enough. I see how it looks once finished, I could always wrap it, matt black it or just keep an eye open for a 2nd hand one on ebay.

[sierraman]

I think it just wants more paint on it doesn't it?

[vulgalour]

For a bonnet that size you want to be using four rattle cans and make sure each coat is at 90 degrees to the previous one.  A little further away and slightly slower on the speed of the pass would help too.  You could definitely do that with rattle cans given the finish you've achieved so far.  Good that this has had something of a happy ending.

[trigger]

I was trying to keep it wet but the fan from the nooze was so small compaired to a normal spray gun, Fuck it, I'll stick to doing small repairs in future.

[cort16]

You should sticker bomb it*

[vulgalour]

With rattle cans, you don't want to keep it wet, you end up running the risk of too many defects to tidy up afterwards.  Rattlecan spraying is a whole different discipline to proper spraying when you're doing big panels and black is really unforgiving.  Instead, you paint each pass as a completed separate item and build from there, feathering the layers as you go to avoid stripes.  It's one of those horrible learn-by-feel jobs and you either get the knack or you don't.  I reckon you have the knack for it - I've seen your other repairs and they're very good - but need more practice on bigger panels to get the standard of finish you'd like.