I did a thing.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Welp, it could have been a LOT worse. Maybe reaction and experience kept this from being bad. Happened in traffic at a notorious interchange today.





15 minutes after I got home:





A new (used) fender and headlight, I’ll be satisfied for a while. I think I already found both locally, so no big deal.

[—tsingson—]

Glad you are ok and that it wasn't worse.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Thanks! It was the 400/I-285 interchange. It’s a construction zone, down to 3 lanes, traffic merges from both sides. Traffic stopped hard just as I was moving to the right, a cut hard to the right, clipped the rear bumper of the car in front of me. I definitely got the worst of it.

The police officer and gentleman whose car I hit were very good about the entire thing. I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t cut, I would have stuffed it and popped the airbags. No big deal all around.

Similar incidents were happening the 20 minutes we all waited on the shoulder. It was making me nervous. It’s just a shitty interchange and I should have been more careful.

[Slampen]

Shit, glad it was 'only' the car that got dented.

[HarryB]

Sucks that it happened, but as already said; really glad you are OK, and that the damage is minor.

[—Martin—]

[Sharpie]

I am impressed with what you did in 15 minutes. Glad you’re okay.

[— kung fu jesus —]

I am impressed with what you did in 15 minutes. Glad you’re okay.

Race crew experience. ;)

The bumper popped right out. I smoothed it a little more this afternoon with a heat gun.

The fender I roughed out with a few hammers, wood, and plastic handles.

Smoothing out the headlight support took the most time. I used light hammers and a dolly. I also used punches with clamps to flatten hinges and creases.

With the bumper off, I can see this was a ‘best case’ scenario. I missed the bumper reinforcement on my car and the hollow portion on the corner deflected. The headlight and fender really took the brunt, so maybe $3-400 and it’ll look pretty decent.

The wheel, steering, A/C and cooling components were all missed. Even the side marker in the bumper survived.

[turboedpickup]

I am impressed with what you did in 15 minutes. Glad you’re okay.

Was going to say the same thing.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Reached out to the local community, found a guy I’ve never met with a similar background in Miatas 5 miles away. Big, local Miata communities are awesome!

$75 later:



Some minor tweaking to the fender’s headlight opening, polishing both lenses, an hour later:









And the light pattern looks correct, too.

[—tsingson—]

I have to polish mine out too. Just did my daughter's CRV lights. I know you recommended the 3M kit but I tried the Meguire's one with the drill attachment and it worked amazingly.

Also noticed that the lip was spared from any damage. That's great because these things are damn near impossible to find.

[turboedpickup]

Drill attached kits are great. I used the 3M kit. Just make sure to go out and get a UV stable clear coat of some sort. I used duplicolor gloss on mine...but if I were to do it again, I'd get a can of stuff that has a hardener as well.

[—tsingson—]

The Meguire's kit had that clear coating. I have used the 3M before also. Just wanted to see if the price difference was worth it. It definitely was.

[— kung fu jesus —]

UV clear coat is key. I’ll likely do that when I have the bumper off again for the fender replacement.

R*Speed sells exact reproduction NB1 front spoilers. I know a guy there, his name is Joe, likes coffee, shooting the shit. ;)

[turboedpickup]

Yeppers. I did duplicolor clear. If I could do it again, I'd use a spray that has a hardener. $23ish, and I went for the $11 can haha.