Glad to hear everyone made it safe and sound back to their homes.

 

def the truth. everyone who helped rene out is awesome. its really all about the community itself!!!!

 

TRULY GRATEFUL!! Sorry for the long story but had to.
What a weekend. Left early Friday and was making good time to get to the HIN Roll-in. Just as I near Boston my Navi loses power and I can’t get it back on. I stopped at a few places trying to find info on how to get to the event. Pretty stressful being lost with no gas and just dropping 5 bucks at a time so as to try and stay within the 1/8 tank requirement.

Stopped at another gas station to drop another 5 bucks and made a sharp turn at crawling speed and heard a loud BANG! Looked under the hood and saw nothing. Dropped the gas in and started to drive out slowly to feel for anything wrong in the front end. When I turned the wheel it felt way too loose. Drove slowly about 100 feet and decided to stop and check things out more closely. I checked to make sure the strut bolts were on tight and lifted the nut right out of the camber plate with half the bolt still connected to it. That’s when my eyes opened wide and the only words I could use to describe what had happened were “OH ____!” What amazed me was that the air was still in the strut. The easy street strut requires the top strut bolt to be on secure to hold air. Well, it wasn’t long before the air released and down went the front driver side. I literally hopped and rolled to the nearest corner and called wife, GIECO and Jennay. (Thanks to Jennay for posting her number [and for knowing my uncanny ability for getting L0sT] and Nick for the text with her number on my phone.) It was decided that I should be towed to the venue just 20 miles away as opposed to a shop that would not know what to do with my suspension.

After waiting an extended time because of the Tow Company mix up between mine and Supers ride (which had a blowout), I get to Bayside safely and hop my way in at about 5:45 PM. I was met by Jackie, Preston, Mike all knowing my situation, each of them thanking me for coming. I will say it again, thanking ME for coming. It is I whom should be thankful for the invitation, to the B Lounge no less, with a paid hotel room, food and all the swag.
Of course with Jenny’s gift of networking there were local team sponsors already trying to find me an OEM strut to make it home. (I am sorry I am so bad with names I can’t remember the name of the scion manager whom was trying to find me the part)

It was great Friday night at the hotel; Deb introduced me to Jack D whom greatly reduced my pain as well as hanging out with everyone greatly subdued the voices in my head whom occasionally stopped snoring to yell out, “ How the F--- are you going to get home!”.

Saturday Morning left me still in the same bind with no solution in sight various phone calls to local auto part stores came up blank. Through Jennay I contacted Chad whom was in Conn. on his way in with Frank. They found an OEM strut for me and Frank donated his OEM springs for installation. These guys went well out of their way for me causing them to get in on Saturday late, well after the venue opened. Frank over extended his rented vehicle causing rates to go up. Frank did not ask for compensation, I only learned about it through Chad and slipped Frank some money towards his expense. Chad and Jackie from Urban Racer contacted Tanya from Scion whom arranged for the strut to be installed at Expressway Toyota only a mile away. The manager at Expressway Toyota was at HIN Saturday and introduced himself, gave me his card and said bring it out to him b4 10:30 and he will have it put on. Things were looking up. I really do feel bad about Chad and Frank losing out on so much time I thanked them for everything.

I had a great time at HIN despite my woes. It was the first time I had ever been to one much less one that has my car involved. The gift box was a special surprise. The NIKE ID gift card fits the scion concept of customizing and with 140 dollars you could get them without spending more. Jackie encouraged us to design them like our cars and I must say from the ones I saw, they looked just like their rides. Of course T-shirts and other swag came along with it. As usual, we were provided nourishment of our choice. This is truly VIP treatment. I know it’s been said before but we need to embrace these events for what they are worth. The customizing we do to our Scions fit along with the company concept so Scion provides us with all they have done to strengthen the concept and develop strong ties between company and consumer. There is no other company investing in its customers AFTER they purchase the product the way Scion does. Obviously, as long as there is a value in this investment then it will continue, if not, it will stop. We need to be open minded before we critique these events. Keep in mind that Scion and Urban Racer look to different methods to provide us entertainment, not all events will satisfy all of the people all of the time. Expressing ourselves is always honorable but try to choose our words carefully so as not to have your comments be spun off as negative. This way we can continue to enjoy our times together as one community with Scion as our host.

After the HIN festivities, now came the time to hop the car around the bend to the hotel room. This took me 20 min. and was pretty scary on turns. Big Jim stayed with me to assure I made it safe. After making it to the hotel it seemed too dangerous to make the trip to Expressway Toyota for the install so it was decided that we, Big Jim, James and myself had all the tools we needed to put the strut on ourselves. Sunday morning came along and we remove the air strut and begin putting the OEM strut together only to realize that a top hat for the spring was needed. Also, I found a 12 inch gash between the driver side wheel well and the engine compartment.

I and Jim made phone calls but the part was not available. Only thing left to do was to call my wife’s Uncle and see if he could make the trip. He said yes. Then I contacted Eric so he could go through my closet and find my spare parts so that they can be set aside for my wife’s uncle to bring them. Then came the wait. James left with Jims guest Kevin and Jim stayed with me till the strut was on and I was rolling again (8:30PM) despite having to drive 2 states further to get home than I.

Never before to my knowledge, have I inconvenienced so many people yet throughout it all people were there for me in a time of need, as a community, as a family. I got home about 1:30am and Big Jim after 4am as well as getting stuck in the rain. I would have never made it through this ordeal without the support from our Scion community.

Thanks to ALL for your support.

Special thanks to;
Nick
Jennay
Preston
Jackie
Mike
Chad
Frank
Tanya
Fernando
Eric
James
Kevin
A special Big thanks to Big Jim for refusing to leave until I was ready to roll.

I will not forget the help provided to me from my Scion community

 

Wow that's the gash? That's in the metal itself right? Is that fixable?

 

Think its time for GPS Rene. Wow that just hurts. I'm proud to be a part of such a community of selfless people that come together to help a fellow Scion owner. Not one other group of car owners could show such support whether its someone they know personally or a complete stranger.

Just awesome.

 

Yeah, just needs to be re-enfroced with another piece of metal welded over the gash to support it.

 

Good to see you finally made it home, Glad I could help man. Sorry I had to leave I just cant drive in the dark I fall asleep to easy

 

Glad to see that you made it home okay!

 

Kudos to Big Jim + Chad, Frank for helping Rene
and to me for saving the last 2 slices of pizza Friday for Rene. LMFAO

 

Been busy and havent had a chance to really chime in even thou I have read this...Rene no problem man anything to help a friend in need out...when I heard what had happened I was like that sux....wish I was more help to you as for tracking down the other stuff.....just glad you got home

 

Hey man, my name is Mike (Weymouth, Scion sales manager) I was trying to get you a part sorry we could not get it but am glad to hear it worked out when I saw Jenny that night.

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