ARGH, my poor car...

I was driving South on the 405 going to the Rainbow Sandal store in San Clemente and some bastard kicked a huge tire scrap right into my front bumper. The guy was in a White Pontiac Grand Prix SE and he drove right over the tire scrap. He didnt slow down, or move his car to avoid hitting the tire scrap. We were going like 70mph in the first lane and there were no cars ahead of him to obstruct the view of the tire on the freeway. I stopped at a parking lot to get some pictures of the damage and it messed up the front of my car pretty badly.

The tire scrap was so large it went up the hood 3/4 of the way and wrapped down to the second honey comb grill. You will see what I'm talking about in the pictures... Now my front bumper has huge tire tread marks as well as paint scratches on it and my hood has a dent. The tire wrapped my front bumper and came down on the hood and dented it. At the same time it knocked off both my fog light covers as well as the top honey comb grill. The top honey comb grill was hanging on by 1 clip on the other side so I have removed it compeltely since. Its sitting in my trunk right now. As for my top grill... it got knocked loose and even now it is not secure after refastening all the clips.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do because I definitely dont want my insurance going up anymore than what it is. If anyone works at 21st Century please PM me, I have some questions. My friend told me though that this is considered a hit-and-run because he just juried at a court case just like this situation. I was planning on getting the Vizages front bumper already but now i have a damaged stock bumper w/ missing fog light covers and paint cratches in the shape of tire treads. My top grill I have the TRF grill but that one needs to be repaired before i can put it on. As for the hood I want to get a CF hood or Fiberglass hood because I still want a white hood. I'm looking at an OEM hood but maybe some vents (not scoops) on it.

This is the second bad thing that has happened to my car from the last oil change. I also have a fat crack going up the driver side of the windshield that I got while driving on the 60 west. ARGH I HATE CALIFORNIA FREEWAYS!

Does anyone have an OEM CF hood I can buy?
Does anyone work at 21st Century that knows the policies behind this type of incident?
Can anyone recommend any good body work places that can paint my new front bumper and/or repair my fiberglass TRF Grill? This would be in either LA county or Orange County.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Anyway, thats the end of my venting.

Here are the pics:



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OUCH!

I had the same thing happen to me! A chick on a cell phone in an SUV kicked up a tire scrap on the 118 fwy and it blew the fog light covers off my box, and scratched up my bumper pretty bad. I ended up getting my factory fogs because of it.

She was paying no attention to the road and just cut me off, driving right over the debris as she changed lanes.

SUX

-THE DON

 

damn, that sucks.

 

phew, good thing I have my RockBlocker clear bra

 

You are SOL.

The tire scrap was road debris and not owned by the car that kicked it up. They are in no way liable. Just consider yourself lucky. MANY people a year catch road debris to thier face/body.

 

in one case it was a rebar through the brain. the victim survived

 

I caught a piece of tire on my leg while doing 60 on a motorcycle once... had a nice shiner for a about a month...

Some insurance companies won't raise rates over 1 claim that's not your fault. Don't know about yours.

 

"My friend told me though that this is considered a hit-and-run because he just juried at a court case just like this situation."

You're kidding right? No police officer in their right mind is going to take a report on this.

GL with the repairs...

 

I'm not sure where you live but my friend was in a jury for a court case like this recently in California and according to the judge, the car that kicks up the debris is responsible for what it does. I mean, obviously I didnt run into the tire by myself, it was launched at my car by his car and I know for a fact the only thing that can come off/from your car and onto the road legally is clear liquids and feathers. That is according to the California traffic law. If you dont believe me, go look it up in the big fat civil code book

 

Sorry about the car

 

The tire didnt come off the car... it came off the road.

 

that sux big time.

 

That's why I never follow very close behind anyone. Might be a little overkill and hard to do all the time, but worth it in the long run. I took a rock to the hood and windshield on the way to Exposed in Ohio last weekend. Just a small paint chip on the hood and my windshield it barely cracked on the surface. Would not have happened if the rock would have had time to come to earth (or the road in this case) before hitting my box. It's all about timing, speed and how close you are to the vehicle in front of you...I am sorry to hear about your damage though. Have you tried just using some bug and tar remover and buffing it to at least get it looking a little better until you can afford to fix it properly?

 

I usually try not to follow close behind anyone else either but when you are travelling on a congested freeway it is hard to keep your distance and equally as hard to dodge large objects without causing another accident. Even if you stay far far away from other cars, objects like rocks or screws bounce around before they come to a stop on the floor. The crack in my windshield came from some butthead who tried avoiding a windshield wiper? in a minivan but ended up running over it anyway on the freeway like 500 feet ahead of me... I drove for a good 3-5 seconds two lanes away from that debris before hearing a "SMACK" and the next morning a 1ft. crack appeared from the little crater the debris made.

 

Oh Man! I would hurt someone if that haoppened to me

 

Another victim of the road gator! That sucks, but it gives you an excuse to get a CF hood...

 

i was looking on ebay today and i saw one with a scoop for under 400 bucks not to bad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-04...QQcmdZViewItem