My first unfortunate encounter.. of the worst kind

[Daniel]

Hey there...

I had to share my unfortunate encounter with the sidewalk with everyone. It happened on sat. afternoon... I pulled into a driveway of a parking lot and bottomed out and smashed in my front end under the bumper... What happened is the angle of the road and the driveway was/is to steep. As soon is I turned in (was making a left) it bottomed out. I checked it out but at first I didn't notice everything.... all I saw were some scratches were the paint had been scraped off. I went into the store and complained (nicely) but the people in the store said that they know it's a problem but they can't do anything about it. I would have to complain to the city! I was bummed out!

Later in the day I was walking towards my cruiser and from the front I noticed how bad it actually was... the very center of the car under the bumper was indented just as if it was made that way... but of course it wasn't.

I got home and called the insurance company and it's in the shop as I write but they called this afternoon and said they have to take the entire front apart in order to assess the total damage... and on top of that the ins. co. said they doubt the city will take responsibility or pay for any of it! Now I'm really bummed and PO-ed.

Bottom line I will have to shell out around $700.00 bucks to get her back home. Morale of the story watch were you turn and the angle of the road way. I don't know how anyone could even think about lowering there rides.

Anyway thanks for listening to me vent.

ptcruizerman
Daniel

PS.. does anyone know how to fight city hall?

[sakigt]

I have a list of stores I can't go into because Im too low.
I would have bought a new bumper off ebay and did it myself.

[Hooligan]

Daniel:
No idea with the fighting with the city, unless you have a attorney on retainer.

We have a Home Depot that has the same problem on FL3. You have to be VERY careful as there is MANY gouge marks in the apron from trailers that have scraped during the IN or OUT. Seems like Florida needs to have the street berm low to take care of the water in case we have a 100 year rain.

Sorry about the problem to your car, we all have to be on the stick as we make our entrance and departures.

[Gary04GT]

quote:...I don't know how anyone could even think about lowering there rides.

[OurPTGT]

that sucks man. The front fascia comes off in less than a half hour with the use of a few hand tools. Unless the urathane is torn all it should need is to be filled & painted where the scratches are. The is no metal behind it to bend UnLESS you hit it so hard you went into the trans cooler[:I] 7 bills seems kinda high doesn't it folks?

[GTSteve]

I lowered mine 1.75 in the front and fortunately I've only scraped a couple times lightly. I suppose I'll be crying the blues if I ever slam into a driveway. It's probably only a matter of time before it happens too. Until then, I'll enjoy the look and the improved handling. [8)]

[MichaelDay]

I have many scraps and scratches under the front of my GT (stock height) from dragging going in and out of driveways and parking lots.[:0] Although I still get an unpleasant surprise at times, I find that the steeper the grade of the drive the more you need to angle in rather than approaching straight on. Particularly turning left into some drive approaches, I have to hit them at about a 60 degree angle to keep from dragging. That puts one of your tires up on the slope almost as soon as the front so the front of the car starts to lift earlier.

[IRPT]

Didn't noticed this until I jacked my PT up to install the lowering springs, the previous owner must not have been very cautious when entering driveways. Since purchasing the Cruiser I have been very cautious entering/exiting driveways,etc, even more so now that it has been lowered 2 inches.

[Punch]

IRPT, that hitting curbs while parking.

[IRPT]

Punch, now that you mention it that is what it looks like. I was wondering why the lower spoiler didn't show any corresponding damage. I did that once with my 72 Vette, learned my lesson.