My 1990 300zxtt: My whip!

[nubbiecakez]

This past wednesday i was sitting patiently at a red light when, the next thing i know, i have a ford F250 pick-up truck in my bumper. I got rearended... and sparing you the very long story and all the details i may be able to get a whole paint job out of it since they are going to have to quote it to match the metal flake paint job i had. i may need a new rear bumper too, but it defineatly could have been worse, still very drive able but the trunk goes almost half and inch past the back of the car now. i'll keep you updated on how the situation progresses.

 

[Quagmire]

Sounds nasty, glad it's not too bad though.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Yeah, i'll get some pics up when i can. i just realized i never put the hid pics up too, i'll do that asap as well.


and a little side note, my z31 needs some final missing and idling issues worked out and with a set of wheels she'll be on the road

 

[nubbiecakez]

claims adjuster came out this morning, he quoted the bumper repair at 12 hrs of labor and said they'd pay to match the paint and replace the tail light lens that cracked. Matching the paint will most likely be more than a whole paint job, so i'll probabaly opt for a candy apple red paint if that is the way it turns out.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Working on figuring out how i'm going to pay the difference to get the whole car painted(insurance check was for $1370, body guy quoted a whole plain red paint job, everything included at $3000... gonna get some second opinions). Still want candy apple red...

 

[Russ]

Woah that's unlucky, must be a fair bit of work to pull out the rear.

I do like the candy paints, but then you're back into the fun of matching if you ever ding it

Seems odd though that they'll pay to match an unmatchable paint? Unless paint matching has come along a lot, I had a chat with a guy from house of color a while back and he said their ability to match the candy paints was just around the corner. Thinking about it the conversation was about 6 years ago now heh.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Had an epiphany the other night. Thought to myself, with the help of some friendly suggestions, "Why don't i just fix what insurance is paying for?" So i think i'm going to have them fix the bumper and try to match the paint since i found a guy who claims he can get it "pretty close". If it's too bad i'm sure he'll have to reconcile it. I'm also thinking i'll have them paint the front bumper and the pass fender where it looks like it got repainted and is missing flake, so that should mean all the spots where it was missing flake will be fixed and it should look pretty good after that. This way i can get a top notch paint job when i can afford it, i like my sparkly paint anyways. Also my Stillen nose panel is a little scarred i'm gonna see if they can smooth it out too so i can smack a Z emblem in the middle of it. Hopefully i'll only have to shell out $500 of my own since they'll most likely have the paint left over from painting the rear bumper. I'll let you know when she's in the shop (hopefully by next week).

 

[nubbiecakez]

The metal flake will be gone soon. Going to try to get the car in this week (hoping it will be done in time for prom). Was reffed to a guy who used to do a lot of body kits and molded kits by a very trustworthy paint and body place. Said he'd do the whole car for $2500 smoothing out the whole body, door jambs, trunk and hood, fixing every dent, repairing the rear and repainting all the weather stripping black, basically said he'd make it look really good. That price is not counting the money i've received from insurance, so i'll be paying less than $1500 out of pocket. I really wish my paint job wern't so bad because that flake looks really nice on a sunny day, but it's impossible to match and when it was done the first time it was done really shitty. Talked myself out of candy apple or pearescents because i'd have the same problem if i get hit again. Gonna go for a "mucle car" type red or metallic red, this way i can touch it up as needed. Wish me luck, and if you know any good deep reds i'd appreciate the suggestions (kinda thinking the viper or ferrari type red, almost maroone).

 

[Russ]

Sounds good, and for me fancy paint jobs are for show cars that live on a stand and are never driven, just not practical enough to be used Are there any Z33/Z34 or other Nissan reds that look good??

 

[nubbiecakez]

Car is in the shop, they are beginning prep work. For the time being i have a damn kia rio base model rental. Anyway i got insurance to buy me all new rear lights to replace the one that was cracked. I haven't decided on a red yet, the nissan reds are too bright and too close to orange. I want a mettalic red, i kinda like the one dodge uses on their cars, a darker red. It's called inferno red and so far i like it the best, still looking though, need to decide soon so they can order the paint but there is a lot of prep to do. I'm even thinking about the red on the new mustangs, closer to maroone but not quite that dark, still obviously red.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Saw my baby yesterday. Decided on the metallic red dodge uses on their cars. Rear bumper was fixed and some of the dents had been filled. Car's all stripped down but already looks better, should be getting the tail lights from ebay today. Painter said he'd try to have it ready by friday.

 

[nubbiecakez]

The wait is killing me! I'll have my car back tuesday at the latest. Me and my mom were talking today and she mentioned a graduation present, so i may be getting new wheels soon (i'd resell the stock ones i just bought). I was thinking about the 350z track edition wheels (the light weight like 18lb. 18x8/18x8.5). This would help me keep from scraping my kit when i go up and down hills too.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Got my car back on Thursday, but my brakes haven't worked since. My brake booster went out, just bought a new one so hopefully i'll be driving again soon, but until then i have practically no brakes.

 

[nubbiecakez]

Even though i still can't drive her, here are the pics of the new paint.

P.S. Notice the stock wheels have been put on.

 

[nubbiecakez]

And here are a couple from the collision and the old paint.

 

[nubbiecakez]

and finally the 6000k 55w HID comparison pics i never got back around to.

 

[nubbiecakez]

a couple more of hids