NYC Curb Carnage

[adamred]

So after much ribbing last year I decided to finally have my car lowered from US ride height/Rally height to euro. So from this



to this





Nice, very happy, got a 4 wheel alignment, this thing tracks straight awesome handling, a bit bone and teeth jarring and looks great, very happy....

Now my other car is in the shop so have been taking the p-car everywhere including NYC for client meetings. Pulled out of the garage and heard a scrape didn't think too much of it. In fact forgot until Saturday morning, when I was greeted by this when I opened the garage...





Ugghh. So is the best thing to buy a brand new valence and have it painted, are most used rough anyway? Will a body shop paint such a small piece? And when I ask for paint do I refer just to the code or should I ask for a specific brand of paint....ahhh the perils of being low!

Adam

[adamred]

[jbryant]

Is it me...or is your front tire bigger than the rear tire?

[RoninLB]

if you were ever considering a dual out muffler maybe god was calling upon you that day in NYC

[RickM]

Remove, try to carefully straighten and then remount. The underlying Body Shutz may mask any slight imperfections. Small piece-work may be a pain to get refinished. If you need someone let me know.

[adamred]

Must just be camera angle, tires are appropriate sizes....16" 225 out back, 205 front...

Thanks Rick, you think I can straighten it? It seems almost ripped.

Funny about the dual out, thought the same thing!

[RickM]

Adam,

I't's hard to tell from the pics. The valance is separate from the rear flare extension piece.

I found the valance material to be very soft and workable. If there is obvious paint damage then consider how serious. If not too bad then touch-up paint may used, a little worse then premixed aeresol paint (and Schutz) and if beyond that (and your capabilities) then have professionally refinished.
I'd guess it'll cost between $150 - $200 from the guy I know to fix.

[adamred]

Thanks Rick:
I'm going to remove it tonight and see what I can do, perhaps a temporary fix will be to bring it back as best I can and go from there.

The paint on the valence is already pretty beat up, so maybe time just to repaint..

Adam

[JeremyD]

I had a similar ding (an inny instead of an outy) and that was the justification that I needed to add a dansk dual out! "see honey - for less than repairing the ding I can get a dual out exhaust!" I'm saving money!

[adamred]

Nice looking ride Jeremy, that's going to be a tough one to sell to the Mrs....

[Rick Lee]

The only way to fix this is to match your Euro ride height with a Euro bumper, SSI's, a dual-out muffler and.... ah what the hell....bigger cams.