View Full Version : Why you shouldn't #apexeverything
Sometimes, you get a little too close to the wall in your parking garage.
I have a feeling that the little encounter I had this evening is going to be the start of a very lengthy and expensive process. I hope the prices on Tesla bodywork have come down some...
clyde
12-17-2015, 11:30 PM
Sometimes, you get a little too close to the wall in your parking garage.
I have a feeling that the little encounter I had this evening is going to be the start of a very lengthy and expensive process. I hope the prices on Tesla bodywork have come down some...
Ouch. Sorry to hear. I think someone else here did something similar once, but it wasn't in a magic car.
There's just something about parking garages.
I learned that the clear-bra does a surprisingly good job at shrugging off curbs that jump out at your bumper.
Ouch…
The ~1" road debris damage I had on mine cost about $3k to repair. All that was done:
- replaced & painted the rear bumper cover (it was cut by the debris right behind the driver's rear tire, where it contacts metal
- re-painted the driver's side rear quarter panel. There was no damage to the metal, but the debris cracked the paint.
Pretty sure the rear 1/4 panel is going to have to be replaced, just because of the location of the damage. The door skin might be OK with a repaint.
20K is my guess. We'll see how close I am.
wdc330i
12-18-2015, 09:44 AM
Ugh. Been there, done that. But in a Honda Accord hatchback. Oh, but I did catch a curb with the M3, too. Oops.
Three authorized body shops in "the area" (which apparently includes Richmond and Annapolis), so really it's just Euro Pros in Gaithersburg. Folks on here have talked about them, right? I feel like TD went there at some point.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/18/c901f4aeb74bea1ee8808be040996a85.jpg
PDR and trade it in. Time for something new anyway. :D
PDR and trade it in. Time for something new anyway. :D
Given the amount of time I am sure it will take and the cost of the accompanying rental car, believe me--it's a thought that crossed my mind. Repeatedly.
Jeff_DML
12-18-2015, 10:25 AM
PDR and trade it in. Time for something new anyway. :D
Yes
Nick M3
12-18-2015, 10:40 AM
You'd need just as much filler replacing the quarter panel as hammering that out. I'd expect the panel fixed.
lupinsea
12-18-2015, 12:54 PM
Yeah, I'm no expert in body work but it doesn't look so bad that it couldn't be repaired rather than replaced. And I'd think there would be less work repairing it, no? On most cars the front quarter panels are bolts on but aren't the rear quarter panels usually integral to the unibody?
And bummer.
Three authorized body shops in "the area" (which apparently includes Richmond and Annapolis), so really it's just Euro Pros in Gaithersburg. Folks on here have talked about them, right? I feel like TD went there at some point.
Yes, we used them for work on the Audi. Twice. Both times, it was very high quality work. But they were Wagonwerks caliber slow.
Josh (PA)
12-18-2015, 01:40 PM
wow, you're lucky it didn't catch on fire.
I'm with everyone else. Have the parts filled/repainted and trade it in on something new.
Sometimes, you get a little too close to the wall in your parking garage.
I have a feeling that the little encounter I had this evening is going to be the start of a very lengthy and expensive process. I hope the prices on Tesla bodywork have come down some...
:ack:
Sickening feeling when that realization sets in. Condolences.
Ouch. Sorry to hear. I think someone else here did something similar once, but it wasn't in a magic car.
I did it once in 2003 or so in my E46. Just ruined a wheel though, no panels. If that's what you're thinking of, shit, good memory! Check out the big brain on clyde.
Jeff_DML
12-18-2015, 01:50 PM
so JST is the tesla actually fun to drive once you get over the instantaneous torque high?
clyde
12-18-2015, 02:32 PM
I did it once in 2003 or so in my E46. Just ruined a wheel though, no panels. If that's what you're thinking of, shit, good memory! Check out the big brain on clyde.
*cough (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19926)*
clyde
12-18-2015, 02:39 PM
so JST is the tesla actually fun to drive once you get over the instantaneous torque high?
Is that something one can get over? Like certain drugs, I thought one just built up tolerance and needed more. :dunno:
*cough (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19926)*
Wow, that was a long time ago.
clyde
12-18-2015, 02:39 PM
so JST is the tesla actually fun to drive once you get over the instantaneous torque high?
Is that something one can get over? Like certain drugs, I thought one just built up tolerance and needed more, but never "get over." :dunno:
so JST is the tesla actually fun to drive once you get over the instantaneous torque high?
That part never, ever gets old. It's especially awesome in a roll-on from about 25 or 30, where every other car on the planet needs to downshift but you just GO.
Otherwise, yeah, it's...well, "fun" isn't exactly the right word. Satisfying. It's so smooth it makes everything else feel busy and over-complicated.
But I wouldn't want to give up my gas-burning self-shifters completely.
*cough (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19926)*
Wow, that was a long time ago.
Seriously!
I guess I just forgot I scraped the side skirt too. I can picture it in my head now that I read that. Never did anything to fix it. I was the only one who ever noticed the scrape.
clyde
12-18-2015, 02:52 PM
Never did anything to fix it. I was the only one who ever noticed the scrape.
I have a feeling that the little encounter I had this evening is going to be the start of a very lengthy and expensive process.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/18/c901f4aeb74bea1ee8808be040996a85.jpg
Do you have to fix it?
Do you have to fix it?
Now you're just being mean. :lol:
clyde
12-18-2015, 03:22 PM
Now you're just being mean. :lol:
Seriously...
As much as it would bug me to have that reminder staring at me, I'm not sure I could bring myself to spend money to fix it. I'd probably have to be in "sell" mode and believe that I'd recover the repair cost in the sale. If not in sell mode, I'd probably clean it up as best I can for as little money and effort and live with it. Unlikely, but what if something else happened in the same area? I'd really hate to pay to fix the same thing twice.
The FoST has an ever growing collection of scars. About six things that I'd like ot magically fix themselves, but, meh. Only one is really noticeable if you're not looking for it, but still.
Is that something one can get over? Like certain drugs, I thought one just built up tolerance and needed more. :dunno:
Is that something one can get over? Like certain drugs, I thought one just built up tolerance and needed more, but never "get over." :dunno:
He can remember something posted 12 years ago but can't remember he already replied moments earlier.
Hmmm..
Drugs are bad, m'kay?
John V
12-18-2015, 05:44 PM
so JST is the tesla actually fun to drive once you get over the instantaneous torque high?
I'm not JST, but ... no. The power delivery is really fantastic, but the rest of the car is not remotely a driver's car. It's extremely heavy and while there's good grip, the car is resistant to changing direction and there's about as much steering feel as in a Prius. The stability control is super intrusive (and you can't disable it) and the car is huge. The seats also have zero lateral support (the ones in my truck have more) and the leather is really slippery, so you end up bracing yourself against the door panel and holding yourself up with the steering wheel.
It's fun to be able to smoke everything else on the road up to about 70MPH and that does not get old. But the rest of the car is very meh from a driving standpoint.
Sorry about the damage. :( I backed into a guardrail a few years ago in my ZHP and scratched the crap out of the rear bumper. I got a little used to the backup sensors and the angle I was at didn't trigger them. I was pretty pissed about it, but I never fixed it and sold the car like that a year later.
Jeff_DML
12-18-2015, 06:22 PM
I'm not JST, but ... no. The power delivery is really fantastic, but the rest of the car is not remotely a driver's car. It's extremely heavy and while there's good grip, the car is resistant to changing direction and there's about as much steering feel as in a Prius. The stability control is super intrusive (and you can't disable it) and the car is huge. The seats also have zero lateral support (the ones in my truck have more) and the leather is really slippery, so you end up bracing yourself against the door panel and holding yourself up with the steering wheel.
It's fun to be able to smoke everything else on the road up to about 70MPH and that does not get old. But the rest of the car is very meh from a driving standpoint.
...
I haven’t driven one but that matches what I was expecting. Also I am more of a drive a slow car fast type of guy.
IndyMike
12-18-2015, 06:30 PM
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/18/c901f4aeb74bea1ee8808be040996a85.jpg
Wait! That can't be your car. It's not blue. ;)
That part never, ever gets old. It's especially awesome in a roll-on from about 25 or 30, where every other car on the planet needs to downshift but you just GO.
Otherwise, yeah, it's...well, "fun" isn't exactly the right word. Satisfying. It's so smooth it makes everything else feel busy and over-complicated.
I would pretty much agree with this. The acceleration never gets old. But it is a large and heavy car -- while the low center of gravity makes it corner really well, it is a huge vehicle... And I love the smoothness and lack of vibration (and the vibration bugs me when driving almost any gasser, especially my wife's Mini...)
The seats also have zero lateral support (the ones in my truck have more) and the leather is really slippery, so you end up bracing yourself against the door panel and holding yourself up with the steering wheel.
Those seats are being phased out. Currently only avail in cloth. Getting leather is now "Next Gen" seats only. I haven't sat in them yet, but just looking at them, it appears to correct all the support issues...
I can't really disagree with anything JV wrote. The seats are terrible. The new ones are better.
It also is a big, heavy car, and you feel that. It has some squeaks and groans going over big bumps that make it seem less stiff, structurally, than it actually is.
I wouldn't want it as my only car. Oddly, though, the size and lack of feedback don't bother me that much going from the Porsche to the Tesla--not as much as going from the Porsche to the E90 M3 did.
Maybe that's because the Tesla is so obviously a different kind of car? It's not trying to be sporty. It's just trying to be big and fast, which it does well.
Driving out of the garage tonight, I figured out what happened. The valets left a car parked on the ramp on the outside edge of the curve. There's enough space to get by, but psychologically it makes you move over to the right. I just moved over a little too far.
.
Maybe that's because the Tesla is so obviously a different kind of car? It's not trying to be sporty. It's just trying to be big and fast, which it does well.
Sorry to hear you did some damage but today's body shops are incredible, I'm sure when you get it fixed and get past the fact it had some repaint you will be ok ... I know it's depressing to think about but time heals all wounds and if it doesn't ... well then you can sell it.
Meanwhile you guys keep saying this car is fast, what is the 0-60 on it ? I looked up some times for Tesla's but they seem to vary from the 3's up to the 5's depending on the model ...
Nick M3
12-19-2015, 08:40 AM
Sorry to hear you did some damage but today's body shops are incredible, I'm sure when you get it fixed and get past the fact it had some repaint you will be ok ... I know it's depressing to think about but time heals all wounds and if it doesn't ... well then you can sell it.
Meanwhile you guys keep saying this car is fast, what is the 0-60 on it ? I looked up some times for Tesla's but they seem to vary from the 3's up to the 5's depending on the model ...
As low as 2.8 seconds.
But, remember that the key difference is that there's no delay for downshifting, no waiting for turbos to spool, and no calculus of whether or not it's worth downshifting or just gutting it out in a bad part of the power band, just hit the throttle and it digs. On paper, it doesn't seem that much faster, but in real life it is massively so.
John V
12-19-2015, 08:52 AM
That and the management of traction is much better than in a car with an IC engine
Yeah, mine isn't that fast by the numbers--mid fives to 60, IIRC. Mine "only" has the 360 hp single rear motor.* But Nick it right--it's the immediacy and flexibility that is the difference. In the real world, this car is much faster than it seems on paper.
*Tesla has been...less than forthright about its power figures recently. 360 hp was the original rating of my motor. Current single motor RWD Teslas are rated higher, but Tesla has gone to a "motor power" rating that gives the hp the motor is theoretically capable of without acknowledging the limits imposed by the battery voltage.
That's why the P85D and P90D have such silly high hp ratings (690 and 726, IIRC). In the real world, both cars max out around 550 hp, because the battery just can't provide enough power to hit the theoretical maximums of their motors.
Yeah, mine isn't that fast by the numbers--mid fives to 60, IIRC. Mine "only" has the 360 hp single rear motor.* But Nick it right--it's the immediacy and flexibility that is the difference. In the real world, this car is much faster than it seems on paper.
*Tesla has been...less than forthright about its power figures recently. 360 hp was the original rating of my motor. Current single motor RWD Teslas are rated higher, but Tesla has gone to a "motor power" rating that gives the hp the motor is theoretically capable of without acknowledging the limits imposed by the battery voltage.
That's why the P85D and P90D have such silly high hp ratings (690 and 726, IIRC). In the real world, both cars max out around 550 hp, because the battery just can't provide enough power to hit the theoretical maximums of their motors.
That immediate response must be incredible ... I hate when I floor my 550 and you have to literally wait 2 seconds sometimes between the drive by wire delay and the downshift.
Meanwhile the car is fast as hell ... 0-60 is in the low 4's ... So I can definitely relate to the tesla being a big fast 4 door, when reading John's review I was thinking about how my car compares to it.
Nick M3
12-19-2015, 11:58 AM
That immediate response must be incredible ... I hate when I floor my 550 and you have to literally wait 2 seconds sometimes between the drive by wire delay and the downshift.
Meanwhile the car is fast as hell ... 0-60 is in the low 4's ... So I can definitely relate to the tesla being a big fast 4 door, when reading John's review I was thinking about how my car compares to it.
Swapping a 5'er for a Tesla would probably be a pretty easy transition if you can live with the range.
John V
12-19-2015, 02:19 PM
One of the first things I became aware of when driving the Tesla is that you don't really have to plan ahead to close a gap in traffic. You punch it and you're there. With most modern cars which are DBW and turbocharged, you hit the throttle and by the time the turbo has spooled your gap has closed.
Unfortunately (at least from my point of view) the Model S is kind of a one-trick pony. I think Tesla could probably make an engaging car. The engineering talent and rigor is obviously there.
Jeff_DML
12-19-2015, 02:25 PM
One of the first things I became aware of when driving the Tesla is that you don't really have to plan ahead to close a gap in traffic. You punch it and you're there. With most modern cars which are DBW and turbocharged, you hit the throttle and by the time the turbo has spooled your gap has closed.
Unfortunately (at least from my point of view) the Model S is kind of a one-trick pony. I think Tesla could probably make an engaging car. The engineering talent and rigor is obviously there.
you don't have one do you? you just test drove one
John V
12-19-2015, 06:03 PM
A good friend of mine has one so I've driven it a fair amount.
It's a cool car that would fit my commute very well but it's way out of my price range.
rumatt
12-20-2015, 12:27 PM
Oh man sorry JST.
But I'm with clyde. If there's a ghetto fix option the looks OK-ish I might just go with that.
The battery in that think can't possibly last much longer anyway right? :p
Still waiting on an estimate from Europros. Digging through similar stories on TMC, it looks like a) it's not something they are going to be able to pound out, and b) rear quarter panel replacement is in the 10-20K range.
EDIT: Oh, and 6-8 weeks seems like a common repair time frame.
I'm really starting to dislike this car.
Nick M3
12-29-2015, 03:58 PM
Still waiting on an estimate from Europros. Digging through similar stories on TMC, it looks like a) it's not something they are going to be able to pound out, and b) rear quarter panel replacement is in the 10-20K range.
EDIT: Oh, and 6-8 weeks seems like a common repair time frame.
I'm really starting to dislike this car.
Well, able to and willing to are different things. :p
Well, able to and willing to are different things. :p
Actually, estimate just came through. $7500, which is obvs. a lot better than I feared, though still kind of nutty.
That is a better estimate... Sounds like Tesla is trying to keep the repair costs more in-line...
Actually, estimate just came through. $7500, which is obvs. a lot better than I feared, though still kind of nutty.
Someone backed into my old e46 and dented the hood. Was $5000 to fix back in 06!
Pinecone
01-10-2016, 08:16 AM
There's just something about parking garages.
I learned that the clear-bra does a surprisingly good job at shrugging off curbs that jump out at your bumper.
Yes it does.
However, you CAN swipe a curb and rub through the clear bra into the finish. :(
Actually, estimate just came through. $7500, which is obvs. a lot better than I feared, though still kind of nutty.
...and now the supplemental. Which is 20.
EDIT: Still working this through. Can't figure out why it is so high.
If I ever suggest buying another one of these things, can someone come over and kick my ass?
If I ever suggest buying another one of these things, can someone come over and kick my ass?
Deal.
Anyhow, did you mean "20" as in $20,000.00?(!!!)
Quarter panel and door on the m3 was over $15k back in 2004. :dunno:
Yes. 20 thousand, presumably US dollars.
Jeff_DML
02-04-2016, 07:16 PM
Yes. 20 thousand, presumably US dollars.
pesos would be nice
that is a :eek:
clyde
02-04-2016, 08:20 PM
I apexed the curb on the corner of 16th and Colorado the other day giving my right rear wheel a little rash and a small scuff on the tire, but no visible blister or aneurysm. After two days, hasn't lost any air.
If I felt compelled (and I almost do), a new wheel is $137 shipped from Tire Rack. Terribly embarrassing, but it feels good to type it out loud in front of my peers. Having this thread available to do so is a true blessing.
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