New Z owner! + front bumper curbed pretty good tonight..
 

Hey everyone! Bought a 2011 gun metallic 6MT sport pkg coupe about 2 weeks ago. Awesome car, came from a couple of 1.8t Audis..was in the market for something along the lines of the e92 m, but found that for $40k less, I could have excellent braking performance, massive lateral g, and essentially, a racecar for low dollars. Totally in love with the car.

Sadly, tonight I ran over a parking curb not thinking twice about it. All of my previous cars have made it over these bastards and let me know they were there by nuzzling the front tires. Instead, I had a nice "CRUNCH!!!," to get out and find a nice dent in the front spoiler and right "fang" area of the front bumper. I'm thinking the whole front air dam will need replacement. If it's inside of a grand I'll probably pay cash, if not, it'll be an insurance claim. I'm going to have pics up within the next few hours as I won't be able to sleep..anyone have experience with a rook move like this? Hurts my heart...poor car.

:shakes head:


edit: windshield washer fluid tells me it's low too!

Almost happened to me a few times. On a Z, you cant see the curb.

I dont even go thru an ATM drivethru. I just park the car and walk up to an ATM (non-drivethru ATM) to get cash.

The front of the Z is longer that most other cars I owned. So when I pull into a parking space, I bump into the cement block all the time.

Yeah, I definitely havent gotten the feel of the dimensions of the car, hood is kind of bulbous to the L and R..always park next to a curb at work and get out to find I am a foot away when I felt lke I was close...was parallel parking when I did this, but I don't think it's as bad as I made it sound after taking a second look at it..

armed with iphone and lighter...

http://i55.tinypic.com/vrwqcn.jpg
tiny bit of curb rash

http://i55.tinypic.com/5u1rfm.jpg

^A good old buff will hit the spot.
No one will notice!

Wow, that bites. Yeah man I don't play with curbs. No drive throughs if they have curbs. Always do the walkup ATM and walk in to get your Baconators. No sense in curbing the wheels for a Frosty.


....and where in SWFL are you?

Sorry to hear about the damage but glad you love the Z!

I know your pain. If you ever lower your ride ( heck even stock) you better watch out for pulling in parking spots with a curb. Good thing the car is so short, you don't have to pull all the way into a parking spot.

+1. Short car ftw.

back into spots using the rear view camera on the 11's - that should keep you out of trouble

Hey bro, check this out.

2009-2011- NISSAN 370 Z FRONT BUMPER COVER - eBay (item 320640484099 end time Feb-07-11 13:14:58 PST)

I mean a repaint plus the cost of bumper would more than likely be less
than $1,000, plus you could get the fangs blacked out while your at it..

Lmao, thanks for the warm welcome fellas. Had my flamesuit on just in case w/ the bumper & all. What do you think Nissan would charge to fix something like this? I'll go downstairs and get daylight pics in a few

"no sense in curbing the wheels for a frosty"

:icon18:

I feel your pain... I am impatient and tend to go ninety miles an hour into parking spots.

I curbed mine a couple of times as well.... make sure to watch out when you are parking as well. It is really easy to scuff the wheels on any parallel concrete pieces while you are backing out!

Get some touch up paint and never pull all the way forward into a spot. Also make sure to go very slow over bumps and take steep curbs at an angle.

Stearnsy..... go to a good body shop and see what they can do. I looked at having my front bumper repainted and the estimated 200-300. Are there any dents or is it just paint work?

Sorry to hear of your curbing. The only curbing I did once, was on my brand new 01 Integra back in the day. Since then, 5 cars later, I've been exceptionally careful. No ATM's, no drive throughs... just parking far away and being patient... oh and of course, not letting the Mrs. drive it :) hehe

ouch. :(

Ouch... I went out to a restaurant one night that was so full I had to park on the grass. I yelled a ton of expletives when the tires sunk off asphalt to dirt ground that was nearly 4" deep. When leaving the restaurant, the front end barely made it back on the asphalt, but the F.I. exhaust grinded as the rear wheels climbed. Luckily it was just the back end of the canister, and the bottom is still pretty clean. [sigh]

I parked on Tuesday at the bank. I came out to find I had tried to put the nose over the side walk. I bet I couldn't get 5 sheets of paper between the car and curb. Thankfully I missed. I can't make out the OP's photos, but if the fang is too bad, maybe those carbon fiber covers would fix the blemish.

We dented in the front bumper much like that on our 350Z. Popped it out from behind an hour later and you can not tell it was ever dented in. Won't hurt to try.

As long as the bumper isn't cracked or torn, a good body shop can fix it. The bumper is super easy to remove at least.

Now do the other side and say its a body kit D:

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who ran their z into a curb.

Went to a body shop today, skipped the dealer for now..they want to do a brand new front bumper cover as the car is essentially brand new. That, the lower spoiler, a windshield washer fluid reservoir and rim repair for the little bit of rash is roughly going to be $1300.

My deductible isn't astronomical like some folks I know, so I'll probably go that route. As soon as I said that, he said we could do brand new wheel ($921 list!) and a new Potenza :) There's a little slit in the sidewall near the rim, but he said it's okay for daily drivig--but warned me to not drive "too fast" on it.

Really not so bad. I'm going to get another shot before the sun sets here in an hour..the bottom of the front bumper is dented nicely.

Whatever you end up doing, wait a little while. You're prone to do it again:roflpuke2:

+1. No Mrs... :iagree:

http://i53.tinypic.com/21llonl.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/295r2ut.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/2af0mcz.jpg
The extent of the wheel damage near the tip of my thumb. Note tire damage as well..

http://i52.tinypic.com/34pfmeo.jpg
fender liner gone..windshield washer fluid reservoir

Ouch man.... that looks like it hurt. Really sorry to see that. I would get that fixed asap, but from my experience (wife fender bender before), that should be around $700 - $1000. It will be fixing the dent, plus repainting at least that area, if not the whole bumper.

We will see what the insurance adjuster says. The body shop said they would prefer to use a brand new front bumper because the car is brand new.

I'm not stupid--they will probably make more money for using a brand new OEM part instead of repairing. At the same time, I agree with him. The car has 1200 miles on it, 500 of which are mine, and I want it brand new. I almost had an anxiety attack when I hit the curb and saw the damage, seriously. I want my showroom condition car back, stat.

Up in North Port. I see you're in Ft.M, like 45 mins from here. Hook me up w/ some meets mayne!

Muahaha, great point. :tup: