Matt Yearwood

Hi everyone,
This I a recount of my interaction with blackstealth regarding the purchase of his used accolade c-spec front bumper that was listed for $300 CAD.

Around the end of august I PM'd blackstealth on rx-8 forum asking about his bumper, I also found an ad he had on kijiji (a canadian classified site much like Craigslist) so I messaged him through kijiji as I had no luck on the forum. He responded with kijiji, and confirmed it was still available.

At which point I asked about paint chipping and how well the fitment was since from the photos the fitment seemed a little off. He replied saying it did have paint chipping just from regular driving and that the fitment had already been done however there was damage to the driver side sidemarker light location (basically the whole top piece that side marker sandwiches between and the bumper bolts to the fender had broken. I was fine with this thinking it would be a quick and simple repair.

I also inquired about the height of the bumper and if it had the same amount of ground clearance as the oem bumper as I didn't really want something that sat lower to the ground than oem (especially with our winters up here). To which I was told it was the same height as the oem. I offered him asking price and an additional $40 for delivery which he was fine with.

The exchange went fine and I sat the bumper aside because I didn't have time to work on it. So november rolls around and I finally get some time to work on this thing (I acknowledge that some of this is my own fault, I should have done a better inspection of the bumper during the exchange and probably would have noticed some of the subtle indicators light the stress cracking in the paint job, of the issues that follow) so I started by repairing the side marker piece.

It was clear past repairs had been done, so I cleaned up the pieces applied an Adhesive and attached the 2 pieces in the way they lined up at least I thought (it was how it had been lined up in the previous repair and the only possible way that they lined up) After repair I went to test fit the bumper and it was clear it did not line up, it stuck out about a 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 an inch from the fender. At this point I realized that the sidemaker light did not even fit into the slot anymore but I just chalked it up to the repair that needed to be done as disclosed by blackstealth in our conversing.

My real frustrations began next when I attended to fit the passenger side sidemarker light into the bumper and it was clear that modifications needed to be done to achieve proper fitment, but still I just brushed that off as it was only a small amount of work to be done. But then I really began to inspect the bumper.

At this point I notice that stress cracks in the paint had become much more defined and there was a large number of them in a number of different locations. And it was at this point that I began sanding to determine the depth of the cracks and it very quickly became evident that this bumper had been involved in at least one if not multiple mild collisions. Both support pillars that seperate the middle grille from the outer grill had cracks straight though the bumper where it connects to the bottom portion, there was major work done on the bottom section to reattach a significant section that had broken clean off on the driver side.

It then became apparent that not only was the repair done with incorrect materials (cheap fiberglass tape, the kind used for taping drywall corners and excessive amounts of resin (which I assume is why the repair kept recracking) and some crappy body filler material) which resulted in the body filler material to just crumble away once the paint was remove but that it was also not aligned correctly when the repair was done and must have been left off the bumper to set which was why the attachment point for the driverside was sticking out so far from the body. It appears as though a crap repair job caused the bumper to recrack from flexing and that instead of re-repairing it another layer of paint was applied to the bumper, I concluded that because there are at least 3 layer of paint coats (primer, base coat, clear coat) 3 damn full 3 layer paint jobs takes quite some time to sand through let me tell you.

I tried to contact the seller through his cell with a text to which I received the expected "new phone who dis" and then went on to try to contact him through the forum by PM. Just to receive some information on WTF happened to this bumper and the full story. The truth is I really don't mind doing the work on the bumper to get it all aligned and still would have purchased the bumper, I just would have asked to discount the price to cover some of the repair cost. I also discover that the bumper does in fact sit lower to the ground by about 2 inches.

So in closing the fitment I asked about was not just the sidemarker like I was told, and the ground clearance was not accurate. I doubt he will be back on here as it seems he is done with the rx-8 but if he ever does come back I implore people to steer clear and not purchase anything he has to sell, he is not forth coming about all the facts and is clearly willing to sell things and be dishonest about there condition.

I've attached screenshots of our emails and photos of the damage to the bumper. I've been meaning to do this good guy /bad guy review for some time but haven't been able to find the time until now.

Matt Yearwood

For w.e reason I cannot get the photos to upload, ive tried the paperclip button, the little mountain button and the manage attachment button if im doing something incorrectly let me know, if need be I can send the photos to someone who has the ability to upload them.

NotAPreppie

This wall of text is hard to read mostly because it's a wall of text.
Any chance you can try using paragraphs? You know, just to see how it feels?

Matt Yearwood

Lol very true, I've never been good with proper punctuation and body format. I edited to the bestof my ability hopefully that makes it easier for everyone.

​​

Matt Yearwood

Here are photos of what I uncovered once paint removal began. And a summary of our interactions. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...0819758cd7.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...bce903dc4d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6cf94f4516.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d2c3551729.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ccbac30927.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...fca2370738.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...d596b6bd89.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...532e289ccd.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...cb78792d04.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...a34d3256b2.png
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...2b688f8b00.png
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...ea5223a340.png
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...812ceeac38.png

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The pics that you posted should be OK at that size. Don't try to upload 5+MB files... but you don't need that anyway. I'm not sure what the limit is but you can do 2MB or so before it seems to be an issue. I'll ask and see what the upper limit is. Often if you post... they get dumped into the moderation que if they are too big

Matt Yearwood

Thanks dannobre,
The pictures I posted came up as links idk why but are they visible to you?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Strange thing about this is if I try to edit your post the pictures come up as pictures not links.... not sure what's up with this. I will send it down to IB to look at