Body Damage need options
 

ok, so on my way home from school today I was behind a bus, the bus kicked up some tire tread from an earlier blow out (guy was changing the blow out at the rest stop about 1/4 down the parkway) and it hit my front bumper, cracked a peice off my bumper cover that the air dam(?) is connect to, lost a bunch of screws and clips, the plastic is falling off under the car, the paint is cracked on the bumper.

i'm assuming the bumper cover needs to be replaced and a plastic peice or two need to as well because where teh triangle is in the middle of the bumper under the grill. One of the plastic things is cracked as well.

Now i'm considering putting a body kit on it with the insurance money, I need/want suggestions or hints as to where I can get a veilside, MS, or other nice body kit for probably around $1000. Not sure what the insurance quote will be yet but with my experience with other peoples cars and estimates, the same amount of damage is roughly around $1000.

I've been looking to no avail and need help please don't flame me. I'm in a really pissy mood right now because of this. Oh and BTW yes the car is SS. so the SS curse still lingers, i was hoping i'd be an exception of the rule until around 7:30 PM when this happened.

Result when a chunk of tire hits a front bumper at 70 MPH

I got the MS front new from Mazda for $1300.00 Don't get the Veilside, it doesn't look good on the 8.

ms is nice and clean look. my favorite is the autobahn. here are pics of mine.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/autobahn-installed-plus-more-155135/ :)

Doesn't look as bad as it seemed before. Though some of the bumper cover was broken off still so itll have to be replace which will probably be the most costly part.

Heres the pics:

http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0365.jpg
http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0370.jpg

Picture below, where the two peices of plastic come together, they dont stay like that, they both hang down like bomb bay doors......
http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0371.jpg
http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0372.jpg
http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0373.jpg
http://usdiver.org/car/IMG_0375.jpg

make sure to tell the insurance it ripped ur rotary accent off:)

I like the MS kit the best, its a bit pricey. Anyone know where I can get the MS kit cheaper than through mazda? I'm not sure of reputable places to buy kits from and would like to also have a place that ships fast.

Whats better, fiberglass or the ABS kits? I know ABS warps more and will take more of a beating, a little more flexible than Fiberglass, but fiberglass is easier to repair, so is an ABS kit better or Fiberglass kit better?

If your going to get the ms PLEASE only buy it from mazda. It is the same quality of the oem bumper, witch NO aftermarket company can match when it comes to the ms kit.

Ok so the insurance company is pissing me off. I called them and asked what it would be covered under, my mom called back and she then called me and told me the guy at the insurance agency said i told him there was damage unrelated to this incident which is complete and utter bullshit. The car was imaculate until now save for a few minor scratches. This is going to piss me off if they claim the damage wasn't from the tire tread because it was. you can clearly see where the tire tread hit the bumper.

damn dude I hope they dont screw you

My damage estimate based on a website's exploded view:

1: Front Spoiler: $130
2: Front Retainer: $120
3: Bumper Cover: $416 (?, not sure if I actually need one)
4: Plastic from under Radiator: $?
5: Labor (?)
6: Paint (?)
7: Rental Car/Train (?)
9: Time lost from work (two days? = $125~$200)

Total: $650 ~ $1300

Not sure of the labor rates or the paint costs and such, so the high end is probably a rather high estimate. I'm getting an estimate tomarrow and will go from there what I do. Im waiting for the insurance company to call me back for the appraiser to schedule a time with me.

I know, I know, double posting. Does anyone know anything about www.body-kitz.com? are they reputable? Do the following kits have good tight fit or are they spacy and ugly?

Infini Flared Urethane Body Kit
Mint Body Kit
Any others?

The same exact situation at the moment with the same exact damage. I think the plastic pieces just need to be replaced. I'm going through a friend's dealership and trying to get them to say I need a new front bumper though. If so I dont think the air dam needs to be replaced, just pulled off so that will help with the cost. If that is the case, I'll probably try to go with a veilside front bumper. Let me know how everything works out because I'm in the same boat. I hit a tire on the highway as well.

That is his job; to give you as little as possible. I would call him back with your mother right there and straighten him out. And now that he has said that, I would pad the damage a little bit too. "Oh, BTW mr insurance guy, I have found a few more parts that were broken by the tire tread. Lets not forget to include those in the claim as well."


And for goodness sake make sure you tell him that the tire hit you. There was nothing you could do about it.
If you say "I hit a tire tread on the road and it caused damage." you will get NOTHING.
You hit it = your fault
It hit you = Comp claim

lube up and bend over and enjoy an old fashioned screwing by your insurance company. GL.

I have never heard anything good about body kits.com. Bad product bad fitment bad customer service.

I just got off the phone with the body shop and insurance person. The insurance person told me I have to bring it to an approved body shop for the estimate, then they'll go from there. So I called their "approved" body shop and was talking to the guy. Earliest they can look at it is on tuesday. So looks like I keep my well placed zip ties until at least tuesday. I dont wanna take the broken stuff off the car before then because of where the radiator is hanging down. So zip ties will have to do.

yay! Zip ties.

Yeah I have a pack of zip ties in my back seat incase I need more lol. Now I can ziptie the homeless people in Newark, NJ to telephone poles and such! or ziptie my friend to the campus toilet!

yeah I would go for the mazdaspeed front bumper i really like that one also

Went to a local body shop.

estimate: $1589.XX

All because of a fucking peice of tire tread!

Soooooo, who has the other 3 peices of the MS kit they wanna let go cheap? :p

Insurance argument continues! Insurance company called me about 35 minutes ago. They told me my insurance deductable was $500. I told them it should be $100 under comprehensive. The lady was like you hit the tire tread as it layed in the road. I was like, NO your wrong. A bus hit the tire tread, the tire tread was bouncing around in the road, unadvoidable. If i swerved I hit the car next to me or a guardrail, if i slammed the brakes i get rearended. I was like the tire tread was actively moving. I told her, it was sort of like if you drop a football on the ground, you don't know where it is going to bounce too. She said she'd have to take a recorded claim from me, and i said go ahead, it should be comprehensive. So i told her the same story I originally said for the recording. She said she'd foward it to her supervisor and the supervisor ultimately makes the decision. So hopefully it gets settled.

I go for the insurance company estimate tomarrow, and hopefully the car fixed by the end of next week.

Shit, sucks man. Good luck, hope you don't get reamed too hard.

I'm looking at kits for the car, i'm really looking at the mazdaspeed one, but doubt i'll get it because of cost. and i'll probably get just the stock front end.

If i don't get the Mazdaspeed kit. Whats the difference between urethane and fiberglass? Which one is stronger? The urethane or fiberglass? Which one is closer to the OEM strength?

if they claim it under comprehensive, go for the mazdaspeed front. its $1500 paid for.

Urethane is better.
Don't get fiberglass - it's much more rigid and will crack / break easier.
There are some "hybrid" fiberglass aftermarket body parts (for instance, the Shine kits) that use a flexible sort of fiberglass, but as far as fitment goes, nothing will match the factory parts (be it the stock or Mazdaspeed front). Besides, those come already painted and with an aftermarket front you'll have to pay for a good paint job on top of getting it properly fitted.