On my way to work yesterday I skidded on some gravel and hit a guard rail head on with my Tib. As you can see below, the front end is in pretty bad shape (aside from the body damage, I popped the radiator, upper radiator support and ac condenser). Body shop says I am pushing $4K to get it up and running so I am thinking of getting salvage yard parts and fixing it myself. Any of you guys have any experience in replacing the upper radiator mount (Is it structurally vital? Or can a good welder just cut it out and replace what needs to be replaced?).


Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

 

ouch thats some rough luck man... me and gravel don't really get along very well either... as for replacing the parts... i have no idea

 

That sucks man. Same thing happened to me, only it wasn't a guardrail, it was a sunfire.

 

Hey, Supry.....you actually "know" my Tib a little.....you installed the Alpine head unit in it back a few summers ago.

You are the one that got me hooked on this site smile.gif

 

sorry to hear that about your tib, man... that sucks

yeah, that's quite a major damage... if you go through your insurance, im guessing it maybe very well be a write off

tackling that job yourself seems challenging; unless you are experinced or a pro

why dont you try and go through your insurance and see what they say... maybe your premiuns wont go up that much

 

hey man, sorry to hear that. i'm sorry to say it looks like it would have to be professionally done with hydraulic machines to bend everything back into place. i don't think there's any other way if you want to save your current parts.

good excuse for an ebay hood and new bumper, however i really can't see it totalling less than 4k. it can be done, but you would have to spend 4k+

if you contact insurance, they will surely raise the premium.

 

I do not have collision insurance on my car...... it will be all out of pocket sad.gif

 

Now thats never good^. yeah that sucks really bad...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (planrforrobert @ Feb 7 2007, 04:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Is it structurally vital? Or can a good welder just cut it out and replace what needs to be replaced?.</div>
I'd get the hood, fenders, lights, corners, bumper, bumper support, radiator, radiator support panel, fans (if they're fvcked) myself as cheaply as possible but then I'd leave the rest up to the body shop mate.

If you really want to save more cash, once you've got everything as straight as possible, test fit everything then remove the fenders, bumper & hood & get the shop to paint them & then just re-fit everything yourself. Straightening it all again will be the hardest part.

Good luck with it mate.

 

yo man what i'm gonna tell you is we can do that car for 1.5K easy smile.gif
with all parts and everything wink1.gif
now think if it's gonna be worth of towing that car from MD to PA smile.gif it's like 2 hrs