Grrrr!!!!

EndersShadow

Its been one of those days and I feel the need to vent.

I was on my way home from Milwaukee, WI. No trouble through Chicago, no issues at all making great time.....

Then a truck in front of my blows a tire, I hit it and bam there goes my front grill and then minutes later my radiator....

So the funds to re-cap the Carver sitting at work, buy another one, or get a pair of headphones are now going to pay for a new radiator and any needed parts :evil::evil::evil:.

In addition a trip that should take 4.5 hours takes about 8 because we had to have my wife's parents come and pick her up so she could get to our apartment in time to pay rent, while her dad and I towed the car back to her parents place...

So we had the privilege of sitting in the 110 degree heat for about 1.5 hours with no AC.

It was all going so great, then it wasnt....

Sometimes it just sucks!

/end rant

Upstatemax

That sucks...

Would you have been able to get the plate # from the truck? If he blew a tire that damaged your car, they should foot the bill.

agfrost

Sorry, that stinks. Saw a lot of shredded tires on the shoulder on our recent vacation to CA and was wondering what problems they caused before getting off to the side...Guess you've explained that.

At least you kept the car under control and you and your family are OK! Can insurance cover your damage?

goofyGAguy

Extreme heat and tires do not mix.

Drenis

Perhaps I read the story wrong but do you not have car insurance? You have it JUST for instances like this. File a claim.

What did you go to Milwaukee for? Buying more gear? :razz:

EndersShadow

DSkip wrote: »

Still have to meet the deductible.

^This.

I wasn't able to get the plate number because I was in shock and then had to pull over. It's covered by my car insurance under collision but my deductible is 250. Unfortunately that is about as much as the fix will cost so it's best to save the insurance for something more expensive. That number also coincides with my upgrade fund :sad:

So I am still screwed. :sad:

I was in WI for the annual family reunion. We did the fireworks in downtown Milwaukee on the 3rd and then had a cookout on the 4th.

We had to get back today DI we could pick up our dogs and relax before my infusion tomorrow morning.

hochpt21

That is a brutal day. Damn.

I guess at least you didn't hit that sh$t further away from home. Then you could have really gotten a jam-job.

Trying to find some sort of silver lining...

Sorry again. That sucks.

EndersShadow

hochpt21 wrote: »

That is a brutal day. Damn.

I guess at least you didn't hit that sh$t further away from home. Then you could have really gotten a jam-job.

Trying to find some sort of silver lining...

Sorry again. That sucks.

The only silver lining hopefully will come tomorrow when I get the M1.0t connected to my LSi 15s with some good music pumping through it.

hochpt21

EndersShadow wrote: »

The only silver lining hopefully will come tomorrow when I get the M1.0t connected to my LSi 15s with some good music pumping through it.

That's a pretty good silver lining IMO.:cheesygrin:

rebuy

Gee, that was rotten luck but you walked away from a situation. You ought to glad you were able to escape unscathed.

EndersShadow

hochpt21 wrote: »

That's a pretty good silver lining IMO.:cheesygrin:

Yup although normally my infusions leave me exhausted so I will likely sleep most of tomorrow afternoon.

Drenis

EndersShadow wrote: »

^This.

I wasn't able to get the plate number because I was in shock and then had to pull over. It's covered by my car insurance under collision but my deductible is 250. Unfortunately that is about as much as the fix will cost so it's best to save the insurance for something more expensive. That number also coincides with my upgrade fund :sad:

Last I checked, a radiator and grill from Volkswagen was much more than $250. If you can buy the parts from an auto wrecker and replace them with your own labour, then I can see about not filing the claim.

Sorry you had a poor drive back. Hope the reunion went well. Those are unfamiliar to me.

EndersShadow

Drenis wrote: »

Last I checked, a radiator and grill from Volkswagen was much more than $250.me.

Not replacing the grill. The bumper is intact but the plastic black interior grill is gone but the othe inserts on either side are gone too so it just looks like its supposed to be like that....

The rad is 119 from any parts store and my father in law is doing the labor for cheap. I am just hoping there isn't more damage we didn't see since we didn't get under it to really check tonight. We won't really know till we get the new rad on if there is damage to other parts like the rad fans or fan housing.

At this point with 171k on it it's not a looker anymore but until it dies I want to keep it. It was purchased in cash do it saves me a car payment a month. And insurance keeps getting cheaper lol....

Hoping for 3 more years from her then we might look at replacing her.

Drenis wrote: »

Hope the reunion went well. Those are unfamiliar to me.

It went good. Assuming things on your end haven't improved :sad:. Sorry to hear that!

onebadchad

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Drenis

EndersShadow wrote: »

Not replacing the grill. The bumper is intact but the plastic black interior grill is gone but the othe inserts on either side are gone too so it just looks like its supposed to be like that....

The rad is 119 from any parts store and my father in law is doing the labor for cheap. I am just hoping there isn't more damage we didn't see since we didn't get under it to really check tonight. We won't really know till we get the new rad on if there is damage to other parts like the rad fans or fan housing.

At this point with 171k on it it's not a looker anymore but until it dies I want to keep it. It was purchased in cash do it saves me a car payment a month. And insurance keeps getting cheaper lol....

Hoping for 3 more years from her then we might look at replacing her.

Fingers crossed there isn't anything further. That's cheap for a rad. Stupid cheap actually...

EndersShadow

Drenis wrote: »

Fingers crossed there isn't anything further. That's cheap for a rad. Stupid cheap actually...

Yeah I believe it may have something to do with the fact VW now has a US plant in Chattanooga, TN that makes I believe jettas and passers so the price of parts has dropped. It's actually about the same as a rad for a US made car iirc.

So saying some prayers. There were other concerns with being in the heat I won't go into and it looks like those won't materialize thankfully.

leroyjr1

Did you go to summerfest while you were here?

jbooker82

goofyGAguy wrote: »

Extreme heat and tires do not mix.

That and the tire has probably been re capped a bunch of times. Have a look at the shape of the tires next time you see a that is stopped. They leaglaly have to use new tires on the front steering axle but after that all bets are off.

EndersShadow

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Did you go to summerfest while you were here?

Didn't get time. We arrived on Monday afternoon late (like 5) and Tuesday was the fireworks and was so stinking hot, and a bunch of the family had to work till later so we didn't leave to go down till 6. We have people go down every year at like 7 to stake out a place for us since we normally have anywhere from 20-30 people go down with us. Then on the 4th we had a massive family cookout. Left yesterday morning at around 9:30 Eastern time and due to all this didnt get home till ~9:30 pm

My wife cant be out in lots of direct sunlight and heat right now and I cant either as I am still on antibiotics so I burn really really bad...

As a side note, one of the other vehicles on the way down to the lakefront blew a belt and started overheating as well lol....

I will say the fireworks were the best they have ever been, but not a fan of the whole 3 finale's as it starts to get annoying after the second....

Took us 2 hours to get home as they directed us north along the lakefront instead of letting us turn right and get right on the freeway. That kinda irked us as a 30 min trip took 2 hours so we didnt make it home till after 1pm.

heiney9

Drenis wrote: »

Fingers crossed there isn't anything further. That's cheap for a rad. Stupid cheap actually...

EndersShadow wrote: »

Yeah I believe it may have something to do with the fact VW now has a US plant in Chattanooga, TN that makes I believe jettas and passers so the price of parts has dropped. It's actually about the same as a rad for a US made car iirc.

So saying some prayers. There were other concerns with being in the heat I won't go into and it looks like those won't materialize thankfully.

At that price that is NOT OEM, but rather one of the many, many aftermarket products. Be careful, everyone and their Uncle makes VW parts and many of the aftermarket cheapies are junk. A proper radiator should be in the $250 range in my experience. It has nothing to do with the Chattanooga plant. There are some really good aftermarket parts but they tend to fall in the middle cost wise between the dealer price and the junk aftermarket stuff. I personally wouldn't skimp on the radiator unless you are selling the car in a couple years.

Just my .02c based on 29 years of owning VW's exclusively and using the same VW mechanic/weekend racer for the same amount of time.

H9

P.s. I realize the mileage and age of the car you want to go as economically as possible and drive it 'till it dies, so it makes sense. I was commenting in general, not to your specific situation.

DaveHo

The A/C condenser normally sits in front of the radiator. Hopefully that's not toast as well. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

EndersShadow

heiney9 wrote: »

At that price that is NOT OEM, but rather one of the many, many aftermarket products. Be careful, everyone and their Uncle makes VW parts and many of the aftermarket cheapies are junk. A proper radiator should be in the $250 range in my experience. It has nothing to do with the Chattanooga plant. There are some really good aftermarket parts but they tend to fall in the middle cost wise between the dealer price and the junk aftermarket stuff. I personally wouldn't skimp on the radiator unless you are selling the car in a couple years.

Just my .02c based on 29 years of owning VW's exclusively and using the same VW mechanic/weekend racer for the same amount of time.

H9

P.s. I realize the mileage and age of the car you want to go as economically as possible and drive it 'till it dies, so it makes sense. I was commenting in general, not to your specific situation.

No worries, I take no offense. The part we are purchasing was the standard part on all the autoparts websites. Its not from a dealer but I assume it should work. The price was the same across the board at all the sites we visited and it was just about the ONLY option we had (unless we went direct to a dealer which would have been costly).

DaveHo wrote: »

The A/C condenser normally sits in front of the radiator. Hopefully that's not toast as well. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Well we put a bunch of water into it to see where the leak was and it appears the plastic housing that is around the radiator is broke, specifically the plastic nipple on the drivers side where the radiator hose comes in. It appeared that was it, but like I said I couldnt test anything else since I didnt want to blow the engine. Once we get the radiator fixed we will pray the AC works. If it doesn't that's gonna be a claim for sure since I cannot drive a car w/o AC lol....

Drenis

Enders, Do you have any A/C companies out there who do mobile service? (e.g. - Drive to your vehicle and recharge/service the A/C system)

I would have that checked to make sure it's not leaking asap. Cause that's bad. And do it before you purchase and replace this rad.

EndersShadow

Went ahead and filed a claim with insurance. The bodyshop took a look and so far they see:

Broken bumper
Broke grill
Broken radiator
Bent AC condenser
Broke underbody protector
Messed up headlight

And they havent even got a finalized quote done......

This may just total out my car :sad:......

Well at least it will only cost me $250....

mrbiron

Broken bumper
Broke grill
Broken radiator
Bent AC condenser
Broke underbody protector
Messed up headlight

That's going to total out your car?!?!...maybe you should stop buying audio equip and start thinking about a new(er) set of wheels. Check the Cars thread for ideas. There's a nice Lambo that might be right up your alley......or maybe even the batmobile. :cheesygrin:

In the words of homer simpson - "turn that down under frown upside down"

EndersShadow

mrbiron wrote: »

That's going to total out your car?!?!...maybe you should stop buying audio equip and start thinking about a new(er) set of wheels. Check the Cars thread for ideas. There's a nice Lambo that might be right up your alley......or maybe even the batmobile. :cheesygrin:

In the words of homer simpson - "turn that down under frown upside down"

Well its a 2000 Jetta with 171k on it. Runs great, has a bunch of dynamat on the doors and trunk as well as some amps, but on the outside its kinda hairy but I dont care. As long as its got AC, gets me where I need to go without issue its not costing me anything. Don't need to impress the ladies, just my wife, and I dont need a nice car for that anymore :cheesygrin:.

Also while a nice car is great and all.... I would rather enjoy listening to really good music sitting on my couch for hours on end driving a busted up looking car that works and gets me where I need to go than mediocre music with a nice new car I use for a 1 hour a day max and costs me 300+ a month :biggrin:.

Also factor in my car has been paid off since I bought it.... not really excited about adding on another monthly payment for years to the budget.....

mrbiron

Very true. At least part of your car will be newer

EndersShadow

Well got some GOOD NEWS for once..... the accident is covered under my comprehensive (flying debris) so I dont have to pay the deductible on this.....

So my amp refurb fund is going to be super close to what I need to get my M1.0t to Rolland to give it the full chassis refresh with new caps. Not enough for a IEC plug install though...... oh well, another time perhaps... maybe I can get someone local to help me out with that at a later date...

Drenis

EndersShadow wrote: »

Well got some GOOD NEWS for once..... the accident is covered under my comprehensive (flying debris) so I dont have to pay the deductible on this.....

So my amp refurb fund is going to be super close to what I need to get my M1.0t to Rolland to give it the full chassis refresh with new caps. Not enough for a IEC plug install though...... oh well, another time perhaps... maybe I can get someone local to help me out with that at a later date...

IMO, save up and get it ALL done. Why pay to ship it there again for that one mod?

Glad it worked out for your car though.

Tony M

Awsome good news. I'm glad for ya.

Insurance is great sometimes.

EndersShadow

Drenis wrote: »

IMO, save up and get it ALL done. Why pay to ship it there again for that one mod?

Glad it worked out for your car though.

We will see. Still waiting to get a quote from Vintage Hi-Fi. The main reason its going to be hard to keep saving up to do it all is that after doing all the mods I will be into this thing for an amount I wont be able to get back should I ever need to sell it (which I hopefully wont but you cant assume anything nowadays)