2009 Nissan 370Z: Damage Update

We usually fix our blemishes, but we're not always immediate about doing it if it's plastic damage. We also dont usually deal with repainting light scratches (keying and the sort) unless the panel has something else going on with it.

However, we tried to apply this strategy to our 04 Toyota Sienna, but it seems that every single time we repaired a blemish, 2 new ones came to replace it. We literally painted our front bumper twice in one year, and then someone else scratched it again (imagine a T-bone that just barely scraped our bumper but took out the car next to us). Or another time, someone reversed straight into our side door because she wasn't look back (too busy yapping on the phone).

After a point, we gave up on most of it provided it isn't causing rusting, so our Sienna looks pretty "meh" for its age.

The ironic part of all of that is that we haven't actually caused any of the damage- always other drivers or parking lots.

I've always wondered who in their right mind would key a Toyota Sienna LE. I mean, it's hardly a prestige ride, hell, it doesn't even have leather. Another mystery of having parked in an airport lot...

My rear bumper on my GTI has been done twice, sadly...first time I got clipped by a girl driving a university-owned pickup truck on campus and the second time I got rear-ended at a yield sign by someone who wasn't paying attention. The first time it was just reshaped and repainted, the second time I opted to get a new bumper on it. In both cases, I never lived with the damage for more than a few weeks. I have other chips, nicks, and such on my car (only one ding though) and I live with all of them...they're really not worth repairing, and the biggest of the marks are still invisible from a few yards away.

I had someone pull their car into the front of my car in a parking lot, messing up the front bumper, knocking off my brushed aluminum Autobot badge, and denting my hood for the first inch... didn't leave information. That happened back in May and I haven't done jack about it... but that's mostly because I don't want to have to pay my $500 deductible right now and I can't afford to be without a car for a while.

That said, it bothers me to no end. I'm an extreme perfectionist on keeping my car pristine... Under my hood there's a ton of powdercoated engine pieces to match the outside of the car...

I keep the S3, Club Sport, MS3, and X3 as close to pristine as possible. The Jeep? Not so much, but it's still dent-free if a bit grubby. The 2002 has a bunch of little blemishes that I will fix eventually.

I got my car used and pre-dinged, so I'm not all that concerned about further minor damage. As long as it's not in a position to get worse (rust), I'm fine with it. Keeping something that's used in the conditions a car is in pristine condition isn't worth the aggravation.

There should be a little corner of hell just for the thoughtless bastards that damage cars like this. Maybe we should keep Guantanamo open for just this purpose.

I would just get the worst of it with touch-up paint and step back 10 feet. If it looks good from there then I'd be satisfied. My car is already approaching 5 years old...no point in making it look pristine. It's my mode of transportation, not a museum piece.

"Now, thanks to the anonymity of the internet it's your chance to confess"

Don't forget to register before you post your confession.

I was driving my Decepticon Saleen S281 when one day someone removed and reattached my Decepticon badge upside down, and put a ton of birdshit on the top of my roof. i was furious so i tracked the person down and put decepticon badges all over his car, and malleted them in place with a dent behind each badge. i still have more leftover decepticon badges to spread the gospel.

@billt9

Man, I'd pay to see that go down...

I kept my first car (98 Integra Type-R) in flawless condition inside and out. The sad thing is that within my 4 years of ownership it was broken into 4 times and on the 5th it was finally stolen. Right out of my garage.

After that I bought my second car from my grandpa, an old Ford Contour. Since he didn't take proper care of the car neither did I (except for regular maintanence). 5 years into ownership and the car has been a reliable commuter even though it's been through 2 accidents (T-boned & rear ended). Now that it's nearly 15 years old I think it's about time to replace it.

With that in mind, I'm just about ready to buy my first muscle car. Just wish there wasn't such a high premium on a Camaro SS.

While I have little control over how my wife parks her car, I'm 'that guy' that parks way the hell away from everybody at the supermarket - even when the lot is pretty much empty. I'm also that guy who knows the elevations and contours of said parking lots, so I know where to park (high points) in order to avoid errant shopping carts that like to pretend they are racing yachts on a windy day.

I also tend to memorize or write down the plates or the make/model/color of any car that I have to park next to, just in case.

The result of all this seemingly ridiculous paranoia are cars that usually stay ding/dent/scratch free for the time I owned them. Is it worth all the stress? Well, I guess it's subjective...=)

I've already told my story about getting hit twice in a two weeks period from behind, and getting the repair money from both drivers, essentially making money in the end.

But anyways, I cannot stand dents or dings of any sort. I have 7,500 on my car, it pretty much is new, and I want it to look new. Yet, I manage to park in the middle of nowhere to avoid dents, but when I get back to my car, I find am early 90's Ford Escort, and an early 90's Camry park right next to me on either side, even when there are about 60+ other spots to choose from.

I'm a totally nut when it comes to dents and scratches. My MS3 had it's hood repainted and some meteor hit the front edge of the hood over the Mazda emblem. It's driving me crazy, what's worse is that it's a metallic paint that doesn't touch up well. The chip was touched up and it doesn't look bad from certain angles but I know it's there. The irrational side of me wants the entire hood repainted, but the practical side of me says to wait.

I think this sort of thing bothers me becasue it ruins the natural lines of the car to see a blemish. The MS3 has such great fender lines and a beatiful shape that it's hard not to be attracted to that one blemish. Now if it was a corolla or civic, I wouldn't be as annoyed.

My wife's Mz5 went for 3 years before it got TWO dings in one parking space over a period of an hour. We went to Hershey Park in PA and as usual I parked my car in an area I thought was safe. The space was also between our room and the pool so I could check up on it everytime we walked by. I was angered to see two dings had appear within the space of an hour! I know this becasue my kids needed stuff from our room over the course of an hour. My wife still remembers how pissed I was. It almost ruined the whole day.

People are ignorant.

"Yet, I manage to park in the middle of nowhere to avoid dents, but when I get back to my car, I find am early 90's Ford Escort, and an early 90's Camry park right next to me on either side, even when there are about 60+ other spots to choose from."

Damn these people!!! That happens to me all the time. Strangely, as my cars have become more expensive, I have become less anal about keeping them pristine. My ex-wife's 99 Maxima is still looking great, since she washes it according to the methods I taught her (wash and wax in straight lines, no wax-on, wax-off).

I was like when I first got my car, but then I realized how utterly futile that it would be trying to protect it from every potential threat.

Now it's got so many dents and scratches that I actually feel MORE at peace. As long as there is no major corrosion anywhere it should last me a few more years.

I let things like that go but I wouldn't if I had a newer car.

My 8 month old G35 is in the shop right now getting a quarter sized door ding out. Paintless dent removal rocks (usually less than $100). There is an awesome shop in Minneapolis that does a good job.

My loving wife backed into a bollard at Kroger & put some nice scratches on the bumper of my new car. :(

I use to not worry about parking, but when my Wife and I were setting up our wedding we parked at a church and the car in front of me backed up about 30 feet just to hit my Corvette. It did'nt do much damage, pushed the foglight in and fractured the paint, foglight popped back into place. Then another time I parked beind a Jeep Cherokee at a home tour and they backed into the Corvette license plate cover with a trailer hitch, luckily it was isolated to just the cover, so a cheap 100.00 fix. Since then I always worry if I park somewhere now in any car but my pickup.

i live in NYC, this past weekend i saw a guy wrap some kind of bumper padding around the front and back of his new M3 sedan on i think west 72nd street.

if you have the money for a m3 sedan and live in on the UWS, you should just park inside, he looked like a super douche, not the regular BMW douche

A poor kid in a POS Geo-is that redundant?-ran into the back of my wife's X3. The X3 suffered a small scratch on the bumper while the Geo needed to have the radiator zip-tied back into place and the hood bungeed shut.

I give up, stuff happens. I used to obsess over every little scratch and nick. It was too stressful. Ultimately I know that my car has a great interior and is mechanically sound, so I can live with a few mysterious dents and scratches.

Also, I got my last car in silver to help a bit, and I don't even particularly like the color.

for personal cars it depends. we have some that we don't fix immediately (older cars kept around, but still drive), but on our daily drivers we usually get them fixed within 2 weeks of noticing. we also own a petroleum e&p company and the cars that only employes see go to the mechanic/body shop twice a year, unless they have a major problem. at the body shop only major scratches and giant dents get addressed, but front bumpers and minor dings don't get fixed. on cars that are used to travel in and around towns/highways though, those get addressed as soon as possible, without cutting in to the ability of the drivers to work.

My Ms3 has a tiny dent on the roof which was caused by a rock thrown by an R-compound tire on another instructor car at my last HPDE. I consider it a badge of honor..;)