Really bad week for my poor Type S

[zio]

Hi guys,

Hope you all don't mind - thought you might like to share in my misery, as my poor Type S has really been through it over the last few days...

Firstly, driving round St. Albans last Thursday night, a young lady in an old Corsa coming in the other direction tries to overtake some parked cars and gets so close to my car she takes out my driver side wing mirror. Bizarrely enough, despite literally coming to pieces, I'm able to put it all back together and the indicator works and so does the motor - only the glass is smashed. However it soon turns out that the incident has left some nasty scratches in the plastic mirror mount (the black plastic triangle in the bottom corner of the window). When I see the dealer about this the next day, it turns out that replacing this part requires replacing the whole wing mirror as it all comes as one kit - parts and labour coming to the princely sum of 213 quid! Fortunately for me, the young lady who hit me is refreshingly honest and admits full liablity and has already given me the money for the repairs rather than go through the insurers. Result! Now I'm just waiting for the dealer to phone me up when the parts are in.

But the woe doesn't end there. As I was leaving work today, I was reversing out of the parking space and managed to plough the other side wing mirror into a concrete post, wrenching that off in the process. It had been a long day, I was tired and not paying the correct amount of attention. Again, by some miracle, the mirror all popped together fine and it all works - not even the glass was smashed this time. Except it seems I've actually sheared the metal mounting inside, so it looks like I'm going to need a new mirror for the passenger side too. And I managed to scratch the door in the process, though by some miracle I've only scratched the paintwork and not dented the door, so hopefully a little touch-up paint will sort that out.

So now I have an effectively wingmirror-less, scratched Civic. I honestly don't know whether to laugh of cry.

[Lozza]

Did you get it from Brayley in St Albans? Mine came from there...they're all jinxed I reckon! so far on mine....
-kerbed leaving the dealers the day I picked it up
-flat battery
-rear driver side bumper scraped in car park at work by some ******
-filled it with unleaded instead of diesel 2 weeks ago, requiring fuel drain and a tow home (yes..I am fully aware this was my fault!).

I feel your pain!

[Anthony]

[quote=Lozza;99621]

[..]


-filled it with unleaded instead of diesel 2 weeks ago, requiring fuel drain and a tow home.

quote]

I did this once when I had a Peugeot 405 estate, many years ago. You feel a right twerp don't you and yet it's not like you did it on purpose or anything. I still feel uncomfortable when I think about it...

Anthony.

[zio]

Originally Posted by Lozza

Did you get it from Brayley in St Albans? Mine came from there...they're all jinxed I reckon! so far on mine....
-kerbed leaving the dealers the day I picked it up
-flat battery
-rear driver side bumper scraped in car park at work by some ******
-filled it with unleaded instead of diesel 2 weeks ago, requiring fuel drain and a tow home (yes..I am fully aware this was my fault!).

I feel your pain!

Heh - I bought mine at Brayley Hemel Hempstead, but funnily enough did the exact same thing with my alloys. The very day I picked it up, I went round to a mates house to show it off only to find roadworks all down his road. I kerbed one of the alloys trying to avoid the traffic cones. Couldn't believe it - a kerbed alloy mere hours after picking the car up!

And I ran low on oil 6 days after picking it up. If it wasn't for how wonderfully helpful and lovely the folks at the dealership were compared to all the other places I'd been to, I'd have kicked up a proper stink about that.

[Lozza]

I knew it! Bloody Brayley! Thank God I've moved to Hampshire!

[fennj]

The wing mirrors are really quite large I have nearlly had my off side one off a few times whilst reversing into my garage only to notice with a couple of mm to spare. Once I get level with the mirrors I then have to fold it in to get into the garage. A bit of a carry on but you get used to it.

I was driving down a narrow road that wasn't really wide enough for two cars, I stoped but the idiot in the golf continued at speed and hit my wing mirror, mine flipped up with a bang and his exploded. Somehow mine didn't even have a scratch.

[zio]

My Dad is currently nursing the car better for me. We got some touch-up paint which should sort out the scratches in the door (seriously, I must've barely touched the post the damage is that light). As for the passenger wing mirror, he's going to use silicon to glue it back on. You'll never notice once it's done, but it won't be able to fold in any more afterwards. Knowing what I do about these, courtesy of the prang last week, I can just get the whole thing replaced at a later date.

We figured the slight bodge job offers me some slight protection in case I'm dumb enough to do it again and, if not, I'll probably just get it replaced properly nearer to when I eventually trade it in.

My Dad keeps telling me how lucky I am, since the damage I did can be repaired fairly easily and the damage done last week has already been paid for by the third party. I suppose he's right, but I certainly don't feel that lucky!

[Korkut Varol]

Zio, I would laugh at myself if I did the same thing.. Just feel lucky that you don't have any dents in the door.

Actually, the mirrors are quite strong. When I was overtaking another car, for a reason I don't know, he got closer to me and my passenger side mirror folded his mirror fully (it pointed to the car's front!) in return for mine being slightly folded inside; which I repositioned manually. Plus some minor scratches at the wing tip which are barely noticeable... Nothing wrong with the motor or mounts. Luckily no body touches happened with the cars...

[emmaloula]

Yes, it could have been a lot worse!

I took my drivers side wing mirror off on a concrete post the same way you did but I did it in such spectacular fashion that the whole unit smashed to pieces (but the glass wasn't broken) and I dented and scratched the wheel arch and the drivers door resulting in over £1,000 worth of damage including a brand new door (and it was a low impact accident as well). Unbelievable.

I felt like a right plonker as I am so over-protective where my car is concerned and was only admiring it a minute before I did that!

[emmaloula]

Feel better yet?!

[Korkut Varol]

Originally Posted by emmaloula

Feel better yet?!

Zio may; but we feel worse!

[Greedy]

Zio

Your Dad sounds handy. As he has repaired your mirror then he has probably found that they are quite easy to take off / put on.

1. Why not just buy the mirror form the dealer and have Dad fit it, use the saved labour £ towards the other one. -They may give you a discount for a pair.
OR
2. Ask the dealer to give you the old one when he fits the new one. Your Dad can prob use the motor etc to repair the Pass side one to full working order.

Good luck.

[zio]

Originally Posted by emmaloula

Feel better yet?!

Oooouuuccchh! Okay, now I feel lucky! That's awful!

Funnily enough, it looks like my passenger side mirror (the one I clumped with the concrete post) broke in the exact same place - yet the whole unit - glass, motor, indicator - survived intact. That bit can't be very strong. I'm also usually really over protective with my car - I even made a mental note when I parked it in the first place to watch out for that bloody post!

Greedy - I can't get the ol' man to repair the other mirror as I promised the girl who hit me I'd send her a receipt once the work was done so she'd know I wasn't trying to fleece her, especially given how honest she was. I actually feel kinda sorry for her, it was a crappy road where it happened and the repairs to my car are 5x what it cost her to repair her own wing mirror!

[fennj]

in case I'm dumb enough to do it again and



Don't do yourself down, it only takes a minor lapse in concentration at the wrong moment it could happen to the best of us,and as I've said before with incidents such as these, you certainly won't be the last.

[FWH]

Maybe you should drive around with the mirrors folded?

[Bez]

Originally Posted by fennj

I was driving down a narrow road that wasn't really wide enough for two cars, I stoped but the idiot in the golf continued at speed and hit my wing mirror, mine flipped up with a bang and his exploded. Somehow mine didn't even have a scratch.

Had exactly the same thing happen to me. Narrow road, the parked cars were on his side but he still floored it & demolished his & my mirror. Thankfully it only broke the outer casing so it could've been a lot worse, although he didn't bother to stop & I ended up £93 out of pocket.

I can only presume he changed his route to work after this as I waited there for the next couple of days with his mirror casing ready to launch at his car & put a dent in when he came past. Childish I know but he was well out of order & I'd only had the car 3 weeks. Plus I hate Astra's anyway...

[emmaloula]

Originally Posted by zio

Oooouuuccchh! Okay, now I feel lucky! That's awful!

Funnily enough, it looks like my passenger side mirror (the one I clumped with the concrete post) broke in the exact same place - yet the whole unit - glass, motor, indicator - survived intact. That bit can't be very strong. I'm also usually really over protective with my car - I even made a mental note when I parked it in the first place to watch out for that bloody post!

Glad I've made you feel better - I cannot tell you how annoyed I was as like you I had also made a mental note of the post seconds earlier after admiring her beauty and nice new wax job (and have parked there several times previous) and can only put it down to being slightly hungover and tired. We live and learn.

[Bog]

Will touch up paint really sort those scratches? If so, let us see some pics and tell us how you did it.

[zio]

Originally Posted by Bog

Will touch up paint really sort those scratches? If so, let us see some pics and tell us how you did it.

At the risk of now having someone tell me to avoid this and what a mess it will make of my car - I bought a 'Honda Nighthawk Black Chip & Scratch Repair Kit' from Halfrauds. It's their own brand and comes with a tool for clearing off paint flakes (not necessary in my case), a primer/filler pen, a colour pen, a protection lacquer pen and a abrasive pad thing for smoothing the primer down.

Currently we've put the primer over the scratches which makes it look a bit rough and scabby. Later on we've got to smooth it down with the abrasive pad to make it flush with the existing paint, then use the colour pen to touch it all up. It's a long process in that you have to wait 24hrs for the primer to harden before you can smooth it off, then 24hrs for the new paint to harden and then you can put the lacquer on over the top. Looking at it now, even in it's scabby state, it's not too bad. Provided we really can smooth it down properly and the paint is a close enough match, it ought to look okay. I think it's going to be one of those things that I'll notice because I know it's there, but casual observers won't see a thing.

[gray52]

Would The Optional Pdc Have Been Worth The Extra? That Will Cost Alot More To Sort Out. I Bet You Cried For A Week, I Would Have. Hope You Get It Sorted Soon.