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marauder307
09-01-2003, 10:15 AM
Well, sooner or later,...the odds catch up with ya.

I guess we can't have nice cars in St. Louis. Since I've been here,
my roof's been scratched by an anonymous carwash, my front fascia's been sc***** (that one might actually be my fault; damage, now covered by touchup paint, is right around the passenger side foglight),...and now my driver's side rear rocker panel (immediately forward of the rear wheel) has taken a hit.

The scene: This past week, my apartment complex put down some of that nasty-a$$ topcoat sealant in the parking lot. In the process of doing so, they also put some gooey, elephant-schnit-looking sealant on the seams/cracks in the asphalt underneath.

Yesterday (Sun 31st), I start out to the STL Fair and Airshow. Get in the car, crank up and start to back out. There's a POP-SLAM! sound, and I feel an impact on the rear of the car. Before I can get stopped, I look in the rearview and see something sticking out of the rear tire. It comes into the rearview's view as the tire turns.

I think, Oh god...I just backed over a beer bottle that somebody left under the tire and the tire's shredded. It's not unlikely...it's a public apartment complex, people leave cr.ap lying around all the time. Turns out to be worse. When I parked the previous afternoon, the rear tire sat on one of those old seams...y'know, the ones with the elephant-schnit on 'em? Anyway, the parking lot surface was hot that afternoon, and the schnit stuck to my tire and worked into the treads. That night, the schnit cooled and adhered to the tire.

So...when I go to back out and leave,...the tire tries to go...and the schnit tries to stay. Talk about traction! Those BFGs really do stick to the road...and pull it up too. The schnit stretched out like old chewing gum until it broke, and that's when I heard the noise. It snapped back against the side of my rocker panel, with all the gravel that it pulled up with it, and flailed the side of my car.:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :alone:

Now my rear fenderwell and rocker panel look like the dog chewed on 'em. And it took me about 15 minutes of pullin' and cussin' (the other folks in the apartments musta thought there was a lunatic in the parking lot) to get all the schnit off not just that tire, but the one on the passenger side as well. I've gone ahead and saved all the cr.ap that I pulled off the tires...I intend to go in and drop the offending samples on the apartment manager's desk tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately, the car's still relatively new...and if it'll ever stop raining around here, I can get it to a carwash, clean off the mess, and see just how badly I've been damaged. If there's no dents, I may just go with my Color Magic wax and try to live with it. But I can tell already that the edge of the wheel well has been abraded badly from the gravel and the impact.:help:

I'm getting sick of this. Can't keep this effin' car out of trouble around here!

Petrograde
09-01-2003, 10:24 AM
Oh man! Sorry to hear that. I live in an apartment too, and I swear the person that opened their car door into the side of my car is gonna get it!

I've started taking 2 parking spots when I come home, I hate doing it. I've always been annoyed by people that do that. Well, I guess I know why now! :rolleyes:

Hey I think the owner of your apartment should pay for the damage that they indirectly caused to your MM! Did they inform you in advance that they were gonna be sealing the blacktop? If not you may have a case!

marauder307
09-01-2003, 10:29 AM
yeah Petro,...they did. But only a few days's notice, and they only kept all of us off the surface for one day, the day they were actually doing the spraying. I came back from work the next day and parked in my ol' normal spot.

The converse case may be true: by not keeping us off the surface longer, they may have set up a situation whereby my MM ended up damaged.

Bigdogjim
09-01-2003, 10:49 AM
marauder307: Sorry to read about the mishap. I agree not matter where you live its tuff to keep a new car new.
I am going through tree sap hell right now, it never showed up on my '01 F-150 whick was also black.

Hope your wax will do the trick!

Good luck!

Menace
09-01-2003, 11:25 AM
I personally would not have bought this car or any new car for that matter if I had to use it as a daily driver or had no garage. It would drive me crazy trying to keep it clean and new looking, jmo.

marchyde
09-01-2003, 01:50 PM
I must comment on this. I am fortunate enough to have a garage but still use my mm as a daily driver which is left at the mercy of everyone and everything. The main thing that I do is fix it right away. In the past with all of my other rides only major damaged was repaired. My last truck had several damaged areas however I pocketed the money instead of fixing it. With only 5 weeks into ownership of my mm a new windshield and paint have already been completed due to damage. Don't give up.

marauder307
09-04-2003, 05:36 PM
Well, it's a few days later and...

Finally the rain stopped yesterday, and I was able to get out today and get the Black Hulk washed so I could tell the difference between the road dirt and the scratches. Some bad news first: There's a lot of scratches. And it's been tough to get anything done the last few days because I had to have emergency surgery on Tuesday. Won't let you in on the gory details...suffice it to say, I can't sit anywhere now. In addition to the figurative pain in my a$$, I now have a literal one...

The good news is that I was able to wax over some of it. I know where the scratches are, but I think anyone who simply walks up on it may not be able to tell.

The apartment management was very apologetic, especially when I walked in and dropped the two pieces of schnit on their desk and asked 'em if they wanted their parking lot back!:rolleyes: Apparently they're not the ones who made the call to get the lot done...the corporate office did. These folks are owned by some monolithic real estate company (Equity Residential) who makes these decisions without checking with their onsite people first. And the onsite people are both embarrassed...and a little mad. They're getting ambushed as much as the residents are. The head rental agent came out with her camera today and took some pictures of my fender (before I tried to wax it), apologized profusely, and said she'd be in touch. We'll see. I'm waiting for the phone call that says my rent is gratis for the next month...

Will keep y'all apprised. Wish I were back in Florida...