CamaroHawke

In a nutshell (since it's been awhile since I've posted)...about 2 years ago, I totaled my '90 RS on the rear end of a Dodge truck. While the hood and front bumper were toast, lucky for me, everything under the hood survived, as did both headlights and there was no subframe damage. Despite my parents and a few friends pressuring me to crush it for that "Cash For Clunkers" joke, I saved up and finally got a total exterior restoration done on my car. Got it back in the end of March and it looked AMAZING. Everything I'd always wanted the car to be. It got stares and compliments daily.

About a month later, after some last-minute fuel injector and wiring repairs, I took the car on a 2,000 mile cross-country move from WI to CA. It performed better than it ever has in the 7+ years I've owned the car and I got compliments every time I stopped somewhere.

Ah, but then I get my first taste of big city life. I got settled in what I thought was a nice, secure apartment building. Good neighborhood and gated underground parking. Then the vandalism started. First, it was some ******* that kept putting out cigarettes on my hood. I did have the car under a cover, but the burns went right through that to the hood...no "accident".

A few days later, I was horrified to discover a gash along the rear driver's side and what looked like someone had either backed into my rear bumper or whacked it with a bat. Splinters of paint were all over the ground and there's now spiderweb cracks over half of the bumper.

A few days after that, I found that someone had taken a razor and slashed my car cover neatly in half, then took another scratch out of the rear driver's side. Also looked like someone had tried to pick my lock (why, I don't know...my stereo is garbage and my car is visibly empty inside). That was the final straw; my car is now in paid storage, complete with 24/7 security and cameras.

Yes, I did report every incident to my useless landlord. Turns out the dump I'm in doesn't even have security cameras. They basically gave me the same line of BS each time..."not our problem. Sorry it happened." They did NOTHING. I tried filing police reports (non-emergency, of course). They hung up on me twice, left me on hold indefinitely once and never even answered the 4th time. I talked to a few other tenants (most of whom were moving OUT) who had had similar things happen. The worst was a girl who had the sunroof of her Jaguar crushed with a large rock.

I am beyond angry about this... and kicking myself that I decided to wait until I got to CA before adding coverage for my car. I haven't gotten a quote for repairs yet, since I can't afford it right now anyway and there's no real structural damage. I do have about 3 oz. of touchup paint, but no experience and no place where I could try repairing the damage myself, so it's going to have to wait...

Really wanted to show it this summer, too

Aaaaaaaaanyway... I do have a body question unrelated to the vandalism damage.

I have an aftermarket fiberglass hood. Upon completing the drive from WI to CA, I noticed a few very fine, barely noticeable cracks in the paint on the frontmost corners. Last time I gave my car a cleaning, I noticed they seem to have increased in size. Considering the paint is only about 5 months old and it is nearly always kept out of direct sunlight, these cracks concern me. Being that I've no previous experience with fiberglass hoods or new auto paint, I'm not sure if this is a "normal" consequence of a fiberglass hood.

The paint is PPG (Lamborghini Rossa Andromeda) and I never slam my hood, just lower it slowly and then push it shut with a hand on each side. It's got hoodpins in the front, but also a backwards latch.

So...any theories on what might be causing these cracks so I can prevent them in the future? The paint is covered by warranty, so I should be able to get that particular damage repaired at little to no cost.

yusky03

Wow, that is a sad story. It almost made me want to go out to the garage and hug my Camaro lol. If I was you I would say up all night and watch my car to see who was doing it and find there car and take a broken piece of ceramic from a spark plug and smack it against there car windows and bust them out. Then put bleach in there gas tank. It rusts everything!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khayfayzXK8
http://www.ehow.com/about_5687159_ef...-gas-tank.html

If anything thinking about doing these 'acts of revenge' will hopefully make you at least feel better and show this a-hole how to **** up a car the correct way!

sonjaab

Sorry to hear ! My bud lived in Hollyweird also. His car always got smashed, cracked, scratched along with his apt. getting robbed once a month till he wised up and moved out in the boonies to Canyon Country Ca. (a burb north of LA on the end of the subway/speedline commuter train) !

He left his car home in his garage (crummy toyoyo anyhoo)
and took the speedline to his job in downtown LA diamond
district.

92 Camaro

iTrader: (1)

That would get me very mad and make me watch during the night.

dirtrides2009

That made me want to run out and kiss my firebird sitting unlocked, with keys in it, just reading that...

It might not be the easiest thing but I think the best thing to do is a good old fashioned camp out in the car, put on those reflective cover's over the windows, and either stay up and wait or buy a touchy alarm to wake you up and wait until something happens.

After you beat the **** out of them once they should learn. (Think of something else to do if their bigger than you though )

CamaroHawke

LOL Oh, believe me...the mindset I was in that last night, I was seriously considering tossing what was left of the car cover over it and camping out in my backseat with a baseball bat for the offender. I probably would have, too, if I hadn't had to work at 6 a.m. the next morning. I ended up taking it back to my boyfriend's previous landlord's house; she was nice enough to let us keep it in her garage for a few days while I found somewhere safe to put it.

I'm actually pretty sure who did it; I just don't have concrete proof, so I couldn't press charges and don't want to act unless I'm certain. It's a chick in my building...there were things leading me to suspect her leading up to the final night and then she happened to show up right after I found my destroyed car cover. She'd come bouncing back to that part of the lot with..."something" in her hand, only to find me. ROTF the look on her face when she saw me back there was priceless. She went pale and practically ran out of there.

houstonvett

iTrader: (2)

Like most paint jobs the real work is in prepping the piece that will be painted. It sounds like maybe the wrong primer was used or was applied incorrectly. I have done fiberglass work on my Vettes and it isn't that hard. Dirty and very dusty as all bodywork is.

1 sure fire problem is if the hood was stripped of paint before this newer paint job was put on. Most people use chemical strippers on fiberglass and never take the time to make sure all of the stripper is gone from the fiberglass before painting. There is a long standing arguement with the C3 Corvette guys about chemical stripping or sanding a car down for paint, which is the better method. The earlier C3 cars you could actually take the paint off the fiberglass with a razor blade.

Car Lover

I would move to my car and makes sure nobody ever touches it ever again. If they did i would **** them up! I just love my car way too much.

CamaroHawke

Oh yeah...that's what I do now. Take the metro everywhere or just walk. Work isn't too far away and I'm located within a mile of just about anything worth seeing in the city, so my baby will stay in storage except for longer distance excursions where I know I'll have a safe place to park.

CamaroHawke

Oh wow...hadn't thought about that. I bought the hood off Ebay and while it was dusty, it had already been primed with black. I have no idea if the body shop decided to strip it and reapply the primer or if they just washed it off and painted it as is. I'd have to talk to them.

Supposing it was an improperly primed/painted hood and I get that fixed when I can afford it, how likely would I be to have the cracks appear again?

EFIhead

The nerve of some people! I'd be blind with fury if someone did that to my T/A.

92z28camarokid

iTrader: (4)

First off I'm sorry this happend, where I'm from we don't take lightly do this kinda bs and we love to excersise are second amedment right. On another note, you know u aren't supposed to put a cover on your car for a minimum of 6 months after you paint right? I persoannly won't do it for a year, it takes time for paint to cure. As with the cracks I'm gunna go out on a very long limb and say it could be from hood flutter.

houstonvett

iTrader: (2)

I would sand the hood completely down and then you will know what you have for sure. There are no short cuts to a good paint job. If it is the fiberglass that is cracking it is a relatively simple and easy fix. Sanding it completely down will also get rid of all of the other paint/primer jobs that is now on the hood . IMO, if you want a great paint job that will last, you must take all of the paint/primer off the car and start with a fresh surface for the paint.

CamaroHawke

Oh man...I had NO clue about that you're not supposed to cover it for at least 6 months! I pretty much covered mine immediately, because when I initially got the car back (before the move to CA), it was the dead of a nasty WI winter. My parents were nice enough to let me store it in their garage, but it was a bit of a tight fit, so I wanted to prevent any scratches or dings from them getting in and out of their van, as well as avoid any splashes of road slop. I kept it covered in CA for awhile 'cause it had to sit in direct sunlight for a few weeks.

Would their be any benefit in taking the cover off for awhile now, or is it a moot point? I am saving to get the vandalism fixed, as well as a few tiny pebble chips from the drive to CA and of course the hood cracks. I figure I'll let them do whatever needs to be done to restore the finish to its proper condition.

Also, what is "hood flutter"? I'm just guessing, but would it be the flexing and vibration of the hood when it's driven at high speeds or in high wind? That sort of thing? The winds going through part of the Rocky Mtns. were pretty rough at points.

CamaroHawke

I'm not sure if a complete repaint is in my budget at the moment. I don't know if the shop I went to totally stripped the hood before painting, or if they just used the primer that was on it. I do know the body of the car was completely sanded down, though, 'cause I checked in on my car several times a week during the process. I've got some pics; I should upload 'em soon.

I have to say that seeing my car stripped for the first time nearly gave me a heart attack LOL I dropped it off, then went to check on it a few days later and it was in pieces, like it had been destroyed. I've seen plenty of cars in various stages of restoration, just never my own personal vehicle, hehe.