My Car Is Badly Hurt!!!!

[Ashman]

Was driving tonight, at 25 mph around a 35 mph turn. there was a lot of water and mud, car spun, and hit a 14" high curb with the right front. a car then behind me spun and tapped the rear of my car.

From my basic guestimate, the car needs the following repairs..

New front suspension
new wheels
complete front bumper
rear bumper
entire paintjob
and perhaps the frame is bent.

The front right wheel points out to the right when the front left wheel is pointing straight.

Tried to file a police report about the mud and water in the road causing the accident, and was told basically to go F**K Myself by the police.

I am very upset. I will post pictures soon. From my guestimate, I'm looking at at least $5k in damages if not more.

The reason for the full paintjob. my car has a custom black metallic with blue flaked paintjob that cannot be matched by any means. I have already tried previously to get it matched by several places, using very expensive computer color matchers and looking through every factory paint manual for every model and make of car produced in the last 20 years.

So basically since I need to replace several things, I was thinking the following...

Bilstein sport shocks, sportline bushings and sway bar, AMG Body Kit (since I need a new front and rear bumper anyway), Fresh JET Black Paintjob, 17" AMG Wheels (Since I need new wheels with the hit that front wheel took, and my wheels are discontinued, they are irreplacable with the same ones).

If The Frame has bent, I am hoping it is easily repairable, otherwise my ins co might decide to total it, in which case I am clueless as to the outcome.

I am hoping for the least amount of repairs.

Tonight has been a very bad night. my house's Water Heater exploded as well, flooding my basement with about 12" of water.

I am so upset and shaky right now, I just can't relax.

Alon

These are soem pics of the front. note the sway bar and its bushing, the bad metal scrape on the front arm, the mangled tire, the shock has some slight bends in it. The front right fender is bent in byt he bumper a bit too. not the wheel pointing out to the right...

[engatwork]

Sorry to see/hear of your misfortune - we all know how much you like that car.
Based on what I can tell from the last pic it looks like the lower control arm (not sure if that is exactly what it is called but it is the part that the sway bar bolts onto) took the hit and is probably bent. If that is the case I doubt if the frame is damaged. The replacement of the lower control arm is pretty straight forward. It will require an alingment after replacement. Also, check to see if the shock is bent.

[per eriksson]

I would say that the only thing hurt here is the steering linkage and rim.

How does the camber of the wheel look? If it is still correct it indicates that the suspension is ok exept for the tierods and they are cheap and easy to replace.

Besides, if you took a hit from the outside on the right hand wheel it would have created a massive amount of toe in since the tierod are placed behind the spindle.

The "bends" you see in the shock is factory and is needed to give clearance between the wheel and shock itself.

If you look at the wear on the left side of the swaybar I bet it's identical to this side.

A rim with your dent in it can be repaired for a resonable amount of $

Cheer up, it's only a car

[Ashman]

The problem with the rim repair is rechroming will weaken the wheel. and it wont match the others if it has new chrome, plus I would not feel confident about the wheel after that.

And if any bushings get replaced on one side and or link rods etc, should they not also be replaced on the other side to make sure the suspension is even?

The strut could have some bending other than normal on it. I know some bending is factory, but upon my inspection, the strut body looks wavy.

The wheel hit the curb dead on and it got pushed back to the fender. The car would have been ok if that other guy hadn't hit me pushing me into the curb, and it would have been ok if it had not stalled I would have been able to recover from the spin. Is there some kind of feature on these cars that will shut the engine off in a spin? Because the car died and since I had no running engine, I could not finish my counter steering. My car ended up doing a 360 and then a 180, then started coming back around when the engine stalled and I could then not pull it out any more. I was so pleased when I stopped spinning and I hadn't hit anything, then I heard the skids and bam I was hit from the rear. and next thing I know I was in the curb.

I am still very shaken up, and my neck and shoulder is hurting with bad muscle spasms... Hello Vicodin.

Several other cars around this same bend also had trouble keeping traction, including a brand new 7 series bmw and a G500. Both of which lost traction and nearly hit my car and the other after the accident.

Now that I have had some time to calm down a bit, and go over the events, I'm damn lucky there were no cars coming on the other side of the road, otherwise I might have been seriously injured and more damage might have happened.

I know its only a car, but its my car, and its my baby. I have only been in two other accidents before in my entire life, both of which were from other people hitting me.

In this case, I was hit by someone else again, only they had no way of avoiding my car being that it was stalled in the road around a blind turn with muddy water.

I always look at things like this as a worst case scenario. it makes it easier to take in when the damage turns out to be less than what I think it is.

In anycase, I'll be driving the SL600 at the moment until I either get a rental or get my car back from the shop. luckily I have a bodyshop friend who will do the work for me for very cheap and he will do it properly.

The only problem I see is having to deal with insurance and getting everything paid for. not to mention the time I have to spend going for physical therapy.

Right now I still feel very uncomfortable about just driving, but having the SL should change that.

The paint matching is a serious issue though, as several bodyshops and automotive paint supply stores have been unable to provide a color match, and even their very fancy computer matching systems cannot come up with the right combination.

I'm not really concerned though, I know everything will get repaired properly.

I'll keep everyone posted as to my exact findings and estimates.

Alon

[Ashman]

AHA..

Now that I have seen it during the day, its really not too bad at all. Looks like front control arm, some bushings, maybe a new swaybar, and new front bumper and rear impact strip, as well as a trunk repaint, but I will end up having to get the whole car painted...

The damage does not appear to be very bad at all.

Way to go mercedes. hit at 25 +mph into a 14" curb and minimal damage.

I'll definately be getting an AMG front spoiler, or I'll have my bodyshop retrofit a 500e front spoiler and rework it so the flares arent there. HMMMMM...

My bodyshop friend just told me he will paint the whole car for very cheap and all. I might do one of those cool paintjobs that changes color I have no idea now.

Choices choices...

As always I'll keep you all posted. I am feeling ebtter now that I know the damage is not as bad as it looked last night.

Alon

[akry]

Ouch, bro... sorry to see you baby got into a bit of misfortune.... anyways, I agree that the damage seems to be minimal.....Good luck, bro.. and let us know how things turn out...

Andy Kuo

Sorry to hear that your car got wrecked. At least you are allright, and it sounds like the overall damage won't be that bad. You'll have her back on the road in no time.

Figures about the "police." Since you aren't going to generate any revenue, they don't want anything to do with you. It only proves that they exist only for the sake of extorting money from the citizenship.

I don't have much use for 'em.

[placo1]

Sorry about your car Alon

I know it hurts to have your baby hurt this way, I remember this happened to me before and I was so sure the car would never look the same. Eventually it turned out perfect and the paint match was perfect as well. A good body shop should be able to blend the paint but if your really picky just go for the full respray.

Look on the bright side, I know your thinking of some changes to the front and rear bumpers and now's your chance. Not to mention if you can convince the insurance company to pay for your wheels you can choose whatever you want.

I wish you good luck and remember, patience is key when you want good work done on your car.

[mikemover]

OUCH. Sorry to hear about the car, Ashman.

Glad you're OK, and I'm glad that you think you'll be able to return it to its original glory! Keep up posted. I'll be getting mine back from the body shop any day now...I'm getting some minor rear-end damage repaired. The guy who hit me is paying.

DieselPower, you are SO right about the police...if there's no money or glory in it, then they're usually not interested.

Mike

[Mercedes Fred]

You should write the "Fender bender mercedes blues"

"My baby got bent
on a dirty alley curb" etc. etc., then end it with
"..as much as I love my baby,
I sure do like my new Mercedes"

or something fitting for the occasion.

[mikemover]

Any news on the car? How's it doing?

Mike

[Ashman]

see my good news and bad news post....

Alon

[-fad]

Alon- sorry to hear of the mishap and hope your CE will be up and running soon

food for thought:
...interesting where you indicate, "...tried to file a police report about the mud and water causing the accident..."

Did the 'mud' and 'water' cause the accident? or some other driver related factor(s)? ...perhaps (more accurately) the speed of the vehicle, (lack of) adquate awareness of the road conditions, and the manner the vehicle was operated were the true 'causes' of the accident? ...the mud and water were existing contributing factors?

Please understand that I'm not downing you, your misfortune or submitting another type of criticism, ...just suggesting we appropriately take reponsibility for the consequences of the 'manner of' and 'decisions exercised' in our driving

in either case, accidents happen and are purely accidental in nature (not 'on purpose's) and we continue to try to do the best we can

wishing you & your CE a speedy recovery
-fad

[rich30769]

Alon,
Sorry to see and hear about the accident. As long as you're alright. That's what matters the most. A car (even a Benz) can be replaced, who know maybe you'll upgrade to a 94 E320 Cabriolet.

Easy on the police comments though. Some of us have Benz' also and view all of us owners as one big happy...

[yal]

Alon,
Just read what happened. Wow! Did you take a picture of the mud and water? Maybe you can file a compliant with some other city agency. Even though I have heard of them replacing rims damaged by bad potholes you still might not get anything especially if it was a natural occurring thing. You should have been given a report, for your insurance company at the least. The area maybe even blocked off, cause it sounds like a real dangerous hazard had developed.
Anyway hope everything turns out ok, good luck, don't get rid of the car, and don't get unique paint when you have it resprayed

ps I hate those shakes after an accident or after just avoiding one. Can any doctors in the house explain that one?