WTB MY 02-03 WRX hood and "STI" grill
 

My coworker backed into the front of my car today while it was parked behind the building. It drives fine, but needs a new hood and grill.

The hood is OEM. Anyone have one lying around?

The grill is a knockoff STi grill. I bought it from RallySportDirect in July of 06 but I can't find it on their site. The invoice calls it a "GTS-EXT-1008 - 02-03 Impreza STI Style Front Grill - ABS". If anyone has one similar, I'm open to that as well.

I'm trying to help out my coworker by not involving insurance companies, but I really hope it doesn't bite me in the ass.

Are you friends with the guy? In my experience this type of thing WILL bite you in the ass because it will probably never be right and you will have resentment.

Friends? Not exactly but I've worked here for almost a decade and he's worked here for like 6 years. I'm thinking of drawing up a contract for what I expect him to do if we're not going through insurance and making him sign it. I'm sure it won't be legally binding, but we do work together and he seems like a good guy to me.

No, that would be plenty legally binding if you end up having to go to small claims court or something.

But frankly, if he doesn't want the insurance company involved, you should be dropping it off at a good body shop and he should be paying the bill. If that's too expensive for him, he needs to call his insurance company. The simply fact you didn't go straight to his insurance company is already a big enough favor... cutting corners on the repair or bending over backwards to try to get it fixed on the cheap sound excessive... afterall, he broke your car and should take care of making things right.

It is remotely possible there is a yellow color miss-matched :) hood at a wrecker in Rancho Cordova. Otherwise, pick up a grill and have a body shop replace/repair the hood and install the grill.

It is likely the grill mounts and maybe the hood mounts are out of whack as well and maybe the radiator beam/mounts?

I'll take a close look at the beams, etc. when doing my timing belt this weekend.

I'm going to speak to him today (with our other coworker playing translator since his English isn't very good). I really would just rather go through his insurance or have him pay out of pocket (if he'll sign an agreement) for an autobody place to just fix it.

I hit a parked car in the Mt. Rose parking lot years ago and my insurance only went up a little bit as a result. I hope he has insurance. Jesus this sucks. How many shades of yellow can one car be?

Alright, spoke to him and we're going through insurance. Concours?

^Yes. They have always been totally cool with me.

^+2, they have always taken care of me and I'm extremely picky when it comes to getting paintwork done. He didn't hesitate to respray my fender when it came out a barely noticable shade off. Covered the rental car and I didn't get an attitude like I have from other shops. The owner really knows how to run his business and take care of the customer. I've never went anywhere else since.
:)

Talk to Bruce Monson at Shaber Ave. Autobody (775) 355-1261. Bruce has fixed my WRX's front end twice now, and my SVX's mirror once. He's always gone the extra mile to make the car look good... like completely stripping my hood and bumper at no cost before the repaint because he wasn't 100% it was going to look factory when it was done if it was just a touch-up and blend. Especially amazing because I told him I was just going to go out and promptly crash the bumper into some cones and jack up the paint anyway.

I'll bet he can even work the insurance for repainting more of the car if it's impossible to match the paint... but that probably won't be necessary because he will probably be able to match the yellows. The original reason he was recommended to me was because a co-worker had his white C5 Vette's bumper painted at like 2 other places before Bruce was able to match the factory white.

If the insurance if paying, that's where I'd go.

If you're asking for recommendations, Cito Auto Body.

Absolutely. You've had a good experience with them, Cory?

Best body work I've ever seen, and I've seen lots. They repaired my crushed RR quarter panel years ago, and after paint blend and everything, even a trained eye can't see where the fix was done. Shit, the right tail light fits better in the body than the left one that's never been touched!

Only drawback, they are expensive if somebody's paying out of pocket. But well worth it!