What Did You Do With Your Kizashi Today?

[Remav]

Today? Guess I'll be calling the insurance company on behalf of my Kizzy. Hail Storm took the entire company parking lot out yesterday. (Well, at least I wasnt the guy who purchased a new Lexus over the weekend. Ouch! Yea that really happened.)

[nytq]

UGH! that sucks! I remember driving once and hail started, I got so freaked out that I drove into someone's driveway and under a tree until it stopped. Hoping no one would come out screaming at me LOL.

[KuroNekko]

Hail is like a car enthusiast's nightmare. I hope yours turns out okay. I recall a member here who had his Kizashi totaled by insurance a little while back because of widespread hail damage.

On the topic of insurance issues, my Kizashi is finally in the shop getting the bumper fixed. I won my claim against the person who damaged my car and her insurance is covering everything. I'm currently in a rental Chrysler 200 which is a car I wanted to experience. It's quite nice and I like it other than for the transmission. It's very sluggish from a stop though it picks up from 30+ MPH. It reminds me of the time I drove an Outlander Sport with a CVT but the 200 has a 9 speed automatic.
It's a good cruiser like most domestics are, but doesn't have the agility of the Kizashi. I think the Kizashi really stands out in this regard from the rest of the segment.

[KuroNekko]

Got the car back today. The bumper is back to perfect... however, the body shop is also a detailing place and they detail the fixed cars for free. That should normally be a good thing but whatever they did to clean my wheels ate through/chipped off the paint on them. The wheels are all messed up now. I first thought it was some kind of residue from the soap or wax but it wasn't coming off. After getting home, I noticed that it was not residue but the bare wheel material and that the silver paint was chipping off. I didn't have a single chip or any sign of problems with the wheels before taking the car in. I've seriously had bad luck with the Kizashi as of late. It's quite disheartening.
I called the shop and they asked for me to bring it back so they can examine it. I also noticed that one of the bolts for the rear bumper was missing and some of the plastic clips were broken and not properly affixed. It's irritating, but I'll see to it that this car gets properly fixed and the wheels completely repainted. The shop is quite reputable so I'm not too concerned about them addressing the issues to my satisfaction.

It currently looks like a worse version of these wheels in the first post of this thread:
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewto ... =13&t=3133

[DesRado]

Sorry about your wheels Kuro (but congrats on winning the claim). My wheels look like that now, all 4 of them. Bought a set of used OEM Sport wheels off eBay for cheap and had them powder coated. I was going to do them myself, but since I want it done right the first time, I got it professionally done. My current set I will do myself before I get winter tires for them, don't want my freshly painted ones getting that road crap on them from salt.

I'm picking them up today! I'll post picks when I can.

[bootymac]

Damn Kuro, it never ends! Hopefully the shop will refinish the wheels for you. The new finish will likely be more durable too. These wheels are so fragile

[KuroNekko]

Yeah, this sucks. The odd thing is that the paint on my wheels was totally fine prior to entering the shop. I always hand wash them myself with no abrasives or harsh chemicals. In fact, I only use a microfiber towel with car soap for the wheels. No wheel cleaners. None of them had any paint flaking or chipping prior to going into the shop. The only thing wrong with them was curb rash. This is how they now look:

IMG_2051.JPG (320.05 KiB) Viewed 5226 times

I'm waiting to hear back from the manager of the shop, but I'm hoping they will realize that someone messed up big time on these wheels and used something way too harsh.

[nytq]

WOW! Sure makes you wonder how much attention to detail the paid during the "detailing" Not to mention the person wiping down your wheels had to have noticed that. And then they either kept quiet, or even worse brought it up and was told to keep quiet.

[KuroNekko]

Just got off the phone with the general manager of the body shop. He thought it was really bizarre that this would happen from a routine detail of the car and I agreed. However, the wheels had no paint damage prior to the detailing and I could prove it with the insurance estimate photos taken exactly one week before the car went into the shop. The manager offered to repaint the wheels which is exactly the resolution I wanted.

[nytq]

Good to hear. Business done the way it should be. The best part is you'll probably get a better paint job than what came from factory.