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Dumb stuff you've done to damage your car

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Old 12-05-05, 06:25 PM
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RA40
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Unhappy Dumb stuff you've done to damage your car

I've always parked wayyy out to prevent door dings by other people and taken other precautions to keep the car in good shape. Ironically, I'm my worst enemy:

One of my cars had been door ding free. One day In our garage, I opened the door and it got away from me and hit the other car.

The following week, I was getting something off a shelf with the car in the garage and the box fell off the shelf onto the car roof leaving a dimple.

While pushing a lawn mower between the cars which has ample space, I misdirected it and pushed it right into the lower fender...can we say gouge and another dimple.

Today after being curb free since '85, I curbed a wheel.
(It's not a good day...after using the vacuum to pick up a dust bunny, it fell onto a limited edition Lance Armstrong poster ruining it.)

Back to cars: On ours, just about any damage has been caused at home or by me. How lame is that? Please tell me I'm not the lamest person out there that has this happen.
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Old 12-05-05, 07:08 PM
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xravexboix
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I have the infamous dimple on the trunk... my dad was rearranging the stuff in the garage and I back into the garage if it rains... i didn't notice that he had moved one of this exercise bikes and I hit the handle going 3mph or so... so it left a dimple lol

It's to the left of the cowboy hat lol

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Old 12-05-05, 07:38 PM
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PhilipMSPT
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I pulled off that Austin Powers maneuver once: put my arm over the passenger seat, looked back to go in reverse, even though the tranny was on Drive. Hit my roommate's Civic's rear end, and never told him.
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Old 12-05-05, 07:39 PM
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southernsc
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when i was 16 and had my ford ranger, me and a few friends went out to a constuction site around 1 or 2am and tipped porta-potties... with my truck.. one rolled over after i hit it and it flipped back up and slammed the drivers side of the bed.. that was an $800 fix from a mom and pops shop.
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Old 12-05-05, 07:46 PM
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np20412
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I parked my car in the garage one night while we were doing construction in our house. My dad had finished working for the day and brought the table saw downstairs. He put it in the garage, right where my driver door would open. I never saw it, opened my door FULL FORCE into the table saw which was dismounted and on the ground. Now I have a lovely nick and deep scratch on the lower part of my door from it, and bout 1.5 inches long
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Old 12-05-05, 07:53 PM
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LexusChris
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Drive my first car a 1988 Chevy Nova into the garage learning how to drive...I miss that car... , it was the best.
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Old 12-05-05, 08:06 PM
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When I was first learning how to use a rotary polisher a few years ago, I mistakenly burned a small piece of trim on the door not paying attention to what I was doing. Thankfully you can barely see it. Yea, I was damn careless.
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Old 12-05-05, 08:58 PM
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Ah man how does this thread bring back some painful memories. First week I had my old SC3 with freshly painted/installed Bomex front bumper, I was pulling into a parking spot at a local Arby's parking lot that happened to have those concrete slabs at the head of all the parking spaces, and in this particular spot- about 2 inches of one of the steal anchoring rods sticking up in the center of the slab (of course I wasn't aware of this at the time). So I pull into the spot, not yet used to driving a car so low to the ground, and suddenly hear and feel this nasty scrape up front, thinking I must have just scraped the ****- out of the bottom of my front bumper I decide to throw it into reverse to come off the concrete slab. Well this is when that 2" of metal anchoring rod catches the underside lip of my Bomex bumper and just rrrrrips all the way throough the center of my "fiberglass" bumper!! $550 to fix and have repainted after owning the car for only 5 days and the lesson quickly learned- "Always back into parking spaces with a lowered car!!"
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Old 12-05-05, 10:00 PM
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O. L. T.
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About 8 years ago I was in a large chevy truck moving it for a friend. I drove a very low car and wasn't used to being above things. I backed literally on to the hood of a Pontiac sunfire. The impact threw my head into the back glass.

Better than that though, it didn't even leave a scratch Luck be a lady..... I never told anyone including the owners.
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Old 12-05-05, 10:05 PM
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Dr. G-

You just reminded me of another parking scenario...

Just after lowering the Celica around '83 or so, I parked at an end space of the campus parking lot. After class, I forgot there was a parking bumper so I put it in first, let he clutch go and bump-sc-rrrape. Hung the car up just before the tranny mount.
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Old 12-05-05, 10:09 PM
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ivesGS400
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These are painful stories............ but very amusing!!! Keep 'em coming!!
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Old 12-05-05, 10:54 PM
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Originally Posted by O. L. T.
About 8 years ago I was in a large chevy truck moving it for a friend. I drove a very low car and wasn't used to being above things. I backed literally on to the hood of a Pontiac sunfire. The impact threw my head into the back glass.

Better than that though, it didn't even leave a scratch Luck be a lady..... I never told anyone including the owners.
I can't stop laughing about that!

One of my friends pulled an austin powers; he backed into a spot with a car behind him in the mall parking lot. After leaving TGI Fridays - we got in his 95 Crown Vic to leave. He put the car in reverse thinking it was in drive, started rolling backwards and then gave it gas (thinking he was slipping backwards) - we slammed into the front of the car behind us, an older Camry, with some force. Luckily those Camry's had pretty good bumpers back in the day and there wasn't any perceivable damage ... of course it was was pretty dark out ...

Another time - same friend, same car - we were pulling into a parking space at the grocery and he ran into the shopping cart return ... but instead of stopping, he just kept going and scraped the entire side of the car. I was sitting in the rear with my arm on the armrest and I could feel the railing go by my door.

Those were good times.

M.
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Old 12-05-05, 11:09 PM
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I can't believe I'm telling everyone this, it was going to die with me... I was leaving a 7-11 late one night and driving too quick in my '93 Celica. I saw an exit to the main road directly ahead of me so I gas it hard showing off Then I hear two loud bumps, my car jumps in the air and comes down hard on something other than the wheels. I freak out and stick it in reverse quick, but while the engine is making a lot of noise I'm not moving. I step out to survey the damage and realize I'm ON AN ISLAND WITH BOTH FRONT TIRES OFF THE GROUND the fwd car was stranded. I had to call over a friend to help me put weight on the hood while an observer who thought this was the funniest thing they ever saw pulled up on the rear bumper. Ya I was too cool back then

The damage included a bent lower control arm and huge paint chip off my front bumper.

Last edited by Fiya; 12-06-05 at 09:03 AM.
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Old 12-06-05, 01:00 AM
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When i was learning how to drive , i accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes in my dad's landcruiser , drove right into a big pole
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Old 12-06-05, 03:24 AM
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ha! i thought i was the only one!

I was parked real close to the end curb so that I wont get any door dings. stupid me forgot that i had also turned the wheel so that it was touching the curb. when I put it in reverse, the car turned left and grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. i curbed my brand new 19" rims.
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