Ok, well today I went for a drive to run some errands. Well came to a yield sign, were I had to merge with traffic. However there were too many cars and I had to come to a stop. I found an oppening and was about to go, all of a sudden.... Some guy in a white tacoma hit me. Felt pretty bad. Pulled out and turned into a parking lot. He followed me in. His baby was crying, and his wife was trying to comfort her. He appalogized and explained he wasnt looking in front of him, only at the traffic I was waiting on as well.

He was a military guy, and his front bumper was dented in pretty bad. Not sure if it was from another accident or just now happened. The Mini had only a small piece were the bumper was cut and a foot long crack in the paint. And some of his white paint.

Told him all was well, he thanked me and kept asking if it were really ok. I felt very generous and gave the guy a break. Felt bad that his baby girl was crying and all. Was having a bad day myself and just didnt want to deal with any police or anyone else for that matter. Took off in the mini...

Well now I have a bumper I need to fix. However I was thinking of a cheaper alternative. I know I may get bashed for the idea, but thought Id see what others thought about it. Instead of getting a new bumper, or fixing this one. Why not get a golden eagle or similiar rear bumper diffuser and cut out the holes and what not. Also iv been wanting to put some remote battery terminals somewere on the rear end. so were the giolden eagle logo is. mount the plate so the logo is against the bumper and there is a flat service to work with. Drill both holes here and mount the terminals there?

Diffuser would be gloss black of course.
Here is a pic of the mini...

And a pic of the diffuser...

 

Wow, takes alot of restraint to not go crazy when someone just hit your car, good for you!

Most if not all of the white paint should come off with polish since it is just his paint transferred on top of yours.

Also, I never understood the point of the "speed holes" in the rear bumpers I see mostly on civics and the like. Want to fill me in?

 

Iv always heard it to be the parachute affect. One way to look at it. Get a tray, like youd get at school. Drive down the freeway at 70mph, and hold it out the window. Go home, drill 6 large holes in it, and do the experiment over. And guaranteed there will be much less resistance. Thats the way iv heard it eplained.

Air that travels under the car and finds its way behind the bumper gets trapped back there. So with the holes, air can escape and thus less drag. I could only imagine this working at higher speeds.

There are always heated disputes. People claim they work, and others for some reason get psychotic sayong they dont. Dont know why it is. But people honestly get mad arguing it doesnt work...

Havent seen any real wind tunnel tests, but makes sence to me. However my reason behind it is completely different lol. Too dark to go look. But im not even sure if there is much space for air to get back there.

 

This happened to me once... back when I had my Eclipse. Damage wasnt bad at all... about like yours. I was feeling generous too and said everything was fine. Never ended up fixing it, cause I late blew the engine in it lol. But in terms of fixing... if the polish thing doesnt work, maybe just get some touch up paint and go at it.

 

Don't worry, you'll have good Karma now. If I'm not mistaken, it looks like you might be able to buff a lot of that mark out. The bumper does look cracked at the most and that obviously requires more repair, but if your second idea doesn't work out and you don't really feel like having the whole bumper repaired, at most, you'll still have the crack, but the white paint should be easy enough to buff out if that is in fact paint from his truck rather than paint from your bumper scraped off. Good luck!

 

Day after I gave my wife her Mini, she got side swiped 20 ft. from our drive way. The car that hit her was a black Lexus that I have seen in the neighborhood. About 20 mins. later the Lexus driver came back. We had already called police and they were there. She claimed that she didn't see the Mini. It was kind of hard to miss it because she was in our lane at a 90 degree turn. Turned out it was her grandson who was driving. He didn't even have a license. We got "Merlin" fixed at their expense. There are so many people driveing who don't pay attention to their driveing. Gotta yap on the cell phones.

 

+1, it is nice to see some grace given for an honest mistake.

 

Supertuner you are 12010 you are a great guy! Good karma is sure to come your way.

From the looks of it there seems to be paint transfer from his bumper. I think most all of that will polish out.

 

Really really appreciate all of your guys kind words. Its just been hard lately. It seems that when it comes to the mini one thing happens after another.

Did my first oil change since owning the car. However tried resetting the interval for it. And was trying to figure it out. I guess I didnt hold it long enough. And I got multiple numbers. Ranging from 1,2,3,5, like 17, 19. I dont remember exactly. Messed with a few things. Started the mini and I had a cel, finally figured out how to reset it, but still had the cel. Tried fixing what I had messed up earlyer and cel went away. Now either im really paranoyed or i did change something that changed the car. It doesnt feel much different but i kinda want to believe i messed something up. Does anyone know how to resert it to factory defaults or what I can do to navigate thru it and know exactly what is what?

Let my gf drive, and she has railroad ties stacked up around her driveway. Well she turend to sharp and rubbed the front light against one. It scratched up the factory black fender flares. And the black tint paint on the light.

I know these things are little it just really sucks. I tend to get upset and uneasy about imperfections on my cars. Swapped a 20v silvertop into my aw11 mr2, painted the bay and almost had it finished up. However traded it because of rust on the rear quarter. Sold my na miata after someone clipped my rear quarter. Iv sold cars for imperfections that just get to me.

It just seems it is one thing after the next. Every time i come out of walmart. I seem to find a new scratch on the mini...Makes we want to just trade in the mini for a r56 probably 2010. And start over but not sure I could afford it after how much I overpayed on this mini.