Fellow Maximizers,

It hurts me to have to show you these pictures. I had had the hiccups all day and tried different remedies to rid myself of them. I swam competitively all through high school and I can hold my breath for minutes. That said, I was coming home from church last Sunday and I was taking some deep breaths as a last attempt to rid myself of the hiccups. On the second breath, I blacked out while turning around a bend. I woke up on the opposite side of the road to a pain in my shoulder. I got out of my car and thought I was in some kind of cruel dream because I didn't know how I got where I was. A few witnesses informed me that my car crossed the centerline and collided with an oncoming trailer pulled by an excursion. The combined speed of the vehicles was equivalent of me driving 70+ mph into a metal barrier. My airbags did not deploy because of the location of the impact. I don't have insurance on my Maxima because it has over 135k miles. Not too many people walk away unharmed from crashes of this nature. I am a follower of Christ and I know that God was looking out for me that day. I didn’t go to the hospital but I believe the cause of my blacking out was due to accidentally performing the Valsalva maneuver. I have loved this car since my family purchased it with 4k miles. It has NEVER been in the shop until now except for cracked A/C caps and freon refills. What an amazing vehicle.

I NEED the help of this community to locate some replacement parts for my car because I am paying out of pocket. I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions that you members can offer. I am having an automotive shop fix the broken suspension and transmission parts but I am doing the bodywork myself. I am looking for the following items:

1. Front Bumper Assembly (Bumper Cover, Styrofoam, etc.)
2. Driver Side Fender
3. Driver Side Headlight Assembly
4. Left and Right Turn Illuminators
5. Left and Right Wheel Well Liner
6. Front Grille
7. Air Intake (Maybe it is time to upgrade to a C.A.I.)
8. Driver Front Rim (Enkei LE 18”)

Thank you all so much ahead of time. I am open to buying aftermarket parts that improve visual looks. I am also open to new rims since they no longer make the ones that are pictured on the car.

Sincerely,
Burnt_3.5

p.s. I am a college student and do not have mucho dinero to spend on my Maxima.

 

 

 

Damm bro u one lucky dude hope everything goes ok, someone will shime in with parts

 

Glad you're ok but I hope you know that you will need more parts then what you just listed. Possibly L lower control arm, L Axle, L tie rod, L sway bar link, you could have possibly damaged the transmission when you hit whatever you hit with that wheel and that axle did all that mess. Fender support could very well be damaged also.

From doing these type of repairs for over 15 years, I can tell you right now that you can very well have all the damages I listed. I suggest getting a quote on the damage and see where you're at dude. No point in getting all the exterior parts if the underneath is bent and nothing will fit back. Lot of work and money to dish out ahead of you bro, I hope it but Im just telling it like it is dude. That's at least 5K worth of damage you got there, possibly more if you have damaged supports or transmission.

 

You are correct. I may have forgotten to mention that all the transmission/suspension parts/repairs are being handled by an automotive shop. I will receive the car once it is drivable (not legally but technically) to work on the aesthetic parts.

 

Oh my God. Yes, God was really watching over you. Glad you are ok, dude. You can always buy a new car.

Wow, I wonder if you can put this car back to a good operating order as an insurance company would do. Sucks you didn't have insurance.

I would say before start any repairs, get a true cost. Don't start while hoping you will finish it or start and say you wil be discovering new problems later on. You might end up abandoning after already putting in much into the car.

My propositions;

1 - Get a quote and see if you can fix one.
2- Sell this car and add some to whatever you get and get another 6thgen or a 5thgen. You say you are a college student, so, make some tough decisions since your school comes first at this time. Besides, depending on what you are doing in school or how soon you will graduate, you might just need a decent car that would take you through school. So, get you something that is decent and can take you just through school till you graduate. When you graduate, then you can get that Escalade with them 24" wheels. Just kidding. But after you graduate, hopefully you can buy you what you want.

Goodluck with everything. We are here to help.

 

Thank you for the good advice! I got a quote for $4,800 to make it run and look like new. I am waiting to get another quote that leaves out the body repair. If I can save $500 bucks in labor by doing bodywork myself then I would like to do it. I am studying Mechanical Engineering and I enjoy projects like this.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-05...ht_4167wt_1165

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-...ht_3870wt_1165

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSA...ht_2150wt_1165



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSA...#ht_2020wt_939


All you need it seems.

 

"If I can save $500 bucks in labor by doing bodywork myself then I would like to do it. I am studying Mechanical Engineering and I enjoy projects like this."

You might be better off getting a part-time job to earn the 500 and let the pros do all the work. You're dealing with suspension parts which have to be installed properly and you may have frame damage. If there's transmission and/or motor mount damage, it will cost more. I'd get a second estimate from a reputable shop so that they don't come back to you and say, "Well, we didn't realize you needed additional parts until we got into the job." $4800 seems a bit on the low side, to me. Note also that shops can vary considerably in their quotes. My gf's BMW needed minor body and paint work and the bids ranged from $400 to $1300. Because the car was 10 years old and b/c a friend recommended it, she took the $400 shop and they did an entirely adequate job--so shop around and talk to friends for recommendations.

 

Yeah dude, let the pro's handle this one. They will be pulling on parts of your frame to get things back to within spec of the original position...If you later try to put the fender, hood, bumper on, and it doesn't line up, you're going to be back and forth with the shop to get that figured out, spend extra weeks away from the car, and still end up giving them cash to finish the job.

Just let them do it all, and be done with it. We're not talking about some bondo and paint prep work, we're talking serious body repair.

To be honest, I would have sold the car as scrap, I'm astounded that you're quote for the damage was under $5000. I would have guessed at least $8000. That's just too much out of pocket considering the value of the car, but under $5k, that's actually reasonable. Hopefully they don't come back with a reworked estimate after they take possession of the car...

 

well it depends on when you want to have this done i will have a bumper and i can send it to you for free i will just need the shipping cost to send to you , i just got my hybrid front bumper and i will have that oem one extra the only thing you may need to cover the 4 lil holes it have to add the plates let me know later.

 

Looks like the engine fell down.

 

Sorry to hear. My suggestion is to check the classifieds for people parting out cars.

 

+1

 

theres a 6th gen being parted out in ma/ri... its listed in the classifieds and it still has the front end... granted its a diferent color thats probably your best bet to get back on the rd and worry about paint later... you can probably get everything you need from it!

http://forums.maxima.org/6th-generat...-part-out.html

 

500$ difference for all that bodywork? Its a no brainer IMHO.

 

you guys have read him wrong...he gonna take it to repair shop so they can fix all mechanical issues and hes gonna do all the body worl. AKA assembling the parts. The repair shop should be responsible for making all mechanical repairs making frame straight etc.

 

Damn man, after reading what happened and seeing the pics. Glad you got out of that without a scratch. God was really on your side that day. It could've been real ugly.

Hope you get it either fixed up. Sounds like you have a lot of sentimental value attached to the ride. Good luck with doing some of the body work man.

 

You did have GOD looking out for you! You are one lucky young man. Hopefully you will learn from this and not do this sort of thing again. No more Valsalva while driving. I hope that you're able to find all your parts...you can try a scrap yard distributor...they are usually the largest and supply the other scrap yards with parts. Be careful next time!

 

You're lucky you didn't kill someone else, who the **** drives without insurance?

Does your state not require it!?

 

Perhaps he meant no collision...I'm sure he had some liability coverage...I'd hope anyway, or he could be sued directly for injury's in an at fault...

 

Correct. I had no insurance on that vehicle. I am covered by liability.

 

This is exactly right. I am still waiting on the two quotes from the auto shop.

1) Total Repair Cost
2) Mechanical Repair Cost

Once I can compare the two quotes, I will make a decision to either do the body work myself or let the shop handle it.

 

Cheese20323,

Those are great finds. I guess I need some lessons in keyword searches because I could not find half of those when I looked. Thanks for linking them!

 

I decided to let the shop do all the work. If this had happened at the beginning of the summer then I would have had time to do much of the work myself. Unfortunately, I have only 14 days until I have to be back at Baylor for CL training.

I AM LOOKING FOR 7TH GEN STOCK RIMS+TIRES. (Aren't we all?)

Thank you all so much for the advice!

God Bless

 

sux, what happened?

 

Maximizers,

I just received news from the auto shop that my baby is ready for pick-up. All I need is a new set of rims and then I am back in business. I will post pictures as soon as I get it back! Thank you all for the help!

Mitch

 

Scroll up and read OP's first post?


Glad to hear you got your Max fixed. Hopefully you'll think twice next time before you hold your breath for long periods of time while driving.

 

Damn.. Hope you get your max fix..

 

You'd better work on your health issue first before you get into your car.

 

Glad your getting it back. Hope all is well. Can not wait to see pics. Just curious how much was the total repair cost.

 

hey i'm glad your alright, god def. had a guardian angel on lookout for you. i agree, just part out that wrecked car or sell it and put it down on something that you can use as a daily driver

 

kk nvm you got it fixed, yay

 

glad you ok man.. but are you saying the shop you took it too didn't total it out? that looks more like 6-7 grand (if that is oil on those part) in damages from start to finish.. i'd buy a new maxima for that...

also i've been there with no insurance. I only had liability on my first motorcycle. got in a hit and run and my brand new bike was totaled, 10 grand loss, so i never drive without collision now. the risk is not worth losing your vehicle.

 

ah now i see the trailer.. doubt it will be 7 grand like i said unless you have unseen damages. its a good thing you glanced the side instead of a little bit farther up where you could have caught the front... that would be a different story..

 

Sorry to hear that man. Luckily u didnt get hurt or hurt someone else.

 

Glad you made it out in one piece...