Even those big Brembo wheels command decent money used.

As far as the locks? Having even one lock on each wheel requires them to do much more than the 13/16" acorn nuts require to get the wheel of. Pros wouldn't even touch the car unless they were guaranteed to be able to make a LOT of noise and not be disturbed.

Better is to replace all the lugs with the kind that requires a tool that slips on over them.

Source: Had to bust off locking lugs on my ol' 66 Muskrat, and let me tell you... it is NOT easy. You sacrifice at least 1 if not 4 sockets (and these are the hardened 1/2" air rachet longs, plus a breaker bar) and make a hell of a racket. No pro would bother. And an amature would get started on one and then get caught/give up and you get a messed up lock/socket combo.

Or grind the lock, which wouldn't be done.

There's no room to do any nut cracking there either.

Locks. That's why you get them. Amature hour is over, and pros just keep on struttin'. Probably. Too much troubles.

Here, to give ya the idea:


I'm thinkin' nobody *stealing* something is gonna wanna do that. But hey, what do I know.

Ok, off the soapbox.

 

This really sucks Puma. I just noticed your also in the TC area (MN plates). What side of town you in? I'm NE Metro and we really don't have too many issues up here, but mine stays locked up in my shop almost all the time.

Hopefully get her tip top and don't have to deal with those scumbags again. I'll keep my eyes/ears open if anyone is selling a pair of Brembo wheels.

Best body shop I have ever delt with is Raymond Auto Body in St Paul. I have never experienced a better body shop and have never heard anyone complain of the service/results from them.

 

Not to steal away from the thread, but this sucks. I used to use Modern Auto Body in Brooklyn Park and they were a fantastic shop. Now Puma is using another shop that appears to be a quality shop and Turbo is recommending another great shop. Why are all the good shops in Minneapolis/St Paul? I need a shop in Orlando and nobody knows of any that don't also charge a mortgage rate for a simple fix.

 

You should have went to a junkyard and bought a couple of used rims. You can see in one of the pics that something besides the jack was dragging on the concrete. The underside is probably a mess.

 

Thanks guys, I'm the Highland Park part of St. Paul. Nice area, just not inside my garage I guess.

I used Modern Auto Body to fix the gas door on my Camaro, was happy with their work and would surely use them again - however part of my reason for going with the shop I did is because Modern Auto Body isn't one of my insurance company's preferred shops - I learned that the hard way with my wife's Beetle, when she scraped a pole with her bumper I took it to the VW certified dealer shop and as they were not certified, my insurance company couldn't step in and evaluate the repair when they continued to botch the clear coat (massive holograms the first time, burned through to base coat the next two times, fourth repair was acceptable enough for me to finish it off myself with my orbital). If the shop is certified they can step in if there are problems.

So far I'm happy with the shop it is at, they do a lot of Mercedes work and their head mechanic has a '92 GT.

I should finally get the final estimate from the body shop today.

Also the police picked up the surveillance footage from my leasing office, and while the cameras don't point at the cars the office did say they got a plate of a car that doesn't belong in the garage during that time. The police might be able to see more that the leasing office can't. Hoping to hear back on that today too, maybe.

As for the leasing office, it turns out I'm the NINTH property crime victim in the garage or parking lot outside in the last 4-5 months, all of this started right after buying my car. The leasing office isn't responsible, but certainly negligent to do nothing while knowing of a chronic theft problem on the property. Meanwhile they have been adding useless fluff like concierge services, etc. I am hoping to get out of work a bit early today to go bring these issues up with the leasing office, then if they fail to acknowledge their negligence and offer some sort of resolution such as allowing my wife and I to park in another building's garage (four buildings in the complex), I will call corporate (I'll probably do this anyway) and complain. Good thing is there is a 53 year old military sergeant woman from North Carolina on my floor who has been victimized as well and she has been wonderful in assembling people who've been victimized and is also considering going to local news if corporate doesn't do something here. I have the same police sergeant on my case as she did, and they caught the guy who broke into her car.

 

Sorry to hear about this Puma... when I first saw this I thought, did they actually remove the wheel from the tire? lol. Then realized they put $hitty tires there just to get the jack out.

Again, really sorry this happened. However, I think YOUR focus now should be, how to prevent this in the future. If they truly are going to come back and take it again, you don't want to go through this again. Talk to the building owners and cops and find out the best course of action. Prevention is key.

LOL... really dude? Niche Milans are ugly huh?

LOL... I can't stop laughing. I love how you threw that in there. In that case, I'm so glad no one will steal my wheels

 

The other two lines are actually from the casters on the jack.

No junkyards around here that I know of, plus had to have the car out the garage by Monday morning so they could powerwash the garage...definitely didn't want the car sandblasted by that.

Stopped by the bodyshop, have more pics but on phone now...will post in a bit.

 

Pics from a visit to the body shop:













Trunk floor has a little damage:



Crossmember is damaged on both sides:





Vapor canister cover is cracked (hence floor pan damage):

 

Current estimate is approaching $4700, but that does not include the supplemental estimate which includes new brake calipers, potentially new rotors (they said they look ok but they are going to take another close look and evaluate), and all this stuff underneath. I think we will be closer to $7k all said and done.

Good to see the wheels and tires are in at least. Seeing it on the lift albeit apart was better than seeing it sitting on the ground or on blocks. Again left the shop feeling good about the repair and choice of shop.

For paintwork, we are looking at two new side skirts, then just a base touch up on the very edge of the front bumper blending into the bumper a little and reclearing the whole thing, and then doing the same on the underneath side of the rear bumper, just a little basework and reclearing. They also are replacing the little black plastic lip under the front bumper since that is scuffed.

They are hoping to have the car done not next week but the week after.

Going to head over to my leasing office now and have a chat, I don't expect to be blown off.

 

Wow - 4700 bucks. Glad you are getting her all fixed up. The underside doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

 

theres also a huge dent in the resonator, what the hell? getting replaced too.

 

I always wondered what the black piece in between the mufflers was... anybody know? Also was wondering about the wrinkle on the right side of the tail light area? Is that just factory paintwork?

 

Vapor canister. Wrinkle looks like its in the steel - probably the way it come out of the die.

 

That is from the factory. There's one on the other one too, just on top. Just have them get you a set of GT500 OTA pipes (which don't have resonators) and you'll enjoy your GT500 axlebacks a lot more. Trust me.

 

what does this do?

 

Puma, if you get the front calipers replaced, can I get the originals from you? Let me know.

 

Emissions junk. Keeps gas vapors from the tank sealed in the system and pumps it into the intake to be burned off instead of released into the atmosphere

 

Puma If your going to replace your rear bumper I will take it off your hands :P

 

Why are they replacing calipers?

 

That was my thought. But if they are going to do it, I'm interested in the originals. My car doesn't have them.