Just SUCKS....SS Panel has been hit.
08-02-2012, 09:08 PM
#1
New Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 11-22-2009
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 27
Just SUCKS....SS Panel has been hit.
What a bummer. Just sucks. I was out today in the Montreal Canada area on business. I was waiting to turn right at a light and got clipped on the rear corner of the drivers side bumper. I got out had a look and confirmed that yes, this just happened.....choked down the lump in the throat and held back the tears in the eyes. This happened about 5 hours ago. I've been home for 2hours now and keep looking at the damage. From what I can see the corner of the plastic bumper skin is pushed in and cracked. The rear quarter panel and the lift gate are not affected. As how the bumper is mounted to the car nothing seems to be misaligned....but I still need to bring it to the dealer. It could have been worse for sure. I know the SS Panels are rare with only 216 built. I only drive mine in the summer and store it for the winter so the salt won't rot it out. There is one for sale in Guelph Onatrio Canada but it's been hammered with Canadian winters. The salt is rotting it out. Poking around the forum I noticed some SS Panels have been wrecked or totalled. I'm quite sure there are less than 200 in existance. To some...who cares, to others like me.....I care. It my opinion it just takes the car down a notch or two from original. I guess I can say now 5 spd, brembo's, limited slip, K & N intake, GMTU, and 2 shades of red (rear bumper) ..... sadly trying to find humour in this. Different thought. A few SS guys have put dual exhaust on. Did they modify their bumper cover or order an aftermarket??? Hey if their is an aftermarket that looks good......insurance pays for the new bumper and I pay for the new exhaust. If you have any info or pics on the bumper cover please let me know.
08-02-2012, 09:36 PM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: 05-13-2008
Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 2,075
Most have cut another opening in the bumper for duals, and some have moved the duals to the side and have filled in the opening.
PTeazer used to make a bumper, but its not available anymore and had a moldy(old) rice look to it anyway.
Bummer on the hit, glad there is no major bodywork, bummer also on the blemish to the title, in case you go to sell it.
Just wait till they start getting recycled in a few years, numbers will really start to drop. I am not looking to the day when I start seeing HHR beaters.(SHIVERS) I wish I had the cash to have bought out the remaining production line parts, like that guy did with all those shelby parts.
PTeazer used to make a bumper, but its not available anymore and had a moldy(old) rice look to it anyway.
Bummer on the hit, glad there is no major bodywork, bummer also on the blemish to the title, in case you go to sell it.
Just wait till they start getting recycled in a few years, numbers will really start to drop. I am not looking to the day when I start seeing HHR beaters.(SHIVERS) I wish I had the cash to have bought out the remaining production line parts, like that guy did with all those shelby parts.
08-03-2012, 12:15 AM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: 05-22-2009
Location: Rough & Ready, NE Calif
Posts: 240
dual exhaust
Crazy Canuck,
I feel for ya, man. I backed into a gal at the Dollar Store and tore my rear bumper cover clean off last month; it ended up hanging by the clearance light wires.
I just installed duals on my panel... I cut out the hole for the right hand exhaust and 'rolled' the lip in, just like the left side. I used stainless steel screen and some 3M epoxy stuff, just for plastic repairs.
I cut 5/8" strips of the screen and used a quarter sized tip (round) that I made for my soldering iron. I held the iron on the stainless until it melted into the plastic of the bumper, then moved along as it melted, pushing the screen into the bumper. (It acts just like 6" x 6" wire screen in concrete). I then applied the epoxy and sanded it down to level. It took a couple of coats of the epoxy to get it just right.
I can't seem to figure out how to include a pict in this reply, so if you PM me your email addy, I'll be more that happy to send you some more picts. It really needs picts to understand just what I did to get the 'rolled in lip'.
Mo
I feel for ya, man. I backed into a gal at the Dollar Store and tore my rear bumper cover clean off last month; it ended up hanging by the clearance light wires.
I just installed duals on my panel... I cut out the hole for the right hand exhaust and 'rolled' the lip in, just like the left side. I used stainless steel screen and some 3M epoxy stuff, just for plastic repairs.
I cut 5/8" strips of the screen and used a quarter sized tip (round) that I made for my soldering iron. I held the iron on the stainless until it melted into the plastic of the bumper, then moved along as it melted, pushing the screen into the bumper. (It acts just like 6" x 6" wire screen in concrete). I then applied the epoxy and sanded it down to level. It took a couple of coats of the epoxy to get it just right.
I can't seem to figure out how to include a pict in this reply, so if you PM me your email addy, I'll be more that happy to send you some more picts. It really needs picts to understand just what I did to get the 'rolled in lip'.
Mo
08-03-2012, 01:40 PM
#10
Member
Join Date: 08-01-2012
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 53
Glad no one was hurt!
I once saw a SS Panel for sale on eBay & really, really wanted to buy it! But I would've taken a big hit on trade-in since I still owed so much on mine. My next HHR will be an SS model but yours is the ultimate SS! A Panel SS! So rare! Getting run into is always the worst! Coming back from lunch the other day & I almost got run into like 3 times! Stupid drivers 
drive me batty!
drive me batty!
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