[ajp120]

OP's car is a 2104 which was bought used with 16K miles, and I think he might have already settled with the insurance company, but good point on the depreciated value. Could be worth a few extra hundred in party money if nothing else ...

Who would I prod to find out more?

 

[ajp120]

Hmm, St Louis...does that mean you drove through Ferguson?

If it's off 55 it's possible.

 

[ajp120]

On the way back from Chicago. Handling like a dream. It's actually has a sweet spot that is kind of darty (upper 60's MPH right before 70) above or below that everything handles like incredibly smooth.

 

[ajp120]

So I'm considering doing a cross country round-trip road trip for various reasons of visiting things, visiting places of Catholic significance and scouting places to move to ...and maybe a little camping to save money.


I have heard that road trips are actually not that hard on cars and that if you live in extreme climates everyday commuting is actually worse because there is more city driving and engine temperature fluctuation where on road trips the engine temp is usually ideal.

Thoughts? Tips? I have driven pretty far before but Memphis-Chicago-Portland and back will be by far the longest I have ever driven.

 

[ajp120]

Her insurance is involved more so at this point. The police report sent my company was actually the wrong one so now both companies are attempting to get the correct one sent in.

35% would be too dark for my liking. I personally don't like super dark tints in most cases.

I did hit a deer (only its head) in my old Corolla. Thankfully, it didn't even put a scratch on if but it sent the deer careening backwards in fast barrel rolls. The crazy thing is I think it lived.

 

[ajp120]

Good price, I was quoted around $180 for non-ceramic. (Not including the windshield, I assume.)



Are you wanting privacy also, or just heat rejection? I would expect 70 Ceramic to be about the same or maybe more heat rejection as 35 or 20 percent vinyl. It won't be as good as 35 or 20 percent Ceramic, but not much less.

(But there is a lot of windshield area on the Focus. If you are primarily concerned with heat rejection, it would be a good idea to get AirPro 90 on the windshield as well).



Was she ticketed? Was there a police report? Do you have her name and info?

Personally, I think you should continue to get estimates, then call her insurance company and explain that their client damaged your car and they need to take care of it.

They can work out the details with her AFTER your car is fixed.

She was ticketed and I am having my company (USAA) fax over the report to her company. She is kind of frustrating as I had to chase her 3 lights to stop in heavy traffic (honestly she seemed to be running away), was childish and flippant about the whole matter, and then neglected to respond to any of her insurance company's attempts to contact her and has not made attempts of her own. :cursin:

I am reluctant to get a really dark tint as: 1. Privacy is not really my concern at all, and 2. I do a lot of night driving in Mississippi and general areas in the South US that do not have many street lights. Lots of little critters to avoid in those areas, too.

 

[ajp120]

I think either this or next week I will get a 70 PCT ceramic tint on all the windows for $219.

The salesperson said that the tint, even though at only 70 pct, would have the same heat rejection/UV rejection as the darker ones.

I hope she is right.

As far as much accident/side-swipe I am waiting for her to make a statement still to her insurance company.

 

[ajp120]

Estimate was about $900, my deductable is 1000. When I told the guy that at Aabra, he said the price goes up as they work on it normally.

They said $35 dollars per window for tinting, which isn't bad, but they do not offer me a chance to see the tints for myself so I can judge whether they are too dark for me or not. I do a lot of night driving, I want to be able to see.

Getting my first oil change this weekend and going to check the manual to see if I'm do for alignment, rotation, and balance as well.

 

[ajp120]

Will the ford dealership shops fix it?

 

[ajp120]

Girl side swiped my Tuxedo Black Focus.
I WAS LIVID!!!!! She was texting on her phone or something and tried to change lanes on me. Then I had to chase this obnoxious teenager 3 lights to get her to stop and get the police to come. Finally when she stopped she was very flippant about it.

It was ruled her fault and she was ticketed, thankfully.

What is a good shop that matches paint well? I know the Focus MK3's have a unique speckle tone. I am going to Abra for the assessment, but I really want the paint matched exactly, if possible.

 

[ajp120]

Is 3M the company that has clear film that only filters the heat spectrums of light?

I read some reviews of the clear films and some people noted actually have visibility greatly reduced because of an orange peel like texture on their front windshield afterwards.

 

[ajp120]

How good are the clear 3M tints that block heat but aren't dark? I want a tint to prepare for the Memphis insanity heat, but I don't want to lose my night time visibility as things are pretty dark at not and not well-lit in most of "the south."

 

[ajp120]

Here is the video on how to DIY most of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXAbUE8gd-8

 

[ajp120]

Thinking about adding a direct fit DIY fog light kit to my Focus.

Currently researching how to do this and making sure it won't void my warranty.

Any advice? The kits on ebay are cheap, I know I have to buy the stock bezels and mod the light to fit in the pvp housing, but the rest I just outsource.

 

[ajp120]

I was thinking about changing my own oil, but I wonder if that voids my warranty (will check). The ramps available are plasticy and wobble in a way that makes in terrified to go under a car.

 

[ajp120]

Great video from the Focus forums on all the effort that Europe's Ford division to make the Focus fun to drive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_plbcsPU8M&list=PL48CD6114E23F6472&index=13

 

[ajp120]

Yeah the rock chips wouldn't be so bad if my car wasn't black. The layer they reveal is white so there is a lot of contrast.

I bought turtle wax's black car detail kit and it helped reduce the paint chip appearance dramatically and in a lot of cases completely. This may be a solution to the problem but it is a little bit time intensive and I wonder if over the lifespan of the car would cost as much as a clearbra.

 

[ajp120]

I just went back into my garage pictures here: there is almost no paint damage on the the crushed rear bumper, it looks to be only clear coat damage. Also the front bumper appears to be unchipped completely, although, it's too far away to be certain.

I can't really afford a clear bra at the moment.

The focus forum people said the new water based paints are crap.

 

[ajp120]

http://www.autozone.com/landing/page.jsp?name=3m-paint-defender-spray-film

Any thoughts on this 3M stuff?

Also thinking back, my Corolla was in a wreck and the paint didnt even chip off the back bumper then so that leads me to believe that the Corolla bumper didn't have paint on it to begin with. It was just all black fiberglass perhaps.


I'm losing sleep over this as I just bought basically a new car, it should t be getting rock chips this soon!!!

 

[ajp120]

Well, life is short, and its pretty much down the road from me, so I will probably attend the FocusFest Memphis. I may even film a lot of it and post it here. And yes, from my brief time on the Focus Fanatics forums, the Focus community seems way different than the general Toyota one. The Focus community seems a little younger, more blue collar, pseudo-macho "flexing," where like Tiger said about the Corolla community, it is much more "I affectionally love my reliable machine," a little older, and more white-collar. I could be wrong, though. Bragging rights for Focus people are more along the lines of most rice or "post-rice" where Corolla bragging rights are "my Corolla still runs great after X number of miles."

One thing that is starting REALLY irk me is that I keep getting lots and lots of little "dings" (raised white bumps from what looks like impacts in the front bumper). I owned my Corolla for 7 years, also black, and I didn't get any of those that I remember so I don't know why I am getting them after only a few weeks on the Focus. I think the front bumper was composed differently; on the Corolla I think the entire bumper was black, and the clear coat much thicker than my Focus's, thus when rocks or whatever hit them if they did manage to make it through the really thick clear coat there was just more black to show. On my Focus the clear coat seems thinner and instead of all of it being made with black material (fiberglass?) it is painted with a layer of thin black then white under that.

It's not awful now, but at the rate they are multiplying on my Focus in a year it will look bad. I am contemplating getting a black car detailer, which may help decrease the appearance of them.