Arrrrgh, damaged my car.... in parking lot!

[insanekiwi]

Damn, been only back one day since getting back from Sydney.

It's really foul weather in Auckland at the moment.

Anyway, I was driving into a mall parking lot, did not see a concrete barrier (low curve) on left side as I was trying to turn left, and pretty much went into that curve. The passenger driver's side wheel got lashed, and puctured straight away, then the floor pan towards the end of the car (before the rear wheel) where it begins to come down a little, has been crushed now it has a few holes on the floor pan. I didn't hit anything structural underneath fortunately.

So the damage
1) Front Continental - burst
2) Front wheel, very slight curbing
3) Rear tyre - slight bulging, no curb damange
4) The floor pan on passenger side, now has 2 holes.

It sounded really bad, but being in a bad mood (I think I was rolling at around 15km-20km, hitting that curb), but fortunately I could drive home after changing the wheel with the spare.

Only the plastic floor pan is damaged at the lowest point (where it sweeps down and finishes). Should it cause any grief later? I hope there is no structural damage in terms of chassis. The car drives normally as previously. The wheel was strong and didn't get buckled. All wheel balanced and put back nicely.

Now I have Good Ear FS1 or something, with V pattern that won many awards in the spare. I will probably change to all of those once I need to change tyres. Cost me $200NZ for 16". Got $80 dollar discount.

Do you think it's worth getting plastic welding to amend the hole? Should not cost too much I don't think.

I've attached some photos below.

[insanekiwi]

[insanekiwi]

By the way the photo looks big, but the hole is at the most around 10cent coins in 3 different places.

My finger sweep test revealed no vital structures under this part of floor pan.

[Blitzen]

Its up to you if you are willing to spend the money on plastic welding. It exposed metal may be more susceptible to rusting(Not too likely if you have the proper rust proofing), but a small amount sealant may be ok to use in the short term. If you feel that you don't like the look of the damage(and who wouldn't), you could go out and buy a replacement part, or get it welded.
At the end of the day, its your money.

[VW GTI]

Could you post some close ups...

My eyes hurt from looking at those photos, can't tell what anything is, but ouch. That damage looks bad

[DaveMack]

Bad luck, Mate. Have had a few close calls with those sorts of things here too. Since you're in AK (salty, damp (humid) air 6 months of the year) I'd consider the plastic welding to ensure you keep moisture out ... although the VW rust-proofing should be pretty good.

My 0.02c.

Cheers,
Dave

[Tim]

if its out of sight. just patch it with a small bit of fibreglass and be done with it.

[insanekiwi]

it drives fine at the moment.

Should I be worried about any chassis damage? Only direct impact was the wheel / tyre on front, and that floor protector on left edge on single side. No impact to the metal parts of the body.

Hmm....

[Blitzen]

I wouldn't be that worried at all about chassis damage. It dosn't even look like it scratched the paint under the plastic, and it was only a low speed bump.