the s2k blog

I love my car, and like most people fear and loathe dents, even small ones. I usually park way in the back of parking lots so that no one can get close and ding my door. I park in corners where I can get as far away as possible from the door next to me, preferably next to a passenger door which is less likely to be used. I even look at the type of car I park next to. I prefer the medium-high priced cars that are in good shape. People don’t care about crappy cars and the really rich don’t care either. I also try to never park next to 2 door cars as their doors are 1/3 as long as sedans.

All that said, this weekend I got a massive ding, right on the bodyline of my beautiful s2k, having not followed any of my own advice. While on vacation last weekend, I checked into a hotel and parked in the temporary parking spaces, figuring that since I was only going to be away from my car for 5 minutes, parking next to a 2-door, sc430 on the driver side would be ok. Wrong!

Gah! The hit must have been really bad and I figured since the ding was on the bodyline that PDR probably wouldn’t work and I’d have to go with the expensive (quoted $600) route of real bodywork and paint.

I called around and was referred to David Pelikan of SOS Dent out of Los Angeles. He came to my place, spent about 45 minutes working on it with various tools, and for $150 completely took out the dent. I was pretty skeptical that he could get it completely out, but he seemed to know what he was doing. He was really friendly and even explained the process of energy waves as he lightly hammered my door in places no where near the ding. Amazing work, and I definitely recommend him: http://www.sosdent.com/

here’s the pics:

after:

I absolutely love how well the Modifry Glove Box Shelf organizes that compartment and actually makes it useful. Before I was only able to stack so much junk before it would all just avalanche out when I opened the door. Now I can neatly store lots of different things and easily access them.

The problem I was having though, is that since the shelves were only press-fit, if I ever put something inside that fit too tightly, pulling it out would bring the shelves down. I easily remedied this by using 5-minute epoxy glue, and gluing the shelves together and lightly gluing the shelf assembly to the back of the glove box so that it would all stay together and in place.

I bought my car used and noticed pretty quickly that there were a few spots in the top that rubbed against the locks and metal ribs of the frame’s top that were becoming frayed. After doing some research i found that the best solution was to use Permatex Super Clear Vinyl Sealant (blue tube, available at all automotive stores) liberally on the inside where the top was weakening. First i cleaned the spots with water and let it fully dry and then used a q-tip to spread the vinyl sealant over the area. I also let it dry 24 hours before i used the top again. The spots are now hardened and have held up well for the past month without any continuing signs of fraying or weakening.

If the spot has become so bad that it’s created an actual tear or small hole, you can use black polyester thread to seal the hole and then use the vinyl sealant on both sides of the tear. This will of course be slightly noticeable on the outside, but will stop the tear from becoming worse.