Hi all

[Stagehand]

Joined a few months ago when I got the Integra Type S.. Looking forward to getting the most out of a forum like this, so much useful info for an enthusiast like myself who wants to get the most out their car. The Type S has been a joy to drive and after searching for 3 mths before I found one I can say it was definitely worth the wait.....But, 1 week ago I had my first accident after 20 years of driving. Waiting for a qoute from the smash repairs and I am hoping its not written off. Should be ok but I have no idea about repairs on Hondas though I have heard some tales. I'll post some more details soon, maybe some members can give me an idea of what the damage might cost. For now I am still mostly thankful that I didn't die... 110kph on the Pacific highway at midnight usually ends badly when you roll at that speed.

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[beeza]

Welcome mate and damn,that would have been hectic. It would take a lot to roll a dc5 I would imagine. Was it a deer?? They 'come outta nowhere'.. I heard :)

Post some pics.

[Stagehand]

Ha, no deer around northern NSW thankfully. The dreaded microsleep finally got the better of me, when it happened I opened my eyes to discover I was veering off the road to the left with two wheels in the gravel and the driver's side still on the road. The reflex in that situation is to immediately turn back the wheel back to the right and hopefully straighten up but I must admit I was stunned at how quickly the car lost it's grip and started to slide and I was pretty close to pulling off a 180 degree turn but at 100kph plus all you can see in the darkness is the blur of your headlights and you have no idea where the car is positioned in relation to the side of the road. Non-divided highway, north of Grafton is one of the worst stretches of road to have an accident, had it been daytime I probably would have collided with an oncoming vehicle but at 1am there was only a bus and an SUV driving towards me and neither of them had to swerve to avoid me. They did get to watch it unfold and they both pulled over to help once the car came to a stop. It was the ditch on the opposite side of the road that sent my car into a roll. When you are upside down you start to wonder when its all going to end but one roll and the car came to a stop - thankfully on its wheels but pointing the opposite direction. The ditch saved me and if it hadn't been there the car would have ended up in the trees I would have ended up in hospital or worse.

The ditch was full of dense layers of vegetation that was submerged in about a foot of water. It was like a giant, wet sponge that caught my car and brought it to a halt. When it stopped I was literally stunned that I was completely unharmed, with the headlights still on I could see all the long grass and trees to the left and to the right was the bus that had pulled up. I waved to the driver who was already on the phone. The rear bench was down as I had a full load of equipment/ tools/ luggage and a full size spare wheel in the boot and it was all over the place - an absolute mess. I stepped out of the car into a foot of water and did a lap of the car and realised the passenger side mirror was gone but every glass panel was ok including the sunroof! The soft wet grass etc meant the paintwork barely had a scratch on it too. The worst damage was to the passenger side rear quarter panel and the front bumper and moulding was hanging off.
That was 10 weeks ago and I am currently still without my Integra Type S. It is being repaired - roughly $12k worth of damage and I paid $14k for it. I told them I was hoping to get the car back and not have it written off. It's an '06 model, 82k on the odometer and completely stock standard. The paint was fading but otherwise it was immaculate when I bought it and I did not see a single DC5 for sale in the 3 months I spent hunting for it that hadn't been modified and thrashed and in Sydney there were none being sold for less than $16k - all of them had done 150,000 kms plus. I ended up finding this one in Brisbane.
The repairer is currently waiting on a new panel to be sent from Japan, hopefully a couple of weeks and I will catch a plane up to Grafton and get the bloody thing back down to Sydney where it belongs. What a nightmare it has been too, I didn't hear a thing from the repairer for 5 weeks! Then I found out the had gone into liquidation a week after the tow truck dropped my car off and it was still sitting there in the yard exactly where we dropped it off that night. Couldn't believe no-one could be contacted at all, I had to find another repairer who told me what was going on and the next day he went and picked it up. Madness.

[beeza]

Bloody hell.Lucky for you! I micro slept in my mini years ago and came to just before hitting the barrier luckily.

Where was the $12k of damage apart from what you said,cause like you said not much damage considering. .it's adds up quick though,sourcing panels from Japan.

Was it on the summerland way? I know it well,I was living out at ewingar,30km sealed road to the shop,best fun eva.Rarely see another car but could always be around the next corner. .Also the drive from tabulam to casino is epic.BUT if you go from tabulam to tenterfield,well that is special.Like the burringbar range,the roas was made THICK so it RARELY has a cavitation/dip.There is ABSOLUTELY NO POTHOLES. Can you imagine. .

Now I live in 100km/h area but the road is average. Makes you appreciate a perfectly flat road. I mean I drove burringbar range daily for 10 years and I knew the day would come when I would move and that got me to enjoy it while I can.

btw You don't have to speed to enjoy a great piece of road,it's about getting the lines right.

[YeahByuddy]

If you feel drowsy drive better smoke ice

[lolmclol]

nah

do what truckie do

http://i.imgur.com/s91bNZC.jpg

[Stagehand]

Not sure if it was the Summerland Way. I was about 20 minutes north of Grafton, you know the low wetlands area with the river that runs along the side of the road, often gets covered in fog around sunrise? Overtaking lanes are few and far between but speed cameras and grandpas in caravans are in plague proportions.



btw You don't have to speed to enjoy a great piece of road,it's about getting the lines right.

Could not agree more! I am happiest on a winding road that allows you to do 110kph especially in the Type S, it sticks like glue on tarmac but as I discovered it is unforgiving should you do anything sudden on an uneven/compromised surface. I have done the drive from Sydney to Brisbane, there and back at least once a year for the past fifteen years. I have always stop when I am tired and have a nap or whatever and we all have experienced that micro sleep moment where you open your eyes and realise your nodding off behind the wheel. I have even been veering off the side of the road once or twice before many years ago in different FWD cars and when I pulled the steering back and got the car to straighten up I haven't even come close to losing control. But the Type S sure spat the dummy when I had to take evasive action that night. The wet road didn't help of course and the load in the back probably sealed my fate in that regard. My old man had an S2000 for about 8 years and he always said that it used to get wild and the rear end liked to dance around. I find the same thing with the Integra even though its powered from the front and it handles beautifully you know it will bite you if don't show it respect when the conditions are less than ideal.

The Pacific Highway is a joke as we all know, particularly north of Kempsey, then after Coff's it is and has always been an utter nightmare- non stop roadworks etc and you hardly see any dual carriageway for about four hours until you get finally to get past Ballina and then you eventually find some tarmac and what a joy it is when you finally get there. I usually time the drive so I get to enjoy the best parts without having too much traffic to contend with. Last year I did the drive 3 times and always did the stretch from Ballina to Brisbane in the early hours of the morning and you can cruise at 100 kph and enjoy the smooth surface and the gentle sweeping bends. Where I live in Sydney the roads are an absolute DISGRACE. I do a lot of driving around the inner western suburbs and the potholes, road plates, cracks, manhole covers and constant variation in surface quality means you actually have to pay close attention to more than just the idiots driving around you. Sometimes you can't see the potholes or you simply can't negotiate your way around them, I swear I have had new strut mounts destroyed in less than 6 months simply from having to take the impact of a driving over a pothole deep enough you could take a bath in it. I didn't realise until I moved down here in 2001, just how good the roads in Brisbane are by comparison. I simply can't believe they get away with having roads in Sydney that never seem to get re-surfaced, they just pour sand in them and stick a band-aid on top. Some roads are cracked so much they look like a jigsaw puzzle and the ripples and sealed joins are always encouraging your wheels to track off to the side. It certainly makes you appreciate a proper, even surface when you get one. Newcastle to Taree can be an joy to drive too, but only between midnight and 6am when the traffic is at a minimum.

The damage to my car was minimal I would say under the circumstances. I assumed that with the damage to the front end that the air con and radiator would have copped it and I was right. So air-con core/ radiator needs replacing and there was damage to the K frame but luckily suspension/ wheel assembly/ brakes were ok. New passenger side rear quarter panel, front bumper and a new side mirror followed by a bit of R81 Milano Red and she should be right to go. A week after I bought it some arse clown opened their door into the passenger side door while it was parked in front of my place and didn't leave a note of course but I might reckon that might be repaired as part of this claim as it is right there amongst all the other panel damage. Also that fading red paint on the top half of the car I had planned to get resprayed sometime in the near future - it sure would be nice to get the car back and discover that I don't have to worry about that job anymore either.

[beeza]

Yes,that's would be a positive from this!

And it was raining that night aye,I don't think you mentioned that before. Easier to spin in the wet off coarse. .

It wasn't the clarence way was it,that's the one I drove home,over the clarence river at Alice,huge free camping area there .It sounds like it but I will be surprised if you drove that road because it's very adverage and 10 plus km of dirt.It goes through baryugil.

But my mate said you were on the highway around yamba/iluka where it crosses over the clarence river.

I too did a drive from ulladulla to 1 hour past ballina,12 times in 5 years,down and back.14 hours and some great memories.

(switches from phone to computer so I can type)

Like the time I smelt burning rubber at 1am,stopped to find the rear right tyre had shredded the inner side wall,it was pitch black and I literally rolled 10 metes and there was a rest area!! I crashed strait out,woke up at dawn and there was 10 council workers standing outside my car,I stumbled out had a piss and one guy said 'you got a spare' and I said 'nope','you got phone credit','nope' I said.He rang tyrepower which luckily were only 20 k's away and he brought me the only tyre he had there in my size on a steelie.I said I'll put it on since he drove all this way.'How much' I asked,'80 bucks mate' he said,I looked in my wallet and I had exactly $80 and $40 in the bank for 1 more tank of fuel to get home.haha lol

My Dad said to me once,'I can't do what you do' and I said 'what's that' and he said 'live on a knife's edge like you do' hahaha yeah,that's me.

Again it was 1am when I was heading up Mt Usli and wollongong there going north,the huge hill,just had over taken a truck and BAM! my whole car just dies completely and it's pitch black.I just happened to roll into a small pull over lane which there are very very few of and the truck roared by my,I swear if I didn't get into that lane which I could hardly see,it could have been bad but at the time I wasn't thinking about that because I popped the hood and flames shot out from the latch area,I blew it out easily.The battery clamp had been touching the hood and arked? out.. I bashed the hood underside with a hammer to make clearance and she fired strait back up!

Another time heading south at 4pm the car started misfiring pretty bad,so I pulled into the forster turn off and popped the hood.I knew it was ignition related so I pulled the dizzy off to find that my modified dizzy to accept an external coil was arking across to the points in there,so I took all my MSD ignition stuff out and put the stock ignition system in,lucky I chucked it in the car for the trip! When everything was a mess this guy pulls up on the other side of the road and limps,with his bad leg quickly over to the car with the most concerned look on his face and he saw shit everywhere and was like 'If you need a place to stay tonight I can drive you there' thinking I'm f#cked basically and I was like 'Nah,it's all cool man,I'm just swapping the MSD ignition set up for the stock one as it's arking out in the dizzy' and I looked up at him and he looked even MORE confused and bewildered,I just stund him like! I didn't mean too lol and he quickly hobbled back to his ute.It was classic and I still laugh about it!!

I always take a spare alternator and starter motor because if they go it will cost you time and money,it will take me 20 minutes to swap it out.I take a spare ICM always too.

[Stagehand]

Spare alternator and starter motor? That's being well prepared for a breakdown and there is nothing wrong with that. Although when I think of the only starter motor I have changed and how hard it was to get at I wouldn't like to be changing it in the middle of nowhere by the side of the road or worse. When the car is up on stands and you are lying there for nearly two hours while you use two fingers to slowly wind a bolt with an inch and a half of thread, a quarter of a turn at a time because that's all the space you got to play with - can't say I would enjoy that but in reality if you got the part handy and know how to do it then its probably still the best option.
When it comes to repairs I have a go at whatever I can get away with before going to a mechanic. It only leads to you understanding your vehicle and keeping it running at its best because no mechanic really gives a crap about my car as much as I do. Not to mention the $ factor. Those prices they charge for parts make me laugh sometimes. Do they really think we are all that ignorant? At least they are not all taking the piss as I do have an honest mechanic that I can rely on when I need it.

[beeza]

Yeah,it's easier to swap the starter on the ek civic.Only takes 20 minutes and you get to it from the top.Makes me appreciate it after hearing that.

Alternator is more work but easy when you know how,some models can be removed from top,some need to pop the drive shaft,others you can remove the wheel and it's right there.

Some out there are still being ripped off with those ridiculous prices but if there's and truth to the saying 'there's a sucker born every minute' that means opportunity. Where there's opportunity,there's opportunists.

There's no law saying you must be honest and hey,it's not lying if you don't say a lie.But withholding knowledge. .. and charging the customer $586.23 for a $20 part you can grab at the wreckers,well,that's a job I just could not do.

But that's the world and ya gotta be smart to not be a sucker,ya gotta put the effort in or else you will always be controlled to a point.

[Stagehand]

Finally got the Type S back, picked it up from Grafton on the weekend and drove it back to Sydney. Shame it didn't get a full respray.. That new coat of R81 sure looks lush compared to the faded original coat. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170721/fa9b13dc4bb6b8059b87c304d51350d0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170721/6f449e483c476e8f4bec0db36e05301f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170721/a88990e040f048fefb198391362bf2b0.jpg

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[Richard B]

a light buff and something with a crapload of silicon like nu-finish will equalise those colours.

[beeza]

O,nice nice . Great to see mate,back together again :)

[Stagehand]

a light buff and something with a crapload of silicon like nu-finish will equalise those colours.A few people have suggested that a good cut/polish would bring back the red but if you saw it up close you would see it's beyond redemption. The two previous owners of this vehicle were Queenslanders (I must admit to also being guilty of this heritage despite living in Sydney for 16 years) and the original owner was from Mackay. One thing I know from growing up in Bris Vegas is that 20 minutes exposed to direct sunlight can give you a sunburn. Summer is brutal, I can't even imagine how bad it must get in Mackay and the way the paint has faded on my car you can tell it has seen more than its fair share of sun exposure.
The way the paint has faded from the top and gradually improves as it works its way down tells me the base coat has been compromised by sun exposure. The sides of the car are pretty much ok and the bumpers are practically 100% as the plastic doesn't heat up as much and I assume that means it doesn't bake as much as the body. Up close the faded paint is a bit blotchy, almost like its got a skin disease. If only it was skin deep then a cut and buff would help but unfortunately that damage underneath the clear coat and the only way to repair that is to get underneath it. Even the boys at the smash repair had a go and said that they had no joy. The boss said something about the paint being lead based, I am guessing by the way he was talking about it that its not that common these days and not designed to cope with intense sunlight we have here. Not too mention the colour red is going to fade due to sun exposure pretty much regardless of where you live. I remember testing colour for heat absorbtion when I was in primary school and from memory black was the worst followed closely by red but feel free to correct me on that one as it was 29 years ago and I doubt our temperature readings were calibrated for accuracy! [emoji23]

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[amant02]

Only a full respray will fix your issue permanently.

A good polish will make it look good again for a few weeks, then you gota wash and redo.

I love red cars, I have been tackling this issues since my 1st red EM1 9 years ago. It does turn out to look pink after awhile.

Just keep waxing it once a month and no one will know anybetter. If your down for it a closed door respray in the south west will cost you only 2k cash in factory colour.

[Stagehand]

There is really only 3 sections that need a spray - hood, roof and boot. Driver's side arch over the door is faded too but it's part of the rear quarter which I could ignore for the time being as it's not as bad as the aforementioned panels.

Taught myself to spray-paint a few years ago when my previous car kept getting damaged by anonymous arseholes, I was injured at work at the time and found myself situated in a large storage facility in St. Peters while I recovered. I used the space after hours to respray a rear quarter panel that had been keyed and the whole front end/hood that been backed into. No note left of course and the grille was smashed and a crease was left right the middle of the hood above the badge. Over a month of perseverance with the bare minimum in terms of equipment and I actually ended up with a pretty good result. Even got a compliment from a panel beater though he I reckon he would have been less kind had he seen the paint job in daytime.
I am glad this car isn't metallic blue like my last car. I never want to mix up another batch of that stuff. Trying to get a match was a nightmare but this red on my Integra is so common you can buy it ready-made from Duplicolor. I'm considering removing the spoiler and painting that first just to see how good the match is. The other areas are best left for the pros though..once the they get resprayed the car will look brand new. The rest of it is immaculate, only got 86k on the clock and completely stock from front to back so it wiuld be nice to make the most of it while I can.

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[Richard B]

Can't fault your analysis and opinion. Plain Red repray should give you an excellent result as you say.

Just be careful with the edges of panels and corners. I had a massive problem with the zinc galvanisation having been sanded through during a respray, and while I had a great looking car, underneath the car had lost its rust protection in places. Ten year later I had to fix a lot of surface rust bubbles coming through. I now would rather buy a slightly rough car with original paint rather than a great looking car that has had a recent respray.

I had a brand new resprayed car keyed on front to back on both sides once. Weeks of work destroyed in under a minute. It was then that I decided not to care so much about paint in future and just focus on rust protection. My repair jobs since then have been effective but a little Mad Max in appeal.

[Stagehand]

Can't fault your analysis and opinion. Plain Red repray should give you an excellent result as you say.

Just be careful with the edges of panels and corners. I had a massive problem with the zinc galvanisation having been sanded through during a respray, and while I had a great looking car, underneath the car had lost its rust protection in places. Ten year later I had to fix a lot of surface rust bubbles coming through. I now would rather buy a slightly rough car with original paint rather than a great looking car that has had a recent respray.

I had a brand new resprayed car keyed on front to back on both sides once. Weeks of work destroyed in under a minute. It was then that I decided not to care so much about paint in future and just focus on rust protection. My repair jobs since then have been effective but a little Mad Max in appeal.Keyed both sides? Ouch.. Imagine catching them in the act. I thought things like that only happened to me.
I have to park my car on the street - 45° angle parking and no line markings to use as a guide. Most people fail dismally when it comes to reverse parking and parking on angle makes it worse. Add to that I live next to shops situated on a busy intersection so protecting my car from exterior damage is near impossible. People seem to think that when you park your car it's normal to open your door until it hits the car parked next to you. So I can understand being satisfied with Mad Max styling, sometimes its the best you can do and it also helps keep a low profile making it less desirable to thieves.
Most of the time I just wish birds wouldn't shit on my car whenever I have just giving it a polish.

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[Richard B]

Birds? One place where I park a lot the council has planted some type of tree that constantly rains down sticky tree sweat. Don't know what possessed them to plant trees like that. I'm constantly washing it off.

Speaking of birds you reminded me of an old joke..
Q what do you do when a bird shits on your car?
A never take her out again!!

[Stagehand]

Birds? One place where I park a lot the council has planted some type of tree that constantly rains down sticky tree sweat. Don't know what possessed them to plant trees like that. I'm constantly washing it off.

Speaking of birds you reminded me of an old joke..
Q what do you do when a bird shits on your car?
A never take her out again!!Nice. That gave me a laugh to kick off my friday morning. Cheers.

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