December 3rd, 2008:
Well it's all fixed now. I had the paint buffed, plastic trim replaced, what have you. The cost was about $400, but the insurance got the bill. I was able to get a new OEM rear license plate molding free. I also had a bunch of new parts that I installed, including rear deflector, roof rack, and SR5 fender trim.
(Sorry, crappy iPhone pics)
October 31st, 2008:
So, being that a few other members are posting their vandalism recently, I am obliged to share mine of yesterday morning. (2:00AM, October 30, 2008)
Two kids came by, one with a mass assortment of knives and the other armed with fluorescent yellow spray paint, and raped my 4Runner in the night. It was about 1:45AM, when all of a sudden, a poof, tire deflation. We look out the window, and they're having at it. One is eating at my rear right tire with a knife, the other attacking my entire left and rear sides with the paint. We ran outside and chased them, but after we learned their identities, we stopped and called the police.
2:00AM, the police arrive. Now I respect the police, but around here, the police really tend to not give a shit towards vandals lately. They said they would look for them, drove down and back up the street, and said there was nothing they can do. Probably true, but come on, I knew where the kids were headed exactly, and told them, but they were reluctant to even listen.
Cops leave, now I'm stuck with $2300 in damage. Luckily, my comprehensive insurance deductible is only $100, so I've already gotten all 4 new tires and had the spray paint removed. The rest of the money is going towards complete restoration of my Imperial Jade Mica paint.
Theres my story, here's a few pics before I cleaned up.
Pics from the night of:
I covered the 4Runner with my old car cover for my '87 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL.
Fantastic...
First thing was taking off the spray paint. A combination of Acetone and a rough sponge took of the paint, and destroyed the clear coat, which buffing later fixed. The whole car took me and my dad about 10 minutes.
Second off was tires. I needed new ones anyway, so I slapped one of my old 15" stockers on, drove a block to America's Tire and had 4 new Goodyear Wrangler RT/S (265/70/r16) installed for $94 a tire. Insurance covered $171 of the tires.
So here are a few pictures from the same morning, October 31st, 2008, Halloween
As you can see, the paint on the left side of the car was thrashed, I took it to a nearby private shop called Auto Body Express.
There were plenty of areas, such as in emblems, where the paint was difficult to access without removal. They got the excess paint off that I couldn't quite get, including replacing the license plate molding which had paint in the cracks. There's no reminance of any yellow paint whatsoever. Here's what it looked like beforehand.
Click a page to navigate!
Page 1: Overview
Page 2: Intake and Exhaust
Page 3: My Future Mods
Page 4: Wheels
Page 5: Vandalism
Page 6: Security
Page 7: Exterior Lighting
Page 8: Sound System
Page 9: Club Meets
Page 10: Off-Road Pictures
