Page 1: Mods/New pics
Page 2: Misc. Pics
Page 3: Old Pics
Page 4: HOW-TO: Install AE doorsills
Page 5: HOW-TO: Clear your HIDs
Page 6: HOW-TO: Fix sunroof wind noise
Page 7: Maxima meets
Page 8: 2/27/06 - Wheel spacers install
Page 9: 6/01/06 - 6th gen front brakes
Page 10: 12/20/06 - Highway Damage
*12/20/06*
Driving through Dallas to go skiing with some friends, I was in the left lane on a two-lane interstate. I had a car in front of me and another to my right a little ways back (his front bumper was at my rear). All of a sudden, the person in front swerves to reveal a square piece of metal what I thought was only a couple inches tall sitting in the middle of the lane.
I prayed it wouldn't hit because there was nowhere to go, but it did...I heard a few huge bangs and I accelerated a bit to get over and pull over on the right. Immediately I turned the car off to inspect my oil pan, etc. for damage. The person that was behind me pulled over as well and told me it shot out the side and revealed that my side skirt was hanging by a couple screws...
I got lucky, because it could have been a lot worse, but here's some pictures of the damage:
The first thing that hit was obviously that brace. It went underneath the cat and bent up and to the rear knocking into the b-pipe resonator bending it. After the incident, I still had 400+ miles to drive that day and the entire time my car was making a nasty azz sound that made it seem like I had an exhaust leak. Come to find out, it was mostly from that brace vibrating up against the exhaust under load. I taped up the side skirt since it wouldn't fit in my car with all the luggage I had.
I also had the rotten egg smell characteristic of a bad cat, and was getting noticably worse gas milage. I have since replaced the cat with an aftermarket $240 cattman fastcat which is of much higher quality than the factory piece and much less expensive (see bill from nissan dealer above). I was going to replace the brace for structural purposes but I'm gonna get SFCs instead :D The b-pipe will have to wait....As for the sideskirt, I realized that there were several plastic tabs attached to the backside that had broken off and the impact also took a couple screws from the bottom. I replaced the screws and super-glued the tabs back on and all is well - the sideskirt fits flush with the car, but it has a little slit on the bottom that's not really noticable.
