Wheels + Tires + No Rust = Renewed enjoyment.

So, I’ve had my car since December 21st 2000, and it’s getting up there in mileage (118k+), but it hasn’t missed a beat since I’ve owned it. I’ve had issues here and there, either with the swap or with the age of the car, but nothing major really. However, a few years ago I had the windshield replaced (and subsequently got chips in the new windshield the day after). I had thought nothing of this windshield replacement, until the paint on the roof started to flake and rust. I still didn’t have the money to do anything about it at the time, so I waited.

I have had a few fender benders (broken bumper, fender) since moving here thanks in no small part to the overwhelmingly aggressive drivers who are too busy text messaging to care about driving. Anyway, the first body shop I took it to was an absolute disaster of epic proportions. We’re talking bad on a biblical level. I had never had an accident, and the cop at the scene suggested the place. They were nice, polite, and it took them three freaking weeks and I still had to drive back for a new side skirt. It was miserably. Three weeks for a bumper and fender?

So when the same side was hit again, I decided to look around. I asked, and asked, and googled, until I got a suggestion to call some random tuner shops. I opted to call up Boston Sportscar, as they are pretty cool guys, and people who own a Ferrari are more likely to be as anal about their car as I am. A quick chat with them and they suggested Boyle’s Body Works. I called them up and set my appointment, and the repair was smooth and taken care of in under a week even with the insurance adjustment taking until Wednesday to go through! Without a doubt, if I have any more body work needing done I will be calling them. I’ve already pimped them to my coworkers who have similar issues with their cars.

Anyway, the buildup of the story is done. I had my damage repaired, and we fast forward to about a month ago. I get in my car after a particularly nasty rain storm only to find the rust damage cause by the windshield replacement had gotten bad enough to leak. I quickly purchased a car cover and setup another appointment, this time to fix ALL the rust. So I brought it over to Boyle’s, and Dave set about making me out a quote. I was expecting a ridiculous price, since I pointed out every single spot of rust on the car. I was prepared to write the car off at this point since funds have been tight lately, but his quote was right on the money. I even threw in some fog covers I purchased off eBay to get paint matched.

I could ramble on and on at this point about how it’s not a full repaint, but the rust is gone, the cost was this much, and so on and so forth, but I won’t. The bottom line is, it was less money than expected, and it renewed a lot of my enjoyment in my car. The car still has battle damage and scratches, but I think having those allows me to be willing to park anywhere and not baby the car. It looks really good now by comparison though. So without any further rambling:

I basically had him fix the roof, all four fenders, repaint the hoodscoop/vents, and fix a few other small rust spots. The fog covers will go on once mounting hardware has arrived from Japan. Here are some in progress pics I got to give you an idea of how bad it was:

The car no longer leaks, and smells like fresh paint. I will be a bit more diligent about washing it now, but truthfully I think it was less the lack of washing, and more the living in Maine winters for years. I really can’t get over how it looks now by comparison. Oh oh, and I also re-did my six spokes at Rim Pro before this, and they went from bent silver rims to shiny gunmetal rims. They are the same color as you get on an E46 BMW M3. All in all, it’s been a good year for visual appearance. I have more plans in the works, such as finally removing the 2.5RS badging, and I have some KYB AGX struts looking for some springs to go with them.

I think with money how it is, and life how it is, the car won’t be raced much before it’s on it’s death bed, but I will keep putting parts and money into it until that day, since it’s never given up on me.

As a random final note, my buddy Dan let me borrow his MazdaSpeed 3 for the two weeks I was without my car. It was really nice of him, and I appreciated it. I also appreciated my car more after driving it, since my car is no longer just an RS, it’s not even a WRX, it’s something totally different. The MazdaSpeed 3 was fast, had better creature comforts, some more low end torque, and a lot fewer quirks, but once I put the throttle down after two weeks without my car I wouldn’t go back.