Coming home from work two weeks ago I had a large doe bolt out in front of me. No suprise since it was the middle of nowhere Maine and it's early summer. I braked straight ahead and beaned it broadside, tacoed the front end.
3,000 in damage, and i don't think I could have avoided it.

Anyway, the X was finally ready today. The wife and I drive up to the body shop--whoops! The paint on the front lip of the hood has a bunch of tiny indentations, so it looks like they need to re-do it.

I'll skip the bitching and get right to my question. It looks like the front bumper isnt hung quite right, there is a gap of about 3/4 inch between the top of the bumper and the lower part of the grill. Am I going nuts 'cause I don't remember the gap being THAT big. I just want to make sure it is OK before I go back.

Could anyone tell me how big that gap is supposed to be?
Thanks

I don't think your nuts.

I have noticed the gap on mine looks a little large to be new, but after looking at other X's, I have noticed that it's that way on all of 'em. I think it's normal. I don't know the exact measurement, but I can put a set of calipers on it for ya'

Oh man don't tell me that about the paint. I took a nice chunk outta my rear 1/4 panel the other day. My X is going into the shop monday to get the 1/4 filled, blended, reclearcoated. I just hope and pray they make it look like a factory finish.

To make you feel better Suspect2, I've had some body work done on my X and I didn't have a problem. Blends in really nicely. I can only tell it's had work done because I'm too cheap to replace the little $50 plastic trim piece over the front wheel well. Oh well, it just reminds me to not be stupid.

Mike

I guess they can't blend clear coat so the whole rear 1/4 is gonna get redone. Of course first they have to use filler on my "chunk/dent" then blend the granite color.

I just hope they do it right man. I'm so worried about a shitty clear coat with rough edges ect.

It is going to a "Progressive Ins. Approved" shop though. So, I'm hoping for the best.

The shops these days are pretty darn good - though I don't recommend the dealership. No experience with getting my X touched up - haven't gotten a scratch. . . yet.

However, just had work done on my other truck similiar to this posters incident, had a brand new hood installed/painted to match the rest of the paint on the truck at 6yrs of age. No difference, and I'm pretty sharp to the eye when it comes to my vehicles - they did a darn good job. And that truck's red.

As long as you've kept with the waxing and so forth on the whole body - a touch up here and there may look off for a few days to even a few weeks depending where you live; but once it's really baked in, it's a very very close match.

I don't recommend the body shop at the dealer, as I took that same truck to the dealer in Vegas 5yrs ago to have a bad scratch in the hood filled - it looked worse after I got it back. Granted though, not all dealers are the same & that was 5yrs ago.