This logic makes no sense to me. Much better to destroy a tire than to punch a hole thru your car.:iono::bonk:

A body shop will knock it back into shape, clean any developing rust, weld it, and repaint it. Then they'll pull the seat and lift the carpet to make sure there's no damage to the interior.

Destroying a tire at speed is a good way to destroy the rest of the car, so this is the lesser of two evils.

yep, if my tire had blown that could have caused a further accident, could have sent me into the guardrail or something..

"Up in the ass of Timo."
-Marcus Gronholm


Best driver quote of all time.

You guys never have blown out tires? You don't go careening into the guard rail or launching off the cliff into the Pacific. Yes- it might do some plastic damage- but most times not.

Daily- hundreds of blown out tires at speed.
Rarely- spears jammed thru cars.

Hmmmm.

Hammer + JB Weld

Took one for the teamo.

So update I've talked to insurance and body shop people, and decided not to go with them because it will raise my insurance. They want over $1000 to patch the hole.

Instead, I'm going to call a friend of a friend who's a welder to spot weld a plate over it from the inside, and then cover the hole from the outside with bondo and an a spray on undercoat. Is this a sound idea?

Can anybody point to a guide for removing the passenger seat and floor carpet?

It shouldn't raise your insurance is it's a comprehensive claim... Else you got crap insurance, or file a lot of comp claims...

Look in the diy sound dampening section. You need a special female torx bit for seat removal, then just pop off a bunch of trim. No need to put a plate there, just weld it shut. Might as well sound dampen at the same time

They said it's covered as a collision, by definition.

I have state farm, and I got a few tickets so I already have a high priced insurance premium. So I'm not going to file a claim because then they might label me as a higher risk driver.

Thanks for further advice! Found this thread which shows whole interior disassembly: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53511

Fast fix - tap it back together with a hammer and put a urethane or undercoating seal on it. Haven't been under mine to know what that undercoating is.

Good fix - tap closed, pull interior, weld shut. Try not to burn your garage down, undercoating can light up quickly if the asphalt kind. Clean up weld area, seal with similar undercoating, paint with rustoleum or similar on cabin side.

It's a bummer your insurance considers it a collision, is that code for, we'll jack your rates if you file a claim? And, since you already spoke to them about it, it's a recordable, so they are gonna jack your rates anyway. So file a claim and go get it fixed. Never tell your insurance company about it until you know what you can and cannot do first. They say they are there to help, and they are, helping themselves to your money.

Uh insurance.

No. Already said I've gone to them. Paying a deductible and then dealing with a worse driver rating / premium rates is not worth it.

Much easier paying a race shop guy a couple hundred to weld in a plate for me then have some overpriced corporate body shop charge over $1000 to fill it with bondo (that's all they suggested that they would do).

Yes, they said that if I claimed it would raise my rate if I claimed it. But no, since I didn't claim it they didn't change my rate.