The time has come...

For about three years I've had a big crack on my front bumber. It was caused by an old lady parking her Smart on my bumper. I've been putting off repairing the damage initially because I used to park the car in the street and so the chances of repeated bumper damage seemed pretty high.

For just under a year now I've been privalidged enough to own a parking spot in a private garage and so the chances of repeated bumper damage are dramatically reduced. I'm therefore getting more serious about getting the damage repaired, so last week I popped 'round to a local body shop to get a quote. It's not cheap!

My Ghibli still has the original bumpers, which are old style ones manufactured from quite a brittle plastic (it actually looks like they're made from a sort of fiber glass). The cheapest option would be to simply have the damaged bumpers repaired, by removing all the cracked paint, filling the gaps and having them resprayed. However, like I said, the material from which the bumpers are made is very brittle, so they appear to crack very easily. Therefore, simply having the bumpers repaired probably means that within a couple of years, there will be new cracks... since living in the city means living with other drivers who are not such careful drivers.

As kind of an example of this, I woke up this morning to find my wife making breakfast for us (what a great way to wake up!). She told me to have a look outside, since she'd had to move her car to a different parking spot on the road on which we live. When I looked outside, I noticed that a Renault Espace had its right rear end smashed up. My wife informed me that there was glass all over the road and that about three cars were damaged in the street. It seems that last night someone had smashed their car into the parked cars down the street and then driven off. We felt quite lucky that they'd missed my wife's car and it made me realise how lucky I am to have my car parked in a garage down the street.

As you'll recall from my post last week, it only takes one night being parked in the street to acquire damage. I had a quote for repairing the dent that the car received... €80 plus tax! And that only repairs the dent... they can't repair the scratch unless they respray the entire wing.

So, my dilema is, do I repair the existing bumpers (since there's cracks in the rear bumper too) or do I get brand new bumpers? It takes the body shop about 2 hours to repair the old bumpers before spraying them and I suspect that they charge something in the region of €60 per hour. So that gives me €120 plus tax to find a new bumper. Unfortunately, new bumpers will cost about twice this amount. However, new bumpers are more tolerant to subsequent knocks so in the long run will be cheaper to maintain.

Here's a couple of drawings of the parts that I need.


Item 24 on the first drawing and item 33 on the second drawing.

For some reason, the rear bumper costs about twice the amount of the front bumber?

It's probably going to be spring time that I get these bumpers repaired, since I'm not sure how much longer this warm winter will continue. I'm very suprised with how long the driving season is continuing this year, but I'm trying to make the most of it... I managed to drive the car three times this week!

The brakes seem to be settling in... they're a bit like the turbos to drive I find... the preformance isn't that impressive around town... I'd even go as far to say that the braking performance is not as good at low speeds, requiring heavier force with the braking foot. However, on the main roads and motorways, the performance seems to pick up substantially, although I've still not had to use them aggressively. But, like the turbos, the brakes seem to increase in performance the more that they're loaded. Just like when you accellerate in the Ghibli... you can lightly lift off the throttle and the rate of accelleration continues to increase. You get the same effect with the brakes... lift off the brake pedal slightly and you find that the rate of deaccelleration is still increasing. This is because the brakes are warming up as you use them, becoming more efficient... therefore, as they warm up, you need less brake pressure to achieve the same braking force.

So now, I need to keep one step ahead when braking as well as when accellerating! This adds a whole new dimension to the driving experience... and makes me even more enthusiastic to drive the car.

I have to say, when the Ghibli is performing on song (and it currently is), then it's an absolute pleasure to drive! I walk away from the car smiling and already planning my next journey when I can drive the car again. And driving in this colder weather is also great... the engine is performing with extremely good torque and I find myself quite content to accellerate from 80km/h in sixth gear. I have to put this improvement in torque down to the 3200 GT turbos, the new induction kit and finally setting up the boost controller optimally so that the wastegates stay closed right up to maximum boost pressure... before these modifications, the car would not pick up until about 4000rpm, but now it's picking up at 3000rpm... that's really noticeable when driving the car.

I'd really like another Ghibli driver to have a go in my car to see if they notice any differences. So I'll have to make an effort to join the local Maserati club and attend one of the track days.