Coming home from work tonight, I was cruising down a long left-hand turn lane. I saw the regular lanes were backed up quite a ways from the light, and then everybody slammed on their brakes and two vehicles decided to dive into my lane. Right in front of me. I don't even know if I managed to hit the brakes before I hit her, but my bumper took the brunt of the impact, actually collapsed her front wheel before bouncing off and sliding across the front quarter-panel. The door also took a little hit up front, so it will probably have to be replaced as well, but it still looks square to the body, so nothing too serious. Also somehow took a chunk out of my front wheel, enough that I could see the inside edge of the tire hanging there, yet somehow it still held air.
One thing IS wrong though. After I put the spare on and was driving home, the steering was squirrelly as hell. Looking at it, the alignment is obviously out of whack, so the hit on the wheel must have knocked something. Nothing felt like it was still shifting so I carefully drove it home. Definite toe-in, plus the bottom of the wheel is sitting too far in, so a full inspection and alignment is in the works.
This girl had JUST bought the car and was driving it to her insurance agent... guess what that means? Fortunately MY insurance covers that, but I imagine they're going to try and jack me. So first thing in the morning I'll be calling my agent to let him know what's going on. Got the full police report, and she got the ticket for the accident plus lack of insurance. Tomorrow will be a lot of fun (he said sarcastically) but I took the day off to deal with whatever needs done.
Anyway, this is the first real test of the bumper I made, and as far as I can tell it didn't even dent. It was dark when I got home, will get better pictures in the morning, I think think the only chance for real damage will be if something underneath was bent.
Oh yeah, one other funny thing... As I bounced off the road I saw a marker sign coming up... yep I'm gonna hit it, nothing to be done about it... *blip* it's gone! The signpost hit the bumper, bent underneath, and the skid plate flattened it almost to the ground, so I don't think it even touched anything underneath the truck. There's an obvious scratch straight down the bumper and skid, but I'll try to look underneath tomorrow.