From YourSITE.com
Long-Term Audi Certified A4 1.8T: Part IV
By by: David Herlihy
Jun 21, 2004, 18:44
Mileage: 22,380
As automotive enthusiasts, we all have been known to indulge in shall we say, excessive amounts of coddling of our cars. I am certainly guilty of using toothbrushes to clean calipers, cleaning out dashboard vents with small brushes and habitually washing my car every couple of weeks—which includes an all out detail—to ensure it stays in mint condition. Some call it abnormal or anal, I call it protecting my pride and joy. Yet even our earnest efforts and precautions offer no protection against those unforeseen “externalities”. After all, as we all know, accidents do happen.
Shortly after getting our Long-term car back from its 20k checkup, I decided to celebrate a birthday with a road trip to Richmond, Virginia. The drive is roughly 2 to 3 hours south from Washington, DC and was enhanced by our favorite tunes thanks to the psychotic audio system which thankfully, was now working properly since our speaker repair that was fixed under warranty.
Upon arrival at our hotel in downtown Richmond, I did what most of us wake up in cold sweats thinking about, with great trepidation—handing over the keys to the A4 to the valet on my way to check-in.
Knowing it was my birthday, the manager of the hotel promptly sent up complimentary cheesecake and a bottle of champagne. Drinking the bubbly, we toasted to the start of a great weekend, followed shortly by a knock a the door.
The unexpected guest, a member of the hotel security staff, informed us of a “possible” accident that transpired with our Audi. Taking a deep breath, I semi-calmly wandered downstairs where all the valets were mysteriously not around—probably due to the fact that a rather angry owner of a blue A4 was about to see the damage to his car.
Sure enough, waiting downstairs was a bashed in headlight and a peeled back right front fender. Mario Andretti, a.k.a. the Valet had decided to whip the car into the parking spot and, in doing so, drove it right underneath a parked Jeep Cherokee. While the staff was very apologetic, this was not what I was expecting as a present on my birthday of all things.
Fortunately, the car was drivable, so a couple of days later we promptly arranged to take it to a very well known and highly-reputable shop back in Northern Virginia by the name of WagonWork Collision (http://www.wagonwworkcollision.com) . It was a high priority that the car be repaired back to OEM condition.
While the car convalesced in the body shop, we decided to pay a little extra money and install European headlights, featuring brighter lighting and no amber side reflector. When doing this modification, please do so at your own risk. Laws regarding such installations may vary, and they may cause you hassles by detail-oriented patrolmen depending on where you reside.
To purchase a set, we called ECS Tuning (http://www.ecstuning.com) in Ohio. Fortunately these units were a direct bolt-in replacement for the DOT assemblies, so no additional drilling or removal of the front bumper was necessary.
The overall effect of these new lights is astounding. With a clear cutoff area, the light pattern improved to a more bright boxy lit area.
As for the end of our saga, after four weeks of dealing with the associated complications of body shops, insurance adjusters, and rental cars, and a whooping $3,500 later (covered by the hotel insurance company with just a bit of reluctance), we finally got our car back.
Given our high standards for what constitutes a good-looking car, we are happy to report that it came back looking close to its condition prior to being driven by Mario Andretti the Valet. Fellow enthusiasts can clearly sympathize that this adventure made the post 20k service period a little stressful to say the least. That episode behind us, we continue to enjoy the car, and continue to customize it here and there were we see a little room for “improvement”.
More info:
ECS Tuning
WagonWork Collision
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