Bad accident. Replacing roof?

[followingnfront]

Hello everyone. Yesterday morning at approx. 0150 (1:50 AM) I was driving on the highway on the way to see my dad who is in the hospital and was having emergency surgery because of internal bleeding... I drove under an overpass and heard a loud explosion/crash.... I pulled over and got out and looked and my roof was caved in in the rear. There is also a hole in the roof where my antenna was (its gone now).

I thought that somebody threw a cinderblock off the overpass or something. So I drove back to the overpass on the rutty grass/median (it took something like this for me to "offroad" my Rogue) to see if I could see anybody on the overpass so I could catch them. There was nobody that I saw. So I looked around for what could've hit me. It was a road sign. It had to weigh at least 35 lbs.

I had to wait 2.5 hrs for pd to arrive because the 911 dispatchers gave the wrong info about my location, so this whole thing only prolonged my arrival at the hospital for my dad. I took a bunch of pictures of the scene and I also took the sign and I have it now as proof just in case....

I will post pictures later... But my question is, is there such thing as replacing the roof? I went to Nissan today to get a general idea of what needs to be done. The service manager came out and said that the whole roof would need to be replaced.... I didn't know that stuff like that was common practice... I mean, I know that the roof is now structurally compromised (it flexes when you close any door now), and I know it is no good anymore, but to me, cutting a roof off and replacing (welding) it with another cutout doesn't seem like the most structurally rigid kind of deal. I asked the service manager about that and he said, "no, it will be just as strong as if it was when the car was brand new".

So my question is, has anyone heard of a roof getting replaced on a car before? Do any issues arise in the future? Should I be worried about my car's structural integrity in the future after they replace the roof? What if I get in a bad wreck? Will the car crumble or will the car really be as strong as he says it will be?

Thanks

[rdub2k4]

The roof itself is sheet metal, the structure points would stay in place welded in.

Here's a thread (not a rogue, I know) where they replaced the roof with a carbon fiber one. Same concept really, grinding out welds and replacing the sheet metal.

http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-show-s ... ricer.html

[Qashqai]

Sorry to hear that and I wish your father will get well soon :O(

Last summer we had a terrible hail storm and my roof get damaged. I took my Rogue to a body shop and they said they have to replace the roof panel (later I took it to another body shop and they PDR the roof). It looks like it is common practice to replace roof panel.

I have a question: did the panel thorn? or really really damaged? I mean are you 100% sure you MUST replace the roof panel. Go to other body shops and be 100% sure. A really skilled body shop worker may fix it. It will cost a lot, but not more than changing the roof (it was around $5000-6000 last year). Plus you have to leave your car in the body shop for at least two weeks (this is what they said to me).

[followingnfront]

Thank you for the kind words ^^ He actually came home today. He was originally in the hosp to get his kidney removed due to cancer and a week and a half later had internal bleeding because during the initial surgery, the doctor punctured a tiny artery in the bladder and nobody knew it. So my dad was having excruciating pain had actually been bleeding continuously for 3 whole days prior to the emergency surgery.... They had to give him blood since he lost so much. After the emergency surgery, most of the pain he was having all week was gone, because it was being caused by the bleeding and incredible amounts of clots. He is a really tough guy, but man was I worried this time.

As far as the car, I am no expert but I do not think PDR will do it.... This was the service manager at the Nissan dealer that told this to me, and since I'm not paying for the repair, cost doesn't really matter to me. I just want it done right.... There is a chance that he may be jumping the gun, but I wouldn't want a second hand shop doing shoddy work either... Not saying that this Nissan dealer is the end all be all, but good shops are hard to find... And I'd rather replace the roof than repair it... I'd honestly rather replace the car after this. I've only got 6k miles and this crap happened. Here are the pics I promised:

Here is the sign


My car facing the wrong way on the highway (I had to turn around to go back toward the overpass once I stopped because I stopped about 150 feet away or so)


My car parked trying to get people to slow down so they don't run over the sign... And so the cops could see me and pull over.... I ended up moving the sign and backing my car up away from the road a little bit once I did.


Just to show the size of the sign, that flashlight is approx. 10"-11" long


How I ended up parking and waiting approx. 2.5 hours for police



Some shots of the roof






The sign all mangled


The roof in the day

[JMed]

I'm glad that your dad is finally home, and that most of the pain is gone.

It might be just me but I don't think PDR will do the trick on that one, plus you have that tiny hole on the roof.

[rdub2k4]

Yeah it looks like the panel might be better off being replaced :\ At least it doesn't look like it affected the underlying structure.

[Qashqai]

I glad to hear your dad is OK . He was lucky, that blood clot might block a vain . It happened to my friend.

I am not an expert, but the metal is not bend, it is nearly thorn. It looks like it is beyond PDR. Well if you are planning to sell the car afterwards, just let them change the panel. I wonder if "changing the roof panel" decreases the value of the car? I am sure when you are selling the car, the buyer is going to use it to negotiate with the price...

[followingnfront]

Thank you for all the kind words you guys. It has been a long rough journey thus far... Hopefully there will never be any complications with the dialysis or his blood levels, and hopefully soon he will have a new kidney. Hopefully the worst is over.

I agree, I don't think there is any way to salvage the roof panel at this point. The car is a lease, so right now resale value isn't at the forefront of my mind. I was contemplating keeping the car at the end of the lease, but now with something like this happening, I am not sure... But I did ask the manager of the dealership if this would affect my lease at all or affect the value of the car in the way of the lease or lease return and he said no.

[ras_oscar]

I believe that when the cars are originally manufactured, the roof is a panel that is welded onto the posts surrounding the glass. If one were to sand the paint off the posts, one would see the weld joint. I've seen cable shows featuring car customization, and they routinely remove the roof at the joint, shorten the posts, reduce the glass and lower the entire profile. If the work is done at a body shop that is familiar with the process, it should be good as new. However, I believe most body shops are most experienced with sheet metal repairs below the glass. If I were you I'd ask the proposed body shop how many roof panels they have replaced prior to yours.

[followingnfront]

I believe that when the cars are originally manufactured, the roof is a panel that is welded onto the posts surrounding the glass. If one were to sand the paint off the posts, one would see the weld joint. I've seen cable shows featuring car customization, and they routinely remove the roof at the joint, shorten the posts, reduce the glass and lower the entire profile. If the work is done at a body shop that is familiar with the process, it should be good as new. However, I believe most body shops are most experienced with sheet metal repairs below the glass. If I were you I'd ask the proposed body shop how many roof panels they have replaced prior to yours.

Good point. I will have to remember that, thank you.

[ImStricken06]

what are the odds man.... thats nuts! glad to hear dad is ok, and that you too were not injured. thank god you were driving that fast, otherwise a mph or less you would have had that crash through your windshield and into your lap, cutting off your ballz! lol/jk

yes the roof is replaceable as its just a sheet of metal anyway.

[TrevorK]

Glad to hear you are OK.

Your roof is typically connected with welds to the rest of your car. When replacing the roof panel these welds are removed, the damaged roof removed, the new roof put on, and welds put in the appropriate place. Provided the welds are performed properly it will be just as structurally sound as it was before (with a chance it may be more structurally sound if the welds exceed the strength of the original welds).

The issue will be with matching of the paint. Because the roof is high the points that it will connect to existing paint are minimal and most likely you can blend it in properly and not tell.

I would assume you are going through insurance and if so would also assume there is a guarantee as to the quality of the work.

[followingnfront]

what are the odds man.... thats nuts! glad to hear dad is ok, and that you too were not injured. thank god you were driving that fast, otherwise a mph or less you would have had that crash through your windshield and into your lap, cutting off your ballz! lol/jk

yes the roof is replaceable as its just a sheet of metal anyway.

Thanks man. We are not out of the water yet, as he is really feeling under the weather at home right now, not to mention dialysis is going to be a part of our lives now and I hope there will be no complications with that.

I've been saying the exact same thing about the crash! If I were going any slower I'd have been decapitated. Even the highway unit that I flagged (flashed the crap out of him with my highbeams when I saw him coming in my direction because the dispatched unit STILL hadn't shown up after 2.5 hours, and I grew tired of watching RMP's fly by me on the highway) said the same thing.

[followingnfront]

Provided the welds are performed properly

That's one of my concerns.

Thanks for the kind words about my dad. Even though I don't know anybody on this site personally, it still means something to me.

I figured that if I were going to go through the dealer (they have a body shop I believe) they could order a brand new Platinum Graphite roof and it should match no? My car is garage kept and only has 6k miles so I figured the paint wouldn't have faded much if any right now. Or is that not how it works?

[ImStricken06]

your car is a lease, so who cares. i am sure the insurance will make sure you are fine. id go through the same dealer that you got that car at. ask your insurance if you will be penalized when returning the car

[followingnfront]

your car is a lease, so who cares. i am sure the insurance will make sure you are fine. id go through the same dealer that you got that car at. ask your insurance if you will be penalized when returning the car

Well, I have been getting pretty fond of this car lately (figures right?), and I've been realizing that for such a high ride height and for the type of vehicle it is, it is pretty sporty and confidence inspiring, and it really isnt as harsh over bumps as I originally felt, and it is a great all around package for me... So I have been contemplating keeping it at the end, but I'm not going to want to if shoddy work is done. And there is no guarantee that I will like the new Rogue or Murano designs either... But that is a lot of speculation on my part. I just don't want to eliminate the possibility of me wanting to keep the car if I should find myself at that junction.

I asked the dealer's GM if there will be any kind of penalty on my lease or if the value of the car will change or if when I return the car there will be some sort of discrepancy, and he said no... Just to fix it before rain or something starts leaking into the roof and causes bigger problems.

[TrevorK]

I figured that if I were going to go through the dealer (they have a body shop I believe) they could order a brand new Platinum Graphite roof and it should match no? My car is garage kept and only has 6k miles so I figured the paint wouldn't have faded much if any right now. Or is that not how it works?

I would assume the roof is like any other body panel, they will have to order it in and then it will be painted/blended onsite. Contrary to what they will tell you just having a paint code does not guarantee the paint will match and that's why you tend to have it painted with the rest of the car. To make matters worse the type of paint used by shops is typically different than the factory paint; the factory paint for many vehicles is baked at an extremely high temperate and because the local bodyshops cannot do this the paint itself is different. These are all reasons why they will blend the roof in.

Upon washing my Rogue this weekend you might get very lucky with a roof panel - on my Rogue it looks like the only part is touches (that is painted) is the spoiler so even a small colour discrepancy in the paint might not be easily noticeable because it lacks a reference point.

[followingnfront]

Thank you for the clarification. That all makes sense. I am glad that no other panels touch the roof without a break I didn't think of that, thank you for checking on that for me.

[followingnfront]

So I dropped my Rogue off at the dealership today to get the work started on replacing the roof.

The insurance company is paying for a rental, so I wanted to see if the Nissan dealership would give me something like a Murano or Maxima rental, and the GM said, the most the insurance will pay for is something like a base Rogue or base Altima... Neither of those ideas seem fun to me but I figured what the hell I'd rather have an Altima.... This was a week ago.

Dropped the car off this morning and asked what they had to rent and all they had was a VERSA yuck.....

So I went off to Enterprise and for $2.44 extra out of pocket per day, I got this:

2013 Maxima 3.5 S.... I love this thing... Its amazing, but even with it being bare bones I love it.... Cloth seats, no bose, halogens no HIDs, no backup camera, nothing but a sunroof and Bluetooth.... But this thing has balls, and handles very very well.

I took it down some roads and hit some bumps that would upset my Rogue a decent amount, and this Max just glides over them... You feel the road but not the bumps, whereas the Rogue is a little bit the opposite... The Max does have a little bit of torque steer when you mash on it, but its not much and I'm just now so used to having a 4 cyl with AWD that torque steer isn't an issue on the best day. But I'll tell you what would make the Maxima almost perfect..... AWD!!!!

I'm a leather kind of guy, but I'd take this Max in a heartbeat. Kind of makes me wish that when I was shopping for cars, I didn't focus so much on the $38k Maxima Sport, and focused on the cheaper ~$33k ones because in my head at the time, my options were Maxima Sport or Rogue SL AWD because I wanted top of the line of whatever model I got...... But theres no sense in wondering what could have been.... Just wanted to share my experience of just the ride home with this thing today. Its going to be a fun 10 days.... Hope I don't get any tickets lol

[ImStricken06]

my 2002 3.5L maxima was amazing. it had so much power. the only problem with maxima's is the handling is only good for about 35,000 - 50,000 miles. and 80,000-90,000 miles the rear sags really bad, and requires a complete tear down in order to get back the old handling you used to have. its costly, so most forgo it. simply replacing struts/springs will get the ride height back, but not the true handling.

[followingnfront]

I'm only on my second day with the Max, and only having driven it about 2 hours total today, I seriously want to lose the Rogue and keep this thing. Everything is seamless. The acceleration, braking, direction changes, suspension... Everything. The steering is so amazing. Man...... I want one, even this very same 3.5 S.... Geez....

Sorry I sound like a broken record, but being in an ambulance for 16 hours and jumping into this thing feels 1000 times better than being in the bus for 16 hours and jumping in the Rogue....

Maybe when I'm done with my lease (summer 2016) if the NEW redesigned Maxima is anything like this one (hopefully they don't change it too much) with the same amazing steering and superb everything else, I'm getting a MAX.... Or worst case scenario, they vannilafy it like they did the 2013 Altima, I'll buy a used 2013-2014 Max..... Yeah boi I'm hooked

[rdub2k4]

What's the ETA on your Rogue's repairs man?

[ImStricken06]

I'm only on my second day with the Max, and only having driven it about 2 hours total today, I seriously want to lose the Rogue and keep this thing. Everything is seamless. The acceleration, braking, direction changes, suspension... Everything. The steering is so amazing. Man...... I want one, even this very same 3.5 S.... Geez....

Sorry I sound like a broken record, but being in an ambulance for 16 hours and jumping into this thing feels 1000 times better than being in the bus for 16 hours and jumping in the Rogue....

Maybe when I'm done with my lease (summer 2016) if the NEW redesigned Maxima is anything like this one (hopefully they don't change it too much) with the same amazing steering and superb everything else, I'm getting a MAX.... Or worst case scenario, they vannilafy it like they did the 2013 Altima, I'll buy a used 2013-2014 Max..... Yeah boi I'm hooked

my 2002 3.5L max had the same fuel economy (if not better) than the rogue. the rogue sucks. im sick of this car.

[rdub2k4]

:\ I enjoy our Rogue....

[followingnfront]

What's the ETA on your Rogue's repairs man?

10 days total. But I'm also going to have them diagnose/fix the popping sound coming from the rear.... Just for good measure in case they finish early and I'd have to give the Max back sooner than 10 days :-)

[followingnfront]

my 2002 3.5L max had the same fuel economy (if not better) than the rogue. the rogue sucks. im sick of this car.

Yeah, my Rogue is always showing between 18mpg-19mpg on the dash... Which means it gets something like 17-18 mpg a tank in NYC.... And that is with easy/moderate acceleration.

Well, with this Max, I'm driving like a bat out of hell and I haven't been light or easy on the throttle yet... I mean like within a few seconds of the light turning green I'm already going 50 mph lol... and I'm showing 17.1 mpg, which means probably ~16 mpg in reality.

I'll take that "hit" in MPGs for the performance/quality this thing offers. I hope they drop my Rogue off the lift lol.

[ImStricken06]

I hope they drop my Rogue off the lift lol.

dude that literally made me laugh out loud lolololololololololol

[followingnfront]

Lol ^.......

So I passed by the dealership yesterday to ask them to diagnose the clunking/popping sound coming from the rear left interior of my car while they have it, and then I swung over to the showroom and spoke to the salesman who helped me with my initial deal on the Rogue about getting out of my lease and into a Maxima.

He said that my Rogue is currently worth approx. $20k right now (after only owning it for 6 months) and since I've only paid about $1800 in monthly payments so far, I would be upside down if I tried to get out of it right now.... He said even with the current Maxima rebates ($6k off) that would only bring a base Maxima to $25K and I'd still be upside down $5k.....

So he is thinking that a good rule of thumb to get out of a lease early is the 2 year mark. So basically by Jan of 2015, I can probably get out of my lease and into a Maxima (or anything else I'd want)..... OR if they offered crazy rebates on the Max before then that would cancel out my negative equity....

I think the 2014 Maxima is still going to be the current body style and it will change for 2015, so in theory if that is the case, and I do get out of my lease in Jan of 2015, then I can possibly still get a brand new Max in its current form. And if the redesign is better than this one and I like it just as much, I can get one of those and still WIN

[ImStricken06]

how about picking up an off lease 2 yr old max? that might not put you upside down.

[followingnfront]

The way it was explained to me, just getting out of my lease right now would put me upside down. Until the sum of your payments equal the depreciation of the car, you will owe the difference... That is what the salesman told me. So basically, if my car is worth $20k right now, and I got it for $26.8k, I'd have to had made payments of $6.8K to come out even....

He says that the 2 year mark is basically where a lease even's out. Apparently, my Rogue is worth approx. ~$20k right now, and since I've only made $1800 in payments thus far, I'd be upside down $5k and that would have to be factored into my payments for whatever car I'd replace it with. That comes out to $150 per month on top of whatever payment I'd have for another car on lease... And if I were to finance a used Maxima for 60 months for instance, that $150 would pretty much drop in half to $75 per month extra since the time basically doubles. Either way, that is more than I'd be willing to pay.

Plus off lease used cars are tricky. I don't think I'd want another used car with city miles on it again. People use and abuse them, and especially leases I'd imagine, since they know they're giving them back. I want to be the one that breaks my car lol.