Hey y'all. I am a new member and this is my first post. I've been an avid reader of the forums. I have a 2006 car as my entertainment car. (I work for the railroad and rarely get time off to actually drive the thing). It's garage kept, never driven in the rain, etc. I worship this thing as like many of you. I OCD about it quite often. Well, I'm on a weeks of vacation right now and have had it out quite a bit. I washed it yesterday and got low and noticed that the passenger side rocker panel has pretty deep gouges down to the fiberglass, almost where it looks like it was raked over a lift when pulling the car out. The gouges look pretty fresh. I recently got my oil changed at a shop where the guy has heavy experience with vettes. I'm almost certain this occurred there, bc I pick and choose my routes where I drive I'm so **** about this thing. It's too little too late for proof and justification that he did it so now it's at a body to get touched up. I guess I'm just venting. It's just made me sick and here I sit during vacation, while its raining, waiting and wondering about my car. Ahhh. End rant.

 

You aren't the first and won't be the last to experience that issue. The body shop should be able to fix it like new. Put it behind you and forget about it.

For the future, that is what lifting pucks are for. They may not have prevented your damage, but they may have if they had been installed before the car was driven onto the lift. The lift surface likely would have scraped the pucks and not your rockers. Consider investing in some and use them.

 

Almost all will get gouges and scrapes on the bottom of the rocker panels and front fascia. Don't fret about it, no one sees it but the grease monkeys.

Enjoy the car for what it is, a well built sports car. Have fun and drive it.

Of course have fun keeping it as nice as possible but don't obsess over it so much you can't enjoy it.

162,000 miles on my 07, still looks very good. There are some chips and road rash but that is to be expected.

 

Well that sucks. Only thing to do is get it repaired. I always keep 4 jacking pucks in the back cubby, in case car needs to get lifted.

 

Thanks y'all. I feel childish to say, I feel better with your responses and am glad I'm not alone. Here's a picture of the girlfriend.

 

Thank you, and I will definitely get a set. I'll no longer leave this thing to chance on an "experienced" vette mechanic.

 

Welcome to the forum
We've all been in a similar situation with our first scrape on the front splitter, under the front bumper when we scraped it on a parking curb, or on the rocker panel, etc. You are getting it fixed, so I'm sure it will look like new when you get it back.

The first damage is always the worse, and believe me I felt the exact same way as you did. At that time, I also never drove in the rain, kept it in the garage, etc.
For some reason, we are all led to believe that a Corvette should be housed in a garage, and never be driven much...so be it.

After having my 2006 for so long, and finally realizing how much enjoyment I get from driving the car, I just don't fret over it quite as much as I once did.
Because I use it for road trips, and enjoy driving it so much, It has some rock chips, and other small imperfections that I know are there, but most other people never seem to notice when they comment on how good my car looks.

I keep the exterior and interior clean as I possibly can, still clean the engine bay, etc, etc.
Because I use it, the under carriage will never get the TLC that it could get. I do clean it up during the hibernation period, but once I start driving it again, it doesn't take long to get dirty again... Oh yes, I do drive it in the rain, as it is difficult to do 2-3 week road trips in perfect sunny weather.

I don't show the car, so no one is gawking at the under carriage to see that's the aluminum is not shining, or that the rocker panels may be a bit dirty.

Enjoy your beautiful ride.

 

A good competent body shop should be able to fix up right up. Fortunately the rockers are low and hard to see.

 

Beautiful DSOM Corvette.