So yesterday was down in the south sound. Swung by Puyallup for a Sonic Drive-In fix while running a bunch of errands.

As we were all driving back and started to get on 512 a pair of tandem dump trucks were rolling down the road...dropping their load from below and it blowing off of the top from above. I turned to Cathy, said, "oh Hell no," and pulled over and waited for about five minutes.

I then started driving at 55 - 60 MPH toward SH-167 (ya, you know where this is going).

So as we're limping along getting run over, we eventually on Highway 167 catch up to the tailing truck. It is dropping sand, gravel, and rocks, EVERYWHERE. A huge rock gets kicked up, goes sailing through the air, Cathy actually ducked because she thought it was going through the windshield. Hit the roof (I **** you not) and took the paint right down to the metal. Then another. Then it sounded like my car was having handfuls of BBs thrown at it. I planted the happy pedal down to pass and then some ******* in a Ford pickup truck blocked my escape, and was forced to limp by. Then another chip to the windshield.

That's it - I'm getting the license plate, this is bull**** on how poorly this load is secured. As we get past...you guessed it...no front license plate.

I slowed down to 40 MPH but the truck just slowed down again. I then pulled over, but passed again, got showered with rocks again to get both license plates (on the tandem trailer) and the truck.

Contacted the state patrol, filed a complaint, trooper is going to call me back for official report. They will chase this down. Contacting my insurance company on Monday. I'm just beside myself. I've never had such rotten freakin' luck with a car.

The roof doesn't appeared dented but the paint itself is spider webbed on the impact sites. The ones getting kicked up that high is because the bozo in the truck was missing half of a mud flap on the right rear to top it all off.

Look - I'm not INSANE about keeping my car nice - but I would have like to have had it one summer without it looking like it was five years old. After yesterday I seriously have 4 to 5 years worth of pitting on my front windshield. :cursin::cursin::cursin::cursin::cursin:

I'm glad for the car show last week and the pics I took for the show, including a couple of dozen high resolution pics of my nose. I can sure easily prove the car was not in the state it is now. Just SUCKS.

I hear ya. I drive this car so much more defensively than others I've owned. And I am anal about keeping it nice. Luckily for me, it sits in the garage 95% of the year, and hopefully I'll pay it off before to long and it can just stay in there full-time when I buy something else to drive.

Fortunately, you can probably claim all of the damage from the various other rock chips you already had too.

I don't know why, but my G8 more than any other car I've had seems to just attract damage. It's impossible to keep it from getting chipped, dented, scratched, etc.

I had mine about 3 days before the first flat. Got it repaired, still leaks. Of course, I also have my steering issues like most of these cars, so perhaps it's a sign to replace the tires with something a little better than the stock RSAs.

Got off the phone with my insurance company. They are tracking down the truck by the information I've given them and the registration.

The damage is covered under my comprehensive policy, not my collision (this is GREAT news) so it does not count against me as "filing a claim," and I have a very small deductible if the motor carrier says kiss our ass, we're not doing anything about this.

When it's all said and done the front bumper, hood, a-pillars and roof will get repainted, and I hope I can get my passenger side headlamp assembly replaced. It is deeply gouged but not penetrated.

I will have the paint shop "debadge" my nose at the same time, since they have the paint can out (will pay for the R&R and finish work). Will probably have the work done at the end of September as I'm getting ready to take the car off the road, so the paint can cure. Will look at clear bra options after the work, although told I would not like it as it would make the paint look a touch "yellowish."

Got off the phone with my insurance company. They are tracking down the truck by the information I've given them and the registration.

The damage is covered under my comprehensive policy, not my collision (this is GREAT news) so it does not count against me as "filing a claim," and I have a very small deductible if the motor carrier says kiss our ass, we're not doing anything about this.

When it's all said and done the front bumper, hood, a-pillars and roof will get repainted, and I hope I can get my passenger side headlamp assembly replaced. It is deeply gouged but not penetrated.

I will have the paint shop "debadge" my nose at the same time, since they have the paint can out (will pay for the R&R and finish work). Will probably have the work done at the end of September as I'm getting ready to take the car off the road, so the paint can cure. Will look at clear bra options after the work, although told I would not like it as it would make the paint look a touch "yellowish."

I'm just curious who told you the paint would look yellow? The new venture shield product is amazingly crystal clear, and actually clear coated. Call up John at Metropolitan Detail, tell him Jesse with the G8 sent you, and have him explain the new product.

I'm just curious who told you the paint would look yellow? The new venture shield product is amazingly crystal clear, and actually clear coated. Call up John at Metropolitan Detail, tell him Jesse with the G8 sent you, and have him explain the new product.

Dealer and AccuTint. I got the impression AccuTint really didn't want to do my car (they didn't have any existing G8 templates either).

Given I've decided to keep my car (and then a few hours later got it shelled with rocks on SH-167 - IRONY!!!) and I'm getting the front bumper clip, hood and roof repainted, now is as good a time as any to hit the big fat reset button and get it truly protected.

Also am going to have the Pontiac arrowhead removed, filled and painted while they are it. I am not installing a Holden logo, going to go "logoless" and put the Holden center caps on. Will leave the Pontiac logo on the steering wheel. Hopefully when all is done a very clean totally debadged G8.

Someone could make some bucks making OEM grade 18"/19" center caps for the stock rims that have no logo on them - just plain old black.

Someone could make some bucks making OEM grade 18"/19" center caps for the stock rims that have no logo on them - just plain old black.

What makes you think there is a large enough market for "just plain old black" center caps for the G8 to support the effort of making them? Once you take out the owners that put on after market wheels (and caps), then add in those that like the Pontiac arrowhead caps, and how many you got left? Doubt it would be profitable for a very limited, and now"dead", car line. :wink2::pir_flag:

call john @ metropolitan detail. The old clear bras did yellow, the new venture shield product does not. If I'm not mistaken they have a warranty about it.

call john @ metropolitan detail. The old clear bras did yellow, the new venture shield product does not. If I'm not mistaken they have a warranty about it.

Get out a big pen for writing a big check! From all the research I did Metropolitan is one of the best in the area, and you pay for it.

I had Venture Shield applied by a mobile installer in my garage by Northwest Auto Shield. If you go to the Venture Shield home page, you can search for certified installers in the area. At the time, the guy I used was the only 3-star installer on their page. Now there are (2) 3-star installers.

I had him come back out a second time to do my rocker panels, and about a week later I still had bubbles in it and he came back and re-did it. Very good service.

Sorry about your car. :( My brother-in-law drives a gravel truck so I can't say I hate them all, but they are definitely on my sh*t list. I used to commute to Monroe every day for over 3 years and I had to have my windshield fixed 7 freaking times. I didn't even bother with the paint chips and dents until I changed jobs because I knew it would just happen again. Hwy 2 is the worst place to get stuck behind trucks. I'm so glad I don't work out there anymore. Not only did it suck ass that my car looked like crap, it scared the piss out of me every time it happened. They need to come up with a better way to secure those loads. Tupperware perhaps. :)

damn, sucks to be you dave! I can imagine how terrible that felt.

I had a nightmare last night that my G8 got totalled...i woke up with the cold sweats :(

Hey Brenden I sent you two PM's did you get them?damn, sucks to be you dave! I can imagine how terrible that felt.

I had a nightmare last night that my G8 got totalled...i woke up with the cold sweats :(

So yesterday was down in the south sound. Swung by Puyallup for a Sonic Drive-In fix while running a bunch of errands.

As we were all driving back and started to get on 512 a pair of tandem dump trucks were rolling down the road...dropping their load from below and it blowing off of the top from above. I turned to Cathy, said, "oh Hell no," and pulled over and waited for about five minutes.

I then started driving at 55 - 60 MPH toward SH-167 (ya, you know where this is going).

So as we're limping along getting run over, we eventually on Highway 167 catch up to the tailing truck. It is dropping sand, gravel, and rocks, EVERYWHERE. A huge rock gets kicked up, goes sailing through the air, Cathy actually ducked because she thought it was going through the windshield. Hit the roof (I **** you not) and took the paint right down to the metal. Then another. Then it sounded like my car was having handfuls of BBs thrown at it. I planted the happy pedal down to pass and then some ******* in a Ford pickup truck blocked my escape, and was forced to limp by. Then another chip to the windshield.

That's it - I'm getting the license plate, this is bull**** on how poorly this load is secured. As we get past...you guessed it...no front license plate.

I slowed down to 40 MPH but the truck just slowed down again. I then pulled over, but passed again, got showered with rocks again to get both license plates (on the tandem trailer) and the truck.

Contacted the state patrol, filed a complaint, trooper is going to call me back for official report. They will chase this down. Contacting my insurance company on Monday. I'm just beside myself. I've never had such rotten freakin' luck with a car.

The roof doesn't appeared dented but the paint itself is spider webbed on the impact sites. The ones getting kicked up that high is because the bozo in the truck was missing half of a mud flap on the right rear to top it all off.

Look - I'm not INSANE about keeping my car nice - but I would have like to have had it one summer without it looking like it was five years old. After yesterday I seriously have 4 to 5 years worth of pitting on my front windshield. :cursin::cursin::cursin::cursin::cursin:

I'm glad for the car show last week and the pics I took for the show, including a couple of dozen high resolution pics of my nose. I can sure easily prove the car was not in the state it is now. Just SUCKS. Sorry to hear about your car, I try to stay away from that road because of those trucks. Did you like the Sonic? I just live down the street from them.

I am forever grateful that there is not a Sonic close to Edmonds, or I would be about twice as fat as I already am. It appears the lustre of the ooooooo we have a Sonic in the area has worn off, but it is still good eats. I love the cream pie shakes and their drinks. I would say their drinks and the endless possibilities for them is the real reason to go there, that and tater tots.

damn, sucks to be you dave! I can imagine how terrible that felt.

I had a nightmare last night that my G8 got totalled...i woke up with the cold sweats :(
Not to thread jack, but I have had that nightmare too! Only in mine, I also broke my iPhone while climbing out of the wreckage. Double whammy!

Funny about nightmares. One of the things that saved me in all of this is - the car show! I took a ton of pics of my car before the show, including about two dozen of the nose (couldn't get angle/light right). The one major chip I had previously is poorly repaired (the yellow jacket incident) so the rest that have been added - there is a pretty clear trail of evidence that the car was darn close to showroom on the front prior to my shelling.

None of it is really "bad" except for what is on the roof - that is holy ass crackers are you kidding me bad. Also the gouge in the driver side head lamp is deep, but not all the way through (and not starred). I don't know if they'll replace the assembly or so kiss our butts. There is about a dozen paint chips on the front bumper and surround and hood, and a couple of more what I would describe as blisters, areas where the car/paint was clearly impacted, but didn't quite chip all the way off. The big problem is that paint chip repair due to the number is more expensive and impractical. Say $150 to $200 per chip X12 - cheaper to just paint the roof, a-pillars, hood, and front bumper, and blend and tint on the front quarter panels.

I'm lining up a clear bra to go on after the paint job. I'm not going with 3M.

WA has some pretty decent laws regarding secured loads. It took Maria Federici getting blinded and brain damaged by a flying entertaiment center to change it.

Specifically: No vehicle shall be driven or moved
on any public highway unless such
vehicle is... loaded as to prevent any
of its load from dropping, sifting,
leaking, or otherwise escaping.
(Source: RCW 46.61.655)

Well I finally got my repair estimate. Thirty to 45 seconds behind a load dumping gravel truck comes out to $2,052 worth of damage to the paint, windshield, and driver side headlamp assembly. Apparently they feel they can grind out the between pits and chips in the windshield. While it is in the shop I am getting the nose debadged and having the lower bezel around the fog lamps painted. They will also be installing my rear backup sensor array while in. By the time it gets out I should have my Holden center caps and the Volant (going Volant after the reaction at the car show). Couple of more mods in the pipeline. When it's all done the G8 will go into garage queen mode for the winter. I'm on the hunt hard now for my winter beater.

You gonna make it this coming weekend BOP, the Sonic GTG, and end of season GTG before you put her to bed?

I wish this state would inact the same laws as California in regards to dump trucks having a lid on the top to prevent spills........few things piss me off as much as driving down SR 167 (valley freeway) and having stuff spill out of dump trucks.

I wish this state would inact the same laws as California in regards to dump trucks having a lid on the top to prevent spills........few things piss me off as much as driving down SR 167 (valley freeway) and having stuff spill out of dump trucks.

Agreed on the tarp requirement, but this wouldn't have helped me. The load was coming out of the truck through the bottom, where the dump gate would meet the lip at the bottom of the truck. It wasn't sealed and gravel/dirt was just pouring out on the road.

At least I get a clean front end, park the car for the winter, and look at protection options in the spring.

You gonna make it this coming weekend BOP, the Sonic GTG, and end of season GTG before you put her to bed?

I'm absolutely going to BOP unless it's pouring rain out.

The rest is dependent on when things line up. I know the Sonic GTG is now mid-October, haven't seen a date for the end of year get together. Even if I'm G8-less during the end of year event, I will probably attend.

The samething happened to me in my Firebird. On the interstate, dump truck way up front is empty but had rocks in it, and the tail gate was NOT secured shut. Everytime that MF hit a bump in the road the flap opened and rocks flew out everywhere. I didn't have time to react other then to slow down as my car was getting pelted with rocks and a Van behind me got hit pretty good too. PISSED me off so I slammed the gas and chased that MF down trying to avoid another rock attack along the way and got the info off the side of the truck and called them and my insurance company. There where paint chips all over the bumper, hood, winshield.

Long story short my insurance so far as I know paid for the new paint job on my Firebird, they said they'd follow up with the truck company but they didn't hold much hope that they would pay. It was covered under my comp so not a bad tick against me for a claim.

I hear ya man! I had a rolloff dumpster truck dropping rocks all over and busted outt he windshield on my Cobalt SS a couple years ago. I followed the truck, got his tag#, and all the way to the yard he was making his delivery to and when I called the company they told me that none of their trucks were in my part of town, so I took about 30 pics and went to visit them. They called the police on me for "harrassing them" but when the cops showed up I showed them the damage, the pics, the cell phone calls and they wrote the company a ticket! SLAM DUNK and I got paid!