porshhhh951

Glad to hear everything turned out okay.

Burma Shave

Great news! Now the hard part begins.

Van

So, I picked up the car yesterday. I'm pleased with the caliber of work from this shop. They gave me print-outs of before and after measurements and even gave me some pictures they took.

The report shows that, indeed, the suspension pickup points were within spec. The rear right corner moved sideways 11mm and back 4mm. The rear left corner moved sideways 17mm and moved down 5mm. They were both brought back to their original (zero) locations.

Total the job was 5.5 hours. They did use the pinch weld clamps, but the technician told me he had to try a few times to get the rear clamps to hold. Here are pics:









Now, the next big question: do I tackle the rest myself (weld on stud pins and pull it out the best I can - then paint it with color match spray paint)? Or do I take it to my local body shop and have them do it all to the tune of maybe $500-ish?

MM951

Good to hear the car is OK!

$500 doesn't seem too bad.. would you be able to pull it out yourself?

Burma Shave

Looks like quality work for sure. Generally speaking the printout doesn't lie. If you can get the sheetmetal work done for 5 bills, jump on it. If the use a stud welder, make sure they undercoat or touch up the backside where the paint burns off. I wish my clamps would have fit...my job would have been a little less stressful on my car.

Van

Well, I'm getting the car ready for the sheet metal work. I spent the weekend taking stuff off to be painted, cleaning the paint a bit and starting the masking (I'm sure the body shop will either love that I've started it, or hate that I've started it...)

The plan is to have them repaint the whole rear (with the associated bumper/valance pieces) and the front bumper cover/headlight covers/header panel. This will leave the doors, one fender, hood and roof original. Since there won't be any "blending" I'm hoping the panel split will "fool" the eye since the color will be a little different (this shop painted a fender for me last year - and it did turn out a little different...)





I'm hoping to bring it to the body shop on Friday - I might have it back by xmas!

Burma Shave

You will definitely see the difference in color by panel painting. They will have to retape everything anyway for priming and then painting. Blue painter's tape is fine for latex, but the adhesive isn't correct for automotive paints.

eniac

I use the green tape. Not sure if that's even correct or not but I haven't had any issues with it on automotive paints.

Van

OK - then is there anything I can do to help them?

(Not only do I want to make their job easier, but I also want the best possible results and feel that I'll take more time and be more careful if I do some of the prep myself.

The body shop is pretty cheap, local and I'm friends with the owner, but I wouldn't say their work is the best... So I'm willing to do what I can to get a better end product.)