Body shop in Bay Area (near San Carlos/Palo Alto)
09-26-2002, 10:13 PM
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Body shop in Bay Area (near San Carlos/Palo Alto)
Any recommends for fender replacement in the Bay Area would be appreciated. I paid a visit to the shop recommended by AAA and it wasn't a confidence inspiring experience....they were clowns.
Another note: I received a moderate hit ifn front of the front right wheel and the oil flow to the cooler is quite loud now. Any ideas on why this would happen?
Thanks, Joe
Another note: I received a moderate hit ifn front of the front right wheel and the oil flow to the cooler is quite loud now. Any ideas on why this would happen?
Thanks, Joe
09-27-2002, 02:28 AM
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Joe,
I just took my 993 TT to BodyStyles in San Jose. The owner, Cecil, is a real PCA guy and has been repairing P-cars for 30 years. Some of the guys on this board recommended him. 90% of their work is Porsche, so they claim to know it all! I should have it back in a week. Will let you know how it turns out. Also heard there's a bodyshop called Del's in SJ which also does Porsche work exclusively.
Eric
I just took my 993 TT to BodyStyles in San Jose. The owner, Cecil, is a real PCA guy and has been repairing P-cars for 30 years. Some of the guys on this board recommended him. 90% of their work is Porsche, so they claim to know it all! I should have it back in a week. Will let you know how it turns out. Also heard there's a bodyshop called Del's in SJ which also does Porsche work exclusively.
Eric
09-27-2002, 01:10 PM
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Yep - I can second Eric. I have personally used Del's (408-295-7446) and have heard good things about Bodystyles. Del only does 911 and 356 work and can be booked up a month or so in advance.
09-28-2002, 03:39 AM
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Joe,
I talked to both Del's and Bodystyles and they are totally different companies. Del's is a single man operation and seemed extremely detail oriented. He was talking about how you couldn't paint the new water-cooled Porsches "too" good because the body panel would stand out from the rest of the original orange-peel paint. That's pretty detailed. They have a Celette (sp?) frame jig, the only one Porsche recommends.
Bodystyles was less detail oriented and more commercialized. They've got about 5 guys working there, maybe more. The owner doesn't do the paint jobs, his crew does. He couldn't tell whether my GP White was single stage or clear-coated (Del's did the polish-test to find out if the color comes off); actually Cecil didn't both to test it. He just quoted me the more expensive two-stage paint job and then I asked him if the original was a single stage paint how much labor reduction that would result in. Didn't both to re-quote and didn't answer the question, told me to come back when I was ready to get the job done. Makes me wonder if they really care about the quality of the job. I walked out definitely wondering how my car would look like with a single stage original paint on some areas and a clear-coated paint job in others ..... pretty scary.
I decided to take Del's advice and wait until some of the chips got worse before doing an entire front panel re-paint. This advice was not given by Bodystyles ... he just gave me a quote.
If I were to pick a place to do an excellent paint job, I think you know which place I would pick.
BTW, both places had pricing that was comparable.
*****
I talked to both Del's and Bodystyles and they are totally different companies. Del's is a single man operation and seemed extremely detail oriented. He was talking about how you couldn't paint the new water-cooled Porsches "too" good because the body panel would stand out from the rest of the original orange-peel paint. That's pretty detailed. They have a Celette (sp?) frame jig, the only one Porsche recommends.
Bodystyles was less detail oriented and more commercialized. They've got about 5 guys working there, maybe more. The owner doesn't do the paint jobs, his crew does. He couldn't tell whether my GP White was single stage or clear-coated (Del's did the polish-test to find out if the color comes off); actually Cecil didn't both to test it. He just quoted me the more expensive two-stage paint job and then I asked him if the original was a single stage paint how much labor reduction that would result in. Didn't both to re-quote and didn't answer the question, told me to come back when I was ready to get the job done. Makes me wonder if they really care about the quality of the job. I walked out definitely wondering how my car would look like with a single stage original paint on some areas and a clear-coated paint job in others ..... pretty scary.
I decided to take Del's advice and wait until some of the chips got worse before doing an entire front panel re-paint. This advice was not given by Bodystyles ... he just gave me a quote.
If I were to pick a place to do an excellent paint job, I think you know which place I would pick.
BTW, both places had pricing that was comparable.
*****
09-28-2002, 12:17 PM
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Aaron-The shop recommended by AAA was Stanford European. The estimator there was completely unprofessional, joking the entire time he was doing the estimate (about 3-5 mins., very thorough guy). There weren't any other Porsches in their shop but the clown estimating the car was talking about all the great work they do on Lamborghinis. The only cars in the deserted body shop were an early 80's BMW and a mustang in pieces. The topper was when some cheesy salesman came out of the showroom smoking a cigarette and started walking around the car pointing out it's flaws and previous repairs (the previous owner had scraped a parking lot barrier with the rear fender and had it replaced, the result being a bit of non-matching overspray). I called the AAA estmator back and related the story to him and he was quite apologetic. He then recommended Cavallino's in Palo Alto. Anyone know anything about them?
I'll give Del a call today and tell you how things turn out. Thanks for all the help.
I'll give Del a call today and tell you how things turn out. Thanks for all the help.
09-28-2002, 12:32 PM
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Joe,
Take a look at <a href="http://www.babblers.org" target="_blank">www.babblers.org</a> under the recommendation entry. This is a board for 986 guys in our area. Very active bunch of guys. I remember seeing Cavalino's in there. I recall it wasn't highly rated.
There's Carlsen body repair in Palo Alto. They used to be affiliated w/ Carlsen Porsche/Audi, but split off. They are directly behind the Honda dealership on the same block as Carlsen P/A. Don't know if they are good or not.
*****
Take a look at <a href="http://www.babblers.org" target="_blank">www.babblers.org</a> under the recommendation entry. This is a board for 986 guys in our area. Very active bunch of guys. I remember seeing Cavalino's in there. I recall it wasn't highly rated.
There's Carlsen body repair in Palo Alto. They used to be affiliated w/ Carlsen Porsche/Audi, but split off. They are directly behind the Honda dealership on the same block as Carlsen P/A. Don't know if they are good or not.
*****
