spike

Short story: stop and go traffic, guy behind hits me and pushes me into car in front (which is an SUV with a trailer hitch). Damage is minor and mostly cosmetic. Damage report:
-rear bumper and absorbing material (needs to be replaced so I'm thinking GT/CS bumper?)
-one muffler pushed in and down (bend it back? maybe replace? btw the before picture is just the left side inverted)
-front bumper (minor scratching on top which you can't see in the picture so I think it just needs a paint touch up)
-cracked plastic above the grill (replace from dealer)
-front hood (dent but paint is fine so maybe paintless dent repair?)

So.. any recommendations on auto body shop in the Arlington-Alexandria area? I'm mostly concerned with getting a good paint job for the bumpers that won't crack/fade over time any more than the stock paint.

spike

Finally got it fixed (I had to go away on business for 2 months.. thus the long delay). Damages totaled $4400 (new front bumper, new rear bumper, new muffler and pipe, new fog light bracket, new air shield, new hood). I did the front bumper, fog light, and air shield myself and used the money I saved to get the more expensive GT/CS rear bumper instead of another GT one. Most of the savings came from getting the front bumper from newtakeoff.com which was already painted tungsten. Had I known they were going to have to replace the hood too, I would’ve gotten the hood from newtakeoff but the original estimate had them just repairing the hood. It was only after they tried to repair it that they found they couldn’t and bought a new one. No dent in my pocket though since the accident wasn’t my fault and the insurance company paid for all of it.

But the real reasons I’m following up here is that I think the shop did a huge rush job so I guess I’m here to complain about it. I haven’t taken it back in yet to allow them to correct it so I won’t say their name. But I’m real ticked since they specialize in higher end cars and claim that they pride themselves in their attension to detail. They also came highly recommended by a neighbor. Problems I found:
-Didn’t reconnect alarm hood sensor which took a lot of time to diagnose why my alarm didn’t work (see this thread: http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=473838
-Left drip marks in paint on the GT/CS bumper (I’ll put pictures of that up later)
-Didn’t put the emissions sticker back under the hood (they’re mailing it to me for me to put on myself)
-Left one of their wrenches behind the rear trunk panel.
-Used too large of a wrench to reinstall my antenna and burred the edges of it. I was able to touch it up with black paint.
-They got some kind of clear overspray on my rims from when they blended my fenders with the new hood. You can’t really see it but you feel how rough it is in some parts compared to how smooth is should be.
-Did a poor job of taping off the part of the GT/CS bumper that doesn’t get painted leaving paint “hanging” off in parts. I was able to get those “hangers” off with an exacto.
-They couldn’t figure out where the center GT/CS bumper tab went on a GT so they just ripped it off leaving the bumper really flimsy. I didn’t know at the time that a new hole needed to be drilled in my GT to attached the tab but I think they should’ve called me and asked what to do instead of just ruining my brand new bumper cover. They could’ve just tucked it up in the bumper at least. I’ve fixed it already by making some new plastic tabs myself which works really well but it’s not OEM anymore (I’ll post pictures of that later too).

I’ll update later this week after I’m able to talk with them. I think I’m going to leave all of the other stuff alone but I do want them to fix the drip marks on the bumper.. that’s just unacceptable.

spike

Below is a example of the drip they let dry in the paint. There's two other spots similar to this one. I also put a pic of the tabs I made to replace the one they ripped off. The tabs are just plastic spackle knives from home depot. I cut them to size and used a hair dryer to put the bends in the plastic. I used two existing bolts under the car and then 3-M tape to adhere it to the bumper. Bumper feels nice and sturdy now.

........example drips..................new tabs........

spike

Well. Don't know if anyone is watching this one but I'd figure I post my last update on this:

I’ll try to be fair in this summary. They place that did the work is called Wagonwork on Jefferson Davis Highway. They specialize in BMWs and the like and pride themselves in their attention to detail including calling you twice a week with an update status on your car and giving the car back just the way you gave it to them (i.e., ensuring the radio station is on the channel you left it, plastic wrapping the entire steering wheel and seats, full wash inside and out after the work is done).

I took the car back in and pointed out all of the problems stating that for a place that is supposed to be detail oriented, this work looks like a real rushed job. (note: disregard the overspray on the rims, with a little elbow grease and some wax I was able to get off whatever that was). They agreed to fix the paint on the back bumper. They didn’t fight me on any of the issues but didn’t apologize for it either. They did offer me a rental car so I think that shows some effort to make it right. (I didn’t take the rental since I can drive a rental to my office so they gave me a ride to the metro instead).

They fixed the drip marks by wet sanding the bumper in those areas which mostly removes the drip marks but they are still there just a little. Truthfully you can't see them anymore unless you bend down and put your face right up to it. So I decided that was good enough. I told them it wasn't perfect but passable. Plus they do have a lifetime warranty on all work they did so if there’s a problem with the paint in a year I can always take it back.
I don’t think I’m being too ****. They set up these high expectations when they ensured me this paint job would be better than the ford factory paint job and that it was in good hands when I told them how much I take care of my car. I don’t think they met that expectation. I don’t they’re terrible (the job they did on the hood is perfect and is better than the original paint job) but I think they need to not rush and to pay special attention to customer’s cars when that customer shows that they are really into their car.

Anyway…. the silver lining is I now have a GT/CS bumper at no cost to me and it looks pretty darn cool. If it wasn’t for the accident, I probably never would’ve gotten that bumper so that’s good! You can see my new bumper here.

95SVTCobraVA

Glad to see your happy with the fix Mike It looks like the Mid-Atlantic has died a slow death Maybe it will come back one day.

spike

Ha.. yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe it's just becuase the summer is long gone in these parts.
I still check in here from time to time though. Thanks for stoppin' by!