I'm not an autobody guy by any means. I just recently ordered the Steeda hood and I am expecting in the next few days.

Anyway, the guy doing the paint warned me up front about fiberglass. One of the big things that happens is if the company you buy it from cuts corners and doesn't use new forms after so many hoods (not sure how long they last), they begin to sag and lose shape.

Again, I am not an expert, but that may be something of what happened here and why some fit well and others don't. Its a quality control issue with the hood manufacturer.

I feel for ya. Good luck.

 

as an automotive Insurance adjuster...I have to say, either you are getting screwed by your body shop or all you received in the mail was a sheet of fiberglass...if your shop is putting 2 weeks worth of work into one hood, then should have told them to just go ahead and burn that s.o.b. If I was to "EVER" pay $4600 for a hood, it better have a power adder attatched to the bottom side. If I were you, I would just stiff the body shop w/ the $4600 hood and cut you losses.
Not all fiberglass hoods are P.O.S.'s Your Steeda hood will be ready to paint, maybe touch up a few pits/imperfections, but other than that your shop won't have over 2 hrs in prepping the hood for paint.

 

uhhm, with out seeing the hood....You are getting screwed either way. first of all you either bought an absolute P.O.S. which isn't your fault, or the body shop is stringing you along for 70+ hours. Maybe it took 70 hrs for them to get around to painting it, but I guarantee, that someone has not been working on this hood for 2 weeks straight. 70 hrs of sanding and the hood would be nothing but dust. Doesn't 70 hrs sound like a long time??? I've wrote $6000 estimates on wrecked cars and it doesn't pay 70 hrs of bodywork, I promise you that...and our labor rate is $40/hr also, and they aren't Street Rod shops. This hood must have been made for a camaro if it is taking 70hrs to make it fit an 05 Mustang.
Point blank, the reason this repair is taking 70 hrs is b/c the shop knows you have the money and will pay the 70 hrs.
-70hrs of sanding/prep work....How much are they charging you for the sand paper?
Oh, and I don't care who is painting your hood (Picasso), It only ranges from 3-5 hrs, and about 200 absolute max in materials...to paint a hood. You should be looking at about $400 to paint a hood, and if the shop tries to charge you 600 for color-sand and buff/wet sanding your car, it is b/c they painted it ouside on the porch and it is covered w/ trash. Think about what you are spending on this hood, before you start asking people how they know you are getting screwed w/out seeing the hood.

 

The Cowl racing hood??... Dood - get pics up when you are done!!

 

Just to resummarize (from post 12)

"One more note. I have spoken to the shop, they are going to cut me a nice bit off the final price. Drive out will be $3500 for the 'fixes', body prep, shoot and clear. It will also go into paint this week and will be ready by next Wednesday "

So drive out fro the hood on my car is $3500. This is for :

Hood:
1. Rebuilding 4 corners
2. Removing the scoop, fixing the inlet snorkel, reattaching
3. Straightening lines
4. Building up
5. Normal Paint Prep
6. Paint Shoot
7. Fender Prep
8. Fender Shoot

They are also going a step further to blend the red of the hood into the red of the fenders and clear the entire front of the car, thats for #7, #8.

I will drive out with a 2 tone car (black / red) with a perfect hood. Yes it sux about the prep cost of the hood, but I saw the before and the after, there is a huge difference. Their quality of product I received was crap.

Now, I do relize they are more expensive, but they have top notch quality. For those who say "I can get it cheaper ..." here is the other side of the story. I used one of those cheaper shops to do the blackout paint between my taillights. First, the black paint job was horrible. Swirle marks and mismatched luster. Now, a few months later, the "line" where the clear is is starting to gain an edge and begun to kinda peel.

I have seen Street Rod Concepts work, esp their black, and know when my hood is mounted and I drive away, it will the best quality that can be produced

The main point of this post was this :

1. The hood I received was in horrible shape
2. If you want it fixed right, get ready to spend some money
3. if you want it fixed ok, then it might not be as much
4. You might get lucky, as Stugots22 , and get a hood in good shape

Also, they only have my car 2 days for fitting. The car will be taken in on Monday to start the paint / clear process. Wish me luck.

-Bryan

 

My perspective of the claims industry

I would like to respond to your post 2005MustangGT. You said that your an "automotive Insurance adjuster", I can understand you may have years of experience in the industry and I respect that. But let me put it from a personal point of view...

In general, insurance based processes are like McDonalds food industry. They get you in and out as fast as possible with he least amount of cost. Why? The insurance company does not want to pay a lot for any claim. So, the one fullfilling the claim needs volume. This is no different from going to see your doctor, to having teeth cleaned, to having repairs (paint or otherwise) performed on your car. So, I am, as a consumer, expected in this day and age to accept loss of quality for the lowest cost.

I don't want a McDonalds paint job. I dont want to be rushed in and rushed out for the lowest cost. I want time spent perfecting what I will see on my car everyday.

Does any person reading this post, truely believe that any paint/body shop takes the same time and care for a quick claim (at the lowest cost) than they would for a show quality paint job ?

I hold companies to a higher standard than that.

-Bryan

 

Good luck to you Bryan
I have just come back from my body shop and he had to:
1) Build the corners
2) Fill and shape the outside edges
3) Fix the problem with water building up in the hood cavities
4) Re-sand and re-gel the top.
After all this prep work now he will consider putting paint on it. The total time of all this was 10 hours of labor.
I don't think the problem was with sagging in the mold since I think Bryan and I had some of the first hoods out of the mold. I just think it was either:
1) The mold was off to begin with or
2) poor quality control or
3) rushing it out the door to make the quick buck.

I am glad to hear that they have taken a closer at their product and maybe now they will put out a better quality piece.
Thanks for the info on your hood Stugots22. Keep us informed on how yours turns out.

 

Awsome ! I cannot wait to see it BTW, I wanted to say I still think that 2005MustangGT is right in one regard, the hours seem way too long especially against your 10 hours, lol.

-Bryan

 

Gotta admit, after having a body shop give me an estimate I would have contacted the manufacturer and asked for a refund and returned the hood.

 

If I would have known, I would have. I made a mistake and trusted their judgment, because they have done all the other work to my car. The only thing they have not done at this point was the tunes. You know what they say about hind-sight

-Bryan

 

Glad it's your money!!!
"Now, I do relize they are more expensive, but they have top notch quality. For those who say "I can get it cheaper ..." here is the other side of the story. I used one of those cheaper shops to do the blackout paint between my taillights. First, the black paint job was horrible. Swirle marks and mismatched luster. Now, a few months later, the "line" where the clear is is starting to gain an edge and begun to kinda peel"
Doesn't sound that they are more expensive 40/hr there, 40/hr here. They are just slower than most...call it perfection if you will, but you get what you pay for and you definately paid to get "bent over."
-
By the way, I mentioned your dilema to 2 different (well respected) body shops today, granted they couldn't see your hood, but one told me for 70 hrs, he was thinking about moving his shop to Texas, if everyone would pay that kind of money for an A/M hood to be corrected, and the other told me that he thought I was full of crap...told me that he could have turned 2 fenders into a hood for 70 hrs....and been able to warranty the repairs...
I didn't start replying on this topic to be an *** hole, just to maybe open up your eyes some. You obviously have no understanding of body repairs...and I just wanted to put 70hrs of body work into perspective for you. Hope it helped.
-Welcome to Mc'Donalds!!! May I please help you??? That's my opening evertime I speak w/ a customer that has had their car wrecked. You sure understand the insurance industry well....looks like you've been watching to many of those attorney's commercials on TV.

 

lol, glad to see you have a sense of humor

-Bryan