Car parking woes!

[smitty]

Thanks to a random chunk of concrete, I now have a five-dollar-note-sized scrape on my front left corner. Went straight to the panel shop to get a quote for repair.

I was then told that the whole bar had to be removed and resprayed, they couldn't just fix the damaged area (due to the 2 pack paint or some such). I don't know about these things but is it just me or does this sound like a load of crap?

They quoted me $300 cash for the whole job.

If i go ahead with it, should i be handing them a set of removal instructions? The bloke reckons he's done a VR4 before, but I figure they'll say anything to get the job, and the last thing I want is for them to wreck the bumper while removing it, due to not knowing what the hell they're working on.

 

[Guest]

sounds like a bit of a load,

sounds like there just gonna take off the whole bumper and respray it,

rather than spray and blend the the colour if it isnt an exact match

 

[smitty]

sounds like a bit of a load,

sounds like there just gonna take off the whole bumper and respray it,

rather than spray and blend the the colour if it isnt an exact match

That's pretty much what he said they'd have to do. I'm half tempted to do it anyway as there's a few small 'imperfections' courtesy of the previous owner and respraying the bumper would get it looking perfect again...

 

[snickells]

$300 doesnt sound too bad, but pictures would help us make the call.

 

[smitty]

The damage

 

[NinjAClowN]

Yeah man 300 isnt too bad wen it comes down to the amount of work in it.

 

[mookers]

There is a guide to removing the front bar on here in the How To area. If you can't find it, I have a copy (helps that I wrote it lol).

 

[Peter_D]

Agreed BUT I can't see the need to remove the whole bumper. Should be able to blend it in fairly well.

 

[ygoslo]

How particular are you about the appearance of the car? Because if a few rough edges don't worry you too much, I'd recommend grabbing some sandpaper and a custom mixed pressure pack and patching it up yourself...

 

[Mortz]

If you get Touch up guys to do it chances are they'll leave the bumper on and it'll be a cheaper price then a panelbeater I reckon. They usually do a really good job too.

 

[Guest]

that looks minor to me,

and i sure as hell wouldnt be paying $300 to get it fixed.

 

[jet150]

Not all paints can be touched up especially 2pak and metalic paint.

Yeah you can probably get it touched up by someone but sooner or later the blended area will show, especiallyis it's clear over base. The best way to repair it is to remove the bar and paint the whole thing. Paint shops usually charge $300 per a panel.

In the end its up to you what kind of finish you want. Those mobile touch up guys will prob charge $80-$100 or even more?

After looking at the photo again that area needs some prep work to and, once the prep work is done that small area needing paint will be almost the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

Again it depends on what kind of finish you want?

 

[smitty]

Not all paints can be touched up especially 2pak and metalic paint.

Yeah you can probably get it touched up by someone but sooner or later the blended area will show, especiallyis it's clear over base. The best way to repair it is to remove the bar and paint the whole thing. Paint shops usually charge $300 per a panel.

In the end its up to you what kind of finish you want. Those mobile touch up guys will prob charge $80-$100 or even more?

After looking at the photo again that area needs some prep work to and, once the prep work is done that small area needing paint will be almost the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

Again it depends on what kind of finish you want?

Well, i'd rather have it looking perfect....

The advantage of having the whole bar re-sprayed is that it will fix a couple of other minor blemishes at the same time(two thanks to the previous owner and one thanks to the compliance workshop dropping some sort of tool on the bumper).

At the same time though, I'm rather paranoid about having a workshop who for all i know has no experience with these cars remove the bumper w/out having a clue, and supsequently damaging the mountings.

Do we know of a good panelbeater in the SE Melb area who has experience with vr4s?

 

[jet150]

You don't need VR4 experienced panel beater, these guys remove and refit bumpers from all makes and models all day. It's part of their job.

Just make sure you find a good work shop.

 

[smitty]

You don't need VR4 experienced panel beater, these guys remove and refit bumpers from all makes and models all day. It's part of their job.

Just make sure you find a good work shop.

I've used this shop once before for my VY commodore (someone reversed a bobcat into it the day after i bought it lol) and they did a quality job. The shop is Bob O'Dell Panels in Seaford.

I might get a quote from Carey's on Hartnett Drive, ive used them before but they charge like a wounded bull! Good work though.

 

[SiliconAngel]

$300 is quite reasonable. As said above, yes you can patch it, but you will DEFINITELY notice it with the light at the right (wrong) angle. The only way to get a whole panel or bumper to look perfect is to paint the whole thing. In fact, from my experience the only way to make a whole car look like it hasn't had panel work done is to paint the whole thing at the same time with the same paint. Little things like the way the metallic flecks align and the curing time of the clear coat (as well as how many clear coats you put on it) will all affect the way the paint looks at different angles, and how well the panels blend with one another. It's ridiculous how bad some cars look after supposedly brilliant panel shops have 'blended' panels after repainting a bumper and fenders - a $20k repair job shouldn't leave a $200k car looking like it's been repaired after a relatively minor front-end collision, it should look perfect

So yea, save a few hundred bucks and get it repaired, but be prepared for the disappointment of noticing the damage in bright sunlight (at night no one will be able to tell, though). Or pony up and get it done right the first time - believe me, paying for stuff like this only really hurts once, but you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you had a good job done and every time you look at it and you can't tell the difference you'll be well pleased with yourself