Topic: Collision Repair Faults (Body Shop Screw Ups)

[2.4solstice06]

Okay, So about 2 1/2 years ago, my solstice was rear ended on the highway and the damage was around 8,000 dollars. It was repaired by the body shop that handles all my uncles companies fleet services. Since it was done, there have been minor problems, but now, a couple years later, there are more problems surfacing. They replaced the pass. rear quarter, rear valence, trunk lid, and lots of other parts under the valence including rebuilding of the hydroformed frame rail i'm pretty sure. I have photos of the problem areas...

This is a photo of the door gap on the passenger side whhere the door is actually scraping on the door jam when it closes:


This is a picture of the Drivers side where the gap is normal.


The impact actually broke the radio screen, which was never replaced...


This is the drivers side rubber stopper on the top which makes total contact with the windsheild brace:


This is the passenger side which doesn't even touch:


These are the scrapes where the door hits the jamb:



This is by the passenger side tail light where the deck lid sits a little over the tail light when fully closed:


This is where the rocker panel meets the front fender panel:


This is where the factory spot welds would have been for the rear quarter panel under the deck lid:


This is the passenger side rocker where the paint is already distorted:


This picture shows the rear valence mis aligned with the rear quarter and putting tension on the inner fender liner:


The reason I am posting all these pictures is too ask am I being too critical? Too those of you that know the Kappa platform inside and out, how bad is this damage really? The alignment seems to check out but I'm worried they may have not fixed the frame right, considering all the other stuff they did wrong. This car has a great amount of sentimental value to me and I'd like it fixed correctly. Do you guys think I could gain anything my contacting the insurance company? Does the body shop have any obligations after 2 1/2 years? How much do you think it will cost to repair these errors? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to fix this particular car, but I'm just a college student and money is tight, not to mention my other various projects. Any Advice would be great as I've been worried about this for a while now...

[miller11386]

You need to have the car put back on the frame rack and pulled back toward the left rear quarter. Its pretty obvious that the cars frame is still bent.

As far as 2 years after the fact, i think you may be out of luck. I know that the body shop that repaired my car would do such a repair, but they are not among the norm. And IMO yes you are being too critical. If these issues were an issue to you, they should have been addressed when the car was returned to you. If the car was not in your possession when it was repaired, then you should not have bought the car in the first place.

As far as cost to fix, yes I am sure it will be pricy, and as I said above the frame is obviously bent. It needs to go back on the frame rack and be pulled back into alignment to be repaired correctly.

Goodluck!

[2.4solstice06]

Its not that I didn't notice them when I got it back, its that it went right into the garage for the winter directly after and I didn't look at it real good, not to mention I didn' notice the door scraping when I got it back, what makes you think the frame is still been? The top not aligning and the door being out of alignment?

[miller11386]

I dont know what to tell you about your repair. I can say the rear quarter/rail is welded in the car, so you need to know what was physically done to the car before anyone can really suggest what may have happened.

It looks like the frame is bent to me. It looks like the rear quarter/rail was not replaced, and the buckle at the top is from the accident. I would challenge if they even put the car on a frame rack to straighten the frame back out. This is suggested by the lower rocker panel being bent inward and not lining up with the fender. It also would be why the door gap is incorrect as well as the top being crooked and the decklid not lining up correctly on that side

As far as the shop is concerned, if you signed the paperwork accepting the quality of the repairs, they are not legally obligated to do anything more. Step one would be to get the invoice of the work that was done and figure out what they really did. Then you can begin to piece it together from there.

[2.4solstice06]

wow

so pretty much its not even worth it.

Even if I wanted to, i don't have the money to even get it looked at, I have the repair order around here somewhere, but it really doesn't matter either way.

I might as well just get rid of it

[miller11386]

goodluck with that.

I would start by asking the body shop about it and see if they will make it right. Just because they are not legally obligated to do so doesnt mean they wouldnt try to help

Get other opinions, but from what you have shown i would think that the frame is bent.

[2.4solstice06]

If the body shop doesn't owe me anything, I will get nothing, the only reason I went to this cut rate body shop was because they serviced my uncles companies fleet vehicles and my uncle is friends with the owner, I emailed my insurance agent just for advice on what I should do. I know this body shop better than that though and offering things for free is not what they do

[Sly Bob]

You likely already know the answer but ask your uncle to contact them. What can it hurt and all they can say is no.  Alternatively I wonder if you could loosen the hinges on that door and move the door forward? It might move the door too close to the fender but then just move the fender too. Anyone that has changed the battery knows how easy it is move the fender around.

[1LILNDN]

What Sly BOb  and Miller said is on the Dot being correct . Talk to your Uncle and Insurance Person and see if they offer antany recourse on the repair work .( If you don't Ask you will never know).Like Sly said they can only say no .  good luck and I got my Fingers crossed for you.

[ihawk95]

OK, my passenger's side rocker panel sticks out like yours, but not quite as bad.  All the paint is gone along the same edge as yours from road rash and my car hasn't been in an accident like yours.  It's been like that since I bought it.  I can get a picture tomorrow if you'd like.  Like SlyBob said, the fender is easy to move, so I'd start there on that one.  My trunk lid also is misaligned, but that's probably from my golf bag, duffle bags or what have you being stuffed in the trunk with the top down.

But I agree...either you, or your uncle, or both need to talk to the body shop.  It can't hurt.  I'm with the boys...it's probably a combo of misalignment from the get go and a bent frame.  Especially since your top doesn't line up as it should.  In my experience, it's not uncommon for the body panels not to be perfect on our cars, but they shouldn't scrape either.

[reedred]

Dropping by with your uncle is certainly worth a shot.  They may choose to try to make it better just to keep him happy.  Good luck!

[Gentleman Jack]

Has anybody considered that the shop just didn't do all the adjustments correct?  The door has adjustment, the top has adjustment, the deck lid has adjustment, the rocker has adjustment. 

All of these things can be adjusted to some extent.

However, if as Miller so adamantly presents, the frame is indeed bent, that may be a long term issue.

I only present this after having had my front bumper replaced and seeing the agony a GM dealership went through to get the gaps right.

Our cars are much harder than normal to get right. Give the shop a chance to make it right, and offer them a "little" thank you and I bet they can get most of this adjusted.

Again, if the frame is bent, this adjustment only helps these issues. Fixing the door gap does not a straight frame make.

Yoda

[1LILNDN]

GJ   its been 2 1/2 years so anything can and will happen . I can't wait to get mine back & see if I develop any problems after hitting Guard Rails. 

[Carbon Sky]

Has anybody considered that the shop just didn't do all the adjustments correct?  The door has adjustment, the top has adjustment, the deck lid has adjustment, the rocker has adjustment. 

All of these things can be adjusted to some extent.

However, if as Miller so adamantly presents, the frame is indeed bent, that may be a long term issue.

I only present this after having had my front bumper replaced and seeing the agony a GM dealership went through to get the gaps right.

Our cars are much harder than normal to get right. Give the shop a chance to make it right, and offer them a "little" thank you and I bet they can get most of this adjusted.

Again, if the frame is bent, this adjustment only helps these issues. Fixing the door gap does not a straight frame make.

Yoda

Based on the fact that so many panels are so out of alignment, I'd be willing to side with miller in this guessing game.  I highly doubt so many panels would fit so badly if the frame was not bent.

From what I can see, I bet the car was hit from behind, favored to the right side, causing the passenger side to crumple more than the driver side, which is why everything is shoved together on the passenger side.  Before even attempting to align all the panels, reference points as specified by GM for measurements of the chassis should be performed.

If you search hard enough, you should be able to get specifications for measurements and reference points to check for yourself, just how bent the frame is.  And then you can go back to the shop armed with knowledge, instead of hoping for pity and charity of their help.

[Sol Asylum]

You can also take it to another body shop and ask what their expert opinion is.  They shouldn't charge you for an estimate to fix the other shops issues.  Then you can always take that info with when you go back to the original shop and see how much BS they tell you.

The fact that the radio was damaged says that the frame was bent.  You will always have fitting issues when you put new panels back on a car.  A good shop knows to check everything before they weld something back in place, having a bent frame that hasn't been straightened properly just makes that even harder if not impossible.

[1LILNDN]

One simple way to check is  set the car straight front wheels looking ahead and on the drivers side measure center of front Hub to Center of rear Hub write it down then Do the Passenger side the same way . If it is bent enough the numbers will be different  could be ever so little But thats enough to set everything off. I installed a Firebird subframe to my 47 Pontiac and lined it up that way and it works.

[Sol Asylum]

I'm not sure that will actually work as there is a lot of adjustment to our suspension.  So if they did an alignment the dimension could match up but the frame could still be bent.

[1LILNDN]

Yep I didn't give that a though ,Thanks Sol  for bringing that up. Strike my last statement .