Choosing a body shop (interview questions)

[Stanley Rockafella]

Hey guys!

I am about to book my old 3 series into a local shop to have some body work done as well as a complete re-sprat with an engine bay clean-up. I was wondering what questions I should ask the shop before pulling the trigger and handing over the deposit and the keys?

One particular shop I want to go with had quoted me about $4500 for everything. Is this reasonable, or am I asking too much to get a paint quality that's similar to factory?

So far, this is what I want:

=minor rust repair using metal patches (no bondo here!)
=complete re=spray with at least a few coats of clear coat to protect the paint in the future.
-all trim, bumpers (which aren't body colored but black plastic and alum) removed

Any other questions should I ask?

If you recall, I was going to get this done in SoCal, but nobody took me seriously enough to give me a quote


thanks in advance

[Farbin Kaiber]

Color change?

[Stanley Rockafella]

nah, gave that up to focus on fixing the body properly. I know I really wanted that Ferrari color, but some sacrifices need to be made when I have a budget in mind

[NYSE30]

Wherever they do a patch panel/metal replacement there will be either bondo/body filler of some sort or fiberglass work being done to smooth everything out. It's not a bad thing at all when its done properly. There is really no way around it, not many people do old school lead work(adding molten lead,heating, filling and smoothing) nowadays, it just doesn't pay. Real tedious work. Body filler(bondo) is bad whenever those fly by night "body shops" (that give us real professionals a bad rep) just put a ton of body filler on a panel,sometimes a few inches thick in order to correct a heavily dented panel instead of straightening the panel as much as possible and then using the lightest/thinnest amount of body body filler as a final step just for final finishing before paint. And because of this incorrect use of bondo premature cracking always occurs with time down the line. My advice as a bodyshop owner to you is make sure they take off as much trim as possible including the front windshield and back glass. In regards to using the proper materials just make sure they use some type of sealer primer, preferably an epoxy primer. The brand of paint they use really doesn't matter as all the brands of paint out there are decent. Most important thing is for them to use a very high quality clearcoat. It will make all the difference in the world in the final finish,shine and longevity of the paint. 3 or more coats of clear is enough. I would ask them if you could take a look at the vehicle before they actually paint it and go over the body in detail and look for even the tiniest of imperfections, if you can see stuff when the car is primed it will show up in the paint even worse. $4,500 is a good price and somewhere in the range of what you should be paying for a good job. Pm me if you have any other questions. Good luck.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Awesome, thanks for the info. I'll let you know if I have any questions, but I think I may have found a good shop to work with :D

:)

[ThatOneEuroE30]

What nyse30 said. I'm paying 3750 for my paint job and I did the patch work my self and prepped it my self.

[mr2peak]

$4500 is a good price. It's a full day at least of disassembly, then probably 2 days to put her back together. That's $1,500 right there. Most important thing is to make sure they can have it done in a timely manner.

I got a good price on paintwork, but the flip side is that it isn't a priority for the shop so it's taking a bit longer than expected.

[Stanley Rockafella]

$4500 is a good price. It's a full day at least of disassembly, then probably 2 days to put her back together. That's $1,500 right there. Most important thing is to make sure they can have it done in a timely manner.

I got a good price on paintwork, but the flip side is that it isn't a priority for the shop so it's taking a bit longer than expected.

yeah, I'm in the same boat. My car isn't a daily so I told them to take their time. It's a very small and efficient shop, so I don't think they'll be tying up much of their space anyway.

[Need4Speed1299]

Roll your fenders before hand, if not already. :D Are you changing the color? Where is the rust located?

[Stanley Rockafella]

roll fenders eh? lol! I'm actually downsizing from the 16's to a decent set of period correct 15's. (currently I'm rolling on a set of steel 14's with factory hubcaps and boy am I loving the smoothness and quiet ride of the e30!).

No color change, staying dolphin.

Common places...rear battery box, rockers behind the front wheel wells as well as under the fuse box (it looks surface and is solid as hell when you push down, but I don't wanna assume the best).

[hippiester]

what shop are you using? i've been thinking about painting mine as well

[Stanley Rockafella]

herberts in Richmond

tell him Stanley with the e30 sent ya