Back from panel beaters and hood wrecked

[Moraystag]

Gent's returned home to UK late Friday eveening and went through yesterday to pick up my car from the panel beaters having waited 13 weeks for foot well replacement. All in all this was not a pleasurable experience as you might have read in my previous posts, but I gave this company the benifit of the doubt. Unfortunately I now find thatthe hood is now pretty much completely out of shape and sits squint when raised and before locking in position. The window zip is also now broken as a direct consequence of the state of the hood.

I can't seem to see where it's bent or if anything has slipped inside or around the mechanism. And Im wondering if the car body Chassis is distorted in some way which is causing the hood to sit raised up on the drivers side.

Initially this garage jacked the car up ,on the front passenger side at a ridiculous angle and flexing of the car body was evident at that time, but I thought that it would return to normal after I hit the roof and told them to jack it up evenly. The drivers door do's not now seal up to the rubber door seals, the window frame vibrates when driving as it is not pushed up against the rubber seals.

So has anyone any thoughts as to what would cause the distortion in the hood or am I getting paranoid, it may be that they just forced it down and have buggerd the frame. I am going to try and fit the hard top when it stops raining and this should tell me if there is any twisting of the car body I think. Unfortunately I am no mechanic or body expert

[jleyton]

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Hi Mike

I know you've been hell and back with your car but I wouldn't panic too much just yet

I'm not an expert on the body side of things and I'm sure you'll soon get more advice from some who arebut I think it's been said on here before that bodies do flex and move and, bear in mind, some of them were1/2" or so longer on one side than the other even when new :shock:

When I got mine, someone had gone to the trouble of drilling 2 new offset fixing holes in thethe door striker plate andand even filled the original holes with weld :shock::shock:. Yours truly smelt a rat and assumed something was prettydistorted and thatsomebody was trying to hide it. However after a fair bit ofplaying about, the door now shuts pretty well with a new, correct striker plate.

Anyway, as VMad will tell you, the hood frame can get distorted and this may well have happened on your car. The body may even be slightly distorted but, as long as it's structurally sound - and even though this may sound a bit odd- it's probably ok

Anyway, over to the experts now but, when I saw your post and after everything you've been through, I did want to say something to slightly put your mind at rest

[Moraystag]

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Julian my hat goe's off to you mate you are forever an optimistbut this mob surely were the panel beaters from hell ha ha. I have sent them a pretty to the point email telling them that I have now run out of patience, and that the state they have returnedmy car inis not acceptable. The floor pan job seems to be ok although I have'nt had a good butchers underneath as the weather is pretty bad here at the moment. They also managed to pull the knob off the bonnet flip, although they said they would replace it but I will not hold my breath.

Funny is'nt it you read about this in the paper and see it on the Tv, but you just don't think for a minute that it would happen to you.:?

[Giles]

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cannot offer much useful advice but maybe it is not as bad as it seems ? fingers crossed for you:?

[Dave M]

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Mike

Im no expert either but do the doors line up as before? If they do then I think the hood issue is another problem. Was the hood up when you delivered the car and if so has the body shop put the hood down whilst doing the work and perhaps forced it? Also if the tee bar wasent removed or the sill I cant see how the welding in of a floor pan could distort the car to the extent you are talking about. Was the door removed to do the work and if so it may just need adjusting.

I really feel for you mate, really p*ss*es you off doesn't it when you trust these places and pay them good money to do a good job and they f*"k up not only the area of the car they are allegedly repairing but other stuff as well.

Hope its just a case of tweaking some fixings and it is possible to replace the zipper if its come off the zip, bit fiddly but it can be done, do a search on here as thereare some threads on doing it, I had to do it on a brand new hood:X.

Ive noticed on my car that due to it being stood on axle stands for a few months whilst I did the rear end the seem sealer in the seams between the sill and rear wings has cracked on both side, so will need stripping out and re sealing/painting which is a bugger. Just going to have to drill into the painter that I do not want over spray all over my freshly painted suspension like the last time I had the car painted, different painter this time though so should be Ok, hes even suggested I go down and help with the work, masking off, rubbing down etc which suits me as it lowers the cost, allows me to get involved and I can monitor the work

Good Luck

Dave

[Moraystag]

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Yes that's good if you can muck in and keep an eye on things as you go along. Funny thing is the panel beaters kept moaning about the welding I offered last month to gop through and weld it up myself as that is what I did as a youngster. 4 times I offered but they never took me on. Really ish I'ld done this all my self now but I have'nt got the kit or the premises for this type of thing. Anyway am going to try the hard top on once the bloody rain stops and I'll know for sure if they have twisted the car at all. Sure hope not though

[Moraystag]

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Well good news and bad. The car has not been bent out of shape as the hard top fits perfect so a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately the same can not be said for the soft top which after removal this morning appears to be bent out of shape by 20mm. The passenger side has been forced down at some point and all the pivoting arms seem to be mishapen and nothing like the drivers side which operate correctly.

[mickjo]

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Good news about the car shape.

I broke my soft top frame yesterday, I know the frame has so many twists and turns looks like someones ran over it on the M1. I think all the straightening out has finally stressed out a weld and it snapped. Feel like doing a Wheeler Dealers, bin it and fit a new one. Seems that it was bodged before it had been welded with a new roof fitted. Luckily a could drill and bolt it where the weld had failed. Will do a proper repair when the roof needs replacing or the bolt breaks.

Good luck with the roof.

Mick.

[Guest]

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Mike, that sounds a real bummer.

I haven't read your previous woes, but the hood is bad enough. The bodyshop obviously did put the hood down and damaged it. Whether you can get them to admit liability is another matter.

Things like that dent your faith in businesses and you can get caught even after taking all the precautions you can. I am sure you will let us know what respeonse you get from the email.

Good luck.

[Guest]

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Hiya, those buggers have certainly put you through the mill ! my heart goes out to you !
Have they actually broken or torn any parts of the hood ? if not, there's a good chance you can sort it, even zip repair. I've had what I thought were insoluable problems with my frame, but with help and advice from VMad it's now fine. I wouldn't presume to advise you, but there are adjustments that can be made at the back, bent arms that can be removed and straightened, joints and pivots to adjust and lubricate. Offer VMad beer, money and women and he'll probably help.
It might assist if you could post some pics of the mis-fitting. Martin.

[Giles]

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Hi Mike - good to hear it is not the body - was thinking about this while working on Karens Mini and was going to say that my money was on them having forced the hood down or such like - if you do not know how to put it up and down I would guess it is easily done.

You might well be able to sort it - mine is a bit bent and distoted but has worked OK for the last3 years with me. If you can bodge up the zip just then keep it zipped up - thats what I do with mine.

Chris(Vmad) is your man - I am sure he will be able to offer some advice, maybe post some pictures?

[Guest]

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Giles wrote:

Hi Mike - good to hear it is not the body - was thinking about this while working on Karens Mini and was going to say that my money was on them having forced the hood down or such like - if you do not know how to put it up and down I would guess it is easily done.

You might well be able to sort it - mine is a bit bent and distoted but has worked OK for the last3 years with me. If you can bodge up the zip just then keep it zipped up - thats what I do with mine.

Chris(Vmad) is your man - I am sure he will be able to offer some advice, maybe post some pictures?

A while back, one of us found a zip repair kit, sorry I can't remember who it was. Martin.

[jleyton]

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Martin Stevenson wrote:

A while back, one of us found a zip repair kit, sorry I can't remember who it was. Martin.

Is this the thread you were thinking aboutMartin ?

http://stagownersclub.mywowbb.com/vi...o=86664#p86664

[Staggering About]

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Mike, I have some bits & pieces from an old softop I broke up. If you want to come down we can have a look & compare it with mine. Failing that we can entertain the crowds at Glamis at the weekendThere will be loads of Stag experts from WOS on Sunday so you can have some good advice from them.

[Guest]

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jleyton wrote:

Martin Stevenson wrote:

A while back, one of us found a zip repair kit, sorry I can't remember who it was. Martin.

Is this the thread you were thinking aboutMartin ?

http://stagownersclub.mywowbb.com/vi...o=86664#p86664

Yes mate, that's the one, cheers. Martin.