T-Boned Equinox

This Equinox came in last week. It was a victim of a T-Bone type accident.  This happens when a vehicle hits another vehicle in the side, making the shape of a T. The right wheel was completely laid in.  It broke and bent several suspension parts. Today we did get those parts replaced and got it back on all fours. We also removed the doors today. They were beyond repair and we will be replacing them with used doors. Tomorrow we plan on painting the inside of the doors and the fender. Once that is done we can put them on and start prepping the car for paint.

Knocked a tooth out

This Rogue whopped something on the road on Monday and had to be towed in. It totally demolished the front bumper, radiator, and just about everything in between. Things really moved quickly on this one. After the insurance adjuster came out, we ordered up the parts we needed and got right to work. Most of the parts came in yesterday. We are however waiting on a part that keeps us from finishing up the assembly. The radiator, condenser, new transmission cooler and every little plastic part that goes in there has already been installed, except one. We have one piece that should be in tomorrow that will allow us to wrap this one up. I thought I had pictures of all those new parts installed but I guess I didnt take any. So, if the air guide comes in, this one will be wrapped up tomorrow.

Lucy is on the road again

 Lucy came in a couple of weeks ago to get a repair on the left rear. She was bumped by an Xterra. Fortunately the damage wasnt all that bad. A new fender, bumper, tail pipe and repair on the deck lid and we are back on the road. If you are a frequent visitor to the site, you know that most cars only take a few days.  Unfortunately this bug had some parts that were back ordered and that put us behind. Yesterday the parts we needed came in so we painted them today and got them installed late this afternoon. Tomorrow we will get it washed up and she will be back in business.

Trim out part deux

Yesterday we trimmed out the doors, hood and trunk. Today we trimmed out the body. First we sanded the areas that we were painting. Then we then cleaned those areas and masked off what we didn’t want to paint. Because the car is already white, we didn’t need to seal it. We applied the color coats, followed by the pearl coats. Once those were dry, we applied 2 coats of clear. The next step is to install all the panels and fit them for the best alignment. We then will start repairing the body. There aren’t many dents in this car, but there are some. We will get those repaired and primed up to produce a great finish on this Z3. This pearl paint pop off of this car in the sunshine.

Trim out time

Back on the BMW this afternoon. We were able to get some of the parts trimmed out today. The customer has picked a very nice pearl white to put on their Z3. Unfortunately you cant really see the pearl  in these pictures. Tomorrow we will try to get the jambs of the body trimmed out so we can put it back together and start on the body work. I will try to get a shot of these in the sun to see if the pearl shows up outside.

Paint day for the Journey

This is the new hood for the Dodge Journey. This one too, had a tree fall on it from that last ice storm. We have been waiting on this hood for quite a few days. It came in today and we started by painting the bottom side. Once that was dry, we flipped it over and prepped the top side for paint. After sanding it we applied a coat of sealer. This product promotes adhesion and helps with color coverage. Once the sealer was dry, we applied 3 coats of color followed by 2 coats of clear. Tomorrow we will install this hood and get it cleaned up and ready for delivery.

Dodge is done!

This Ram looks a lot better without a tree sticking out of the windshield. This is the finished product after a repair on the hood, fender, roof and bedside followed by a new windshield. After a good bath, the customer should be very happy to get their truck back.

Im back

Sorry for the hiatus. Its hard to take pictures for the website when the camera is missing in action. We have had a full shop since last week and we misplaced the camera among the cars and parts sometime on Thursday of last week. Well, we found it yesterday and were able to get some shots of whats going on. This Ram is the one that got Rammed by tree during that last ice storm we had. A tree fell on the hood, roof and smashed the windshield. We painted the roof, fender and bedside yesterday and the hood today. I will post pictures of the hood tomorrow. You can see in the first picture the dents that were caused by the tree. None of them really bad, but quite a few of them. The hood was removed yesterday to make it easier to repair it. Tomorrow we will install the hood and our glass guy will install the new windshield. If the weather is nice, we will get it all washed up for him. It should be ready for the owner tomorrow if all goes well.

Cruising for spring

This Z3 came in a few weeks back. We have had quite a few wrecks come though and unfortunately, this one has had to sit idle for a while. Luckily, we were able to get it some work done on it today. We removed the doors, and trunk and prepped them for trim out. We will start this job by painting the door jambs, trunk and hood jambs, bottom of the trunk and the bottom of the hood. This car will have an awesome, custom pearl white finish. Since we will be painting it all over, and the fact that its already white, a color change will not be all that difficult. A new hood and front and rear bumpers will be installed to make this thing look like a Z3 again.  Im sure the owners will be happy to see some progress on here.

The storm wins again.

The storm that hit last Thursday evening has left lots of damage in its wake. Not only did it have cars careening into ditches, but it was also causing plenty of trees to fall smashing everything in their path. These two vehicles came in today, victims of tree damage. Although they are not from the same tree, the owners do know each other. The Ram truck will be getting a new windshield as well as the roof, hood and left fender repaired.

The Journey will definitely be getting a new hood and a couple of small dents in the roof repaired. The damage on these could have been a lot worse. I have heard some trees have fallen right across the center of roofs and smashing them down to the seats. Thank goodness these were not that bad and that no one was hurt in the process.