Dorite Auto Body’S Operating Hours?

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Most body shops, even the good ones, don’t want to talk to you if you don’t want insurance work done. No money from inflated prices. Sometimes I just want small dent or rust repair done and I don’t want the insurance involved, some time it costs less than the deductable but they don’t want to do that. They want the inflated insurance rates.

I have to correct Scotty on the bumper painting issue. We use the same paint on the plastic parts as the steel parts, but the primer will be a plastic primer, or a regular primer with a flex agent. Also clear coats will have a flex agent. Most paint issues on bumpers result from poor adhesion because sanding bumpers is a pain in the butt and people take shortcuts.

I finished my collision repair program and when you paint a car the plastic pieces for examples either front or rear bumper never match with the shade of the actual car because they are different materials (plastic and metal) so the color sits differently Look at every car you see and you’ll see the shade is always different even from the factory

on small repairs when you take your car home wash it in warm-hot water with dish detergent. if it wasn’t properly clear coated and glaze was used to make it shine a wash will wash it off and you can return to the shop for proper clear coating/ buffing. this works when a headlight has been replaced to see if it leaks andfills with water. i had one where the front end was bumped in a parking lot requiring the headlight and side marker to be replaced. to make the repair profitable the shop also painted the hood even though it may not have been damaged. the car was shiney, but i knew about glaze so i washed it when i got home . the leading edge of the hood got dull and the headlight filled with water and back i went.

Dad used Maaco to paint one of his cars, he purchased the top of the line thousand dollar paint job, he was happy with it and 5 years later it is still holding up. Keep in mind that dad garages his cars, doesn’t leave them exposed to the elements over night and always looks for a shaded spot when he goes to different stores. Cheap paint jobs can hold up, but garaging a car is a must and Scotty doesn’t garage his automobiles.

So, i’ve been working for a towing/mechanic business for 9 years. We do all sorts of accident tow jobs. We have NEVER received a ‘kick back’ from any body shop. We generally bring the cars back to our shop, insurance adjuster comes out and checks the car, then the customer and ins. company pick where to take the car for repairs. You’re making us tow truck companies sound bad in the article, yet i’ve never heard of any of the other local companies in my area doing what you say they do.

Good advice, Scotty! I got into body work after high school. I learned a lot in a couple of years about the business, but the biggest lesson I learned was this: the only one who makes any real money is the shop owner. The young guys they hire are just there for a while and move on. It’s very transient. I moved completely out of the business and went into the military.

This is a great article. There is a ton of great info in it! I work for the worlds largest car auction. And my job is literally to write condition reports on all cars before they go to auction. This includes listing any previous repairs no matter how good they are. And, if they’re a subpar repair I have to have it repaired again. You would be surprised how many awful body shops there are out there. I have seen 150,000$+ cars with terrible previous paint work. Put I have also seen 10,000$ Honda’s with paint work so good it’s nearly impossible to tell. So that shows you a more expensive shop isn’t always better.

Scotty, you forgot to mention that those insurance body shops ONLY like to do insurance work. If you go there with cash for some cosmetic work they will turn you away. I went to the “best” body shop in my area, always packed with cars, they just built a new expansion to handle the volume, fantastic reviews on yelp… flat out turned me away for some paint correction work on my Mustang. The owner told me he only had 1 paint guy and he was way too busy with insurance claim work to be bothered with my issue.

What’s the best advice for selling a used car that needs some work and you don’t have the money to put into it, but you’ve put a good bit into it already. Like my 2005 Murano had the transmission and transfer case done but the security module needs to be changed along with windshield and one rear exhaust muffler.

the paint for bumpers is the same as other car parts…with the difference you have to primer the bumper with plastic primer or whatever you may call it there otherwise it will flake…but the paint is the same and the painting process is often simultaneous.. that car you showed as an example was a poor example because the paint was not flaking, that bumper was hit on the corners you can see the stress marks on the plastic…when paint flakes it flakes in large clean pieces of paint and it often happens while you pressure wash your car or after a very hot day and it never starts on the corners, it starts flaking on the center wich is the biggest surface area without any curves or bends

When I was rearended a month ago I was taken by ambulance to the emergency room. I instructed that the car be taken to our house 4 blocks away. The wrecker insteadTook it to his body shop, and refused to let me have the car (it was driveable, just one taillight smashed) until after Christmas vacation. As it turned out, the insurance co. bought it (totaled) so it didn’t make any difference. I just didn’t appreciate the wrecker STEALING the car and holding it HOSTAGE for a week! They tow 24/7/366 like all towing operators, so what is their excuse for taking someone else’s car to some place other than what the owner says?

Hey Scotty, I want to try and get into the buisness but everywhere wants so much experience just for a simple oil and lube guy. I would like to get certified eventually and all that other good jazz but I’m a little broke for schoolin’. I guess I’m wondering if you have made or could male a article about getting your foot in the door.

can confirm, do not go too cheap unless you don’t really care what it looks like. went to this auto repair place that does paint jobs once after i scraped a pillar in a parking garage because it was like 1/4 of the cost of a body shop, and yes it looks ….OK. but that’s about it. it has bad orange peel and part of the inside of the door frame was never even painted, which later rusted. i got into another minor accident later and went to a proper body shop with a paint booth and had them repaint that rusty spot and another spot that got the paint knocked off from another car hitting me, and it looked perfect. the cheap place charged more than my deductible anyways so why go there? i only went because i had insurance through my parents at the time and “they cant report something like that to insurance”

Lol you use the same paint for the bumper and the rest of the car. The only reason it would flake off like your example is improper prepping of the panel and/or improper mixing of the paint. Bumper also have a flex additive in the paint. Only difference. You don’t mix up different paint for a hood and a bumper. It’s the same paint fyi

Oh Scotty i just love your show. Only you remind me of my High School Days in the 1960s. Great cars, girls and music. I worked at a old fashion Beeline Gas station. With outside 4 post cable lift. At 16 i was certified safety inspections. Its so wonderful to see your posts. It reminds me there are a few of men like you left. Thanks sir! I salute! BTY my old Boss had the station and 5 miles away had the most awsome Junk Yard of history wagons to cars. It was such a great experiance. Thank you to freshen this wonderful past. It aint what it used to be.

these days there really are no real body shops. Due to the way cars are made now, it’s either fill it with bondo or replace the parts. What is still metal is so thin it really can’t be worked. When I was trained to do bodywork, we would actually work the original metal back into shape… most of the time, some panels could not be saved of course. I was even taught how to use “lead” now mostly tin, they’ve taken the lead out of it when it’s still used today. It’s not often used except by shops that do restorations of vintage and antique vehicles of a high caliber. So much of the vehicles are plastic now it’s ridiculous. They should just make the entire car from plastic and be done with it. that day is almost here I think. It could actually work, for a while. If they made the panels of two pieces of plastic sealed together with pressurized air or inert gas inside, they would be highly resistant to breakage… until the outside layer outgassed enough to become brittle and start breaking down. they can make the plastic from soy beans, so it would be environmentally sound, and that type of plastic will break down and an be recycled. the day is coming when cars will be plastic for the most part, and the engines made of ceramic compounds. ford actually experimented with ceramic engines way back in the 70s but thought nobody would buy them, because even though they would run cooler and last for a longer time than metal engines, at that time they were very expensive to produce. with the high cost of cars and parts today they would probably come out cheaper with the ceramic now.

Weird, I’ve never had a car towed to a body shop, I’ve always driven to the one I want to use, I had 1 accident and I took the vehicle to the body shop of my choice, and that’s how the insurance company works that I have too, you chose the body shop, if your insurance doesn’t do that you need different insurance, and if your car has to be towed in and the truck driver tries taking it to a certain shop you need a different tow company too. I had a vehicle partially repainted due to the typical 80’s and 90’s garbage paint where the clear coat had come off and the paint had started coming off, the shop I went to did a great job and faded the paint down off the hood onto the fenders…can’t tell it was repainted till you get past the front end and doors and look at the roof over the cab/cargo area. Yep my body shop handled all the insurance paperwork on the vehicle that was involved in a wreck, although the damage wasn’t that bad I had some paint work done to it while it was in there mostly front bumper hood/grill and the AC condenser was damaged…the AC condenser and repair was the most expensive, bumper was off a scrapped vehicle, as was the grill, hood just needed a little re-alignment…the lady that turned right in front of me needed a whole new car…and she apparently just drove it off the lot, still had the window stickers in it from the dealership….yep you don’t turn right in front of someone, especially if the vehicle you are turning in front of is a lot larger than yours LOL.

I am a painter and I mean no disrespect but matching the color is not the same thing as blending ya you do need a good painter to do both of those things but there is a difference no insurance company on the planet would pay to blend the quarter panels on a bumper only wreck though that is the easy way. But no you would need to either blend the paint within the bumper so you don’t change the color near the quarter panels OR if you get a new bumper that has to be fully painted then you would most likely have to tint the color as you go using a spray out card to check the color as you tint it. Blending the quarter would make the whole process easier because then you wouldn’t have to do much to tint the color if anything at all but like I said no one will pay to do that so you really need a good painter to be able to look at the color and see exactly what it needs (types of tints, toners,pearls, and metallics) to match what is on the car. I like this website though he is very knowledgeable mechanic who is also entertaining.

LoL…. 0:53 looks like the Superior Auto Body in San Carlos CA — and yes, I had problems with them with a car they (mostly) fixed (which then broke) and I bitched at them to make it right. It’s when I ased for the manager’s name and their B.A.R. number to report to the State of California did they snap to attention.

2:36 Scotty is right almost always, but the comment on the bumper color lacks context … bumpers are a different substrate, they never are gonna achieve the same color finish even if you use same paint and clearcoat to paint them as the rest of the car… observe a brand new car and you’ll notice the same difference as here…

Yet another reason to drive an old paid off 2003 corolla 🤣 my car has a sunspotted hood, license plate frame marks from when someone rear ended me, primed black bumper I bought off of ebay after I slid into a ditch. I don’t care how it looks it gets me where I need to be only thing I pay for is insurance and gas

Even though insurance company’s steering customers is illegal be prepaied to know where you want it to go and possably argue some woth your own insurance company to get what your intilted to. Beat to find a well equiped shop that doesnt rely on agreements with insurance companys to do tbings the insurance companys way. Your insurance compay will usually not be looking out for your best interest. Theu want ot done quick and done their way woth the parts they choose. Some times not even to manufacturer guidelines. The insurance can only pay a shop to do it the incorrect way. But its the shop and tech that can be criminaly liable when they do it that way the insurance told them to

I have a 2016 Jeep Compass and the sides as well as the underneath of the hood started bubbling after owning it for a little over three years. I heard of the corrosion warranty that Jeep offered so I called the closest Jeep dealership and they advised me that I could have the hood fixed by the body shop that they outsource their body work out to down the road from them. I looked up reviews and he’d been in business for many years and has many promising reviews online. They had my car for a total of eight days before I got it back. When I picked it up, I immediately noticed some serious flaws. Excess Paint had run down the front of the hood and created three separate drips that actually hardened on the front left corner of the hood. There was also body filler that he had used that wasn’t sanded down or painted and you could see all of it from the outside of the car. Some of the body filler even got on the passenger side fender and was never cleaned off so now it’s stuck on there and won’t come off. Along with this, they tried filling the bubbling that started on the underside of the hood in several spots. These geniuses decided to paint right over top of the road salt without cleaning the salt first. To top all of this off, they told me the hood was removed and painted which is the proper way to do it if you ask me. Unfortunately there is a great deal of evidence that shows they in fact did NOT remove the hood as the entire front end of the car as well as the engine bay is COVERED in overspray.

A lot of plastic bumpers come preprimered. The paint however does not need to be different. The prep is though. Also looking for a color match at a fender/quarter to bumper is a terrible idea since the manufacture often paints bumpers in a completely different place from the rest of the car and the usually do not match to begin with. The body will also paint the bumper separately and will likely not be blending it either.

Aye if you are ever in an accident make sure to park the car in a parking lot or anywhere off the street. You wont get charged for clean-up or immediate tow. And dont call a tow truck until the ordeal is over. The tow charges more is you say cop are there and been in an accident. Just say i need a tow because car is not working. You’ll be charged the standard rate.

Your wrong about bumpers there made of rubber will dry at a different rate than steel you can paint a fender and cover at the same time with the same pain and the color can be way off. Some color’s more than others paint is a science not as exciting as people think. Lots of cars come with off color bumpers from the factory new.

Great article Scotty. My family loves perusal you. My son does the most. My son has been detailing cars for a long time, and he can say paint code 1E7 silver streak mica on a Toyota Matrix is the most durable he’s seen on a car. His matrix hadn’t been waxed for 14 years, and it still shined really well. And he also said he’s never seen a silver 2003-2008 Toyota Matrix with clear coat failure.

Hi Scotty. Please do tell people how to spot a good mechanical auto-shop. (U reach a whole lot more people than most of us) I’m a retired mechanic and i’m not in the USA, but I do enjoy your vids and share them to whoever I think can use your advice. It’s good wel explained, logical,sound advice . The vids are short, full of advise and not boring. Thanks. Have a great day.

I am new to your website. I have my dream car now and want to work on it more myself (A. because it is fun to work on something you love B. it is pretty expensive to pay someone else for everything that needs to be done more frequently as I am taking the car to track events and C. because I think you learn a lot about the functioning of the car by working on it). Your website is an important part of that plan because you do such a great job quickly explaining how to do what needs doing. I am grateful to you – THANK YOU!

Scotty, I sure hope you have high privacy fences and thick bushes around your side and back yard because all I see is a lot of accumulated “stuff.” Yes, I understand that it’s all needed and related to used vehicle repair, but you must have forgiving neighbors because most wouldn’t want to look out their windows and see a bunch of what a lot of (uneducated) people would call ‘junk’ As a retired body man I’ve had a few hot rod projects over the many years and living in a subdivision can sometimes be a sticky situation. I’ve learned this the hard way over the years. Trying my best not to ‘offend’ the neighbors can be difficult. One day I’ll have a place in the middle of no where and I’ll spray my primer at will!

Scotty, QUESTION: I have a 2013 Subaru Impreza 5 speed with 71,000 miles. The car has it’s 3rd engine after it was consuming over 1 qt every 1,000 miles on the Original Engine with 50,000 Miles. The second engine’s oil pump died almost immediately and that second engine needed to be replaced after about 2 weeks. Thankfully all of this was covered by the warranty. The car also has some damage to the rear bumper cover. The car feels slow and it’s gas mileage isn’t what it used to be despite regular maintenance. I used to average 29 mpg and now I’m lucky to see 27 mpg with no changes to my commute and driving habits. Should I ditch this car to avoid costly repairs in the future or roll the dice that engine number 3 is hopefully going to give me 200,000 or more miles of pretty reliable transportation? -Peter from New Hampshire.

I’m a DJ who is looking to buy a cargo van to replace the 2011 Kia Sportage I’ve been using to haul gear back and forth to weddings and other events. I’m trying to chose between being a Chevy Astro Cargo Van or perhaps a newer small cargo van like a Ford Transit or similar. I sometimes drive as far as 300 miles to perform, but more often it’s less than 100 round trip. I hear that Chevy Astros are bulletproof, but I’m reluctant with Chevy as my first car in high school was a 3-year-old Chevy S-10 Blazer 4X4 with a 2.8L V6 and a 3 speed automatic with overdrive. After only a year and a half driving it (from 65,000-80,000 miles) the head gasket blew 3 times and the transmission had to be rebuilt as many times. I was working and paying $320/mo on that super cool, but very unreliable vehicle. Am I better off paying $3-5,000 for an Astro or $15-20,000 for a low mileage modern van? I obviously can’t be breaking down on my way to a wedding.

Yeah I wrecked my brand new 2018 Colorado ZR2 like 3 months after I drove it off the lot. I was SO angry I thought it would never be the same but luckily my father knew a good shop and I took it there and it took them like 1 month and a half but they did an EXCELLENT job on mine. Paint was great and everything was fixed and they even had to call the insurance guy back because they found more damage underneath so they did a great job.

Hi Scotty, Please help me i am really screwed after buying a used automatic Nissan Armada LE 2006 model recently. The car is over 2 hundered and 40 thousand KM and it jerks really bad when i change gears, be it reverse, parking, drive etc. I checked the u joints, transmission try, solenoid, all fluids etc, they all seems to be in good condition. What other problem u think it can have to be jerking bad while changing all gears? HELP HELP HELP….!

Hey Scotty, I have a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with the 3.8L 231 Buick V6 in it and I’m planning on swapping the motor to a 5.3 and a manual transmission. I was told that I would need the oil pan form the truck line of 5.3s because the one from the cars won’t clear the frame properly. I was also told it shouldn’t matter. Would you happen to know if it matter which I get?

My experience with finding a decent body shop in the 90’s. I owned a Porsche 928S and got rear-ended by a driver. I had the Porsche dealer take the car to a body shop. Big mistake. They did a shitty job. One year later, I got hit again. This time I called the local Ferrari dealer and asked where they would take a damaged Ferrari. This shop was great but not on the “approved” list by the insurance company. No problem, the body shop took care of fighting with the insurance company and when I got the car back they did a great job and even fixed a few of the issues left by the body shop recommended by my Porsche dealer. Now as Scotty points out, you can do a lot of research with your smart phone while the Police officer is taking statements! Good articles.

Hey Scotty! I got a 2008 Honda Accord Ex-L with a 146,000 miles on it. Lately, it has been making some weird noises under acceleration. I went to a dealership to find out what the problem was and they say it’s my Wheel Bearings. They told me it would be $900 to replace both front wheel bearings. What are your thoughts on driving with bad wheel bearings? Is it a safety hazard or am I good to drive on them until I can afford to get them fixed. Thanks.

Hey, Scotty, I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500. There are no issues at all when in 2WD mode (or Auto), when I manually switch into 4wd hi, it goes straight fine, only when turning it starts making this grinding noise and seems like it’s stalling at low speed (don’t actually dies but just feels like it needs more gas to move forward, and it’s rather jerky/jumpy on tight turns)

Dear Mr. Kilmer, I am writing this from Bangladesh, it’s in the other side of the world. I am having an issue with my vehicle and need advice. It’s a 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser, 3.0 L (2982 cc) 1KZ-TE inter-cooler turbo Diesel engine. I am the second owner and I suspect the previous owner didn’t maintain the vehicle properly. It has 1,04,000 kilometers on it. Lately the engine is burning oil and I have to fill half a liter oil in every month. Normally at idle or light driving there’s no smoke, but I I rev it hard to overtake grayish black smoke comes out and stops as soon as I ease a little bit. I drive 2,000 kilometers a month and change oil in every 4 months. A mechanic just looked at it, didn’t open anything or did any scan, and he suspected it’s the turbo that’s been burning oil and there is no repair possible. I have buy a new or lightly used one and replace mine. But told me I can go on awhile before engine burns too much oil. Any advice is highly appreciated. Thanks

Love your articles man, I have learned a lot from you, thank you. Maybe the camera is off but after you filled the area to be repaired, you sanded it and put the 1st coat of primer then sanded that down. Im good with that, but after you put the guide coat on and sanded that there was still a decent size black spot around the repair. Im still learning and have been told this is a low spot and should be filled. Am I correct on this, is this just a shadow from the camera or something else? I didnt think a filler primer would fill in that much of a low spot.

Oh man I’ve learned so much and it shows in the work! Thank you a million times ! I’ve got that fiberglass kit car I’m doing that’s really warped up. Anyway, I did a “semi sorta final prime” on the left side I was getting the body lines corrected. It’s where the rear cab window wraps around to the door,and the joint where the fender tops meet. It came out so good,I’ve got to go back to the other side because I did that before perusal your vids and I can see it’s not as good. I’m doing a few sections like this while it is half built,as the areas are gonna be difficult when it’s assembled. The right side is assembled, and I gotta go back now but I should be able to persevere and win. I’m just trying to get it straight enough, prime it and assemble the car so I can drive it this summer. Looking at all the bodywork it’ll need,if might be 2 seasons before I get into that. It’s taken me 3yrs to build this thing, and for now I’m ok it’s not getting painted.