Shop prepping a car?

joyriiide1113 · 04-09-07, 01:15

Ok, friend of mine who was going to install my BBK on my car, has left town and I am far to impatient to wait. I know a good shop with good people, but as usual, these are people who no matter how many times you tell them, always end up putting their dirty grubby hands all voer my paint. Leaving signs of marring and in some cases scratches.

I was planning on getting blue painters tape and taping around all the edges and areas where they would be working and writing with a sharpie, "Please try to avoid touching painted surfaces"....

Would you guys do this? I really do not want to repolish parts of my car for a 2-3 hour garage-shop visit.

I did this recently on a 6hour road trip. I taped the whole front bumper and mirrors with Blue painters tape and wrote in big letters " I hate rock chips"...

Joy.

BigJimZ28 · 04-09-07, 01:24

I think you would be asking for them to mess with it!

what are you installing? BBK is a company not a product

joyriiide1113 · 04-09-07, 01:26

Brembo, Big Brake Kit...

The thing is that last time I took my car in for service at this garage, I mentioned to them to please try and becareful with the car. They said no problem. When i got the car back, I had scratches all over the fenders. Turned out, in honering my requests, they placed an engine blanket over the fender to avoid their belts or tools rubbing against it. Not their fault, they're not used to having an owner care about that, but just want to avoid it this time...

BigJimZ28 · 04-09-07, 01:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by joyriiide1113

Brembo, Big Brake Kit...

Nice choice

there has to be someone near you that you can trust not to mess with your paint
and install the kit.

is it a direct bolt on kit?

don't you know anyone who can spin a wrench and works for beer?

GregCavi · 04-09-07, 01:37

Sounds good to me. You will have to take extreme measures to get through to some folks.

Greg

jsatek · 04-09-07, 01:40

I thought the 4.8 had awesome brakes? Do you know anyone with the Brembo set up on the same car?

joyriiide1113 · 04-09-07, 01:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJimZ28

Nice choice

there has to be someone near you that you can trust not to mess with your paint
and install the kit.

is it a direct bolt on kit?

don't you know anyone who can spin a wrench and works for beer?

Yes it is...

Unfortunately, the person who would have done it has left, and I want it installed now... He won't be back until he finshes his semester...

I don't want to just trust any grease monkey either.

Accumulator · 04-09-07, 02:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by joyriiide1113

The thing is that last time I took my car in for service at this garage, I mentioned to them to please try and becareful with the car. They said no problem. When i got the car back, I had scratches all over the fenders...

Good upgrade

I have a set of good fender covers I send with the car if I'm worried, but that's another topic...

IMO the previous damage *was* their fault- they did it, period.

I wouldn't do the tape/Sharpie thing, I think it might provoke something you'd regret. I'd just talk with them about it (going into detail as necessary) and if you *really* think they're gonna mess it up either stick around and supervise (if they'll permit it, I don't do business with shops that don't) or else psych yourself into waiting.

At any rate, take it in nice and clean witha fresh coat of LSP, at least on the areas they might touch.

I do sympathize with your plight, there are only a few shops I'll trust with my cars, it even factors in to which vehicles I'll own. Even the shops I trust sometimes mess up, and if the vehicle's dirty, well, stuff's likely to happen because the dirt gets ground into the paint.

bad venge · 04-09-07, 07:51

They make that spray on bra .... looks like flat black/grey primer ... shot the areas with that it washes off fairly easy

Way2SSlow · 04-10-07, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accumulator

I wouldn't do the tape/Sharpie thing, I think it might provoke something you'd regret. I'd just talk with them about it (going into detail as necessary) and if you *really* think they're gonna mess it up either stick around and supervise (if they'll permit it, I don't do business with shops that don't) or else psych yourself into waiting.

At any rate, take it in nice and clean witha fresh coat of LSP, at least on the areas they might touch.

I do sympathize with your plight, there are only a few shops I'll trust with my cars, it even factors in to which vehicles I'll own. Even the shops I trust sometimes mess up, and if the vehicle's dirty, well, stuff's likely to happen because the dirt gets ground into the paint.

Working at a shop, I will have to disagree with supervising. It makes the techs a little ancy and they might miss something that they have done 1000 times before or even take them longer to complete the job. It is a little nerve racking knowing that someone is watching your every move. Especially if they know you are very anal about your car. At my shop, we do our best to take care of the customer's vehicle and return it to them just as we got it. One thing you have to understand is that with cars things happen....fact of life. I think if you express your concern to the manager of the shop, and you're a regular customer, they should take care of you the best that they can. There is one guy in particular here in Atlanta that I always call when the SS needs work. He is honest, fair with pricing, and just an all around good guy. If I have to polish a panel after I get my car back from him, I am totally cool with that because his work is THE BEST.....But I've never had that problem with him either. My .02 and yeah, if it doesn't bother the tech I like to watch too (but that's how I word it to them).

Accumulator · 04-10-07, 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Way2SSlow

Working at a shop, I will have to disagree with supervising.. It is a little nerve racking knowing that someone is watching your every move..

Yeah, I posted without considering that the shops where I "supervise" are staffed by guys I've known since forever who don't mind my being there

My bad for not considering how a normal situation would be, with a customer breathing down their necks.

I will say that I simply can't accept paint damage though...with some of my cars having too-thin-to-polish original paint (and also given my not wanting to polish the newer ones), if a shop mars my paint it's a serious matter. Fortunately I've been able to "educate" the shops I patronize and it's not a problem. They don't care if I watch, but I don't feel that I need to. At least I know they're not hiding something since they'll *let* me if I want.

So I guess I see the "willingness to let the customer watch" thing both ways...when my wife had to get her Audi serviced in TN she was adamant about their not washing it, using a good fender cover, etc. They wouldn't let her wait where she could see the car. When they told her it was done, yep, you guessed it, bad scratches on the fenders, horrible wash job marring (the wheel finish damage is permanent). There went a whole day of my life fixing it when she got back and the wheels still bug us. Had she been able to see what was going on, she could've said "hey, don't put that on the fender! Use the towels I have in the trunk" and "hey, I mean it, don't wash it!". As she told the manager, it sure looked like they wanted to do the work out-of-sight so they could be careless without anybody calling them on it.

Setec Astronomy · 04-10-07, 10:58

Boy Accumlator, that was painful just to read...