Properly closing trunk, roods, etc.?

B

BluBrett

New member
How do you personally close your doors and trunk? How do you tell your mechanic how to close your hood without marring it? Or am I worrying/obsessing too much? :think:



Also, sorry if this is in the wrong section, I'll move it if it is.
 
If you try and tell a mechanic how to properly close your bonet. He will more then likely think your a toolbag and slam your hood anyway. The best thing to do is when you bring your car in to be serviced, have it freshly detailed so they will be able to tell you are very aware of your cars appearence, and wanna keep it looking that way.
 
BluBrett said:
How do you personally close your doors and trunk?
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Doors- only touch the handles or the edge of the window frame. On vehicles where neither is workable I'll only touch the edge of the door.



Hood, find something on the underside and flick it down by that. Ditto for trunk lids that don't have a safe-to-touch surface (yeah, that basically constitutes "abuse" on cars like my Jag, but I don't care). I'll sometimes touch the license plate or its frame/cover.



The best general approach IMO is to touch things by the edges and don't slide/drag your fingers across the finish- touch/swing/release.



And yeah, my wife is every bit as careful/conscientious about this as I am ;)

How do you tell your mechanic how to close your hood without marring it?
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I demonstrate it. I explain why I believe that's the best way to do it and I say something like "yeah, I know I'm one [goofy individual] but I really do care that much about this stuff and I don't want to spend a whole day of my life fixing some tiny scratches or repainting a too-thin-paint-to-correct hood.



If it's a problem...I'd say "OK, never mind, no hard feelings" and take the vehicle elsewhere. After explaining why to somebody like the Service Manager or the Owner. But that's never happened. The guys I deal with *like* being "good enough to work on [Accumulator's] cars, they've even used it as a reference in job interviews.





Or am I worrying/obsessing too much?
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Not at all. Paint and time are non-renewable resources; if you have to polish out some idiot's damage you have less clear and less time left in your life. I'm not gonna give away stuff like that over somebody doing stuff incorrectly.



As a side note, I'd simply *NEVER* own a current-generation Aston Martin because of how the door handles work; I couldn't live with touching the paint every time like that.
 
Flash Gordon said:
If you try and tell a mechanic how to properly close your bonet. He will more then likely think your a toolbag and slam your hood anyway..
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That's never been a problem for me and I've been like that for over three decades with dozens of shops. I do bend over backwards to explain that I'm one very [goofy individual] and also *why* I care so much and...how it's not in their best interest to displease me. Being a little self-deprecating about it seems to help a lot- I *tell* them that I'm a [toolbag] and try to get them to chuckle about how nutty I am, you know.. get 'em on my side.



I make sure there's no problem before I leave the vehicle, and sometimes I stand there watching (insurance regs or other such excuses? If they pull that [stuff] I'm outta there but that's only happened one time in my life).



But a BIG part of this is simply dealing with the right kind of people. The guys who work on my vehicles are *proud* that they're "good enough" to touch them, and have even mentioned being able to satisfy me in job interviews. If somebody sets off my [jerk]-detector they just don't get the work.



My wife handles stuff the same way, even (noting your location) when she has a vehicle worked on in Memphis :D Just noticed that's where you're located; Accumulatorette was born and raised there and still spends a lot of time down south visiting her family.
 
Accumulator said:
That's never been a problem for me and I've been like that for over three decades with dozens of shops. I do bend over backwards to explain that I'm one very [goofy individual] and also *why* I care so much and...how it's not in their best interest to displease me. Being a little self-deprecating about it seems to help a lot- I *tell* them that I'm a [toolbag] and try to get them to chuckle about how nutty I am, you know.. get 'em on my side.



I make sure there's no problem before I leave the vehicle, and sometimes I stand there watching (insurance regs or other such excuses? If they pull that [stuff] I'm outta there but that's only happened one time in my life).



But a BIG part of this is simply dealing with the right kind of people. The guys who work on my vehicles are *proud* that they're "good enough" to touch them, and have even mentioned being able to satisfy me in job interviews. If somebody sets off my [jerk]-detector they just don't get the work.



My wife handles stuff the same way, even (noting your location) when she has a vehicle worked on in Memphis :D Just noticed that's where you're located; Accumulatorette was born and raised there and still spends a lot of time down south visiting her family.
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I'll try that next time. So your wife has some family near Huntington Beach? You should come detail my car for me the next time you're down here :) . I would love for my car to be Accumulatored
 
BluBrett said:
I'll try that next time. So your wife has some family near Huntington Beach? You should come detail my car for me the next time you're down here :) . I would love for my car to be Accumulatored
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Heh heh, nah, I mean Flash Gordon's locale, she's from Memphis.
 
I personally have to touch the hood on my trans am to close it because due to the fact that it's plastic, I'm not comfortable shutting it by slamming it down. The door I *only* touch the handle.
 
most hoods should close themselves if u let it drop about 1 1/2 to 2 ft from the body of the car, i was kinda shocked to learn that at autobody school, something so simple............
 
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