RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Future thread topic - LOOKING FOR REVIEWERS

I'm looking for people who would like to do a review write up on a body shop that they have done business with.

I am not looking for just recommendations, but an actual Review with detailed information on what was done and a critique of their workmanship. It doesn't have to be an essay, but it has to be more descriptive then saying " They're The Bomb, for a good deal tell em Joe sent you"

If interested please PM me and I will explain further.

Thanks

madness

As you all know my car was involved in an incident where my CF hood came off and did some good damage to the car. I was left wondering where to take the car to have the work done. After doing some research and looking at recommended shops here on CL. I narrowed my decision to a few. The key things to me were, a shop that can work on a modded car, Carbon Fiber/Fiber Glass, can do insurance work, and can do it all at a high professional level. Based on my research the only one that really fit my criteria was Active Auto Body in Sunnyvale. In order to give a through review of the shop I have broken it up into segments.
Work done:

* Repainted OEM hood, Passenger Fender, passenger and driver side mirrors and rear passenger quart panel
* Replaced OEM Fender with a new one and painted.
* Repaired and fixed front Carson Tuned Fiber Glass bumper
* Molded and fiberglassed into the Carson Tuned bumper my fog lights.
* Adjusted L-Tuned rear lip to fit more flush onto rear bumper
* Removed CF TRD Trunk and installed OEM trunk

Shop cleanliness and professionalism
The shop is very clean and the garage area is huge, they can easily hold about 10 cars inside the shop. They have their own paint booth with plenty of room to work in. I'm pretty **** about being clean but this is by far the cleanest body shop I've been to. Overall in this area I give them a 8.5 out of 10 because there are lots of parts laying around in the shop.

Customer Service
I met the owner Shawn from the first day. He took care of me immediately and told me exactly what they could and couldn't do based on what I wanted. He was very knowledgeable and was more than happy to work with me. He got me a rental on the day I dropped off the car. He handled the whole insurance ordeal for me and ensured that all my parts were OEM. If Shawn wasn't around to help, I knew I could count on Eduardo his right hand man. Eduardo would make sure that things would get done too. Overall here I have to give them a 10. Even when they gave me back my car and I pointed out a few minor details they were more than happy to handle it for me.

Fit and Finish
The quality of work was very impressive, I have had 2 other people work on my car and paint parts but their work was not as good as Active's. I must say Active's is the best by far. They were very meticulous to make sure there were no ripples in the paint, runs and orange peel. Black is not a forgiving color and every little defect can be seen. The finish was almost perfect and I am very happy with the end result. The fitted my Carson bumper properly, and they got my rear lip to sits nice and tight with no issues. Overall this is a 9.

Overall satisfaction
I am very pleased with the job and work done to my car. I have been getting compliments on how good the paint looks and how nice things fit. If you are in a car accident or need some kind of custom body work or paint job, I highly recommend Active Auto Body.

Final rating 9.

lightwave76

iTrader: (12)

Shop: Preferred Auto Body & Custom (707) 427-3685
Address: 1654 N Texas St # F, Fairfield, CA 94533


A few years back when I ordered my Mode Parfume kit I started to drive around to shops and get quotes to see how much it would cost to get it painted and installed. Since it was FRP it would need a little smoothing out, though Mode did a great job on the construction. I got quote of close to 2k just to do the kit because of all the work.

After going to about 5 different shops, my friend Llyod recommended Preferred Auto Body and Custom. We both went down there and we talked about what I wanted to do. Not only the body kit, but fix all the dents and dings on the car. In the end I got the call re-sprayed with a custom silver with gold pearl.

The work they performed:
* Stripped the car of all moldings, lights etc to prep the car and fixed all the dents and dings.
* Made the Aristo fenders fit on the car. (When I brought the car in with the fenders on there was a gap between the fender and door due do the wideness of the fender)
* Installed JP roof wing, trunk wing, hood bonnet and eye lids
* Installed the Mode Parfume kit just as I brought it in. (Me and Will did a test fit before I brought it to the shop.)
* Made custom brackets to secure the kit to the frame of the car.


Shop cleanliness and professionalism
The shop is very clean and the two garage areas are pretty large. They have a waiting room where you can watch whatever is on, normally food network. I've seen 7-8 cars just in one of their garages. They have their own paint booth with plenty of room to work in.

When I first went to the shop and started to talk about different pearl colors, Horacio did something no other paint shop has done for me before or after. He took me back to the paint area with the pearl and actually showed me the actual pearl power up close. He let me check out the different colors and let me know he would spray 6 different pearls I might want on a fender so I could see them in the light. So after a few choices I came to choose silver with gold pearl.


Customer Service
Horacio, Reneri and Susanna have always been professional from day one and since my friend knew them, it was almost like meeting an aquantiance more than just another shop owner. They always kept me up to date on how my car was coming along and Horacio kept spraying coats of pearl until it was the desired look I wanted. Everytime I take my car in for any work, they do a full detail on my car. It makes me just want to leave it there just for that.


Fit and Finish
When I saw my car I was just amazed. When the sun hit the car, the gold just shined and even in the shade you could still see a hint of gold pearl. The front and rear bumpers had portions painted all black and I've gotten a lot of compliments on the quality of the paint job. Since I was driving the car so much and didn't complete the clear bra in time the rocks of the freeway knicked up the black of the bumper. A call to Preferred and they had my lower bumper sprayed within a day. My custom engine cover I also received through their shop as well.

Overall satisfaction
It has been years since my paint job and I still smile everytime I see the pearl shine through. I continue to get compliments for the paint job and the car, which is all thanks to Preferred Auto Body & Custom.

I drive 36 miles one way just to go here, so this is not in my backyard, but the miles are worth it for this high quality of work and service.

Final rating 10

martini3

Shop Name: Corvette Center
1995 Lafayette St, Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 980-0866

Ask For: "Chico" (Tell him "Tee" referred you)

Story of Damaged Rear WALD Lip:

My rear WALD lip (which is bolted onto the OEM rear bumper), got caught on the edge of the concrete ledge as I backed into a parking space.

When I pressed the gas, my car got stuck so I pressed harder and "Oh My",
I heard the horrible sound of a loud crack.

I went behind and looked at the damage and as a result, there were two massive cracks on the Fiberglass WALD rear lip.

The next day, I called a few body shops around SJ and they quoted at least $500-600 to repair the entire lip. And they didn't go into specific details on how exactly they would repair it. They just seemed not that knowledgable in repairing aftermarket bodykit parts (fiberglass).

So I thought about it and asked my other non-Lexus friends and they suggested a Corvette body shop.

Well, I knew of a shop that I pass by frequently and I called them.

I met "Chico" who was specialized in fiberglass, primer and restoring classic vettes to current models.

Type of work done: Fiberglass
- Repaired the cracks and make it stronger back to original form
- Bonded the cracks, sand and prime the entire lip cause it has other rocks chips and scratches. No sense of doing it in different spots when they can do the re-do the entire lip.
- Re-edged, grinded and customized the inside of the upper lip lining so that it will fit snug and tight
- Matched OEM paint code to (97-99%) to paint entire lip
- Used professional two-sided tape so that there are no gaps around the perimeter of the lip flushed and snug up against the OEM bumper.

Shop Tools and Cleanliness:
The shop is full of classic vettes to newer ones.
It's pretty cramp and there's some older models collecting dust.
It's not the cleanest shop due to the small square footage area w/ the tools and machinery that they have.
But they have a couple of reserved spots for the cars that are getting done based on a timeline and deadline.
They do have all the necessary tools to do fiberglass and general bodywork machinery.
My fiberglass lip was done mostly outside when the weather permitted sunshine and they do have space to do the work inside when it rains.

Customer Service and Friendliness:
They are friendly and their customer service is excellent.
They are car people and it shows in their faces and expressions.
The person called me every few days to let me know what was done and if there were any delays due to other on-going projects. And if you don't hear from him, just call his cell or the main number. If no answer on his cell, he's probably working on something else. Or call the main number and ask for him.
He called me only when he needed money for the paint and when the work was finished, the rest of the payment was paid off after the install.
He never asked for money upfront and there was no pressure to pay right away.
I felt no pressure about the money and that's the kind of genuine person this guy was to deal with. Friendly, professional and confident in his line of work.
He was careful about my car being lowered and pointed out exactly where I should park so nothing was damaged in the process. A jack just to make sure he could get underneath the back to install the lip back on properly.

Timeline:
About 2 weeks depending on the size of the fiberglass product and the amount of time to do all the necessary steps for the type of work done:
(see above)


Fit and Finish:
After the work was done, the fit was better than the original shop that installed my kit in the first place. This was a smooth, flushed, snug and tight fit all the way around the OEM bumper.


Overall Satisfaction:
I wasn't expecting a perfect job due to complexity of the curvature of the rear SC430 OEM bumper. But when he installed the repaired lip onto it,
I was extremely surprised and overwhelmed by the careful workmanship hands of this gentleman.


Final Rating: --> 1-10 (11 cause he went out of his way to customize the inner lining of the lip to make it flush w/ the OEM bumper curvature)

Martini3