zes

Thank you so much, DaveGS4, newyerker, bc6152, lesz, kxaz145, roninlexus, dchar, Poppa and Maikerusan.

I am very grateful to be part of such a wonderful, caring and supportive forum. You guys are just wonderful.

A co worker looked at my car and said that a year or so ago his '14 BMW335 suffered similar damage. The body shop replaced the roof, the hood and the trunk. Then they did the paint less repair thing on the sides. He is happy and his car looks great. I have asked him for the name and address of the shop as they seem to have done a good job. Meanwhile the adjuster will come on Monday May 22 to look at the car. I am fine with that as I am traveling next week anyway.

The car is Osbidian (Lexus black), so hopefully color matching should be doable.

bc6152

GOOD LUCK and we all hope it works out for you.

lesz

Replacing the hood or trunk should be simple. It would be nice if they could repair the roof with paintless dent repair, which would avoid having to cut out the damaged sheet metal and having to weld in new sheet metal.

This is a time when you should be happy that your car is the obsidian color because non-metallic blacks are, by far, the easiest color to match. After any paint work is done on the new hood, new trunk, or any other panel, you should end up with a virtually perfect paint match.

roninlexus

Post a pic when she is back good as new!

SW17LS

Sucks! My worst nightmare. I feel for you.

Ive actually had two cars hail damaged, our old 2004 Toyota Prius and our 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both were fixed with PDR and came out 100% perfect. Astonishing! The Jeep needed the metal window trim replaced also, both were around $5,000 in PDR and took about a week of solid work. Absolutely amazing that they got everything out and preserved the factory paint, niether showed up on a Carfax either! The Jeep was caught in the storm parked, but my wife was driving the Prius and was on the phone with me when it started, scariest experience of her life. It was SO loud!

So take heart, it will be fine.

zes

Insurance company's estimate is $9,000. They have agreed to replace the hood, roof, and trunk. They want to try paint less dent removal on doors first and if that does not work they said they can agree to replace them. I had a rock chip on the windshield, so I plan to get that replaced too, because they need to remove the WS when they take the roof off. It is scary but my friend's BMW went through the same surgery and looks ok. He is happy so I plan to use the same shop. Trying to get an appointment with that same shop now.

Poppa

That's good news my friend... sounds like your ins. company is going to try and do the right thing... She'll look brand new when you get her back.....

Poppa

Mike728

I'm sorry you have to go through this. It seems like you're taking it better than I would. I hope everything turns out to your satisfaction.

You should post some pic's of the before and after repair.

zes

Finally got my car back today. What an experience.

1) Total claim for the job was $13,489! They replaced the windshield, the roof, the trunk, the hood, and fenders on one side. Did paintless dent repair elsewhere. That part took a month and a half, after waiting for several months. Thank GOD for insurance!

2) Got the car back 3 weeks ago. Found out that the radio did not work. And the top of the sunroof was not aligned with the roof. And the console black piano finish had overspray damage. The clear bra on the fender has a few pieces of dirt under it. Back to the shop.

3) They took the inner liner out and fixed the sunroof and hooked up the radio antenna. They tried to buff out the overspray on the piano finish and ruined it. They replaced the clear bra. Somebody had greasy hands and did not wear gloves and left dirty hand marks on the roof liner (mine is light grey). And they rubbed against the door as they worked on the roof, causing fine scratches on the paint. Back to the shop and had a fit at them.

4) They took the car to a detailer who tried to clean the roof liner. They buffed out the scratches on the paint. They replaced the piano console and I think introduced light scratches on the cup holder lid. The roof liner still has some dirt marks. The car smells of sweat. Seems like their workers need to launder their clothes and shower more often.

The shop is about 20 miles from my work and I am fed up of going back. I accepted the car and came home. It was a disgusting drive.

I am shampooing my seats and dash etc. and hopefully that will be take care of the disgusting smell.

The shop people were really polite and pleasant, but the quality control was obviously very poor. I really hope I do not have to take my car there again.

Does anybody have any suggestions on cleaning some dark spots on the roof liner?

I am thinking of using eyeglass cleaner and cloth to buff the piano finish. Any suggestions?

Thanks..

lesz

Sorry to hear about the problems with the repairs.

Your insurance policy entitles you to have the car repaired to its "pre-damaged condition", and it sounds like the repairs fell short of that in multiple ways. Instead of repeatedly going back to the shop, I would enlist the help of my insurance agent. If you have a good agent, he/she should be able to work with the adjuster and have any issues taken care of, even if that means taking the car to another shop. And, if my insurance agent wasn't helpful, I'd be looking for a new agent.

As far as the scratches on the piano black, the 2013 ES that I previously owned had the piano black center console, and I was able to successfully remove fine scratches from it with the same polishes that I would use to remove fine scratches and polishing swirls from the exterior paint. The product that I used was 3M Hand Glaze, but any very mildly abrasive polish, such as Mequiar's Scratch X, should work to safely remove the scratches. If, however, the scratches are deep, you are not likely to be able to be successful in removing them.

GES

[QUOTE][ Does anybody have any suggestions on cleaning some dark spots on the roof liner?

My interior is parchment and the roof liner gets dirty dark spots easily from dirty fingers. I have tried one time carpet cleaner spray like Resolve or other store brand and it worked well.

zes

[QUOTE=GES;10058603]Thanks. Does spraying it with a solvent/cleaner just not spread the grease mark into a bigger spot and make it look worse? I am scared of that outcome.

zes

Thanks. I will try the Mequiar's product. Very carefully.

lesz

If the Mequiar's Scratch X doesn't work, you might want to try the 3M Hand Glaze. The 3M product is very mildly abrasive, but the Scratch X is even less abrasive. That makes the Scratch X even safer to use, but it might not be as effective in removing mild scratches.

Also, I would suggest doing the polishing with a good quality micro fiber cloth to be certain that you aren't introducing more scratches/polishing swirls.

GES

[QUOTE=zes;10058730]no Not really. I have used it on more than one place on the roof liner and on the sun visor with good result. I actually sprayed it and then scrubbed it with my fingers and then let it dry and didn't have issues. You can if you want try it on a small isolated spot first and see.