Do you work on water-flooded cars?

6

602rwtq

New member
The dirty work.

Completely dismantle the interior. In many cases, the headliner, seats, carpet, trunk liner, carpet, and carpet padding were removed. Door panels often get removed. Open all windows and let the car air out until completely dry or use an air mover to speed things up. Now find the source of the leak. One guy out of the car with a water hose...one in the car with a flashlight until you find the "drip." Close the drip with some seam sealer. Usually replace the carpet padding. Pressure wash and hang the carpet till dry. Hot water extract the seats and set aside until dry. If the leak affected the headliner, replace the headliner and backing foam. If ANYTHING has mold it gets treated with mildewcide, then hot water extracted. Seat cushions infected with foam were sometimes completely replaced. Re-assemble the whole interior. Wash the car and check for leaks. Give it a sniff test.



Twice the money as detailing.

These jobs usually take a whole week and occupied a stall during that time. 10s of man hours. Why bother? The money. Most shops turned these away. Body shops bid them ridiculously ($3000+). Generally, the fairest way to price them was at an hourly rate twice your average shop rate. Like: $80 an hour. At an average of around 20 hours, the average water damage job was $1600.



What have your experiences been with water damage? Worth the trouble or not? Is this a detailer's job? Or should it go to a body shop? Mechanic?



Check out this Richmond shop's water damage work:

Richmond, VA Water Damage Repair: Car Pool Detail | Car Pool Detail LLC



Some photos:

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I did a couple last spring that were flooded from snow melting. Nothing like in the pictures above, just pull the seats and carpet, dry everything out, treat for mildew, clean it up and put it back together. I did not charge nearly enough as these vehicles took up room at the shop while drying out. If I get more this year, I will prob double my price.



Was it worth it? It would have been if I charged more. I'm not sure if you could call it a detailer's, mechanic's or whoever's job, I think it's whoever's that wants to do it.
 
The biggest concern I would have with flooded vehicles, especially like the one you posted pictures of, is ongoing electrical issues. That is something detailers generally aren't equipped to deal with. A body shop or mechanic however would be able to take care of replacing wiring harnesses/etc.



I do think detailers are best equipped to handle cosmetic issues like carpets, door panels, etc. though.
 
Street5927 said:
Not a flood car, but remember reading this post a while ago about mold from a vehicle that had water on the floor for 4 months. This was an incredible turnaround.



http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-...ld-remova-restoration-signature-detailed.html
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:hug: Thanks Ryan! :)



602rwtq said:
What have your experiences been with water damage? Worth the trouble or not? Is this a detailer's job? Or should it go to a body shop? Mechanic?
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IMHO I think it really depends on the Severity of the water/flood in the car. They do take some time, can allow for huge transformation, and can be a really nice invoice. I guess it depends if the detailer wants to take somthing like that on.



I did that Audi with all the mold in it. I talked to a few other pros about this car before I even accepted the job and still was worried about making it look good. I didn't just do it, I did quite a bit of reading and reasearch.

Was it properly corrected? I told the owner if anything ever comes back let me know, so we can find a permant solution to the issue, and I haven't heard from him. If it were up to me I would have removed interior pieces to complety correct anything in the foam and carpet pad, that wasn't what the owner wanted. :confused: I guess if you get paid for a wash your not gonna do a full correction right? :o



This Protege had a leak with some slight mold and a leak in it, see the pictures below. Although these were initally intimidating I was able to not only clean, but fix the Protege. I did a little reasearch and found that the rear seams leak into the trunk even with the slightest bump. With the right chemicals and research these cars aren't as intimidating as they initally seem.



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A little rubberized undercoating under the bumper and I sealed the leaks....:D

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I dont think the electrical issues would be of the detailers concern...I would probably put that in a contract work order report and have it signed off as such



1600 bucks for two days work...count me in!
 
toyotaguy said:
1600 bucks for two days work...count me in!
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$1600??? Not going near a flood type car for that price ;) But seriously the chemicals aren't cheap, so always add that into the cost of the detail. :D
 
toyotaguy said:
I dont think the electrical issues would be of the detailers concern...I would probably put that in a contract work order report and have it signed off as such



1600 bucks for two days work...count me in!
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Well, no, the electrical issues wouldn't be the detailer's concern but the way I look at it is if you've already got the interior torn out of the car, why not have the other problems addressed at the same time?



Maybe the way to go would be to partner with a mechanic or body shop and let them take care of those issues while you're cleaning the carpet/door panels/etc....
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
Well, no, the electrical issues wouldn't be the detailer's concern but the way I look at it is if you've already got the interior torn out of the car, why not have the other problems addressed at the same time?



Maybe the way to go would be to partner with a mechanic or body shop and let them take care of those issues while you're cleaning the carpet/door panels/etc....
Click to expand...



I never saw electrical problems in water-damaged cars. Modern electricals are pretty stout.



I think you're referring to cars that got caught in flash-floods. Those usually get salvaged by the insurance companies and don't see detail shops.



The cars we fixed were left with a window open, had a leaky sunroof, leaky cowl, leaky trunk seal, etc.
 
I've been a part of literally 100's of flood vehicle repairs and have seen shops attempt these kinds of repairs that really have to business doing any kind of mitigation services period! You really need to have an understanding of several facets of the damage and repair process. I think it's mandatory for Detailers doing this kind of repair to work closely with a certifed mechanic to avoid the potential for the whole thing from backfiring it their face! I'd hate to see someone that is thinking they are doing something what they think is right only to just put a band-aid on the problem. If you don't cover your arse you can literally open yourself up to the potential of getting sued for alot of money. If not repaired properly you could not only make someone sick from not removing the contaminants, but kill them if their car crashes due to electrical malfuntioning. Keep in mind that many manufactures mount their SRS modules on the floor.



Anyone planning on doing these kinds of repair should certainly get some training by the industry recognized source:

Welcome to the The Clean Trust
 
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