Shop prepping a car?

J

joyriiide1113

New member
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.
 
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...
 
joyriiide1113 said:
Brembo, Big Brake Kit...
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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?
 
BigJimZ28 said:
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?
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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.
 
joyriiide1113 said:
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...
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Good upgrade :xyxthumbs



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.
 
They make that spray on bra .... looks like flat black/grey primer ... shot the areas with that it washes off fairly easy
 
Accumulator said:
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.
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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).
 
Way2SSlow said:
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..
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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 :o 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.
 
Accumulator said:
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 :o My bad for not considering how a normal situation would be, with a customer breathing down their necks.
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Friends of the employees are a totally different story. Obviously, you are very concerned about your car, but I dont get the impression that you would get in the tech's way or that you would be telling him how to do his job. It's the complete strangers that really do literally breath down your neck, or the ones who get in the way are the worst. When you have to work AROUND someone, it gets pretty irksome. We will allow some people to watch, but for insurance reasons, we'd rather them not be in the shop.
 
Accumulator said:
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 :o 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.
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Was she in Memphis? Gosset?



Remember that Porsche I did? :soscared: Yep, they did that.
 
ebpcivicsi- That might've been it..she's not here for me to ask but IIRC it was the "Memphis Audi dealer" so that sounds right. At least they didn't kill it the way they did that Porsche.
 
Yep, that's Gosset--the only Audi dealership in this area....



You guys are lucky to have only had permanently damaged wheels!!! :confused:



BTW, a client of mine took his BMW in for service a few weeks back and had a note tapped to the odometer that read "please do not wash." They washed it anyway....:nervous2:
 
ebpcivicsi- I just asked her and it wasn't that dealership after all, it was one in Nashville. Don't want to cast blame when it's not deserved, but it sounds like the one in Memphis might even be worse.



I suppose there are worse things than scratches on wheels, I was just miffed bacause I'd done the car before she left. Other than the wheels it fixed up OK with just the Cyclo. If they'd messed it up after the huge rotary session I put in on it later that year I would've *really* been ticked off!



Heh heh, now she's been warned about Gosset; if she ever has to go there you can be she's gonna be...uhm...a different sort of customer than they're used to ;)
 
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