Hot Rod Refinishers 

Body

Metal & Bodywork

Key Benefits

 Start by reading the Paint page, then come back............you back? 

RUST 

It' a four letters for a reason. Most people don't know its there until the car is on a lift,looking at floors & framerails, or a bad bondo job is removed that's a foot long that only looked like " a little bubble the size of a dime" prior to grinding. That's when you find the real damage, and you get to use other choice four letter words. We live in a snow & salt area, its more common then not, unfortunately.

In a perfect world, a rust area is repaired by removing the fender, or quarter panel, or door, & replacing with a new part. Even a small rust area can add up to many hours to remove & repair, so most of the time its more cost efficient to replace a panel then repair. On Camaros, Chevelles, Mustangs, etc, your in luck. Most parts are readily available, as are all the structural parts. On some cars though,you can not find any new parts (AMC Rambler, Pontiac Chief,etc). These panels can be patched, all though this has draw backs. 

While we do seam seal, etch prime & do all the right things, it is impossible to warranty rust/patch repairs with any good will. Some panels, like a rocker, may be rusting from inside out. If we patch the area that is rotten and it looks great, but possibly an area 10 inches away is rusted from inside, and pops through a year down the road, while it is sad, if we, or you, did not see a single thing wrong in that area prior, its hard to blame anyone for it happening. This is another reason why  its much better to use a new panel when available. We can warranty that.

BODY GAPS

Panel alignment, door hinges that have play or sag, latches that don't work 100 percent, all need to be addressed prior to paint. This will decrease the chance of a panel edge chipping from contacting another panel. On replacement parts, some fits are excellent and some are not so great and require hours of work to make nice gaps and lines. It can bolt on in one hour, or 6 hours. Weld on Panels can be the same way. Full Quarter panels that cost $450 usually fit better then a Quarter skin that is $59 and has to be seamed the length of the panel and take 5 labor hours more to install. In most cases better quality panels are more cost effective for the fit and require less labor.

IMPORT BODY KITS, FIBERGLASS HOODS ETC.

This I could fill a page with. There are excellent companies out there ( Cervini's) who's parts literally bolt on and there are companies out that offer a cheaper product, in cost and quality, that we have to cut, over lap, shave, fill, etc., to make parts resemble the body lines & gaps wanted. To give an accurate estimate on these kind of jobs, we need to see all parts you, (the customer) have in mind for your project.

MOTORCYCLES

We like steel parts, & new plastic parts. If you have a body piece that is plastic, with 3 paint jobs, cracks, 20 decals, etc...... buy new body piece :-)  If the part costs $120, you don't want us spending 4 hours fixing your used piece.

Ideally, we like it when you can remove parts from bike & bring parts only. This reduces your cost as well . If you would rather, of course we can disassemble your bike & store it until its done & reassembled if you like.

CRASHWORK

We have been the in collision industry for 2 decades prior to starting this shop. We are 100 percent capable of repairing hit cars. Please understand however, if it is an insurance job, & it is brought to use, the insurance company will more then likely not go with our estimate & will write their own & the two shall never meet. We can do our best to work with them, & some adjusters are very good, but the more common event is them trying to get job done as cheaply as possible (this is why they try to get you to take the car to a DRP shop, or Gold Star shop, or whatever they are calling their preferred shops.) There may be a price difference, it would be addressed before we touch your car. We are here to do outstanding work, not play the game with insurance companies. 

That said, we are happy to look at your insurance job, just please understand, it may end up costing a bit more then they will pay, resulting in some out of pocket cost. If they do try to direct you to another shop( which is illegal by the way), please help yourself & check consumer guide/checkbook for shops ratings your are considering. There are some excellent ones out there, but many more so so ones out there. An insurance company is not going to intentionally direct you to an expensive, high quality shop are they? No, they want you at the least expensive shop that can get an ok product out the door. 

Crashwork on older cars, we are happy to look at. If you are far away & cars not drivable, feel free to bring by or email pictures to get started, if it looks like after that you would like us to look at car, we can travel to it, to do estimate & look at it in person. Please understand there would be a minimal charge for this if its far enough away that it eats a couple hours out of the day. If you decide to let us repair the car, the charge would then be credited towards repair.

Thanks, Jeff & Bob

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