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truck body repair

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Phoresic
Reg. May 2010
Posted 2011-03-24 9:11 AM (#132046)
Subject: truck body repair


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I took my 2005 F-350 into the body shop for repair. The shop told me that it would replace the outside part of the bed. It was all arranged. The kept it four weeks instead of two, but I kept saying, "The time isn't important, just do a good job." So, I went to see it and asked certain questions that lead them to disclose that they had repaired the old panel rather than replacing it with a new Ford part as had been promised. Now, they didn't volunteer this information, really, but it was necessary to disclose it in answering my question.The damage was this: behind the rear wheel well I had hit a short post and it had crumpled that panel from near the wheel well to near the tail light. The damage didn't go more than half up the side, but it was seriously crumpled.They are telling me that this is, in fact, a much better way to repair it, as they will leave factory welds in tact. They said they will change it out for a new one as they had promised, but indicate that I would be unreasonable to want that done.Now, what I know is that had they told me they were going to repair it with bondo and not replace it, I would have had it repaired somewhere else.Anyone have an opinon as to whether repairing it is better than replacing it, and whether I am being unreasonable in wanting the new part rather than the bondo? I do intend to keep this truck as long as it continues to run.Thanks for any insight.
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gard
Reg. Aug 2007
Posted 2011-03-24 10:35 AM (#132051 - in reply to #132046)
Subject: RE: truck body repair


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It's much better to replace an entire flairside panel in one piece if it is badly damaged. Patching areas and counting on fillers to mask the repairs, will not often result in a long term effort.

It all depends on the amount of area that is damaged. Many trucks in our area rust behind the wheel wells and cab corners. Body shops routinely glue in new panels all the time. This usually involves the bottom foot or so of the original body work.

This is not a four week repair. Your job has been set aside while they have been doing other repairs. An entire fender can be removed and replaced in a morning, a patch panel in a couple of hours. It takes additional time to fair the patches and paint the new products; another couple of hours.

"bondo" is necessary to properly fair a new repair to the original bodywork. The quality of the repair is measured in how little is necessary to properly finish the mend. Poor craftmanship results in heavy thicknesses, whilst in a good repair, most is sanded away. 

Proper priming and finishing of both sides of the repair is necessary for longevity. If the repair looks good from the outside, and has not been surfaced in the wheel well area, your repair will be short lived. Any body shop can make a repair look good when it goes out the door. The true test is how well the repair is holding up after experiencing some winters.

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Phoresic
Reg. May 2010
Posted 2011-03-24 11:13 AM (#132058 - in reply to #132046)
Subject: RE: truck body repair


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Thanks Gard. It's going on five weeks now, but they finished it in four weeks, but, because I wanted them to do it right, I didn't complain.Then they said "We didn't an to wait for the part." along with the "It's much better to repair it so that we don't have to damage the factory welds."I'll go have it out with them in a few minutes. Thanks for the information. I'm just really so tired of this - simple body repairs turning into multi-week marathons.
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