Allroad Body Work Fail

[stefan]

Made the mistake of letting TD use their "partner" body shop, which is Carstar. This is where we are at after the repair, and then a second attempt to fix body work. Original damage was 6-8" scrape on rear left door. Lots more to fix now!

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

Definitely a couple issues there. The ridge along the edge is fairly common, especially when trying to get a good amount of clear on there for gloss. It's really difficult to cut it down while polishing and not go through. The waves, stuff in the paint, broken clips and drips of clear are definitely unacceptable. Unfortunately I think a lot of these "recommended shops" are going to be pushing cars through as fast as they can to make some money from the hail and most people don't pay attention to their cars nearly as closely as the enthusiasts.

Hopefully the shop/TD will make this right, they need to repair it to as good or better than it was before.

[stefan]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

I got an estimate of 7000$ to have another shop fix!
The ridges are particularly bad as they had the car twice and doubled up the thickness of the ridge.... I get that a little is fairly normal.

I'm under the impression the body guys get a book rate for the work at carstar, so shortcutting is profit. Not sure if that is true?

[stefan]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

Even worse... The previous owner damaged the aluminum detail in the rear bumper, and to replace, they separated the lower flat black portion of the bumper and did a really crappy job putting it back together. I have the invoice... Aaaand, it is Carstar.

Also, body shops and trailer hitch shops, and Audi all say if bumper comes off, you should recalibrate the rear sensors for the side assist. Carstar doesn't bother. That kind of bugs me too! Second shop has a trip to Audi for recalibration in their estimate.

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

I got an estimate of 7000$ to have another shop fix!
The ridges are particularly bad as they had the car twice and doubled up the thickness of the ridge.... I get that a little is fairly normal.

I'm under the impression the body guys get a book rate for the work at carstar, so shortcutting is profit. Not sure if that is true?

Not surprised, they likely saw the quality of work there and want to make sure they can take it all the way down and repair it their way so they can stand behind/warranty the work. That's way too thick along the edges and should have been cut down some to smooth it out. Sounds like their detailers and quality control are lacking. That is how it works for most autobody shops that are a "Certified" repair center with the insurance companies, they do the work for a bit less, but in return get more work. I wouldn't say they shortcut cause they do have to keep the insurance companies happy too. Most of the work is done flat rate, so there is more incentive to work faster to bill more hours, this means usually things get pulled apart harder than someone who was paid hourly. Really depends on the tech though. Unless the bumper was changed, I would say that the recalibration for the sensors is not required, all the tabs and screws are in the same place. I would say the recalibration would be said cause that way if there was an issue they could say "you didn't get it recalibrated and that's why" and shift the blame. It's like tire shops having the "please retorque wheels after 100km", if something happens and you didn't retorque them, then the blame shifts to you. Even if it was because they weren't torqued correctly to begin with.

[stefan]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

thanks for feedback.

Looking at the bumper, I'm thinking some clips there broken. There is that big one back there where the pin slides through sort of in behind the light, I seem to recall. If that is in good shape, I don't think the bumper could be out as much as it is right now.

I have not seen where the sensors sit, myself. But what you say makes sense.

I think with the ridges, when I complained, they pretty much polished around the areas I specifically complained about, which was the worst of the 'ripply' area, and the contamination. They didn't really cut anything, as it hardly looked any different. Like 1 out of about 5 flecks of crap in a cluster there were removed and the rest just came back with more clear coat on the. Same with the wavy door. It just looked like more clear on top.

Hey, how long does paint take for a full cure? Could it still be curing after a week? Just curious, as the clear feels quite soft compared to the original paint (when pressing a fingernail on it).

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

Need to wetsand/block the edges, it sounds like they are scared to sand through.

The old solvent based paint can take a long time to cure, usually you wanted to wait 10-14 days before putting paint protection on. Even on the old stuff after a month it was still softer than the rest of the paint & would scratch easily. This new water based stuff has different properties I am not familiar with.

[stefan]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

The fix, for Carstar, would have meant starting over. There was no way a quick cut and polish was going to fix the stuff I pointed out. The MOST obvious is the paint contamination, as that was a previously untouched panel, only painted for the sake of blending. To miss that once, ask for it to be repaired and then miss it a second time is a little frustrating. You can feel it with your fingers. Even if inspecting in a dark room, you should have seen that one. ugh. Hopefully not to painful to get this all corrected. TD is implying it will be fixed, one way or another.

I'm always worried about aftermarket paint. I picked this Allroad partly due to the good, untouched condition of the body. At the end of this, both doors, 1/4 and fender will be totally re-painted. It looks like on round 2, they even blended in to the back bumper.

In contrast, I had at least 4 full panels redone on my Passat, under the perforation warranty, and I can't see it. I can be pleased - it's not an impossible task. Haha.

[stefan]

Re: Allroad Body Work Fail

Found two screws in the cup holder when cleaning this out for trade in. Damnit Carstar, at least hide the evidence if you don't know how to put it back together right!