JosueLT said:I have pics of that too if you guys are curious.
Absolutely. Everything you've posted is awesome! I have virtually zero body work experience Anything related to this kind of stuff is fascinating to me.
JosueLT said:I have pics of that too if you guys are curious.
JosueLT said:Anyone remember me doing the Trailblazer frame swap I posted on the other site? I supposed I should just post all those pics in here too, eh?
JosueLT said:And I put the LT together today. Bumper gave me some crap trying to get the gap closed up to the fender. It was an OEM bumper, but it came from a GM Outlet store and was sold "as-is", meaning it had defects in it and was kicked off the assembly line.
JosueLT said:I never knew either! This is the first time I've seen something like that stamped into a part. I'll have to ask our parts guy where it came from. Most likely one of the used or aftermarket suppliers has the hook up, sometimes they have their hands in OEM overstock....
JosueLT said:Haha, I'll keep that in mind!
What's your connection with the business?
JosueLT said:Thanks!
Hopefully you (guys) can take a little bit away from this thread, and have more of an idea on what to look for when you pick your rides up from the shop.
How bad is your car?
JosueLT said:It's good seeing shops stay in business for that long, means they're doing something right!
Ours was started in 1947. The original owner started it, then his son/current owner bought it in the late 80's, and now his son is the general manager. His daughter also comes in 3 days a week as an estimator, but she's atrocious at it and all she does is gum up the works. We have 7 bodymen, 4 painters, a combo guy, 2 estimators, parts guy, 5 detailers, receptionist, 2 office girls (IT/HR) general manager, daughter, owner, and a few old, retired guys (from other careers) who run cars, run customers, pick up parts when needed, etc. One of those guys even retired from this shop, now he comes in and does maintenance...over 55 years at this place!! It's incredible hearing stories of how they fixed cars back then.
Sometimes it's tough to make money at a shop with so many mouths to feed though. The owner doesn't really care either, he'd rather have 25 people making 15hrs a week, than 5-6 making 90...anything to get the jobs out the door and make them more money. We just had another guy retire (63, but he's only been here for 14 years), and instead of waiting to fill his spot until after he retired, or maybe coordinating it so the new guy would pick up where this guy left off....he had the new guy start 3 weeks before this guy retired. It's no coincidence that the work dried up once we had a new guy to feed. Dumb as hell. And I guess there's another new guy starting in Feb. He came from BMW school, but the quote from the owner was "Oh, he's only going to get 40 hrs a week". Well....that's time you're taking away from the rest of us ASSHOLE!
And yea, that does seem like a Progressive move! What kills me is, you go to these I-CAR classes...insurance adjusters are always in the classes with you (at least around here, not sure about out there) so they SEE the RIGHT way to repair these cars...but they still won't pay you to and expect you to hack stuff up. I remember fixing a Nissan Altima bumper for 5 hours, obviously needed replaced. I asked the I-CAR instructor of a plastic repair class about it, and he said "If you have to write 5 hrs on a bumper, it needs replaced". But, how do you convince the insurance companies that?!! They care about being I-CAR gold so they can be a DRP for you, but they don't care about fixing these cars to I-CAR standards.
I hate this business.../endrant. lol
YOUNG said:i need two new door skins, new front bumper cover, fix back bumper cover, front right fender dent the size of your fist, new driver side rear rim.
itstrick said:I know how that goes some times, we have 5 body techs 4 painters a tear down person at each location 5 estimators and one part time person that does all the running and shop cleanup. One of our body techs and One of our painters were here when the place originally here when the place started. The Owner right now is still the owner that started the place (mainly semi retired). The shops run themselves while he vacations.
One of the guys was telling me back in the day that they could get eight or nine hours to replace a radiator support, and now we are working on a 2012 Focus (yeah not much of a car) but the radiator support is 2.5 hours! I mean seriously 2.5 hours! Sometimes you cant win in the business but you have to take the good with the bad.
JosueLT said:Sorry, I can't do that.
itstrick said:
07ChevyTruck said:Oh Damn! Guess I'll just have to hope the days ahead will be better.
The pic is dated in 06. Guess your camera needs a date adjustment.
Matt said:Josh,
If the customer does something about the hood, can you let me know the details...you know what mine looks like.
07ChevyTruck said:I'm sure the WXR is a fun car. Just never got into the Subaru brand.
Can't wait to see how the Trail Blazer truns out.
JosueLT said:Yea, details are.....it needs a new hood! lol
JosueLT said:I'm not big into WRX's either....I think they sound like shit.