collision repair

[Joweebananas]

repaing a deer hit. driver ran over a deer. replaced hood, bumper, grille, AC condenser, radiator, core support, both headlights & repaired both fenders & rear bumper.

 

[jhn9840]

Nice work. Amazing the amount of damage those creatures can cause to a vehicle.

jhn9840
John

 

[SteveH-CO]

Are you a pro or a very good amateur? Either way, great work!

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

I never had a deer hit the rear bumper.

 

[Joweebananas]

Are you a pro or a very good amateur? Either way, great work!

Im an amatuer. I was promoted from detailing to body work & was trained on the fly. Only been at it for 2 1/2 years. Will post more as i progress.

 

[matt_i]

Great job "buffing that out"!

Those things have no respect for vehicles...its quite amazing. I (luckily) hit a glancing blow off one at highway speeds, just barely sideswiping it and ripping off my driver's mirror. Creased every panel on the driver's side of the car...

 

[PLOWJEEP]

Tiz,the season. I live in N.W. Pennsylvania , and they are just starting to act crazy. Where are you located? Nice work. I'd call you a pro.
Thanks for sharing , Brian

 

[gungatim]

I never had a deer hit the rear bumper.

my wife had a Saturn SC2 years ago. a deer ran into her rear quarter and flew around the back and damaged the bumper. it can happen but the circumstances have to be just right...deer are evil, they are always trying to kill us drivers by committing suicide...that's why we shoot 'em.

 

[Joweebananas]

Tiz,the season. I live in N.W. Pennsylvania , and they are just starting to act crazy. Where are you located? Nice work. I'd call you a pro.
Thanks for sharing , Brian

Im also in NWPA. Venango county.

 

[RPH]

Michigan, didn’t lead a buck enough and got nailed at the gas cap door on my ram van. He went down, I stopped got out with son to pull him off the road. Opening day mind yup, sob got up before we could get to him shook his head and took off, $1500. Next year same van, two does run out, both clear as I’m hard on the brakes. Second one does a 180! Comes back and I nail it with right front, feel both wheels on right side go over it. Another $2000.
Drive a Honda Fit, no deer but two raccoons I’ve hit separate times. They are bigger than they appear! Tear up the bottom of the car, $3000 each. Furry woodland creatures are expensive. I live in the boonies and wonder about the bikers I see flying down the road doing a wheelie. One small cotton tail bunny and it will be fatal. Let alone a deer.
We do lose people up here on regular basis due to the critters.

 

[gungatim]

I had a deer race me once riding my motorcycle. came across the field approaching the road, I slow down, he takes a right and runs along side me. I can't speed up cuz I'm afraid he'll decide to cross the road. this goes on for probably a half mile until he gives up and turns the other way...he wasn't scared of my "loud pipes", LOL.

 

[Joweebananas]

another deer hit. this one was kinda simple. replaced grill,grill mount bracket, headlights, painted bumper top, chrome bumper, & A/C condenser. no damage to the fenders or hood.

 

[ScottsGT]

Pics bring back nightmares of my past career I gave up 30 years ago. After 10 years in the bodyshop I threw in the towel.
Been doing some reading on why new cars are getting totaled from what looks like minor damage these days. Surprised to discover with the new processes of mixed metals in a chassis (unibody) and the overlaying panels, one cannot simply replace part of the panel, but the entire panel must be replaced for structural integrity.
Makes one think twice about buying a salvage title car that has been repaired. Will it protect you as it was designed to? No idea how these rebuilders did the work, but I can almost guarantee it was not the recommend method put out by the factory.

BTW OP, great work your doing there.

 

[Joweebananas]

Pics bring back nightmares of my past career I gave up 30 years ago. After 10 years in the bodyshop I threw in the towel.
Been doing some reading on why new cars are getting totaled from what looks like minor damage these days. Surprised to discover with the new processes of mixed metals in a chassis (unibody) and the overlaying panels, one cannot simply replace part of the panel, but the entire panel must be replaced for structural integrity.
Makes one think twice about buying a salvage title car that has been repaired. Will it protect you as it was designed to? No idea how these rebuilders did the work, but I can almost guarantee it was not the recommend method put out by the factory.

BTW OP, great work your doing there.

Thanks for the compliment! And yes you are right, cars are being totaled with what looks like minor damage until you look at the underbody. Some cars are sectioned together & some are larger sections that simply cannot be replaced or it costs more to replace than the car is worth. The shop i work at has a frame machine so we can pull certain areas that are bent. We get alot of subarus through the shop. The core support is sectioned so panels can be replaced without having to replace an entire core support when only one spot is damaged.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Well you do great looking work, You must of had a good instructor or a great group of guys helping you.

 

[Joweebananas]

2017 subaru forester. i think they backed into a curb. replaced bumper, crash bar, bumper bracket, & rear tail reflector. i also buffed the lift gate.

 

[Markfothebeast]

This was my first front end repair on a Focus.

 

[koditten]

Ha,ha. Mine too! I used an Alice Chalmers tractor with the rear bumper anchored to a tree.

 

[Joweebananas]

2014 Ford Fusion. another deer hit. replaced upper tie bar (painted), core support, left headlight, left fender, hood, hood brackets, horn, & bumper. repaired right fender, blended both front doors & pillars to the top of the windshield. the horn bracket tore about a half dozen wires in the main harness so i spliced them in. 9 day repair took about 15 because of headlight mounts missing from aftermarket lights (buy OEM). looked worse than it actually was & it went back together like a dream.

 

[jhn9840]

Looks good. Nice job. Keep them coming.

jhn9840
John

 

[Joweebananas]

2010 Chevy Malibu. deer hit. replaced bumper, AC condenser, radiator, lower grille (under the license plate), and the underbody shield. quick 2 day job.

 

[C_F]

Nice repair jobs you're doing there!

 

[don long]

OP
In the year 2000 I was pulled out of retirement to create and build the most state of the art bodyshop in the country. I got it done and we were recognized as such by the collision industry.
If you would like to see what that looked like I have pictures in my photo albums in my profile.

Here is that link

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5638

I ran that shop for 5 years and we were repairing and delivering 20 cars a day ($ 1,000,000 per month)

 

[Joweebananas]

thats awesome. the shop i work at is small, only 5 techs. each of us are start-finish repair. i dont think id like collision repair as much if i only got to sand bondo or paint all day every day.

 

[don long]

Yes
That's how I started out back in 1965

 

[Bill Bowman]

Don, very nice shop. Here's a quick shot of one of the cleaner areas in the shop I'm at. This is the painters mixing area. A real s**thole as the trumpster would say.

 

[don long]

Don, very nice shop. Here's a quick shot of one of the cleaner areas in the shop I'm at. This is the painters mixing area. A real s**thole as the trumpster would say.

Thanks Bill

That is the hardest area in the store to keep clean and organized.
We would stop work every day a half hour early and everyone helped sweep and clean the shop. Every Friday nite the shop would be mopped before the crew could leave

 

[85stu85]

OP
In the year 2000 I was pulled out of retirement to create and build the most state of the art bodyshop in the country. I got it done and we were recognized as such by the collision industry.
If you would like to see what that looked like I have pictures in my photo albums in my profile.

Here is that link

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5638

I ran that shop for 5 years and we were repairing and delivering 20 cars a day ($ 1,000,000 per month)

Real nice setup. I've worked in some big shops but nothing like that. when you say 16 cars a day were a majorty of them smaller jobs?

how did you staff it? up here its hard enough to find one of each (painter prepper bodyman) let alone enough of a crew to turn out 16 cars a day.

 

[eaneumann]

Nice work, keep it up! I know this industry can be draining (mentally and physically!), but it gets easier the longer you do it. I’m almost 15 years in. Lead heavy tech at a small, but very busy shop. We specialize in a lot of high end. It’s good to see people getting into this field, it is incredibly hard to find good people.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[don long]

Joweebananas

I didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just wanted to give you some perspective.
I'm glad you are enjoying your work and that you are willing to share it with us.
It takes a lot more skill to carry the repair from start to finish.
It is a very rewarding trade.

Real nice setup. I've worked in some big shops but nothing like that. when you say 16 cars a day were a majorty of them smaller jobs?

how did you staff it? up here its hard enough to find one of each (painter prepper bodyman) let alone enough of a crew to turn out 16 cars a day.

85stu85

were a majorty of them smaller jobs?
The shop ticket average was $3,500 and we had several large hits going through each week ($15,000 to $25,000) we worked on both German and Japanese high line cars. We serviced 9 dealerships

how did you staff it?
We only employed 2 master body men and the rest were lesser skilled help that we brought in with little or no experience and trained them to a specific task like teardown or reassembly, welders or body helpers. Each new crew member was promised a career path and training to become a master tech in 5 years.
Today several of those entry level techs are master techs some are managers and a few own their own shop.

 

[85stu85]

op sorry about the hijack. nice work. keep taking pride in what you do and you'll continue to do a good job. that's the problem I found with the trade. a lot of people became miserable with it and took no pride in their work, a least up here. it seems like as the big corporate shops rolled in and bought out the small guys it became harder to find an actual decent shop that could provide a repair that was well done. it still amzes me some of the repairs I see that people have no problem accepting and even worse that the shop released it that way and called it good.

thanks don. I was curious about that.

good job op.

 

[CoogarXR]

"Deer are just rats with hooves"

 

[C_F]

Don, that shop is amazing! I love the rooftop parking idea, I would bet that you had almost zero break-in & vandalism issues on the cars waiting outside.
Thanks for posting your link.

OP, looking forward to some more of your updates!

 

[Joweebananas]

2013 subaru impreza. front end hit. replaced bumper, a couple brackets, the fenderwell, & the grille. didnt get a chance to snap a pic before it went outside but its a purple metallic. nice color, just not my style.

 

[383]

I never had a deer hit the rear bumper.

my wife had a Saturn SC2 years ago. a deer ran into her rear quarter and flew around the back and damaged the bumper. it can happen but the circumstances have to be just right...deer are evil, they are always trying to kill us drivers by committing suicide...that's why we shoot 'em.

Maybe it's a Saturn thing. My wife was hit by a deer in the rear quarter of our Sky before she got out of our driveway.