How hard is it to Straighten out the Front Frame Rail and/or Core Support?

[bigcat]

take it to a shop and get an estimate. R&I bumper is about 1.4, (more time to add if they remove the license plate frame, fogs, etc), the header panel is about 2.3 hours to replace. expect a little less than that to adjust, they still need to pull the headlights, but dont have to transfer the clips and hardware. refinish the bumper cover is about 3 hours.

take all that times your labor rates, add in material cost, hazardous waste disposal, etc. and that will be about your cost. when you come up with a price add $200 to it to prepare yourself for reality. there is no way we can tell you exactly how much it will cost to repair it, especially without pictures. seems as if this is said in all the threads.

now, if they take everything apart, and find out something else is the problem, then who knows what the cost will be. this is one of those things that need to be taken apart and inspected to really know what is wrong.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I just had a great idea on this issue! Why not take it to a body shop and get an estimate!!!

 

[RED2001GT]

That's what I am going to do. I need to find a decent bodyshop in my area first though. I need to ask around and see which ones do good quality work and which ones have the proper measuring equipment and machinery. I don't know if I will be able to find a reputable shop here in my area. Most of the bodyshops around here are not that great. They are very expensive and they do second and third rate work.
I am thinking about taking my Mustang to a Maaco and telling them exactly what work I want them to do on my car. The only bodywork which Maaco would have to really do on my Mustang is take off the front bumper and resand and repaint it. And I would require them to take the front bumper off the car to do the paint work properly. There is no other bodywork or paintwork that's required on my Mustang. All the other stuff that needs to be done is related to the gap problem and will basically require Maaco just making the adjustment on the header light panel. I'm hoping that Maaco will do the adjustment and all the paintwork properly and that my Mustang will look like it did "before" it got hit.
Do you think that Maaco will be a good choice here for the type of work that needs to be done to my car? There is really no stripping or prep work that's required for the type of repair that needs to be done on my Mustang. The only body and paint work that's currently needed on my car is the front bumper and that's it.
I would think that Maaco will do the repairs and the paintwork properly to the front bumper and that I might also save $200 to $300+ dollars by using them. What do you think?

 

[RED2001GT]

Anybody?

 

[RED2001GT]

That's what I am going to do. I need to find a decent bodyshop in my area first though. I need to ask around and see which ones do good quality work and which ones have the proper measuring equipment and machinery. I don't know if I will be able to find a reputable shop here in my area. Most of the bodyshops around here are not that great. They are very expensive and they do second and third rate work.
I am thinking about taking my Mustang to a Maaco and telling them exactly what work I want them to do on my car. The only bodywork which Maaco would have to really do on my Mustang is take off the front bumper and resand and repaint it. And I would require them to take the front bumper off the car to do the paint work properly. There is no other bodywork or paintwork that's required on my Mustang. All the other stuff that needs to be done is related to the gap problem and will basically require Maaco just making the adjustment on the header light panel. I'm hoping that Maaco will do the adjustment and all the paintwork properly and that my Mustang will look like it did "before" it got hit.
Do you think that Maaco will be a good choice here for the type of work that needs to be done to my car? There is really no stripping or prep work that's required for the type of repair that needs to be done on my Mustang. The only body and paint work that's currently needed on my car is the front bumper and that's it.
I would think that Maaco will do the repairs and the paintwork properly to the front bumper and that I might also save $200 to $300+ dollars by using them. What do you think?

What do you think? Anybody?

 

[RED2001GT]

Anybody?

 

[DaNd4Speed]

lol

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Hellooooo? Is this thing on??? Can anyone hear me?

 

[RED2001GT]

Hellooooo? Is this thing on??? Can anyone hear me?

Please don't make fun of my post. I am serious regarding the questions that I asked about taking my Mustang to Maaco in the above post which I made. I don't have a lot of money to re-do the repair. If Maaco can fix the gap problem and also repaint my front bumper while it's off the car at a very reasonable price, then it shouldn't be a problem. The other bodyshops in my area are a bunch of thieves. I noticed this just by speaking with them. They don't want to give me any straight and honest answers about doing the proper repairs to my car or about the cost associated with the repairs that are needed. I don't like that. So, that's why I am considering bringing my car to Maaco. At least I can tell Maaco EXACTLY what I want them to do to my car. The other bodyshops in my area that I spoke to were all being smartasses. That's why I am considering Maaco. If Maaco can do the same quality work for an honest and reasonable price, it would be worth it.
What do you think?
Please reply with a serious response.

 

[RED2001GT]

Anybody?

 

[mineralgray2002]

If you want your car fixed at cost, try a local autobody school. I go to school for auto and the only thing the customer pays for is supplies. Kinda sucks because we fix some nasty crap and have to pay to do it. If you were in southern illinois i'd have you bring it to our school, we've painted 3-4 mustang bumper covers already.

 

[RED2001GT]

I never thought of the autobody trade school. I will call around and find out if there is one in my area.
I am also going to bring my Mustang to a Maaco when I am able to save a few hundred dollars and see if they can fix the gap problem and also take off and repaint my front bumper. It's really depressing to have to bring my car back to another bodyshop when the first bodyshop didn't do the repairs right. I am really angry because now it's going to cost me a few hundred dollars more to have to re-do the repair work and probably 1 week without having a car.

 

[bigcat]

macco-dont do it. with how fussy you have been with the paint that is on there now, more than likely you wont be satisfied with the repaint either.

 

[RED2001GT]

macco-dont do it. with how fussy you have been with the paint that is on there now, more than likely you wont be satisfied with the repaint either.

I've been giving a lot of thought for the last 1 week or so about whether or not I should take my Mustang to Maaco to get the repairs done. Last fall, I visited Maaco and I was shown by them some body work which they did on some various brand new cars which a few customers brought in to them (a brand new Mini Cooper and a brand new Honda Accord). The quality of the bodywork that they did on these 2 particular cars was excellent. There was no overspray or any orange peel anywhere on the cars which they did body work on and they had to re-do both the quarter panels and the bumpers on both vehicles.
I figure that if I bring my Mustang to Maaco that I will tell them that I want them to be very meticulous and that I want them to take off my front bumper and sand down the "entire" bumper and then repaint it. I would demand that they repaint the front bumper carefully so no orange peel appears on it from the paint job. I would also ask them to put my Mustang on the frame machine and to measure everything just to make sure that nothing is bent out of shape in the front of the car. The bodyshop which I initially took my car to for the repair work told me that they measured everything and that there was NO DAMAGE done to any of the frame rails or to the core support. So, if everything is okay, then Maaco would ONLY do the headlight header panel adjustment and the paint work on the front bumper.
The ONLY paint work which Maaco will actually be doing on my Mustang is repainting the entire front bumper.
The rest of the work that they are going to do is just adjusting the headlight header panel, putting back the black plastic cover that goes over and covers the header panel (this is the huge black plastic piece that is screwed on top of the radiator core support by plastic screws that the hood shuts on to), putting the honeycomb grill back on the car and securing the headlight units correctly so they can be "flush" with the front pointed part of both front fenders.

I am hoping that Maaco will do just as good quality work as they did on the other cars which I saw at their place last fall. The only reason why I am choosing Maaco is because I saw that they did excellent work on the cars that I saw while I visited them and because I will probably save myself a few dollars. I don't have the money to spend another $700 to fix my Mustang. I can probably spend $350 to $450 hundred dollars for the entire repair and that's it. Any other bodyshop would want to screw me and probably want to charge me double that. Bodyshops are a ripoff if you want my opinion, no matter how good quality work that they do. They charge a lot of money for everything that they do. I find this ridiculous. That's why I am considering bringing my Mustang to Maaco for all the repairs. I really cannot afford to spend more than $450 max right now. And even $450 is a lot of money for me.

 

[RED2001GT]

You know what I mean?

 

[bigcat]

its your car, your choice. we all can say anything in the world to sway you one way or the other, but its your car. if you feel comfortable with maaco, thats your opinion.

 

[RED2001GT]

its your car, your choice. we all can say anything in the world to sway you one way or the other, but its your car. if you feel comfortable with maaco, thats your opinion.

To be very honest with you, I have seen Maaco do good and bad quality work. The customer who uses Maaco must demand that Maaco does not skimp on any of the work which needs to be done. Their body work is about the same quality as any of the other bodyshops around. Where Maaco differs in quality is in their paint work. In order for Maaco to do excellent paint work on a vehicle, the owner of the vehicle has to tell Maaco exactly how they want their paint work done. I usually ask them to take the bumpers and any other trim OFF the car before they do any paint work. And I also tell them that I will NOT accept any paint work that has orange peel in it. I think that Maaco will get the point when I specify to them that I want the paint work on my car done a certain way. With Maaco, I can pick and choose what type of paint job that I want them to do on my Mustang. I usually go for the top of the line paint job when I use Maaco and they STILL are the lowest priced around if compared with the other bodyshop thieves out there that claim that they do excellent body work and high quality paint jobs. A good example of this is the original bodyshop where I initially took my Mustang in for the bumper repairs. They screwed up the repair on the front bumper and caused the gap problem to appear on my headlight assembly unit. Now, I wouldn't call this quality body work or paint work. And these guys weren't even a Maaco. I bet that Maaco would have done a much better job fixing my Mustang if I had brought it to them to begin with. I am not saying that Maaco is the best bodyshop, but they are not the worst bodyshops around either. At least, they are not thieves like most of the other bodyshops that are in existence right now. If any customer has a complaint with Maaco's workmanship, they can always go to corporate and complain and work things out to resolve the situation. But with private bodyshops like the one which I dealt with, you cannot do anything. You are stuck with the crappy body work, paint work and workmanship that they did on your car. If Maaco has excellent customer service and if any customer who is not satisfied with their work makes a complaint with corporate, then I don't know why it would be a bad deal to use Maaco for any body work or paint work? Maaco has been around since the early and mid 1970's and they have a few hundred bodyshops all over the United States and Canada. They wouldn't have this many shops if they were not doing something right.

 

[RED2001GT]

You know what I mean?

 

[RED2001GT]

Do you think that this is a bad idea if the Maaco that I take my Mustang to will abide by my demands for all the repair work that I request them to do on my car?

 

[mustang90]

Damn dude your still going on about this! Your bumper and gap problem has you