Newcomer 4 Report post Posted November 9, 2015 (edited) Hi everyone, I have an e30 I'm tidying up in my spare time and am looking for some advice on how to proceed. So far I've been working on the mechanicals myself over the weekends but I also want to tidy up the bodywork which I know nothing about. The problems the car has are the following: - Tiny amount of rust behind the front wheel arch where stones have chipped through the protective coating. Rust seems to be just around the edges and at a very early stage (don't see any pitting, definitely no flaking). I'm guessing just sand and respray with protective coating? - One of the previous people who have worked on this car probably tried to trolley jack on the inner sill where one of the factory jacking spots is. This has resulted in the sill bending and splitting along the length (probably ~20 cm) of the factory jacking spot (the V cross-section shape of the sill has split into | |). There's some rust inside the split, not sure how much though. - Birds must have sh*t on this car daily before I got ownership of it. The reason I say this is that every flat surface has clearcoat problems but the vertical ones appear to be in perfect condition. Judging from the color of the paint, I'd say that either the paint over the whole car is all the same age or somebody has done a very good job color matching. - Speaking of the paint issue, I also have chips on the sideskirts, front and rear bumper, and along the edge of the driver's side door where it's probably scraped a wall while opening. I'm a DIY type of guy but I don't know anything about bodywork, nor have the tools necessary to do welding and painting so I'll need to take the car to a bodyshop to deal with all these problems. I'd like to ask for advice on the following: - Would it just be better to just get the entire car repainted if I need to do so many areas (front panel, roof, 1x C pillar, trunk, front and rear bumpers, sideskirts)? - I've done my research on which places are good but I doubt I can afford them as I only have 5k budgeted at the moment. What sort of job can I expect for 5k for the sill repair and paintwork? Better to just wait and save up more and take the car someplace nicer? I'm happy to do prep work myself such as sanding and filler on stuff that I can remove from the car such as bumper and sideskirts. Thanks for taking the time to read my wall of text (and hopefully offering advice ). Edited November 9, 2015 by Newcomer Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andre3000 55 Report post Posted November 9, 2015 Take the car to Wayne Scott Panel in New Lynn and have a yarn with Wayne about what you're looking to do and budgets etc. His rates are by no means cheap but they are very effective and professional his shops turn out quality work. If you can remove trim, badges, guard liners etc and any prep that you can do easily that won't eat into their time spent you'll save alot of coin. Tell him Andrew from Bishops sent you and he shouldn't whine about rust too much... 67 Portage Rd, New Lynn 0600 09-826 3316 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
