I know there is much representation on here from Morrie's Minnetonka Subaru store, but what about their body shop? I'm taking my Legacy in on September 16th to have the front passenger door repaired and I am wondering if I should make any special requests as to who should/could work on it (cash, no insurance involved). Stuart, the estimator, was great to talk to. I wanted to go to a body shop that is familiar with Subarus so a bunch of stuff doesn't get broken when the door is taken apart. It has been a long time since I have had the need to have any sheet metal repaired, so I am a little apprehensive. It's not a show car, but it is very clean and I don't like it when there are obvious signs that a car has been repaired. The wife's car now has a crack in the windshield, so I am waiting to see the quality of my repair before I commit to have them do the windshield replacement. I want OEM glass (and am willing to pay extra over what the insurance will pay) and I want the work done in a shop rather than in a parking lot or driveway. Thanks for any info, guidance, recommendations or connections you can provide.
Used to work there, BP store not the Long Lake location. The shop itself is pretty impressive, the work that comes out not quite as much. But it's been a couple years so that may have changed.
Ah crap. I was just about to set an appointment with them to fix my bumper that someone ran in to a couple days ago. Is there a recommended shop then? It's really just bumper replacement and no sheet metal work. I imagine satin white pearl is going to be a hard one to match well though.
Sorry, haven't been on in a few days. I do auto body and just got done doing a color change, green to white pearl on a 300zx not too long ago. I still have 1/2 a quart of the pearl left and it only has another 2 months of shelf life on it. If you still need your bumper done let me know I might be able to squeeze you in for some side work for a very fair price considering I already have the pearl.
My door repair turned out amazingly well. I had a hard time justifying the cost having the door repaired, and the color blended into the rear door and front fender, then having those three panels clear-coated and the clear bra on the front fender reapplied, all to a 9 model-year old car. They fixed the dent, shot color and clear on the door only, and the color match is dead on. They had to straighten the bottom seam of the door, and that now looks perfect, including the seam sealer...impossible to tell from factory. Other than a few specks of dust in the paint (I cannot figure out why that is still an issue in this day and age), and a small spot that needs a little more buffing, I am more than satisfied with what I paid.
Dust doesn't necessarily come from the paint or gun. It usually happens because the booth had dust or dirt in it while the car was being sprayed. Paint guns run off air compressors usually between 40-55 and the air will kick up any dust etc into the paint. It can be taken care of with wet sanding before the clear coat goes on if the painter catches it. Glad to hear you're happy with it!
Yeah, I was referring to the environment in which the painting takes place...the booth. With all the advances in filters, booth design, etc, I would expect a modern paint booth to be dust free. The last painting I had done (the rear bumper cover on the Outback...twice, a year apart, at a different shop) also had a few dust particles in it, so I wasn't totally caught off guard by this. The other two body shops I got estimates from for the door repair wanted to replace the door because of the damage location and blend the paint, etc, to the tune of about $2000. No way could I justify this even if someone else was paying for it. I am going back to Morrie's on Thursday to have the windshield replaced in my wife's 2013 Escape, so I am again hoping for a positive experience...more so since this car is only a year old.
Some shops have 3M sticky gauze on the ground of the booth to help trap any dirt...the other 98% of shops don't and require that the painter pay attention to detail and catch any dirt or dust before they lay down the clear coat. Dirt is inevitable, there's really no way around it. Even with a good filteration system, booths don't act like vaccuums, the air flow doesn't come on until the room is sealed and that could be enough to kick up a little dust. I always use a tack rag to try and minimize the chance of dust or little fuzzy's getting into a paint job. But 9 times out of 10 the painter just needs to pay attention to detail...that's why we all get paid the big bucks...or something like that . As far as the price, most shops will give you an insurance estimate and an out of pocket estimate. Both will be very different from each other. Insurance estimates will usually automatically replace a part if the damage is within .5 or sometimes 1 hour of the book time allowed for the repair. So let's say you have a large dent that calls for 4-5 hours, if replacing the door books out at 5.5 or 6 hours the shop won't bother to fix they'll replace it per the insurance requirements for the grade of the part. Because insurance companies will always make us explain to death why we need X amount of hours to fix something then try and have us do it for less hours and at a lesser shop rate. So replacing is more common with an insurance claim. And because most insurance companies like for us to do the repairs for next to nothing shops will start high with an estimate listing every single little thing needed, down to removing badges on a door. Blending is also an added charge because even though it uses less paint theoretically, it sounds fancy and takes some skill to do it right. Out of pocket works a little differently because we know you don't want to spend the often times ridiculous amount of money replacement parts can be and can be more flexible with how many labor hours and R&I time to charge you. They'll also look for different ways to do the repair so that they can win your love and have you do it there. Much like buying a car they know you will only buy where you think you're getting the best deal. Personally for any side work I do, and when I used to do some estimating, my pricing usually depends on the customers attitude . Idk which way the other shops quoted you for $2k, probably assumed insurance, because even with extra R&I time that seems pretty excessive. Sorry for the novel, just figured I'd fill ya in if you were interested.
No apology necessary...I love the details on how the work is done and would have liked to watch. And I completely understand how the insurance deal works. Thanks. I told all three shops up front that I changed insurance a couple months before this happened and I was going to pay out of pocket. The two that wanted to replace the door said the way the bottom seam was bent and the dent to the outer skin being so close the bottom seam, made it unlikely they could do a satisfactory repair. One even had a tech come out and look at the door. Stuart at Morrie's didn't bat an eye at where the damage was located and was actually surprised when I said the other shop (only had one other estimate at that point) wanted to replace the door. I'm hoping the cloudiness I am seeing in the paint just below the rub strip will buff out. It almost looks like there is compound left on the paint, but it doesn't easily rub off and I don't want to get too aggressive and eff it up even more. I'm taking some pics along today when I get the windshield replaced in my wife's car and will ask about it. It is so hard to get a good pic of a shiny surface like a close up of a body panel that will show the details.
I actually started in our body shop (back in 2001 when it was actually here at the subaru store) We used to have one of the best painters in the business, and the best manager in town, the manager started his own bodyshop and took that painter with him. I know some of the original crew is still out there, they are good guys.
Andy installed the windshield in the Escape this morning...flawless job (and I see every little thing that is wrong). Stuart said what I am seeing on the Legacy's door is polishing compound and I am going out on Friday to get that cleaned up. All in all, I have had two very satisfying and pleasant experiences with Morrie's BodyWorks. A big "thanks you" to Brian (Bryan??) who did the body work on the Legacy and Andy for the glass work.
Good to hear! There are a couple things that'll take dried compound off but if you're going back anyway probably best to have them remove it. Morries is a good outfit all around, glad to hear you are happy with the repair. If you have any questions in future feel free to post pics and is be happy to answer what I can .
Well, as an update, I ended up going to Morrie's BP mostly out of convenience. The other guy's insurance is State Farm and they are a preferred body shop with them, so it's a lot less hassle for me. The color on the bumper looks like a good match. There's one spot that needs a little buffing, but not a big deal. There's a couple of places where I think the fit on the bumper cover could be better, but it might just be because I'm looking at it more closely - it may well not be any different than it used to be before it was replaced. But overall I'm happy with them, especially on the color match.
