Body Shop Guys - Need Your Advice

swanicyouth

swanicyouth

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The winter was not kind to my 14 year old daily driver. Rust is forming at the area of the rear quarter panels where there is a perpendicular bend into the part where the door striker mounts. This is all one piece (rear quarter panel). It's on both sides of the vehicle (both rear door areas).

Car has all factory paint (except for bumpers). This I know because I've measured it and the thickness is pretty universal. Also, I've polished it and all paint reacts the same.

See pics:

Quarter panel from Nissan:

e2ahejud.jpg


Passenger side (worse side) upper rust:

yzaterut.jpg


Passenger side lower rust (worse area):

6ysa4ege.jpg


amajybyq.jpg


Stand back view of passenger side:

vete9uvy.jpg


Drivers side:

upysu9a4.jpg


yvy4yran.jpg


What, I want to know is:

1. Does this look fixable without replacing the rear quarter panels? Repair doesn't have to look 100% factory - I just want to stop the rust and have it look somewhat decent, as you can't see much when doors are closed.

2. Is this a huge job, i.e. $$$$.

3. Anyone know anyone in SE PA / Montgomery County PA or the area who does this type of work who is good? I haven't had to use a full fledged body shop in years (knock on wood).

Here is the vehicle (below). While the vehicle has this issue, it runs perfect, everything works perfect, the interior is near perfect , and it has all factory paint on the body panels in relatively good shape. So, I'd rather fix it than trade it in. Also, I really don't want to replace the rear quarter panels, mainly because they have the factory paint and it's in good shape.

syte7eba.jpg


Thanks in advance for advice or help !!!
 
We get jobs like this quite often, mostly in wheel openings and fuel tank door areas. It is possible to fix without replacing the quarters depending on the severity. Sometimes it's on the surface and can be ground out and filled with fiberglass resin. This only lasts a few years at best tho. Yours also looks like it is where the inner structure meets the quarter, and if that's the case, it may have spread to or come from the inner structure at which point it does become a large job. The outer quarters are usually around 500$ each and the inners are almost as expensive sometimes. This combined with labor adds up really quick.
 
top189h said:
We get jobs like this quite often, mostly in wheel openings and fuel tank door areas. It is possible to fix without replacing the quarters depending on the severity. Sometimes it's on the surface and can be ground out and filled with fiberglass resin. This only lasts a few years at best tho. Yours also looks like it is where the inner structure meets the quarter, and if that's the case, it may have spread to or come from the inner structure at which point it does become a large job. The outer quarters are usually around 500$ each and the inners are almost as expensive sometimes. This combined with labor adds up really quick.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. Initially it looked to me like it was "where the inner structure meets the quarter" (like you said); but if I'm understanding what you are saying, it's all part of the quarter panel according to the Nissan diagram:

puda8ybu.jpg


Maybe I'm not looking at it correctly. I have zero body shop experience.

It seems isolated to what I can see, but who really knows??? I guess I'm going to have to throw a dart, pick a body shop, and get a guesstimate. Too bad the quarters don't unbolt like fenders often do, or I could possible buy them, install them, and get them painted. I did that once with a fender when I was a poor student on a Honda and it worked out well.
 
I will check into it tomorrow at work and I will let you know the price of the part and cost of the labor. We are in southern Maryland but at least I should be able to get you in a good ballpark rather than having to go shop to shop.
 
According to the estimating system I have (southern md so my shops hourly rate of 42$ may be different then where you are), you're looking aroung 3800 to completely replace the quarters. There isn't any inner structure that isn't included with the quarters. They are 895 each with 17.5 hours body to put each one on and then another 5 hours roughly to paint each side, but if I was you, I would ask a shop to just section in the area you need and it would make it cheaper, but the quarters would still be the same price.
 
You may have to consider the black book value of the car before you decide the repairs.Those are some of the most time consuming repairs.Maybe Ospho, filler, paint and live with it.Either the door seals or Nissan`s body prep let you down.
 
Thanks for all your help guys. Hopefully I can find a guy who can repair it with some type of filler and repaint the area.

In a few days I'll start my tour of the body shops to see what can be done.
 
swanicyouth said:
Thanks for all your help guys. Hopefully I can find a guy who can repair it with some type of filler and repaint the area.

In a few days I'll start my tour of the body shops to see what can be done.
Click to expand...
When you weed through the shops and costs let us know what you come up with.
 
swanicyouth said:
Will do. All will be documented in this thread. Good, bad, & ugly.
Click to expand...
Good thread for documentation purposes as well as we wish you the best for your piece of mind.Double stamped steel and what larks behind it can some times open a can of worms that more times than not can become quite costly.I wish you the best.
 
Today I did tour of the body shops to get this issue looked at. I went to 2 shops. The first one asked me "if I had an appointment". But, I told them I was there for a cash estimate. That seemed to annoy the estimate guy. So, right off the bat I didn't care for this place. He looked at the damage/rust in the pic and told me "we don't do rust" and "that's Nissan". So, no estimate was given. Imagine that, they turn down the prospect of cash work because "they don't do rust". You'd think the frame was rotted out. - not just some quarter panels.

The second place was the complete opposite. The guy was one of the owners and super friendly, nice, and helpful. I liked this guy right away. This body shop has been there since 1977. He explained the estimate to me. He said they would cut out the rust and replace/repair the "rusted area".

He said he would not know for sure what's behind the panel until he got in there, but explained he was pretty confident he could fix it without replacing either quarter panels. He also told me one quarter panel would need to be partially repainted - but re-cleared all the way.

So, here is the estimate. It was less than I expected. $1650.

du7uty9y.jpg


So, obviously I'm likely going to go with shop #2.
 
That's much better than what you initially thought it would be. Is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening in the future?
 
Hey Steve,

Many times, after-market companies offer replacement "sections" of panels that can be welded in place once the damaged sections have been removed.

This is an example of how pieces or sections can be replaced instead of the entire panel...

 
I like dealing with people who love their jobs. So will you be getting an estimate from anywhere else? or Will you be going with this guy?
 
Paul Mitchell said:
That's much better than what you initially thought it would be. Is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening in the future?
Click to expand...

I don't think there is much you can do to prevent this, unless I can convince the PA legislature to stop salting the roads. Hopefully, once the repair is done it will last several years.

I think I'm just going to go with the shop whose estimate I posted. I really am not sure what else to do. Other than this issue, the vehicle has no other problems. So, I'm not looking to get rid of it.
 
Ok... Well, to follow up....Truck is at the body shop. They needed to pull the plastic fender flares to see the the extent of the rust. As things like this go for me usually - it was worse than they thought.

Went down and snapped some photos.

Driver's side... Not too bad:

nyma8ety.jpg


Passenger's side...pretty bad:

e7ydaqu6.jpg


dare8ury.jpg


ypu3uhu4.jpg


Yikes:

2uge8yqa.jpg


y9a7ave4.jpg


So, now we are up 10 additional hours of labor. They are going to fabricate & weld in new metal where the rusted areas are. They don't make any replacement sections for this vehicle. Replacing the quarter panels isn't an option - as that is major major dollars.

I told them just fix it. Right now I'm looking at a $2200-$2500 bill. Quite frankly, I maybe crazy, but this still sounds better than getting a "new"/used truck with God-only-knows-what-problems; or 5 years or car payments on something brand new.

If you notice in the pics, at least my Tuff Shine looks good.
 
That car in that condition can't be worth more than $3,000

You could buy a 2011 Pathfinder with average miles and make a years worth of payments instead of spending $2,500 on repairs.

You are officially in Love with this car.
 
i have a '99.5 Pathy SE, so same body as yours (diffferent trim) but with the old 3.3L engine. i bought it a couple years ago to replace my previous dog/beach mobile, an '87 short wheelbase Montero.

the Pathfinder lived all of its life north of me but in a shore town. couple that with the road chemicals and you have the ultimate durability test for a vehicle's materials.

welp, it has rust in so many typical places. in front of both front flares, at the lowest rear part of both front quarters, on the lip of the rear quarters where the door closes, in front of the rear wheels...umm...a few other places as well. i've compared it to many shore-dwelling Pathfinders of the same gen since i live two miles inland and they all suffer similar damage but in so many places. sure, some spots are almost guaranteed to have rust but others aren't. it's just the way those trucks were made. then if you take the flares off like you did...that's a whole other can of worms, haha.

why i'm saying all of this is that i tell people in similar situations that if they can stop the rust with a rust stopper product, and encapsulate it with a similar partner product, then while it might not look pretty, at least you will have a fighting chance for quite a while to drive and enjoy that vehicle because mechanically, they tend to be very stout. i mean, i can't believe how flawless this thing has driven with over 170k on it now.

i see you already took it to a shop, but Oakes Detail in West Chester has mentioned to me over the past couple years a few places he's successfully dealt with - Copperhead Refinishing, Classic Coachwork (the one attached to the McLaren dealer) and Cavallo Autobody. Copperhead would have been the one i recommended to start with for a project like this.

it's a tough decision but i know why you did what you did. sometimes it's easier to fix what you have vs. cut losses and hope that what you start over with will be nearly as reliable.
 
allenk4 said:
That car in that condition can't be worth more than $3,000

You could buy a 2011 Pathfinder with average miles and make a years worth of payments instead of spending $2,500 on repairs.

You are officially in Love with this car.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm sure the truck isn't worth much, but the way I look at it is what is it's "replacement value". In other words, what would it cost me to buy a similar vehicle to replace it that can drive through pretty much the worse ice and snow.

I'm thinking I could buy a "new one" and then I'm buried in payments for 5 years. Or, I could buy a "new used" one, and it may have issues and I'd still be making payments or have to lay out at least $10k + cash to buy it - as I'm sure they wouldn't give me much for this one.

Just thinking out loud here - bit honestly I hate debt and hate payments.

Other than this issue, the truck is mechanically perfect, doesn't have any real oil/engine leaks, and everything works fine - even the sunroof works perfectly. It looks good too, as you could only see the very smallest amount of rust with the fender flares on.

So, they are fixing it. We will see. It may have made more sense just to leave it alone, let it rust, and drive it. But I don't think I would have a lot of motivation to keep it detailed if it was rusting away.

Will be using this vehicle for the test bed for a review of The Synergy I won when I get it back.

What I have done to this vehicle in the 3 years I have owned it:

1. Replaced a CV Half shaft. Did it myself. Axle was about $60.

2. Replaced 4 tires. General Grabber AT2s. About. $700.

3. Replaced complete exhaust from manifold back. Cats were about $3700 (4 cats) - dealer did that. I did cat back exhaust at home using factory cut Bosal exhaust. About $350 for those parts.

4. Did plugs, air filter, fuel filter, 2 transmission fluid changes, transfer case fluid change, both differential fluids changed, and oil changes every 5k - all with synthetic fluids. Probably $500 there for parts. Did all that myself.

5. Replace both belts myself. Used Nissan factory belts. I they they cost about $50 for parts.

6. Replaced the idle air control valve myself. I think the part was like $150 from Parts Geek. I think I fried it when I cleaned the throttle body, as I started getting CEL and codes soon after. The IAC fixed the problem.

7. Replaced the ash tray @ $70. Was missing when I bought the vehicle.

8. Had a lot of PDR done and both F & R bumpers repainted. About another $1000 there all together.
 
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