Post by
Qashqai »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/qashqai-u179323.html
Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:22 am
Here is an update for my PDR adventure:
Some of you may remember, last August we had a terrible hail storm and my Rogue was damaged. It wasn’t heavily damaged (compared to the other cars I have seen in the body shop), but I am planning to keep the car until it falls apart and I don’t want to drive a car with small craters. Anyway, here is a short summery of my story:
I took my car to a body shop, which works with my insurance company. They decided to replace the roof panel, but PDR the hood. I didn’t understand why they don’t PDR the roof, since they have identical damages. They couldn’t answer. So I took it to another body shop, which I knew before.
Lesson learnaed: Never take the car to an arranged body shop. They are working for the insurance company and they try to save money for the company. They don’t care about you or your car...
The second body shop sublet a hail damage team. They were professionals and experienced on fixing hail damaged cars. I trust the body shop. Left my car for one week.
How they work was:
1-The body shop people removed the interior trims, headliner, rear hatch and hood. They also remove the roof bar and black plastic strip under the roof bars (I printout the Factory Service Manual’s pages to show them how to remove and install the pieces step by step. But because they are "professionals", they said they already have those resources and their staff will follow the FSM..F**ING BULL s***)
2-The hail damage team PDR the car
3-The body shop people put all those pieces back together.
What they did was:
1-Removed the hood, removed the insulation pad, put it on a metal stand with four legs. Each leg has a rubber bumper, not to scratch the paint. PDR the hood.
RESULT: hood has no dents left. They used small holes on the frame of the panel to access and poke the dents. They bend most of those holes. They didn’t applied touch-up paint to the damaged edges of those holes. They scratched the inside surface of the hood in two places. While removing the insulation pad clips, they damaged the surface of the pad as well.
2-Removed the hatch, Removed all the trim pieces, PDR the metal part between the top edge and the spoiler.
RESULT: Since the remove the hinge from the car, not from the hatch, they broke the factory seal. The dents are completely gone. They lost one trim piece (I found it later, under the spare tire)
3-Lowered the glass and PDR the two rear doors and passenger side front door.
RESULT: No more dents. They scratched all three glasses. There were minor scratches on the rear glasses and major scratches on the passenger side glass.
4-Removed the passenger side rear light and PDR the panel close to the gas cap.
RESULT: The dents are gone, but they forgot to put rubber grommets back.
5-Removed the interior trims. Lowered the headliner, lowered the sunroof and PDR the hood.
RESULT: No more dents, but while putting back the headliner, they creased from three places. They broke the B pillar trim piece and they damaged the C pillar trim due to being a grease monkey and pushing them too much.
What I did was:
1-They gave me the car back. I didn’t care about the outside, because I visit the body shop one day before and I carefully examine the body and the PDR was done perfectly. I looked inside and found all the damages (except glasses) listed above immediately. Since I know the manger and he is a really nice person, he said these are unacceptable and they will change them. He said they will order the parts and call me to come and drop off my car.
2-One day later, while backing up my car in a parking lot and turned my head to rear and look outside from the rear window glass, I realized the scratches. I took the car to the body shop again and showed the scratches. The PDR guy said these are caused by the stone/sand/dust between the door weather stripping and glass. Whenever I lowered and raised the window, they scratched the glass:
a. Nearly all of the scratches had an angle and some of them were close to horizontal. The window moves vertical
b. They weren’t scratched 9 days ago
c. It is a 2011 car with 14000 km on it
d. The most striking clue: The only unscratched glass is the front driver side, which is the only door that didn’t have PDR
e. I know it sounds funny, but I never open the rear windows.
3-After I understand that the PDR guy scratches the glass while fixing the door panel and trying to get rid of me, I asked where the manager of the body shop was. I talked to him and especially when he saw the passenger front glass (which has the deepest random scratches), they decided to replace three glasses and charge it to the PDR guy.
4-They ordered the parts and I dropped off the car when they called me.
The final situation is:
1-They changed the three windows. I don't have the VINs etched on those glasses anymore. At first they offered me to install transparent rear glasses and apply film, but I insisted on factory tinted privacy glasses. They are working fine. No more scratches. However, while removing the glass from the two rear doors, they scratched the door frames. I don't want to take it back to the shop, because all they can do is to do a messy touch-up. I can fix it and it is not really visible as well.
2-Headliner and trim pieces look good. It is hard to believe but they lookslike the factory assembled
3-During the next few day, I may find some additional damages. Usually when they are fixing somewhere, they are damaging another place.
So, this is my PDR experience.