Los Angeles, Looking For Mechanic, BodyShop, Leather Repair

[brx1]

Just moved to LA area from NOLA (Nawlins).

BadQ45t recc. Z-Expert in Venice for repairs. I think after all of my issues in New Orleans, the car is mechanically good now. But, also good to know of a few "safe" mechanics-even for basic oil changes, etc.

My 1995 Q45 will need new tires. So I guess it will need a good alignment to follow. Where to go for that? Any reccs for tire places here, or just use the internet and find some local place for the install (any reccs?)

Body work needed: small door dents and scratches, marred and chipped paint on the bumpers - might need new paint job, and front pass side turn light got smashed. Paint, esp on roof is coarse and prob the whole car needs to be "buffed out". The dings are prob too expensive to really bother with. Trying to hold costs down. In New Orleans, I got estimates from $500-1000. Variations had to do with extent of bumper repairs mostly. There is a dent at the rear bumper from backing into a tree (oops).

Some of the thin black gasket like rubber seals around the windows are starting to peel away. What should I do, or just let the body shop reseal these areas?

Any reccs for a body shop with fair prices? Taking the car to Tijuana seems too much of a hassle-and where in TJ to go?

I have torn leather on the driver door trim where I "rest" my left arm. About 2 x 5 inches. Some truly minor seat leather damage too. Maybe too early to repair now. The guy repairing my shoes at Willie's will also try to get me some local info.
Any reccs?

Window tint also needs a redo. Again, any reccs?

Anyplace on these or other forums that lists/mentions stuff like this (reccs for places to go for repairs and such, vouched for by real users) and not scam sites?
It would be useful for members throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and maybe Armed Forces overseas (BTW-thanks for defending us).

Thank you from LA (still looking for a place to live here-prices are very high vs New Orleans).

[BadQ45t]

Go by Z-Expert and he can setup everything for you...he's got a leather guy and a body guy right there. Plus he's a tire rack installer and has is the BEST balancer on the planet. He's done tricky rims for me, he can even do the balance on the car.

Give Richard a call, he can coodinate your leather work and body work while your there. Tell him Jeff Leeds sent you.

[brx1]

Thank you. However LA is huge. I work at LAC + USC, on the East side of dntn. The shop in Venice is open 8-5, M-F, per their website. That makes it almost impossible to get there. Any other reccs closer to dntn LA?

[Q45man1]

Try CarZone (818-373-1330) located in San Fernando Valley. They are also open on Saturdays. It's not too far of a drive from downtown LA. It is hard to find a reliable shop especially experts with Q45. Glad to find them two years ago, and I've been taking my two Qs there. And these guys are awesome. Owners are former Infiniti master techs, one currently drives a 94Q and the other a 90Q.

Ask for William or Donald and tell them that Percy sent you. I know there are at least 5 current Q45 NICO members take their Q's for service at CarZone.

[BadQ45t]

Either way, welcome to Los Angeles, it is big and for sure much more $$$ to live than NOLA. My advise is drive by both shops and talk to the owners, see which one you like best and pick either staying on the city side or going "over the hill" to the valley. Then you should just plan to rent an Enterprise car for a few days. They are super cheap when you get their local service and they will pick you up as their ads say. Just plan a week one way or the other to give up the car and try to get everything done at one shot.

Qman's shop I'm sure is great too, I have used Z-Expert for over 18 years, the good thing about Richard is he's cool with coodination with other shops. He's got a great body shop and a leather guy across the way from his shop, so body work and the leather work can be done right there.

Main thing is AVOID the dealership, Los Angeles prices I'll bet will be much more then NOLA. Also, in case you haven't noticed it yet, your not living in the best part of Los Angeles...sorry but I was instructed by my dad to "ride the rim" out of those areas if I ever got a flat. Both the valley area and Venice are a heck of a lot better places to put your car into a service call. In both cases your pretty darn sure to get great service not get ripped off...that is worth spending $120-150 bucks for a rental roller-skate from Enterprise versus taking a chance with a mechanic that doesn't know these cars or is just a rip-off artist.

BTW, advise on living situation, get the heck out of that area. Commute either to the west side or to the Valley. The Valley is cheaper but hotter and much more smog in summer (I grew up in the Valley) but the West Side has traffic and higher prices. Either way totally worth it to me to live closer to beach. Check out Mar Vista and Culver City, a little cheaper living and still great places.

Good luck, PM me if you need more [email protected]

[brx1]

Hello and thanks.

I work at LAC + USC Med Ctr. Originally I thought I had a sublet in the Los Feliz area, but the person "flaked" on me. Then I found a nicely redone place in a 1970s bldg in KoreaTown nr Wilshire and Normandie. I even used the M and the USC Med Ctr shuttle on Monday. Took over an hour each way, so far from ideal. I am not accustomed to rush hour. I have to live within 30-45 minutes of the Med Ctr. So for now, while house hunting, K-Town is fine. With a few exceptions, everyone has been quite nice so far.

I work 8-4, 5, 6 pm. So forget about driving to Venice. It might as well be a 1000 miles away. If he was open Saturday, that would work – but he isn’t. Given 4 estimates for body work in NOLA that varied from $500 to just under 1K, I am appalled at the estimates of over 2k to 3.5k for the exact same work here. When I indicated self pay and “can you work with me on the price here”, well, they only wanted to do AAA+++ work when all I wanted was about B- work on a 15 yr old car. No, none of them would “work with me”. Some of the places in NOLA would also loan me a clunker for a few days. Three of the estimates came from places highly rated on the net. Pinky’s on Melrose offered a very fair price on the door lock issue of under $200. He will let me know about the passenger side turn light tomorrow. I found one tint place nr Harry’s Collision for $90. He said the leather door trim would be about $250 to replace the whole piece, so I will likely just cover it. The car needs a major detail on the exterior. I could probably do the interior clean up in a couple of hours. Pinky’s said they had a guy that does major detailing, buffing out stuff, etc for $225. So no favors on that price.

I am really not interested in driving to the Valley and having to rent a car for a few days if I can the work done on the near West Side. So far the move to LA has been a cluster. I don’t know how nor why folks put up with the $%^&, except for the great weather. That stated, folks at work have been great – but I have one of the shorter commutes. Some folks drive in from Orange County, Torrance, etc. I think they are crazy.

As I said in the past any assistance is appreciated. I still have to think about getting new tires. One step at a time. Email is: [email protected]

[BadQ45t]

Hey, thus I root for the Lakers and Dodgers and live in the SF Bay Area I gave up on living there 11 years ago, I left after high school and got stuck there for 8 years in the 90's, the West Side is the only place I could be happy. The weather is very nice and there are good things in LA, but you're in the adaptation mode

You got to get out of that area where you work, face you have to commute, Los Feliz is okay, even parts of Glendale are okay but not my cut of tea at all. Living on the West Side is what you should do.

I know you say Venice might as well be 1000 miles away, but if you can setup to go there during an extended lunch break, you can drop the car with Richard, get a rental drop off from Enterprise, and reverse that a week later. Mars Autobody located in Richard's lot totally gets insurance company money versus your money, or Richard will have someone else if they pissed him off at all. I got several pars of my 1984 300ZX painted and they knew the difference.

Check out apartments in Mar Vista/Culver City. The commute to downtown isn't that bad if you stay on Washington Blvd. and then merge onto the freeway, my dad did it for many years and it wasn't that bad...living on Los Feliz is okay but SMOGGY as hell and I just don't like that area.

Your not going to find anybody cheap or understanding in that part of town. Your a hick from the south and they are not going to cut you a break (I'm not saying you are but that is the way they look at it). If your totally against doing that at least for the auto body work, e-mail me directly at [email protected] and I'm sure my Dad can find someone down-town way that will work with you. I know he's got a guy downtown that fixed my wife's car for cheap when I bought it, so ping me and I'll get him to figure it out. He lives in the Marina.

Make sure you score a Tommy Burger soon, ohh, the drippy chili burger Beverly & Rampart is the original and best.