Portslade Panelworks
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:36 pm
Originally posted on PUK from April 2011 onwards. My car had suffered from the usual 5G rusty wheel arch problem:
Posted 14/04/2011:
Dropped off The Lude at Portslade Panelworks this afternoon. I'm getting the rear wheel arch and front bumper sorted only. I'll get the simpler jobs of the rear and side skirt done elsewhere some other time for a bit cheaper.
Posted 20/04/2011:
I had to say farewell to the Tackle Box Wagon (Chevrolet Matiz SE) this afternoon when I collected my car. Here are some before and after photos:
Before (14/04/2011):
This was the main cause of concern I wanted sorted at the top of the rear wheel arch.
More rust at the bottom of the wheel arch.
Two separate incidents on the corner of my front bumper. The large graze is where I attacked a concrete pillar in a Brighton multi-storey car park before Christmas. The deep gash is where someone reversed into me (assumed) while my car was parked an unattended. The bumper is also slightly deformed but isn't shown in this photo.
Further marks on the top edge of the front bumper which have been touched up. This is from where the aforementioned person done a hit & run on my parked car.
After (20/04/2011):
No more rust.
No more rust. I apologise for the dirt on the top of my side skirt.
Just like new. You can see me kneeling with both my parents in the background.
Perfect.
Before I started getting quotes, I wasn't aware at how bad the rust actually was as my car had the rubber wheel arch liners / protectors fitted. The general consensus is that they can contribute towards the rust. However, up until now, I had kept them on as I preferred the look.
Portslade Panelworks cut out the rusty sections and welded in new metal, before painting. After giving it some thought, I thought it would be best to do without those rubber wheel arch liners so I asked Portslade Panelworks not to refit them and to paint some sort of protectant on the wheel arch lips instead. As you can see in the photos, they have rubberised the wheel arch lips (on both sides of the car, above and below the lip). It's a thin layer of rubbery stuff which is transparent so you can see the paintwork beneath - I was expecting the stuff to be black.
I need to make a note about preventing rust and those rubber wheel arch liners... They were both replaced with new ones during August 2009. At that time there was no rust visible. Before fitting the new ones, I stuck a strip of insulating tape along the edge of the wheel arch lip and folded it over (one half was above and the other half was below, if you get what I mean). It seems that I only did the passenger side (I can't remember why). The passenger side has no rust so didn't have the work carried out (apart from that rubbery protectant stuff painted on for prophylactic measures). The driver side which didn't have the strip of insulating tape along the lip did rust. Maybe this was just coincidental? But I reckon that the insulating tape sealed the gaps between the double skin spot welds and prevented the rust.
Posted 27/04/2011:
I washed the Lude last Thursday and unfortunately discovered some random cloudy patches over parts of the paintwork, including front of bonnet, rear wheel arch panel, boot lid and rear spoiler. Possibly lacquer overspray? Or maybe the protective sheets they use are slightly adhesive? Anyway, they soon polished away without trace so is now sorted
.
Also, the off-side side skirt didn't seem to have been fitted correctly and seemed a bit loose. Those of you who have fitted them will know that the side skirts are secured by 3 plastic plugs underneath, as well as a series of white clips along the sill and a couple of screws up front. I bought my side skirts second hand back in 2004 and I'm not sure if they came with the correct plastic plugs, therefore when they are in, they are loose and there's a gap of about 5mm between the car floor and plug head. I'd be very interested to see what plugs are used as original fitment with Motegi side skirts. I got around this by using a homemade spacers so they would fit in tightly and not rattle around. Since getting my car back last week, those homemade spacers have gone AWOL
. When I removed the skirt yesterday evening I was pleased to see that my sills are still pristine so I gave 'em a coat of wax for protection.
Other than these minor issues, overall I would say that I am pleased with the work carried out by Portslade Panelworks and would recommend them to anyone who needs stuff done.
Posted 10/07/2011:
On Saturday 25/06 while carrying out my annual routine of giving my brakes a new coat of paint and the wheels a thorough wash & wax, I noticed this on my newly repaired rear wheel arch:
Seeing as I had spent £810 in getting this sorted, along with the front bumper only two and half months ago, I was very unhappy indeed! A bubble has developed under the paint, a tell tale sign of rust. The second photo shows a smaller pinhead sized bubble.
So, back to Portslade Panelworks I went on Thursday 30/06. They accepted responsibility and will be sorting it under warranty. Originally, there was two separate areas of rust - one at the bottom and one at the top. I can see inside the bottom of the wheel arch that the metal has been cut out and replaced, as was agreed. I'm sure they said they were to do the same to the top too, but it seems this may not have been done. I get the impression that maybe it was rubbed down and painted over again? I can't be sure what exactly was done so I'm not gonna make any accusations here. But they have rightly agreed to sort this so I'm happier than I was.
At the same time, I'm paying for them to sort the other couple of bits I've been meaning to get done - cracked near-side side skirt and flaking paint of the rear skirt:
I bought the Motegi kit from a seller in Wembley back in 2004 and it was originally from a Iceberg Silver Prelude. The two cracks were there when I bought the kit but was repaired when I had it resprayed Ruby Red Pearl back in 2005. Through the years, the cracks have come back and are now no longer subtle.
This will be the 3rd time the rear skirt has been resprayed! It was originally resprayed Ruby Red Pearl back in 2005. The paint started flaking off years later so I had it resprayed somewhere else back in 2009. I specifically asked the second bodyshop to strip the skirt down back to the bare plastic as the primer / paint doesn't like the original silver paint underneath. Obviously, they ignored this request! The paint has cracked in 3 separate places and on the worst area, the original Iceberg Silver paint can clearly be seen.
I've had some really stupid (expensive) quotes to get these 2 parts sorted. Abbotts of Copthorne quoted me £582.12, Auto Repair Services quoted me a similar £582.60 and Crawley Down Group quoted me a more reasonable £324.00
I'm dropping my car off tomorrow after work and will have the delight of driving a Citroën C2 VT (1.1) until Thursday.
Posted 16/07/2011:
I said goodbye to the Citroën C2 VT on Thursday when I collected my car. I'll give a proper review of the work carried out after I next wash the Lude. There were a few minor issues which I had to resolve when I got home
On a side note, rather coincidently, the rear off-side brake caliper seized up (same side as the rear wheel arch which was repaired). I know it was OK a few weeks before as I head cleaned the brakes and given them a fresh coat of paint. Also, I had replaced it less than 4 years ago during August 2007. I noticed that the silver Hammerite paint on the brake disc hub section had turned bronze and was blistering. When I arrived at work on Friday morning, I could smell burning! The paint had got worse and the wheel was very hot. Great, more money to spend out! I sourced a replacement remanufactured brake caliper yesterday morning, took half a day annual leave off of work, painted it silver to match the other calipers and fitted it. Also had to use paint stripper on the brake disc hub section to remove the old burnt paint before repainting it. Anyway, it seems that the actual caliper may not have been at fault, I think it was rather a problem with the other bit. I think it's called a carrier? The slide pins were very sticky and stiff. After cleaning them out and putting new grease in there, all is now sorted.
Posted 19/07/2011:
No more rust (hopefully).
Just like new, no more cracked paint.
Just like new, no more cracked side skirt.
What the side skirt looks like from the inside.
In the first photo you might be able to make out that the wheel arch curve is a little flat at the top It's not too bad, but I can live with it.
Other negative points are:
I know some of these are quite minor things and I can forgive breaking some of the clips, but I would expect for them to be replaced with proper items, and not metal bolts / screws. I would expect a company such as PPW to keep a supply of plastic clips for when they need to replace them, rather than hoping it will go unnoticed.
I genuinely wonder if the more expensive cars I've seen there such as the Audi R8 and Aston Martin V8 Vantage receive the same level of treatment as my humble 11 year old £2k Honda.
Posted 31/07/2011:
Look what I discovered on Friday:
To say that I'm not happy would be an understatement. My car successfully fought off rust for 10 years, but the repairs do not last even 2 weeks.
On Thursday I removed my wheels, gave them a wash and had to polish away what I assume is lacquer overspray over the rear wheels. Not a fun job at all. Also, after washing my car on Saturday morning (first time since getting my car back), I spent quite a few hours polishing away what I assume is lacquer overspray on the boot lid, rear bumper, rear number plate, rear window, near-side rear wheel arch panel, off-side door, both off-side windows and the off-side side skirt. Complete mess.
I've changed the title of this thread to better reflect what this thread now covers.
Posted 02/08/2011:
Went back to PPW this afternoon. The man I spoke to (I think he's the joint owner) did genuinely seem very shocked and disappointed over the rust recurrence. He was very apologetic and did come across as sincere. Going back in on Monday afternoon next week. Fingers crossed.
Posted 10/08/2011:
Again, I am not happy. Inside I am fuming. Went to collect my car today and saw that the quality of the work carried out was terrible. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo, but I've edited the previous photo below to illustrate the fault.
*** Updated 02/05/2017 - EDITED PIC HAS SINCE BEEN LOST ***
The straight line of the rear panel which the rear bumper goes up against was VERY wonky, as shown in the edited photo above. It wasn't what I would describe as a small gap, it was a gap of a good few mm and looked absolutely terrible. I told them that I wasn't happy and they said they will sort it and should be ready tomorrow. Other than the wasted time and petrol, I am getting really fed up. On the way home, I wondered to myself if the person working on my car stood back afterwards and actually reviewed their work. Did they seriously think that was acceptable? It is unbelievable.
Posted 11/08/2011:
Collected the car today and all seems OK at the moment. I'll reserve a proper verdict until I've washed the car early next week. The wonky line is now straight, as it should be. I can see that there's some sort of overspray on the top edge of the rear bumper next to where the work was redone, which is simple enough to resolve myself (even though I shouldn't have to do this). There seems to be something thin in the gap between the rear panel and the top of the rear bumper. I can't see it properly, but it looks like a layer of paint that has separated off of the rear panel. I'll investigate next week. Gonna be giving my car some proper TLC on Monday / Tuesday when I won't be surprised to discover more lacquer overspray like on the previous occasions.
Posted 28/08/2011:
Sorry for the delay, I was away on holiday throughout last week and arrived home yesterday. Had a busy week leading up to it. After giving my car some proper TLC over a 3 day period before I went away, there were some issues which I discovered:
The odd thin area I mentioned on 11/08 is just uneven welding, which is well hidden away so is no problem.
Posted 14/04/2011:
Dropped off The Lude at Portslade Panelworks this afternoon. I'm getting the rear wheel arch and front bumper sorted only. I'll get the simpler jobs of the rear and side skirt done elsewhere some other time for a bit cheaper.
Posted 20/04/2011:
I had to say farewell to the Tackle Box Wagon (Chevrolet Matiz SE) this afternoon when I collected my car. Here are some before and after photos:
Before (14/04/2011):
This was the main cause of concern I wanted sorted at the top of the rear wheel arch.
More rust at the bottom of the wheel arch.
Two separate incidents on the corner of my front bumper. The large graze is where I attacked a concrete pillar in a Brighton multi-storey car park before Christmas. The deep gash is where someone reversed into me (assumed) while my car was parked an unattended. The bumper is also slightly deformed but isn't shown in this photo.
Further marks on the top edge of the front bumper which have been touched up. This is from where the aforementioned person done a hit & run on my parked car.
After (20/04/2011):
No more rust.
No more rust. I apologise for the dirt on the top of my side skirt.
Just like new. You can see me kneeling with both my parents in the background.
Perfect.
Before I started getting quotes, I wasn't aware at how bad the rust actually was as my car had the rubber wheel arch liners / protectors fitted. The general consensus is that they can contribute towards the rust. However, up until now, I had kept them on as I preferred the look.
Portslade Panelworks cut out the rusty sections and welded in new metal, before painting. After giving it some thought, I thought it would be best to do without those rubber wheel arch liners so I asked Portslade Panelworks not to refit them and to paint some sort of protectant on the wheel arch lips instead. As you can see in the photos, they have rubberised the wheel arch lips (on both sides of the car, above and below the lip). It's a thin layer of rubbery stuff which is transparent so you can see the paintwork beneath - I was expecting the stuff to be black.
I need to make a note about preventing rust and those rubber wheel arch liners... They were both replaced with new ones during August 2009. At that time there was no rust visible. Before fitting the new ones, I stuck a strip of insulating tape along the edge of the wheel arch lip and folded it over (one half was above and the other half was below, if you get what I mean). It seems that I only did the passenger side (I can't remember why). The passenger side has no rust so didn't have the work carried out (apart from that rubbery protectant stuff painted on for prophylactic measures). The driver side which didn't have the strip of insulating tape along the lip did rust. Maybe this was just coincidental? But I reckon that the insulating tape sealed the gaps between the double skin spot welds and prevented the rust.
Posted 27/04/2011:
I washed the Lude last Thursday and unfortunately discovered some random cloudy patches over parts of the paintwork, including front of bonnet, rear wheel arch panel, boot lid and rear spoiler. Possibly lacquer overspray? Or maybe the protective sheets they use are slightly adhesive? Anyway, they soon polished away without trace so is now sorted
.Also, the off-side side skirt didn't seem to have been fitted correctly and seemed a bit loose. Those of you who have fitted them will know that the side skirts are secured by 3 plastic plugs underneath, as well as a series of white clips along the sill and a couple of screws up front. I bought my side skirts second hand back in 2004 and I'm not sure if they came with the correct plastic plugs, therefore when they are in, they are loose and there's a gap of about 5mm between the car floor and plug head. I'd be very interested to see what plugs are used as original fitment with Motegi side skirts. I got around this by using a homemade spacers so they would fit in tightly and not rattle around. Since getting my car back last week, those homemade spacers have gone AWOL
. When I removed the skirt yesterday evening I was pleased to see that my sills are still pristine so I gave 'em a coat of wax for protection.Other than these minor issues, overall I would say that I am pleased with the work carried out by Portslade Panelworks and would recommend them to anyone who needs stuff done.
Posted 10/07/2011:
On Saturday 25/06 while carrying out my annual routine of giving my brakes a new coat of paint and the wheels a thorough wash & wax, I noticed this on my newly repaired rear wheel arch:
Seeing as I had spent £810 in getting this sorted, along with the front bumper only two and half months ago, I was very unhappy indeed! A bubble has developed under the paint, a tell tale sign of rust. The second photo shows a smaller pinhead sized bubble.
So, back to Portslade Panelworks I went on Thursday 30/06. They accepted responsibility and will be sorting it under warranty. Originally, there was two separate areas of rust - one at the bottom and one at the top. I can see inside the bottom of the wheel arch that the metal has been cut out and replaced, as was agreed. I'm sure they said they were to do the same to the top too, but it seems this may not have been done. I get the impression that maybe it was rubbed down and painted over again? I can't be sure what exactly was done so I'm not gonna make any accusations here. But they have rightly agreed to sort this so I'm happier than I was.
At the same time, I'm paying for them to sort the other couple of bits I've been meaning to get done - cracked near-side side skirt and flaking paint of the rear skirt:
I bought the Motegi kit from a seller in Wembley back in 2004 and it was originally from a Iceberg Silver Prelude. The two cracks were there when I bought the kit but was repaired when I had it resprayed Ruby Red Pearl back in 2005. Through the years, the cracks have come back and are now no longer subtle.
This will be the 3rd time the rear skirt has been resprayed! It was originally resprayed Ruby Red Pearl back in 2005. The paint started flaking off years later so I had it resprayed somewhere else back in 2009. I specifically asked the second bodyshop to strip the skirt down back to the bare plastic as the primer / paint doesn't like the original silver paint underneath. Obviously, they ignored this request! The paint has cracked in 3 separate places and on the worst area, the original Iceberg Silver paint can clearly be seen.
I've had some really stupid (expensive) quotes to get these 2 parts sorted. Abbotts of Copthorne quoted me £582.12, Auto Repair Services quoted me a similar £582.60 and Crawley Down Group quoted me a more reasonable £324.00
I'm dropping my car off tomorrow after work and will have the delight of driving a Citroën C2 VT (1.1) until Thursday.
Posted 16/07/2011:
I said goodbye to the Citroën C2 VT on Thursday when I collected my car. I'll give a proper review of the work carried out after I next wash the Lude. There were a few minor issues which I had to resolve when I got home
On a side note, rather coincidently, the rear off-side brake caliper seized up (same side as the rear wheel arch which was repaired). I know it was OK a few weeks before as I head cleaned the brakes and given them a fresh coat of paint. Also, I had replaced it less than 4 years ago during August 2007. I noticed that the silver Hammerite paint on the brake disc hub section had turned bronze and was blistering. When I arrived at work on Friday morning, I could smell burning! The paint had got worse and the wheel was very hot. Great, more money to spend out! I sourced a replacement remanufactured brake caliper yesterday morning, took half a day annual leave off of work, painted it silver to match the other calipers and fitted it. Also had to use paint stripper on the brake disc hub section to remove the old burnt paint before repainting it. Anyway, it seems that the actual caliper may not have been at fault, I think it was rather a problem with the other bit. I think it's called a carrier? The slide pins were very sticky and stiff. After cleaning them out and putting new grease in there, all is now sorted.
Posted 19/07/2011:
It's OK, you don't need to apologise. Here are the photos taken on Thursday after getting my car home:Pushki77 wrote:I'm sorry to see this especially as I recommended the bodyshop.
I'm glad they've accepted responsibility. Hopefully they'll do it right this time.
No more rust (hopefully).
Just like new, no more cracked paint.
Just like new, no more cracked side skirt.
What the side skirt looks like from the inside.
In the first photo you might be able to make out that the wheel arch curve is a little flat at the top
It's not too bad, but I can live with it.Other negative points are:
- - The paint match on the side and rear skirt aren't very good.
- Rear skirt wasn't fitted properly, leaving a gap between the skirt and bumper. Have since sorted this.
- Same goes for the rear bumper not fitted quite right (it's best to push the bumper forward before tightening up the bolts to minimise the gap between bumper and bodywork). Have since sorted this.
- One of the plastic clips was replaced with a bolt / screw. This is the one which is visible on the rear edge of the wheel arch of the rear bumper so wasn't a good look at all. I've removed it and will replace it with a proper one some time.
- One of the plastic clips which holds on the side skirt was replaced with an alternative. I've since replaced it with a proper one.
- Two of the plastic clips which secure the rear skirt to those arms things which stick out behind the boot were refitted upside down.
- Some sort of overspray on my rear suspension spring and wishbone arm.
- Some sort of overspray on my exhaust tail pipe which I've since removed with paint stripper. Think it was lacquer maybe.
- Some sort of invisible overspray on my rear off-side alloy wheel. It felt quite rough so I had to give it a thorough polish & wax.
- Alloy wheel centre cap was not refitted correctly, they can only go on properly one way.
- As expected, those cloudy patches are back. However only seen one so far (on rear bumper) as I haven't yet washed the car, so am bracing myself for more to polish out.
I know some of these are quite minor things and I can forgive breaking some of the clips, but I would expect for them to be replaced with proper items, and not metal bolts / screws. I would expect a company such as PPW to keep a supply of plastic clips for when they need to replace them, rather than hoping it will go unnoticed.
I genuinely wonder if the more expensive cars I've seen there such as the Audi R8 and Aston Martin V8 Vantage receive the same level of treatment as my humble 11 year old £2k Honda.
Posted 31/07/2011:
Look what I discovered on Friday:
To say that I'm not happy would be an understatement. My car successfully fought off rust for 10 years, but the repairs do not last even 2 weeks.
On Thursday I removed my wheels, gave them a wash and had to polish away what I assume is lacquer overspray over the rear wheels. Not a fun job at all. Also, after washing my car on Saturday morning (first time since getting my car back), I spent quite a few hours polishing away what I assume is lacquer overspray on the boot lid, rear bumper, rear number plate, rear window, near-side rear wheel arch panel, off-side door, both off-side windows and the off-side side skirt. Complete mess.
I've changed the title of this thread to better reflect what this thread now covers.
Posted 02/08/2011:
Went back to PPW this afternoon. The man I spoke to (I think he's the joint owner) did genuinely seem very shocked and disappointed over the rust recurrence. He was very apologetic and did come across as sincere. Going back in on Monday afternoon next week. Fingers crossed.
Posted 10/08/2011:
Again, I am not happy. Inside I am fuming. Went to collect my car today and saw that the quality of the work carried out was terrible. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo, but I've edited the previous photo below to illustrate the fault.
*** Updated 02/05/2017 - EDITED PIC HAS SINCE BEEN LOST ***
The straight line of the rear panel which the rear bumper goes up against was VERY wonky, as shown in the edited photo above. It wasn't what I would describe as a small gap, it was a gap of a good few mm and looked absolutely terrible. I told them that I wasn't happy and they said they will sort it and should be ready tomorrow. Other than the wasted time and petrol, I am getting really fed up. On the way home, I wondered to myself if the person working on my car stood back afterwards and actually reviewed their work. Did they seriously think that was acceptable? It is unbelievable.
Posted 11/08/2011:
Collected the car today and all seems OK at the moment. I'll reserve a proper verdict until I've washed the car early next week. The wonky line is now straight, as it should be. I can see that there's some sort of overspray on the top edge of the rear bumper next to where the work was redone, which is simple enough to resolve myself (even though I shouldn't have to do this). There seems to be something thin in the gap between the rear panel and the top of the rear bumper. I can't see it properly, but it looks like a layer of paint that has separated off of the rear panel. I'll investigate next week. Gonna be giving my car some proper TLC on Monday / Tuesday when I won't be surprised to discover more lacquer overspray like on the previous occasions.
Posted 28/08/2011:
Sorry for the delay, I was away on holiday throughout last week and arrived home yesterday. Had a busy week leading up to it. After giving my car some proper TLC over a 3 day period before I went away, there were some issues which I discovered:
- - Lacquer overspray in the driver's side door frame,
- Lacquer overspray on the top surface of the side skirt (hidden when door is closed),
- Lacquer overspray along the top straight edge of the off-side of the rear bumper (by where the work was carried out),
- The roof, windscreen and bonnet all felt rough, with nothing visible - more overspray?
- One of the rear bumper fixing plugs was refitted upside-down (as before) and the other was missing.
The odd thin area I mentioned on 11/08 is just uneven welding, which is well hidden away so is no problem.
