I went to a body shop and they told me it would cost $350 to shave the actual handles off the car....

Just to remove he handles and lock and make it a flush thing...

That's it...

Let me know, they said 9 hours of labor.......$350 total....


Thanks

 

That doesnt sound too terrible. However if you have the equipment, such as a welder; it could be easier just to do it yourself and learn along the way. I'd deffinietly try it.

 

i shave doors all the time, if you want to ave money,just get them to weld in the plates for you and you do your own body work, using bondo is nothing, its easy as hell. jsut get some bondo for 12 bux and a sanding block for 4.99 at autozone and some sand paper and ahve at it, sand in x patterns, jsut make it flush,its simple to do really.

 

depends on what kind of work they do. if they do great work i'd say it's worth it.

i paid 75 to shave my antenna but there is alot more work involved with the doors. if they don't do it perfect you'll know when it's painted and to me it's worth it to pay a little extra and not see it.

 

Yeah Kandied, the same shop that is doing the handles also gave me a quote of $75 for the antenna

I was just wondering cause another shop said $250, but that was a phone estimate

Doing my own body work is out of the question.....don't have time, and i want it done professionally, i don't trust myself.....

Anyone shave their handles themselves, know how long it takes?? To me 9 hours is a long time.....

 

i agree and the chances of you doing it as nicely in 9 hours is a far fetched one. not that it can't be done and people shouldn't try to attempt things like this who might have the time though.

when it comes to body work it's just like a paint job, you get what you pay for and if you want it perfect either learn to do it yourself or expect to pay a little more. you might save a little going somewhere else but if you trust their craftsmanship it might be worth it in the end. i'd hate to see a 100 dollar difference between seeing a wave in the body and not noticing anything.

remember too though just because it costs more doesn't mean it will turn out better. just like jesse james from west coast choppers said. "i may charge you 3,000 for one of my bikes if i like you or 70,000 if i don't." unfortunately there are never any real set prices in this area.

good luck with it!

 

Ask the shop of some rides they have modified, new or classics. Ask what they did, then go look at the work. If you like, pay it. 350 does not sound to bad to me either, however, 9 hours seems a little fast. I have seen some people attempt the work them selfs, and ended up buying new doors, tailgates, beds etc. If you like the work, and trust them, its worth it.

 

Yeah, at least until you get nice shiny paint on there and all of a sudden you find out that your body work that looked so good with dull primer looks like it was done with a spatula knife now that it's shiny.

Body work is easy. Good body work isn't. It takes a lot of skill and a lot of practice. I'm certainly not trying to discourage anybody from doing it, but I sure wouldn't do my first attempts on my good car.

 

thats why you take your time with it. use a long block and its alot harder to get waves. and once you think your done ,spray x's over it and sand and check for any high or low spots. if you take your time,its hard to mess it up, but its up to whoever does it what they wanna do.,just giving my 2 cents

 

I got mine done for free!!!
only because he forgot it in the estimate, and because he was a good guy
it was originally gonna be done for $200, if i put the kit in myself
and that included shaved antenna too

 

Well this ain't Canada, not many body shops will offer shaving my door handles for free....

I'm gonna check out a few other shops in the area on Monday and see what they have to say....

Thanks for the replies

 

Any idea what the kits are going for, with the romote, wiring ect....complete?......

 

That doesn't sound that bad.

 

http://www.summitracing.com I got their VPA kit and am very pleased...
http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...ving&x=21&y=13

So it depends what you exactly want...

 

As far as doing it yourself...well Joe and I and his dad did mine in a weekend (sat/sun) This included going to get the sheetmetal to weld in and doing the gas filler door and antena hole...I would say it took us about 12 hours to do all that. Though we were working as a team. Then the painter had to really work on the door to get it to not show up, so there were some more hours. Not because we had a problem with getting it straight when we did the bodywork, but because there was some odd reaction and a ghost line would appear in the paint that was a ring around the welded area. We never figured out exactly what it was. And it did not show up till we got color on the car. Luckly we only had the shaved areas blended into teh old paint and when we went for the big paint job, the painter took it all teh way back down and did the body work again. Again the panel was straight, just an odd ghosting would appear around the weld lines... You could look at it from any angle and in anylight and it was straight, just had that faint ghost in the paint. Now with the 2nd paint job its gone, go figure.