So I bought my '91 Firebird a couple months ago and it had a little hood and fender damage from a deer. I got a used fender off here and my friend gave me a T/A hood which looked pretty good to me. Well, after the body shop cleaned it up and primered it they called to tell me that the hood wouldn't work. I drove down to the body shop to see what the problem was. At first, I looked at the hood and didn't see anything. Then the guy proceeded to tell me that there were alot of low spots on the hood and that it wouldn't work. After running my hand over the spots I could "feel" what he was talking about but I still couldn't really see it. He said that it would look like crap when they were done painting and putting the clear on it. I took his word on it and went home and snagged the hood off my '86 TA and took it to them. I could feel the same type of issue when I ran my hand over that hood too and he said they'll have to work on it and see what they can do.

They're supposed to call me tomorrow and let me know what they find out. I'm basically to the point where I just want them to do the best they can and if I don't like it then that's my problem. They'll still get their money.

Has anyone else ran into this problem with trying to get their hood painted? I tried to just go stock aftermarket but Keystone doesn't carry them anymore and I don't know who else to try. GM discontinued the TA hoods and they want $781 for a base model hood.

 

if they're any kind of reputable body shop, they should be able to fix anything. unless your taking it to a Maaco type of place. sounds odd to me. JMO.

 

unless he doesn't want them to do any real body work, just prime and paint, in which case they are probably just telling him it is warped and will look bad painted. Usually hoods this old have a couple of dings, bends, or warped spots that will need a little extra attention to get straightened but you have to be willing to pay for it to look right. if you're not worried about it being perfect, tell him to spray it but be aware that you see imperfections in shiny paint a lot more than you do in primer.

 

Unless you're paying them to fix & fill all dents/imperfections I wouldn't paint it either if I were them. You have to understand it's their reputation at stake, not your cars! Too many people expect miracles from body shops and only want to pay the bargain rate. A wavy hood with a nice shiny paint job is the worst advertising for a body shop. IMO, keep searching for a flawless hood and THEN have them paint it.

 

That's saying a lot there!

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I grew up around the paint and body business and most complaints are the customers being to picky.

I for one, am one of those picky customers and demand perfection. You should appreciate the fact that they are up front with you (not saying your not).

It is true, a hood, top and deck lid are the toughest places to hide body repair as every flaw can be seen. Usually, you end up paying more to get the damaged hood perfected than it would cost to replace it.

Good Luck...

 

well from my experience working at a body shop, if written in the estimate to only replace hood and fender, they will do just that..no more...unless you stated in the estimate to have the imperfections filled and blocked out of the hood, most bodymen are paid by commission and will not do extra work that is not paid for. It has to be in the estimate for them to do it, so if your not paying them to fix dents, dings or low spots..they wont fix them

 

Well, this body shop is a small one. They were recommended by the paint department at O'Reilly Auto Parts which is where I happen to work. They did give me a quote and they told me that they typically stick to the quote and if they need to do anything more then they'll call. So they called. They didn't offer to fix the hood though. They just said that it wouldn't work and left it at that. They suggested aftermarket but after I said ok and they called for one, they found out that the aftermarket ones were no longer available. They didn't suggest anything after that. I guess I'll just have to find out what's going to happen when they call me tomorrow..... and I can almost guarantee they'll call.

 

A paint shop cannot be simply turn away customers because those customers do not have or are not willing to pay to create a perfectly straight car with perfect paint. Or rather they can, but that just means it is not the shop for you, but perhaps one for a Ferrari owner or thirdgen show car owner. Yes, the shop's product is also its greatest advertisement, but if a customer says that he/she wants a certain level of quality (say, driver quality with some visible flaws) then the shop should have no problem producing this. If that were not the case, anyone with a less than perfect car would have to take out a huge loan just to get a paint job for a driver.

Ask them if they can fill in the low spots, and what they would charge to do so. If the hood has "normal" wear for a 20 year old car, and is not rotted or massively dented, they should be able to make it work.

If they do not really want to do that kind of work, and insist you try and find and pay for expensive and perfect parts, then perhaps they are not the shop for you.

 

Most of the body shops I've talked to kinda of thumb their nose at thirdgens in general.

case in point, I called a shop around here to ask about straightening a few bends in my hood, and filling some GFX holes in in the replacement fenders I got. the guy told me to junk the car, he wouldn't touch a car that old, and why would I waste my money on such a piece of "recyclable tin" keep in mind this is from a custom rod shop!! it's really funny because my car is very straight, other than the work I was looking to get fixed.

another told me to just replace the hood because it was off a camaro and won't fit right (it's a formula hood btw) he also said the fenders weren't made for the car and that I need new ones (they are new, and fit good ) he wouldn't even consider using the fenders I have on the car "get new ones then we'll talk"..... good thing I only got free quotes.

I did find a few willing to do work on the car, but they have been less than enthusiastic to offer any kind of gaurantee on the work, not acceptable since my car will see lots of car shows.

needless to say I've gotten good at body work

 

Well I stopped in at lunch time to check on the hood and they said they would know more by tomorrow but that it's looking better than the other hood so far. They said when they stripped down the first hood to the metal that there was alot of "underneath" damage and that there was so much they just couldn't fix it. The other hood, the one they're working on now, came off my '86 TA so I don't anticipate as many problems. When I bought the car 4 years ago it had a shiny paint job and looked excellent to me. The only difference now, 4 years later, is that the paint is old and oxidized really bad. I've got my fingers crossed on this one. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

Well, I can see the shop's point of view when they are telling you up front that they don't think the hood is worth fixing. You state in your last post that they stripped the hood and found old damages...This is common (probably 60 percent of NEW cars on the road have been repaired.) I have an 05 Silverado with eight thousand bucks worth of deer hit damage in my shop right now. I have an 06 coming in next week, and we already repaired an 07 this summer.
It is a credit to the shop that they are being this honest with their customers. How would you feel a year from now that they had covered up the old damages, scabbed some bondo and primer over it, and called it a day. The other issue at stake here is the fact that repairs to a hood are tricky anyways. The abuse they take are well past what other panels receive. The heat and cold from mother nature...engine temps...opening and slamming the panel closed. All can take their toll on any significant body work.
Good luck with the second hood.

 

I have to ask this, why is it so bad to use bondo?
Is it ok to use in small spots where there is no rust?

 

It's not "bad", I was trying to make a point. That IF they just buried everything and plastic'd the **** out of the whole hood...It would show up to bite him/them later on.
"Bondo" IS a necessary tool to repair and refinish vehicles. In fact, If someone says they repaired or repainted their car and used absolutely "no Bondo"...They're either filling you full of ****, or their painter did.

 

Thanks, I asked because my painter used a little here and there to straighten the body and i'm getting mixed reveiws about it.

 

Even if you watch the guys making six digit show cars, they use Bondo to create a perfect surface.

And it IS possible to do a car without Bondo...you'd use lead instead, like the old timers.

 

Been there done that, I wouldn't ask someone to do it.
BONDO is your friend. At least some people tell me that.
If you are going to straighten a pannel there will HAVE-TO-BE some bondo, or the pannel must be replaced and most people don't want to spring for new pannels.

 

any shop should be able to straighten it enough, or hit maaco if you don't care that much. I know my hood isn't 100% straight since it's fiberglass, but no one notices.

 

Yeah, I know lead is dangerous and takes great skill to apply and all, and that Bondo does the same job just fine if used properly.

But you can't deny that it is possible to do a car without a drop of Bondo by using lead. It is what the cutomizers of the heyday of car crafting used...radical body mods with lead as a filler.

 

There is no problem with Bondo whatsoever if the surface is preped right and the mud is applied right. it should never be more than 1/8". I've seen it over an 1" thick by some chop shop or shade tree "body man".
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That's an art in itself. My Grandfather (R.I.P.) and Dad (R.I.P.) were in the business when lead was all there was. Could also be part of the reason neith er are here today.

 

Well a little update on the hood. I went to the body shop Friday and they said they were able to use the second hood. Since everyone seems to be on the bondo subject, they did use a bit of bondo on the 2nd hood. They said it'll look really good when they're done.

After getting more information on the 1st hood, I now understand better why they couldn't use it. They didn't give me this information earlier which is why I was slightly confused about it and created this post. Anyhow, apprently the person that had the hood before me decided that the non-functional front vents weren't acceptable and decided to cut out some of the metal underneath to create airflow. Well apparently the metal under these vents are part of the strength structure and when they cut it, it made the front end weak. Another reason they couldn't use the hood was because the center line on the hood was slightly flattened between the front vents and because of the underneath structure, they couldn't get in there to pound it back up and make it look right.

Anyhow, all seems well now and I'm sure I'll be extremely satisfied when I get my car back next week.

 

Oh, without question...but I don't know anyone in the modern era using lead. As you stated earlier, waaaay too dangerous. Hell they even had to quit using lead in paints because of the poison to your system...could you imagine using it on a day to day basis?


Indeed.

congrats! and a few pics when itis returned, if you please.

 

Will definitely post some pictures. There will be no emblems on the car temporarily but after I get this work done, I'll be purchasing a complete set of GTA emblems for it and sometime next spring I will have the money to paint the '91-92 TA/GTA spoiler that I purchased awhile back. I also just got my GTA tail lights the other night. They're not the '91-'92 lights but they'll look better than the base model tails on there right now. To anyone except thirdgen fanatics and probably a few others, they won't notice the difference. Either way, it'll look really good when I'm done.

 

The car is done... and it's a beauty!

Got some before, during, and after pics. I'm extremely impressed with the work they did. The O'Reilly paint shop matched the paint so well that the body shop didn't even have to blend the paint on to the adjoining panels which saved me a little money. After all the body work they did on the hood, I still only ended up paying $250 over the original estimate. I'm happy.

Unfortunately it was cloudy outside so I wasn't able to catch the mirror finish of the entire hood but thanks to the mobile home sitting behind it, it shows up a little in the pics.

Before:

 

During:

 

Finished Product: (Two more pics on the way as soon as I black out the plate)

 

As Borat would say....


Verrry Niiiiccees



That GTA hood really makes that car....

 

Two More Pics: