MK4 Wagon -- Need ElsaWin info on rear quarter replacement

Hey everyone, my MK4 wagon is going in for surgery this wednesday due to the rear quarter panel being damaged by my neighbour.

With that said, I am going through insurance and have chosen the best body shop in our city. When I was getting the repair quote, they mention that all of the work is done to VW Factory specification.

Now since I don't have much faith nor trust with new encounters, I was wondering if somebody can post a few screen shots on what ElsaWin stats is the proper way to cut out the old rear quarter panel.

I would like to know what VW recommends so that when I go visit my car while it's being worked on, I can verify that it indeed is up to VW's specification.


I don't have ElsaWin with my anymore but I do remember they had sections on body repair and panel replacement.

If anybody could help, that would be really appreciated.


Thank you

check your PM

EXCUSE THE PICTURE SIZE


I guess I will just document my repair with this thread.

I choose the best body shop in my city to take on the task of repairing my wagon. I work and drive past this shop and on a daily basis you see BMW/Audi/VW/Mercedes/Porsche and the occasional Ferrari. If they have the reputation that they have, they must be doing something good.

I've reviewed the repair estimate with part numbers and they are to replace the full quarter.

I dropped my car off this past week and the work began.

Before:


Now since I wanted to prepare myself for this repair, the quarter panel removal is quite extensive.

See here:


As I was driving in my 2015 Sentra to work, I passed by the body shop and noticed that the quarter was not cut out properly but the damaged pieces were just cut out.

I pulled in and snapped this picture:




I called my estimator at the body shop and explained how little trust I have with anybody working on my car and that the estimate included the full quarter panel replacement. He assured me that they just cut out the damage to inspect if there is anything else damaged behind the panel and they will still be cutting out the full piece.


So that's where I am at currently.

I will pop by the shop every so often to see if I can take a glimpse of my wagon and make sure that at least the full quarter has been cut out. I don't want a hack job and I need to build confidence with this shop.

Keep us updated. I'm curious as to how the replacement piece gets welded back in.

Good time to slip in some sound deadening material in there

Small update.

I got a call from my guy at the shop that is taking care of my car.

They got the rear quarter out.

Looks pretty good compared to the VW image above.

To note, in front of my car is some kind of lift with a red Ferrari F430. I'm glad she's in good hands

The number one issue you should think about is corrosion protection. This is often overlooked. How is the body shop going to treat the welded sections of the quarter on the back side? Will they be at least spraying cavity wax? Do they use weld through primer on all joints and metal mating surfaces? When I have done quarter replacements I over reduce epoxy primer and soak the wheel well area in particular, let that dry several days then cavity wax the living daylights out the repair area. POR rust encapsulation paint won't work in the specific application due to it's thickness and you currently don't have rust to encapsulate. It will bridge the small gap between the wheelhouse and the new quarter and won't wick into the seam.
My next concern would be color match. This shop sounds like it does higher end cars so the hope would be they are going to do blend the left rear door. That necessitates door dis-assembly including the outer window rubber. On the wagons the rubber removal is not intuitive and is easy to distort. The Bentley has the correct procedure or removal. Mine was done poorly prior to my ownership and as a result is permanently distorted.
I would get the warranty in writing. Since this shop seem reputable this should not be a problem.
Good luck,
Peter

The repair estimate I have includes items that are for the rust corrosion/protection.

Regardless, when I do get the car back, I will take off the side panel and spray the best rust corrosion protection product I can find in there.

Then I will take the wheel arch cover off and do the same, spray it all in there.

Of course if I continue to dwell and think about their repair process, I am sure it will give me grief.

As long as this holds up fine, I will be happy and I will try to get something about their warranty on paper for any future reference.

Dam thats intense!

Well the 12 days of repairs should be finishing up.

I was hoping to get the call today but I didn't so I suspect monday should be the day. With that said, I drove by the shop in the evening and looked inside hoping to see my wagon.

There it was. The shop seemed to have gave it a nice bath, maybe some wax, they cleaned the rims nicely and obviously fixed the repair.

Pics.






I can't wait to be back in a diesel!

Well the ordeal is over.

The shop has been great to deal with and Matt my contact there was a standup guy.

The wagon is back and looks great

Its nice to hear good news around here!

they did a beautiful job...mind sharing what the final cost was?

mrurbina said:

they did a beautiful job...mind sharing what the final cost was?

Click to expand...

It was all through insurance. I will post up what the exact quote was.

Any update?

Our wagon is going in shortly for an almost identical repair. Been waiting on the new panel, as it was backordered.

I think our quote was $3200.

post #12 in the thread is the update