Arches who's had em done?

[fillip]

Right I need to get my arches sorted before they get messy.

Filler will not do im guessing they will need cutting back abit and then new metal welded on. I understand this is going to be expensive although i have no idea how expensive.

Can anybody who has had it done recommend a good place to get them done and the prices they paid. I am based in ox or portsmouth but will also travel a little bit if good price and service

Cheers guys!

[spikey-ben]

Hi fillip,
At the moment im having mine done, well there done its having a full respray aswell, All i can suggest is take it somwhere thats got a really good rep as mine have been done in the past very badly by a preveus owner and its took alot of time and effort making it right again. I used the normal pattern arches for a normal clio and adapted the to fit and look the same, as rear quarters from rennlo are around the £300 mark each. Also check your sills mate aswell because mine looked ok on the outside but where totaled internally.
Cheers Ben

[fillip]

I want the original arches :shock: that is 600 quid already without even having them welded and sprayed :( I want it done properly Im not sure i can stretch to that much thou or not yet atleast.


Can anybody reccommend a body shop who would be up to it. Its more of a restoration thing than the normal body repair dings and bumps that these places are used to. So is there a specialist out there that could do it?

Thanks

[franksvalver]

i took my car somewhere quite local to me. i just hunted about about. asked what they were going to do and above all looked at their previous work. When an alfa pulled out of his shop i was sold.

He made the arches up himself on one side and a small patch where therear bumper attaches to the bodywork. Two sill rebuilds from the doors back and mopped it. Cost me 500 quid. With no rubbish it is the best job ive seen done for a long time. Obviously the mop helped but as much as a strained i couldnt tell the difference and nor can alot of other people

I think if you hunt about then you can find someone good enough to rebuild arches. It took me two months to find this bloke.

[Jamie.]

I got mine done local to me when I lived in North Wales.

I got a bargin tbh - I exchanged my old written off 1.4RT for some work as he was going to repair it and sell it on. The car wasn't worth much but the work at the time was valued at circa £300.

He cut and welded a new panel in on one side and touched up the lip on the other side.

It looked mint for some time although it is not approaching 2 years since it was 'done' and there is a faint line where you can see there the panel being welded in. I am not sure if this is due to a chemical reaction etc but it is a bit of a shame.

I suppose you do get what you paid for.....

[fillip]

The amount of people I have phoned up and they arent even interested Its not as if they are bad now they are just starting to bubble through i just want to catch it before it gets nasty!

[16v_paddy]

I've just had mine done, but I also got the rest of the car resprayed.

I got quoted £400 a side to have the rot chopped away, new metal welded in and the whole side to be resprayed.
Its not worth buying a whole original arch/panel if the whole rear qtr isn't completely FUBAR, as most of it will get wasted as whoever does it will only have to use a pretty thin sliver of the new panel to weld in.

Repair panels are much cheaper, although they aren't a very good fit, if the guy who does it is any good, they'll be able to beat it to a perfect fit.

Have a look at my thread in the pictures section and you'll be able to see how much metal was welded in on mine and then the finished result 8) There's no way in hell you'll be able to tell they've been repaired let alone with cheaper pattern parts. It's not worth paying the premium for the Renault items as its all down to how good the person is doing the job

[Allan]

paddy i will talk to you tomorrow night about it :D

as i need mine doing :D