General Technical Questions and Answers last answered over 1 year ago.
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Have had to face up to it but this winter I've got to sort (or get some one else to more like) the front right and rear left arches on my 20yr old van. I took it to one place for a quote for the FRONT only and also to include repairing the lower seat belt mount (corrosion again) he said £400-£500!
Is this what I should be expecting? I'm not trying to get it to pass a concourse inspection, just want it solid and tidy to last another 10yrs whilst the children still want to holiday in it.
Has anyone had similar work done, if so how much have they paid?
There's a VW camper specialist in Wareham,Dorset - does anyone know what they're like for work quality?
Brookie,
Have got a similar prob with scabby rear arches on my T25, local bodywork chap said about 400 quid each, bit of a shocker!
i have replaced arches before on my ratty old fiesta and an escort in the past, with not too bad results, hardly concours! but i'd like a better job doing on mi bus, seems like all bodywork/paint people charge a lot for what they do, probably cos they know us amateurs are'nt too good at it!
also a bit scared of welding on mine as its on LPG, and i'm paranoid [possibly un-duly] about it blowing up!
hi brookie, i have done a few of these and id charge at least £200 plus the parts but if the job ran into 'a'andd 'b' posts the price would increase.
the quote was probably either to put you off a bit or they may have spotted a can of worms.
the thing you need to remember when a job like this is done is that its not just a patch, seat and carpets have to come out, breather tanks, filler neck, any interior trim which may catch fire have to go too. then you can start on the real job. the whole step and arch have to be cut out, the area needs to be made good, that is to say there needs to be stuff to weld to!! and have non of that super stubbourn sealer that lives under wheel arches.
fitting up means taking off the door putting it on and off a few more times. the door then has to line up and fit. the whole job is then welded, sealed and checked again for alignment, then all the stuff goes back in.
this is a bog free job, but if your man is keen with bog then there is also rubbing down etc to pay for too.
bare in mind that rear arches come in two sorts, the one which is just the outer skin and either go across the full rear quater from the track rail to the bottom, or from the bottom to 8" above the arch. the second is the original shape rear arch, this fits the seams and covers the inner wheel arch, these are good if there is more inner arch rot than seam rot on the outside imho.
in my experience are easier done using a full lower repair panel and not the one which fits just 8" above the arch.
then you have paint too..............
it is a bit of a job, thats why im having a bit of a break from them at the mo
