Body work recommendation please, Hythe, New Forest

[Gunter98]

Hi,

Sorry for the rather tedious question but is there anyone recommended for minor bodywork & welding (rear corner panel) and likely MOT fails (seat belt anchors rusted out, new wheel arch anchors needed) in Hythe / Southampton / New Forest area?

No worries if not, will just ring around the body shops, but thought worth an ask.

Cheers.

[davidoft1]

Any pictures of the work , there are a few places in that area to avoid

[Gunter98]

Thanks for the reply.

The anchor points are pretty as you’d expect, I tried to remove the belt today for cleaning, and the bolt is just spinning now, although not pulled through. The wheel arch is otherwise ok, if I’d not been so ham "interfered with" it’d probably still be fine.

The rear panel is a rework of previous bodging, probably best now just to weld in a new panel rather than messing about.

https://ibb.co/y6j4mDJ

Cheers.

[davidoft1]

[davidoft1]

Thanks for the reply.

The anchor points are pretty as you’d expect, I tried to remove the belt today for cleaning, and the bolt is just spinning now, although not pulled through. The wheel arch is otherwise ok, if I’d not been so ham "interfered with" it’d probably still be fine.

The rear panel is a rework of previous bodging, probably best now just to weld in a new panel rather than messing about.

https://ibb.co/y6j4mDJ

Cheers.

any more pictures that looks pretty rough 
 

[Gunter98]

I'll take some more pics when I get home tomorrow, but that's the worst panel by a long way, the rest is the usual minor seam stuff, a bit of work on a wheel arch where a similar lack of professionalism on a previous repair is showing through. For 400K km done, the van is actually in reasonable shape. 

Looks to me like rather than fix it properly on that panel they just dumped a load of filler in and painted over it without treating and it's now rusted out and popped the paint. I'll get a new section from Alan Scofield and have it welded in rather than mess about with it.

You mentioned a couple of people to avoid - and if you'd prefer to PM that over then that's fine - but if there are any positive recommendations that would be appreciated as I'd like to get this sorted the winter gets too far on. 

Cheers!

[davidoft1]

I'll take some more pics when I get home tomorrow, but that's the worst panel by a long way, the rest is the usual minor seam stuff, a bit of work on a wheel arch where a similar lack of professionalism on a previous repair is showing through. For 400K km done, the van is actually in reasonable shape. 

Looks to me like rather than fix it properly on that panel they just dumped a load of filler in and painted over it without treating and it's now rusted out and popped the paint. I'll get a new section from Alan Scofield and have it welded in rather than mess about with it.

You mentioned a couple of people to avoid - and if you'd prefer to PM that over then that's fine - but if there are any positive recommendations that would be appreciated as I'd like to get this sorted the winter gets too far on. 

Cheers!

Which panel are you going to buy ?looks like it need all of them

[R0B]

Thanks for the reply.

The anchor points are pretty as you’d expect, I tried to remove the belt today for cleaning, and the bolt is just spinning now, although not pulled through. The wheel arch is otherwise ok, if I’d not been so ham "interfered with" it’d probably still be fine.

The rear panel is a rework of previous bodging, probably best now just to weld in a new panel rather than messing about.

https://ibb.co/y6j4mDJ

Cheers.

 

[Gunter98]

I've now gone in a slightly different direction, found a local guy to do the welding first, which is now booked for January. Will sort that out first, then there is a small local spray shop who will sort the paint out for now, while I save up the pennies for a full respray in a year or so.

The 'VW professionals' who I saw didn't take the time to reply or quote, so we'll file that in the don't bother folder and do it the old fashioned way.

Thanks for the comments in the meantime.