MR. FOREMAN — BAD BOD YWORK
BUYING a new car is a pretty painless process; find a model you like, find the colour you like, then pay for the car and drive off. Buying a used car, however, is literally like walking through a minefield; there are plenty of potential disasters waiting to happen.
There are certain ways to ascertain the condition of a potential purchase, but no one tip is better than to check the bodywork and paint of a car. Checking this one item off the checklist will determine many things, among them is whether the car has been in an accident.
If you’re looking for a driveable classic car, or building a show car or just looking to buy a reliable commuter, bad body work and body flaws can ruin your investment. These are some of the things you can spot; some are harder to discover than others but once you have inspected a few cars, the discoveries will come easily.
With used cars, rust is your number one enemy. Luckily, rust is one of the easiest things to spot. Just by looking closely at the paint and lightly running your hands or fingers over the body, you can feel for rough spots or see bubbling in the paint. Painting over rust will only solve the problem for a short time before the rust starts appearing again. Look for rust near trim pieces, bottom edges of windows, wheel wells, body sills and seams.
Body filler is probably the most useful item when it comes to body repair. However, it is also used to cover serious defects and rust. The problem with body filler is if you build it up too thick, over time it will crack and ruin the paint. The only accepted way to repair a dent is by wholesale replacement of the panel or to strip the area down to bare metal and get the body hammer and dollies.
Spotting this fairly easy if the painter has been lax, but really difficult if the painter is an expert. Look closely (preferably in bright sunlight) and you will see light scratch marks in the paint under the clearcoat. Also, look for cracks in the paint, since filler will crack over time. If you see no imperfections, it’s time for the paper and magnet. Body filler is non-magnetic. Place the piece of paper on the panel and slide the piece of paper around it. If there is thick body filler under that paint, your magnet will fall off.
Even if the painter has used proper equipment to fix a panel such as slide hammers and dollies, he may omit to properly prepare the panel from underneath. Small holes from the use of a slide hammer need to be welded up before final finishing or else moisture will eventually get in underneath the filler and ruin the paint job. Look for small multiple filler “bumps” on the inside of the accessible panels for evidence of a shoddy repair.
Next, look for shoddy finishing. Look all around the car especially the joints between panels. The gaps should be of constant width and not of varying width. Check both sides to see both sides are fairly equal (no car has perfectly constant panel gaps, after all). Look down the sides of the car and check that the curves and angles match from side to side as well as from panel to panel. Look across the roof as well. Repairing a roof panel without waviness is a difficult job, even for a professional.
Closer inspection means checking in the boot and under the carpet and plastic trim pieces. The most accident prone areas of a car are the front and rear as well as the four corners. While it is possible to replace the front panel of a car after an accident, the area behind the grille will still bear the marks of repair. Pop open the bonnet and have a good look at the area around the radiator and behind the headlights. These should be dent-free and still have the factory mastic sealant between the seams. If there is filler here, there is a good chance the car has been in a front-ender. Likewise, the boot area is one of the hardest to disguise after an accident. This is because the boot area is usually part of the main chassis and has no replaceable panels (usually only the spare wheel well is replaceable). Lack of mastic and lots of body filler inside the boot area is bad news.
The last thing to check is paintshift. This is easiest in red and silver cars, although metallics can also be easy to spot. If a car has been partially repainted due to an accident, the paint will never be the same shade or hue from the original. In bright sunlight, it can be quite obvious which areas you will need to check for shoddy workmanship. This is why cars with slightly faded original paint are a better bet than one with shiny paintjobs because you will be able to tell that the car has not been in an accident. So get out there and start practicing spotting bad paintjobs and repairs. Just don’t look at mine.