Body shop in Manchester, NH

Apr 19, 2004 12 Replies

All,



Well, I almost have the mechanical work done on my car. The next step is the body work. I need to get her painted, a couple rust spots cleaned up, and a couple dings taken out. Anyone have any recomendations for body shops in the Manchester, NH area? Quality is of the utmost concern, however cost does become a factor. I had stopped by a shop on Saturday, and was told around $2200. I have no experience with having a car painted, so if I would also appreciate some guestimates on what kind of price I'm looking at from the group. Since I was lead to believe it makes a difference, the car is Tornado Red.



Thank you in advance. Enjoy Bill


91 Audi 200TQ
96 Chevy K1500

$2200 doesn't buy body work and a good paint job at most body shops. Closer to $5K. If they will do it for that price and have good references, go for it.

I've had three cars repaired at ProWorks on Elm St. in Manchester, including door rust on my '99 A6 avant when I bought it used. The owner, Ron stands behind their work.

Stu

Guys,

If you know, what's a decent place to have 17-inch custom wheels on an A4 balanced in the same area? Sullivan Tire just can't get them right (after three tries). Of course, if nothing else is available, I'll be dropping it off at the dealer...

Thanks.

Victor

Thanks.

I visited them before I went to Sullivan Tire, and their quote was about $100 more, so I decided to save some money... You know, penny wise... I didn't have to pay extra to Sullivan for additional balancing, but the problem is, the car is still shaking at speeds above 60... And they say they've done all they can... Three times...

I'll stop by Town Fair Tire this Saturday, on my way to Home Depot :-) I wonder how much they charge for just balancing the wheels.

Oh, for others who read this, Town Fair Tire rotates wheels for free.

Victor

It may be worth seeing if there is someone local to you with one of these:

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I have heard about 17 inch wheels getting bent from pot holes. They can be straightened.

T> "bill" wrote...

Yes, that sometimes happen. Mine, however are new.

V

Hey, whaddya know, Sullivan Tire is listed among the proud owners and operators of that machine. Doesn't seem like it helped...

For the last visit to their shop I was asked to bring my car on Saturday at 8 a.m. when their "specialist for the road force machine" would be available. I did (that was a week ago). They took about two and a half hours to "make sure everything is fine". They even took the car on a road test (supposedly), before and after the procedure. So? Yes, most of the enormous vibration was gone, but some still remains.

My suspicion is this: a machine is only as good as the operator working with it and the tuning procedures applied to it before use. If you give even the finest machine out there to a moron, he will unlikely be able to balance his hat on his head. If you bring the most talented mechanic to work on a machine with unknown precision and/or out of wack, he won't be able to do much (not in two hours, anyway).

I am not sure I should try every shop in the area that has this machine to see if they know what buttons to press or to see if they maintain it in a workable state. It's just too damn expensive to try to find a shop capable of doing what I need by going from door to door...

Still, thanks for the information.

V

Unless things have changed, they are a Mon-Fri, 9-5 shop.

Stu

bill wrote:

You may have a bad tire.

That's another possibility :)

Ask the shop with the hunter for the printouts from your balancing - it

*should* show before/after for each time. I forget the exact amount of 'lbs force' (10?) that Tireack required for a replacement. If one tire out of the four seem much worse than the others, see if the place you purchased them from will replace it.

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