Tampa people - body work?

[vettegirl]

I have to have some body work done to the front bumper of my car. Has anyone used Bill Heard or Ferman Chevrolet's body shops? These are two that State Farm recommends, but I can choose any shop - any recommendations? Also, if anyone has had metallic paint done at a body shop, did it match the other body panels? I see so many mis-matched cars running around, and I am scared to death they won't match my paint correctly ...

Thanks!
Lauren:eek

 

[VAmagred01]

If it's a three-stage color, it is everything but impossible for a body shop to match the characteristics of a factory paint job. They are going to be using hand sprayers that don't have the same PSI (flow) that the factory robots have. Plus the climate (humidity, temp, air quality, etc.) is very difficult to match. Maybe a paint-expert will chime-in but pretty much everyone knows it's darn near impossible to match paint.....especially metallic colors. This is just my $0.02.

The best that you can probably do is make sure they get the paint from the correct supplier (e.g. PPG, DuPont, etc.) for that year Vette (along with the process sheet to acquire that color) and hope for the best. Again, my $0.02.

Here's a link for a shop in Maitland that does great work. It might be worth looking into.

Good luck,
Kenny

http://www.burkecorvettes.com/

 

[582Boat]

Vette Paint

I know how you feel and this is what happen to me, some kids keyed my 1999 Pewter and I had my body shop in Battle Creek MI the Lakeview Body Shop do the refinishing, they did a perfect job, so mush that it is impossible to tell where they painted it. It may be a long way to drive, but I guarantee you will be satified. Doc

 

[vettegirl]

We checked out a couple of the body shops around here, and were very impressed with the body shop manager at Bill Heard Chevy in Plant City (the body shop manager at Ferman Chevrolet acted like we were inconveniencing him by being there, and was very uncooperative with our few requests, like parking car inside at night and returning parts taken off car to us.)

Even though just the front bumper was damaged, they are going to paint up onto the hood to blend properly. They seemed to be very confident in what they had to do to blend - I hope it comes out alright! Also, the first night it was there I went by and it was parked outside (I know, neurotic!), however, after a phone call the next morning it has been parked inside since then.

I will let you know how it all turns out..thanks for all your input!

Lauren