Oof, I'm sorry to hear. I mean, you *can* bring a nice car to Firestone, but make sure you know and trust who's working on it. I'm a service manager of a facility that rhymes with "Tirephone" (you see what I'm getting at) and there's really only one, maybe two of my seven techs that I would trust with my own vehicles or customers' high end vehicles.

We've done tires/alignment on a 911 C4S, Maserati GranTurismo and Ghibli, Range Rover Evoque and Sport, and several BMW's/Audis/Mercedes, to name some recent ones. We've also had rookie techs scrape or damage wheels on a Porsche, Mustang, and others in the past (which we had to pay for). So, it really depends.

Honestly though, If I weren't running the shop and either doing the work myself or entrusting it to one of my most skilled techs, I would never bring my car to one of the big chains. Much better to seek out a highly qualified, friendly and honest indy tech.

 

If you watch How it is made super cars you will see that the car is a series of pieces that are bonded and riveted. I agree that what Firestone did would not seem like it would cause so much damage. But the bottom line is the chassis is kinked/bent. It is a sure bet that they will try to screw the owner on their mistake.

 

the parts look a little bent, until a full measurement is done to determine if the thing is out of alignment and how bad, no plan can be made.
from what i can see its more cosmetic and a few T6 plates neatly bonded over the damage will go unseen and if the correct epoxy is used I do not think a repair that will not cost much is unreasonable judgement.

On PH there was a thread about 3 years back showing how a jack puck could be glued in place to facilitate easy lifting of these rather fragile cars. (all 4 corners) this makes me think any good machine shop could machine out 2 strips or 4 smaller bits and bond them NEATLy over the damage provided the car is not out of square, and that is a 5 minute job to confirm on a 4 wheel lazer alignment tool

 

I think its bit too much to call it total loss for that much damage. As long as frame alignment is ok, in my opinion that is not big problem.

 

There is absolutely no way this car is out of alignment because of this damage. No way.

 

3-4 feet? I cannot see someone jacking up a vehicle to that height to do tire removal, that seems a bit over hyped. The beams are bent from just lifting incorrectly. It's not the only car out there that has suffered this. Let the body shop and insurance figure it out. It can be repaired.

 

I have jacked up my car many times, when I clean it proper i remove the wheels to clean them, i have Zero damage to the chassis, I made set of puks that fit either the front or the rear (different sises) so jacking it s no bother.
The car has clearly defined points for lifting and Im confused as to how you guys damage it?
I also made a custom jack (started with a cheap hydraulic shop jack) with a pad that is made of a hard but forgiving plastic that buts into the two puks i mention negating the possibility of it slipping.

 

If you're expecting to lose money based on a repair being shown on a CarFax, that's one thing. But don't rely on CarFax's valuation estimates. They're extremely flawed.

 

That's the issue, they did not use the defined jacking points to lift the car, using an alternate location not designed for supporting the weight of the car.

 

Thanks for that Jeff my bad

 

vargas - I hate that you had to undergo this fiasco and thank you for sharing the details

I know one thing - I would not let a shop do that work! - You would be worse off than not doing it at all -

I still feel like this damage is superficial...

 

Wow. I agree that the car just won't be the same after all that work. Is it truly out of spec? Is the steering off? Does it drive differently? I am amazed that the damage shown could warp the whole undercarriage.

 

I concur that after disassembling the car to this extent, it will never be right. I too would like to know how it drives in it's current condition? This is truly a sad situation for you.


The other thing is, will this car show up for sale at some auction soon? Assuming it is totaled, of course.


Regards

 

This explains a lot. In looking at the pictures it appears that the shop jacked the car up on the inner floor pan support instead of the outer support beam.
AFAIK the outer support beam runs the full length of the car ??. So even if you jacked the car up a foot or so away from the recommended jack positions, the only damage would be a scuffled side skirt.
This is not just a missed jack position, it's ignorance, the kind of stuff a high school kid in their first day of Automotive repair class might do, not an establishment that jackets cars up for a living. Unbelievable!

 

One other thought, I would suggest that anyone taking their car in for service to any shop other than the dealer go over the jacking points with the mechanic and if possible insist on observing the machanic as he positions the lift.
Finally I hope you end up not losing money over this. Insurance companies are notorious for not missing an opportunity to shaft the customer.