Bumped garage door frame, $5k repair

[EatsShoots]

Update:

1) Scheduling a parts-request with a date out two weeks resulted in a near-immediate response from the local technician, and we were then able to text back and forth within the tesla app. However, he said tesla will not ship a customer a body part; I need to call a tesla certified collision ship

2) I've contacted three shops within an hour all of whom refuse to send me a part unless I have them install it. Taking this information back to the technician he had no answer; he claims there is no rule prohibiting shops from ordering parts on my behalf, but none will do so, and one did claim tesla rules prohibit it

3) I removed all paint damage from the fender with scratch X 2.0, a buffing pad, and about 2 minutes of buffing. The entirety of the damage now is simply the dent, a small bit of chipping on the bumper where the fender rubbed it (very easy to fix with touch-up paint since the underlying bumper plastic is black, which is not far off from my paint), and a very minor amount of scuffing on the bumper (I removed about half of its visible damage with 4 minutes of scuffing and scratch x 2.0. The bumper damage is less than I've repaired on multiple vehicles in the past such that about 10-15 minutes and some light buffing gets it good enough that you have to explicitly be looking for the damage to find it.

So I'm still at the point where "officially" it's $10,600 to replace a @*#&ing bumper on a model 3. I don't even want to pay the $2600 for PDR, TBH, so I'm going to see if my wife can chill and just let me wait until I can find a fender on ebay.

Tesla needs to get their sh*t in gear. This is an absolutely outrageous amount of money to ask for a dent in a steel panel, and does give me pause on buying a second one. There's no way this should be happening.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Update:

1) Scheduling a parts-request with a date out two weeks resulted in a near-immediate response from the local technician, and we were then able to text back and forth within the tesla app. However, he said tesla will not ship a customer a body part; I need to call a tesla certified collision ship

They won't ship, but you can pick up. Hopefully you didn't burn that bridge already by mentioning you are repairing a collision damaged car. Just mention you want to buy the part and pick it up. I know for sure you can do this in California, Bay Area, although I'm not sure if your state has other restrictions.

2) I've contacted three shops within an hour all of whom refuse to send me a part unless I have them install it. Taking this information back to the technician he had no answer; he claims there is no rule prohibiting shops from ordering parts on my behalf, but none will do so, and one did claim tesla rules prohibit it

3) I removed all paint damage from the fender with scratch X 2.0, a buffing pad, and about 2 minutes of buffing. The entirety of the damage now is simply the dent, a small bit of chipping on the bumper where the fender rubbed it (very easy to fix with touch-up paint since the underlying bumper plastic is black, which is not far off from my paint), and a very minor amount of scuffing on the bumper (I removed about half of its visible damage with 4 minutes of scuffing and scratch x 2.0. The bumper damage is less than I've repaired on multiple vehicles in the past such that about 10-15 minutes and some light buffing gets it good enough that you have to explicitly be looking for the damage to find it.

So I'm still at the point where "officially" it's $10,600 to replace a @*#&ing bumper on a model 3. I don't even want to pay the $2600 for PDR, TBH, so I'm going to see if my wife can chill and just let me wait until I can find a fender on ebay.

Tesla needs to get their sh*t in gear. This is an absolutely outrageous amount of money to ask for a dent in a steel panel, and does give me pause on buying a second one. There's no way this should be happening.

 

[EatsShoots]

They won't ship, but you can pick up. Hopefully you didn't burn that bridge already by mentioning you are repairing a collision damaged car. Just mention you want to buy the part and pick it up. I know for sure you can do this in California, Bay Area, although I'm not sure if your state has other restrictions.

He said just, verbatim, “unfortunately we cannot order the part you requested. We would recommend reaching out to a Tesla approved body shop who can order it through their Tesla parts channels”.

I’m actually not sure even a body shop can order that painted part anyway—I think maybe they can only get the non-painted fenders.

 

[DocHolliday]

What about picking one of the many used fenders off of ebay and having a competent shop paint it, then you do the 72 hours of labor that other shop quoted.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Did you ask for unpainted also? It's also possible the particular SC that services your area does not have as much access if it's a smaller SC.

I guess at this point you have to wait for an eBay one to pop up. Ones with minor scratches should be acceptable given most of them can be buffed out or touched up. I think it will be hard to wait for one completely flawless.

 

[EatsShoots]

Did you ask for unpainted also? It's also possible the particular SC that services your area does not have as much access if it's a smaller SC.

I guess at this point you have to wait for an eBay one to pop up. Ones with minor scratches should be acceptable given most of them can be buffed out or touched up. I think it will be hard to wait for one completely flawless.

The shops I called didn't even ask for a part number: just a flat no.

What about picking one of the many used fenders off of ebay and having a competent shop paint it, then you do the 72 hours of labor that other shop quoted.

This is an option, too. Frankly I feel this whole tesla approved collision thing to be a racket. Tesla really is not doing themselves any favors making parts so hard to get. It's absolutely something everybody in this thread pays for courtesy of extremely high insurance rates on these vehicles.

 

[stopcrazypp]

The shops I called didn't even ask for a part number: just a flat no.

To be clear, by SC, I mean the Tesla Service Center that answered your Tesla app request. Some SCs may only do limited service (like for example they may not do body panel replacements), so they may not have access to the parts.

Some people have different results in terms of service depending on which SC they ask.

I'm not talking about third party repair shops, they obviously have zero desire to help you buy the part and lose out on the profit.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

He said just, verbatim, “unfortunately we cannot order the part you requested."

I haven't fought this fight myself to the end, but at some point you could mention that "right to repair" laws likely give them no choice but to sell you the fender.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I haven't fought this fight myself to the end, but at some point you could mention that "right to repair" laws likely give them no choice but to sell you the fender.

The New York Right to Repair Bill excluded cars, so I'm not sure legally there is anything forcing Tesla to sell parts to you.
New York's right-to-repair bill has major carve-outs for manufacturers | TechCrunch

 

[ODWms]

Update:

1) Scheduling a parts-request with a date out two weeks resulted in a near-immediate response from the local technician, and we were then able to text back and forth within the tesla app. However, he said tesla will not ship a customer a body part; I need to call a tesla certified collision ship

2) I've contacted three shops within an hour all of whom refuse to send me a part unless I have them install it. Taking this information back to the technician he had no answer; he claims there is no rule prohibiting shops from ordering parts on my behalf, but none will do so, and one did claim tesla rules prohibit it

3) I removed all paint damage from the fender with scratch X 2.0, a buffing pad, and about 2 minutes of buffing. The entirety of the damage now is simply the dent, a small bit of chipping on the bumper where the fender rubbed it (very easy to fix with touch-up paint since the underlying bumper plastic is black, which is not far off from my paint), and a very minor amount of scuffing on the bumper (I removed about half of its visible damage with 4 minutes of scuffing and scratch x 2.0. The bumper damage is less than I've repaired on multiple vehicles in the past such that about 10-15 minutes and some light buffing gets it good enough that you have to explicitly be looking for the damage to find it.

So I'm still at the point where "officially" it's $10,600 to replace a @*#&ing bumper on a model 3. I don't even want to pay the $2600 for PDR, TBH, so I'm going to see if my wife can chill and just let me wait until I can find a fender on ebay.

Tesla needs to get their sh*t in gear. This is an absolutely outrageous amount of money to ask for a dent in a steel panel, and does give me pause on buying a second one. There's no way this should be happening.

Here’s one, on eBay that looks in perfect shape. $269:

New 2018-2023 TESLA MODEL 3 FRONT RIGHT PASSENGER SIDE FENDER OEM 1081401ECD | eBay

Fits 2018-2022 models. Local pickup from Long Beach, CA only.

www.ebay.com

 

[EatsShoots]

Okay another update:

1) I had a [different] PDR guy come over. The moment he saw the dent in person he knew it would be a nightmare fix--unfortunately the front 1/4 of these fenders is backed by a thick steel backing, which makes conventional PDR a massive pain: the steel backing which is there to reinforce the front of the fender means that the typical approach of pulling the dent out with hot glue doesn't work; the metal is ultimately far too stiff to do. Had the dent been back 6" I'm sure he could have done it without issue. He is not afraid of weird jobs but agreed replacing the fender is likely the way to go here. The first guy who quoted $2600 for PDR still may be able to do it, if he has some different tooling, so it's a back pocket option.

2) Called a paint shop to see about painting the fender and they said it's a tesla so they won't touch it. I said the fender will be off the car but they said it should be blended with other panels so they will not touch it because it's a tesla. Recommended I go to the first shop that quoted me $10k lol.

3) Called another paint shop and this guy is willing to paint the fender for a few hundred bucks. He did agree that blending with other panels is what you do for a perfect job, but he thought he could color match it to the car, paint the fender by itself on a cart, and I'll be happy with the results in most cases. His shop has good reviews on google. I'm honestly not one of these people who is going to look at it at various angles look for perfection, so this is my intention now; if I have to walk around in special lighting to see the difference I will be content. I'll order from ebay, have him paint it.

TLDR: My remaining option appears to be ordering fender and doing it myself as advised above. "tesla josh collision" on youtube has a number of videos showing disassembly of the front of a model 3.

 

[PianoAl]

it's a tesla so they won't touch it.

I've seen this crazy attitude with glass chip repair too. I bet the feeling this is mostly a rebellion against electric cars or rich people or something.

Or is there a rational reason for it?

 

[afadeev]

I've seen this crazy attitude with glass chip repair too. I bet the feeling this is mostly a rebellion against electric cars or rich people or something.

Don't be paranoid.
It's business, nothing personal.
If Tesla made it easy and profitable to work on its cars, every repair shops would be lining up to cash in.

Or is there a rational reason for it?

Somewhat, yes.
Tesla makes it unnecessarily hard to get a hold of repair parts. For both the owners, and the body shops. Good luck getting a hold of torque settings for Model 3 calipers or strut mounts. You can google online, and maybe the values you find are correct, or maybe they are wrong and you strip the bolts and repair projects becomes more time consuming and more expansive.

Basically, Tesla is a bad business partner to the repair shops. So they avoid doing business with it.
Simple. Rational.

Owners pay the price of Tesla intransigence through much HIGHHER insurance rates and much LONGER repair cycles.

a

 

[Silicon Desert]

I am going to make her pay the deductible, since I warned very explicitly against hitting the side of the garage in this manner.

good. A better solution than burying her in the back yard

 

[PianoAl]

It's business, nothing personal

I tend to agree with you, but here's what made me question that:

I had a small rock chip in the windshield. I took it to one place.

"Oh, we don't work on Teslas!"
"Why not?"
"We just don't."

I got a very anti-EV vibe from that place.

I took it to a mobile glass repair guy (Glaswelder) and he fixed it in the standard way.

 

[afadeev]

I tend to agree with you, but here's what made me question that:

I had a small rock chip in the windshield. I took it to one place.

"Oh, we don't work on Teslas!"
"Why not?"
"We just don't."

What windshield replacement shop did you use?
After about a decade of windshield-trouble-free driving, I had 2 cars requiring chip repair and 1 that had to have its windshields replaced (not a Tesla) over the past 12 months. All through insurance and by Safelite. No pushback on any of the work with any of the cars, though ADAS camera calibration took hours longer than expected (not on a Tesla).

I got a very anti-EV vibe from that place.

I would not confuse reluctance to deal with Tesla, as an OEM, with any type of anti-EV sentiment.
Extracting parts and information out of Tesla can be a challenge.
I personally know someone who had to have his Model 3 glass roof replaced, and he ended up going to the service center as the usual shops could not get a hold of either the glass, or the new gaskets, or both.

I took it to a mobile glass repair guy (Glaswelder) and he fixed it in the standard way.

My Safelite place is about 45 minutes away, so I ended up experimenting with DIY chip repair solutions to avoid burning half a day on chip repair appointment.
The Rain-X 600001 Windshield Repair Kit worked the best for me, and I've fixed 2 more (minor) chips that were shredding my windshield wipers. Just remember to let it sit outside in the sunlight (UV light) to cure.

a

 

[EatsShoots]

I tend to agree with you, but here's what made me question that:

I had a small rock chip in the windshield. I took it to one place.

"Oh, we don't work on Teslas!"
"Why not?"
"We just don't."

I got a very anti-EV vibe from that place.

I took it to a mobile glass repair guy (Glaswelder) and he fixed it in the standard way.

I can't think of any good reason a paint shop would be unwilling to paint a panel.

Anyway, I didn't like the answer I got from the service center when I tried to order a panel (I did not specify the number), so I went into the SC on friday and asked for one. The guy said they could not order painted fenders (just not available), but he seemed very optimistic that I could get a non-painted OEM fender. I thus have a new service order out but I do not yet have an invoice for it yet or unequivocal confirmation that the part can be ordered. i can get for $226 delivered from ebay a new right fender, but I have no idea who's making that. Although I will do that route if I have to, I'd rather pay $497 for the OEM Part I know with absolute certainty will fit perfectly.

 

[EatsShoots]

Another update. I finally got the $497 fender from Tesla. Prior to the $300 paint job I had a local guy quote me (was going to spray the fender by itself and match to paint as best as possible), I wanted to take some bits apart to be sure I could do it and not run into issues. After looking at exactly how the backing layer of metal is on the OEM fender I decided to take a stab at actually correcting it. Given my intention to replace the fender anyway I figured no issue if I wreck it.

Here is a close up of the area with the second layer of metal that the original guy who came out felt he could not properly work with:

So anyway, I raised the car up a bit, put a 2X4 on the tire to brace against, and took a standard crowbar to the back of the dent, pushing against the second layer (not the outside sheet metal), hoping that the second layer of metal would somewhat dull the sharp edges of the crowbar. It did not; with some high points very noticeable. Then I switched over to using a 1/4" thick piece of plywood, which worked pretty well to avoid the high points from the crowbar. Within a couple of hours of messing about it looked like this:

I was tentatively optimistic at this point that maybe it wasn't quite as hard as I'd been led to believe, but despite adding more leverage and force I could not get any more dent to pull out. That's when I hit youtube up more and found this video:

This was my exact issue, although much smaller in scope. But the problem is I couldn't get behind the dent properly so I removed the wheel, then removed the plastic liner completely (very easy to do with wheel gone), and busted out the grinder:

After a few minutes with the grinder I realized a dremel with a cut off wheel was more appropriate, so I finished up with that, but compared to the OEM, here was what I cut off. Notice I was also lucky in that the second metal layer is not glued everywhere, but just in key points--and none of those key points where covering my dent.

At this point I felt that the dent was accessible enough that any PDR person could do it. I mean why not at this point? Unfortunately of the 4-5 PDR people I contacted only two got back to me: the guy who wanted $400 but upon seeing it said he couldn't do it, and the guy who wanted $2600 and a week.

I've never fixed a dent in my life, but Harbor Freight for $50 has a "fender hammer and dollies" kit, so I picked it up Sunday morning.

Start hammering:

After a while (notice reduction on the right side in the dimples)

At this point I think holy crap maybe I can actually get this done...

Well after 2-3 hours of playing around, taking some breaks:

The crease in the fender has in the above pic what looks like paint damage but actually it's just light reflection due to imperfection in the angles.

And here it is outside after some very sparing application of tesla's official touch up paint:

Notice in the above pic the large but very shallow dent by my wrist. This is something I basically ignored. Next time I do a wheel rotation I may try to pop that out from the back, but it could be a touch difficult because the second layer of metal covers it up so I'll need to shove something between the two layers and press from the metal (a pdr person would just pull from the front with glue). Now this repair is not perfect. Honestly if I kept at it for a while longer maybe I could get it a bit better; if you are looking around it you can see something is off. But, my goal of it being good enough to not notice just walking around the car was absolutely achieved. I'm super happy with the results, and now I need to resell this fender.

I'm even more disgusted at the $10k quote I got from the only local Tesla shop on this repair. That was just a scam. I also feel that the PDR guy who quoted me $2600 saw me as a pay day and thought he could quote some obscene price that I would pay. Given me, an abject amateur, achieved this in several hours I'm positive a decent PDR guy could make this look perfect in a single day max. If I had started this with the proper tools and cut the backing metal layer immediately it would have gone quicker. I'm not particularly concerned that cutting that piece of metal will meaningfully compromise fender rigidity. The scratches in the paint I initially put on the back of the dent, where the primer is removed down to bare metal with some nicks, I attempted to prevent future rust by spray painting it with some random metal spray paint I had kicking around.

Also I did hit the dent with some scratch x and a hand buffer pad after the fact, just to polish it up a bit.

I did learn a critical bit when using the dolly: something I saw in a couple of other youtube videos is that when banging you're looking for a "ting" sound; when it's hollow it means you're not hammering up close against the dolly; you really want to press hard from behind with the dolly and hammer far enough away from the dent you're trying to hammer out that you want to hear that tinging sound; it means the hammer is properly crushing the sheet metal against the dolly. Also tap very gently--surprisingly gently. I definitely made thousands of hammer swings in total. I was very surprised to see that there was no paint damage from repeated hitting of the polished hammer as long as blows are straight on and not too hard. I only added the painters tape because it seems some of the cool kids on youtube do it. The first few hundred hits were without it and I'm not sure it's necessary.

 

[ODWms]

You should be proud of yourself, man. You did a great job, not being a tradesman and all. I'd imagine next time (hopefully there won't be) you'd do an even more efficient job, with even better results!

 

[DocHolliday]

That's really impressive as a first-timer. Great work and love the DIY attitude.