Hell All,

I took my 2001 WS6 Vert into a Body shop to have the door rollers replaced because they were going bad and starting to rub on the fender. While the car was there, they discovered it had been in an accident (no carfax). I got the car back 2 months ago, with everything ok. Then 2 weeks ago the door started to pitch the fender again. So she went back to the shop today and they shimmed the fender. The also stated "another thing to think about is that the convertible Firebird/Camaros (convertibles in general) are not the most rigid of vehicles. I can explain more when you come to get it."

Is this BS?
do I need to find a New Shop?
Can I do anything?
would Subframe connectors help?

Thanks,

 

Hard to tell without pictures. The fender is composite and breaks easily. Even without getting into accidents, I've had these issues - many by my own hand. I've broken the fender trying to do bumper repairs and other things without taking the whole front end apart, the screw that holds it near the base of the windshield is fragile, etc.

The latter problem (a single screw) caused me a ton if issues with the alignment of the fender to the door. Another thing that also screws up the fender alignment to the door is the bottom attachment to the body by the door. There are two screws that attach to a plate jutting downward right near the jacking point. Grease monkeys at "mechanics" shops, tire shops, etc. will skip putting proper blocking on their lifts to hit the jacking points or will mistake this plate (and the fender attachment) for the jacking point and will lift the car on it. (I think this mistake happens more on the non-T/A cars and ones without ground effects.) This causes the fender to budge and will eventually break the attachment necessitating nasty repairs.

 

Torsional stiffness is not any convertible's strong suit (not just 4th-gen F-bodies). SFCs will definitely help that, the triangulated ones work much better than the "sticks" for increasing torsional stiffness. Welding them in eliminates any "slop" around bolted joints. My welded-in KBDDSFCs made a very noticeable difference. However, its doubtful that they'll help your door sag issue, sounds like a hinge / alignment problem (or not getting the hinge bolts tight enough that they shifted).

 

Thank you for the information and feedback. I turned wrench's 3 decades ago, but really know nothing about body structure. Grease monkeys at "mechanics" shops, tire shop --------- hmmm I did start getting worse after a trip to the tires Rotated/Balanced and the Car Aligned. I will look at home to see if I still have the pictures. Heading out to pick her up from the shop in at 1pm eastern.


Thank you for the Feedback.... How much difference do you really think they make? There is a vendor on here that I had called and he vented on my about their worthlessness, and a few other words. Needless to say I never bough anything from him. You stated the Triangulated SFC, versus sticks. I have been looking at the T version, basically the Triangulated ones minus a couple supporting bars. This is a Daily Driver, never a track car. Would you say the triangulated would still make that much a difference?

 

Please post pictures here of the lower fender attachment where the two bolts attached underneath the body, under the door, and then a shot of the side of the car looking from the rear tire forward at the door. These should tell us what is going on.

 

I will be on it Saturday, have an 18 hour workday tomorrow.

 

Please excuse the Dirty Car. I just got it back fromt he Body shop, which is next to a cement plant and Coach a High School Soccer team and we been really busy with Tournaments and Playoffs. Not sure I I got all the right angles you were looking for, can take more tomorrow. I did notice the the new roller, which rusted quickly has a gap that appears larger than the passenger's side.

 

If your hinges are solid, this looks like a fender out of adjustment. Mine was like this and I had to wrestle with it. I forget the sequence, but I had to undo all the fender bolts around the door and tighten them in the correct sequence.


From this angle, you can see the fender sticks out a little more at the bottom. This is from improper jacking. This isn't that bad. Mine stuck out 3/4" before I fixed them...


This tab has been bent over and someone straightened it up a bit. (So the car has been jacked here in the past.) There is a makeshift bolt towards the rear part of the late and it looks like the steel plate is wrinkled from the bending.

I assume this is the driver's side. It looks pretty good and in the place it should be. I would guess your passenger side might have a little bit more of a bend to it. (The fix is easy. Just unbolt the fender from the plate, bend, and then bolt back up. ... Then watch it whenever you take the car to a mechanic, take pictures before hand, and then hold them responsible if they do it again.)