Giving your car to body work students - good idea?
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I have heard that if you're not in a hurry to get your car done you can find some local school that teaches body work and just give them your car to work on. All you pay for is materials and it's very likely that you will get a job done by students under the guidance of their teacher much more carefully than you would at a body shop.
Has anyone any experience with this?
Has anyone any experience with this?
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Usually they are not bad at all. 99% of the times, the instructor is a perfectionist that wants that quality. They are cheap as hell, but like you said, they take their time. I've had it done to a '63 split window while I was doing some frame up restoration and it turned out T-I-T-S. So, personally, I think it is worth it.
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Originally Posted by Torque_Wrench
Take the class and lear how to do this yourself. It's actuallynot that bad, and it's pretty fun!
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Originally Posted by flymybird
Except that will cost me $4500 (I checked). Wanna sponsor me? ![Winky](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/gr_wink.gif)
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If you ever get curious...check out Nashville Auto Diesel & Technical College. Wonderful shcool with a 98% sucess rate, and a 100% job placement rate.
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Originally Posted by Torque_Wrench
Holy **** man! $4500 to take an Autobody class? WTF? Is this from UTI or Wyo Tech?.......check your local Vocational Skills center, they should offer an adult Autobody Tech class. They do here anyway...lol.
If you ever get curious...check out Nashville Auto Diesel & Technical College. Wonderful shcool with a 98% sucess rate, and a 100% job placement rate.
If you ever get curious...check out Nashville Auto Diesel & Technical College. Wonderful shcool with a 98% sucess rate, and a 100% job placement rate.
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heres how it goes... this might be long so sorry... i went to a 2 year auto training school and i learned a whole lot because i was really into it as i love cars... but at these schools there is a lot of dead beat kids that cant do anytihng with themselves so their parents throw them in these schools and they just screw around and mess things up sometimes just to be jerks.... for the most part the teachers were really good... i wouldnt trust my car there a second unless i was right next to it watching... some jerk will probably pull plugs and connectors just to be *** and then u start getting dash lights or somthing... as for doing it your self.. i went to this school and have now been working in the feild for about 9 months... and it took me 9 months of doing this stuff every day to feel comfortable with doing it... i see it all the time at shows people that do these older cars intheir garage and you look down the side it it looks like the ocean... but THEY think its good work.... its not as easy as someone in this thread made it out to be.... if it was everyone would do it.... hope this helps ya...
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With my luck everything would turn out great... untill they give it back and you realize they forgot to add hardner to the bondo!
By the way... seen that happen before.
"If it's worth goin at all, It's worth goin all the way"
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By the way... seen that happen before.
"If it's worth goin at all, It's worth goin all the way"
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Send your car to some kids to practice/learn on? Holy sh.......!! I think not!
I have seen some of these nightmares that come out of these classes, and I would stay far away. I have been in this field and working in a professional collision shop for more than a decade, and let me tell you, there are alot of these instructors who do not do the work the proper way at all. Cut corners, patch and cob, ect... No thanks!
Take the car to a professional shop with a good rep for doing great work, and you'll be way better off in the long run. Sure, the kids can save you money, but cheaper is not always better. I know, as I have had to fix some of this stuff, after it was messed up by these educational/hands on classes.![Winky](https://ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/gr_wink.gif)
It's up to you, but I would steer clear.
I have seen some of these nightmares that come out of these classes, and I would stay far away. I have been in this field and working in a professional collision shop for more than a decade, and let me tell you, there are alot of these instructors who do not do the work the proper way at all. Cut corners, patch and cob, ect... No thanks!
Take the car to a professional shop with a good rep for doing great work, and you'll be way better off in the long run. Sure, the kids can save you money, but cheaper is not always better. I know, as I have had to fix some of this stuff, after it was messed up by these educational/hands on classes.
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It's up to you, but I would steer clear.
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Look up (ROP) Regional Occupation Program. Thats what we have in the bay area. For High School students its free and for adults its $80. The county basicly pays for the school. Materials for painting a car is usually only around $700 at these schools.
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Originally Posted by woswill
Haha.. i always visited the automotive class last year in school (high school)... we would always kick the **** out of the cars in there etc..
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im currently in autobody (collision repair class) at my high school. we take very good care of our cars and before we are assigned to the cars we are taught extensively how to paint, weld, bondo, pop dents, etc etc..... we charge the customer for the materials necessary and body panels if needed. i wouldnt worry about your car being messed up. we take very good care of our cars. hell we even wash, wax, and detail the inside before we give them back. i would just go talk to the instructor but i wouldnt worry about it if i were u. all kids arent total dumbasses like woswill. actually my 99 trans am (want to go whiter with the paint) and 64 chevelle SS drag car (currently competition orange but some dumbass thought it would be a great idea to bondo a cowl on top of the hood instead of buying one so now the bondo is cracked and needs a new cowl hood and painting) will be in there this year. if anything happens theres always lawyers.
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The difference between auto tech and auto body classes is usually the auto tech guys have donated cars that will never see the road again. We had a lot of good stuff in my auto tech class but the auto body guys would bring in their own cars and work on them. If the instructor caught you messing up somebody's ride he called the cops on you. Really, you need to see what the shop has put out before, and also have a good talk with the instructor(s) and try to see how they run their class.
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I used a vocational school in MA. The kid, 10th grader that painted the car did a great job. There were little things, like not replacing a pounded rear lock cylinder, a missing rear seat bolt, a slight slash in the headliner, only 2 lights in the rear working (turned out to be bulbs) and a few other minor things.
If I were to do it again, I would do the mechanical work myself, and have them do the body work and paint.
You want perfection go to a pro with a great rep. At the school you won't get absolute perfection. But only the best shops pull that off.
If I were to do it again, I would do the mechanical work myself, and have them do the body work and paint.
You want perfection go to a pro with a great rep. At the school you won't get absolute perfection. But only the best shops pull that off.
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When i was a highschooler I was in Autobody class. They taught us **** and unfortunately alot of kids RUINED the engine... cut the seats.. slapped soo much bondo on the car probably weighed double it did when it came to us.
We had an old mercedes that a few of us were working on. I was sooo pissed off that everyone destroyed the car.
I dropped out the last few weeks of highschool (long story, but it was corrected) and heard the mercedes left the yard.. hit a bump and the bondo cracked a few places.
Its just scarey letting some kids who are still trying to figure out if smoking is cool or not play with my pride and joy!
We had an old mercedes that a few of us were working on. I was sooo pissed off that everyone destroyed the car.
I dropped out the last few weeks of highschool (long story, but it was corrected) and heard the mercedes left the yard.. hit a bump and the bondo cracked a few places.
Its just scarey letting some kids who are still trying to figure out if smoking is cool or not play with my pride and joy!