Ive got a gals new Honda Civic in to get $5000 worth of recent hail damage repaired. I told her I can save prob her whole deductible by using aftermarket parts that are CAPA certified. On Hondas anyway these fit usually better than the OEM ones and they come from a supplier in Japan. Shes wanting to use only real Honda parts (by all means if she wants) because she dont want cheap made parts... so OK, I order all the parts from local Honda dealership. They dropped them off today (hood, roof, trunklid) all nicely wrapped in real OEM packaging and boxes. They are authentic parts and the boxes and parts are all clearly stamped ' MADE IN MEXICO for Honda '..... I found it very ironic that there made somewhere else where labor is even cheaper than in their own country.....LOL

Do you's have those guys over their Roger that massage out hail damage without damaging the paint? Pretty popular system here. I watched on guy take what should have been a write off spend a day weaving his magic and you would never have known the car had about 60 hail dents that moning.

dry ice works great during the summer heat on metal cars... no painting required.. course it doesnt work on gouged or creased dents

Ive done both on cars with some minor hail damage. This one has a ding every square inch or two. For the time involved on each one, its cheaper to buy new parts. It could be filled, but would require coating the whole car with it and block sanding....also too time consuming. Insurance is paying, so its no problem. The dents in qtr panels are impossible to get to and the roof has an electric sunroof that would have to come out anyway if they could pop them. A friend of mine had his new Mustang hit just as bad and the dealer tried to pop them (dent wizard). Didnt work so he also got a new hood, roof, deck, door and fender ($8000 repair). Be glad your Fieros are plastic...lol.

I work in the IT department for a company that makes most all the TQ converters Honda uses in the Civics, Accords, and a couple other models, as well as cats, exaust systems, and a lot of honda ATV parts.

Bottom line, Hondas and Toyotas are getting better and gaining ground because now they are nothing more than domesticaly made imports, and the domestic brands are getting worse because now all their parts are the ones being made overseas, so they are imported domestics.

The USA is making more cars and parts for import car companys than domestic ones.

quote Originally posted by 86GT3.4DOHC: The USA is making more cars and parts for import car companys than domestic ones.

Is that why a temp sensor for a Toyota is $70 and a temp sensor for my Fiero is $14?

did that happen about a month and a half ago? My brother lives there and his suv was damaged also.

quote Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: Is that why a temp sensor for a Toyota is $70 and a temp sensor for my Fiero is $14?

No thats because the temp sensor in a Fiero is used in almost every other GM car, even some today, so when you can make 15 million of something and know you can sell them all, its cheaper than making 20 runs of 100 parts for a Toyota. That and most of what you are paying for these parts is retailer markup, usualy 40-80% at stores like advance

quote Originally posted by fierodog: did that happen about a month and a half ago? My brother lives there and his suv was damaged also.

Yep. For some odd reason, wednesday seems to be the catastrophic day of the week. We had really bad storms EVERY wednesday for a few months. On the wednesday after the hail storm, the same area got hit by a tornado and wiped out about 15 new houses. This Honda is about 5th Ive done with same damage. Lots of houses are getting new roofs and siding too. Funny thing is I called my buddy when the hail storm hit and told him to get his cars inside right away. He lives about 10 miles away on the same line. He said his wife was going out with the Mustang..'.the weather always says that so he was sure it would be fine'...He called later saying she cried herself to sleep. (moral....heed warnings)

quote Originally posted by 86GT3.4DOHC: No thats because the temp sensor in a Fiero is used in almost every other GM car, even some today, so when you can make 15 million of something and know you can sell them all, its cheaper than making 20 runs of 100 parts for a Toyota. That and most of what you are paying for these parts is retailer markup, usualy 40-80% at stores like advance

Nope had to go to the dealer for it or order it online. None of the local parts stores had it on the shelf because they couldnt make any money off of it.

Just wondering if anyone has tried those hot melt dent removers?

You know the ones they sell on TV, at Harbor Freight. You glue a threaded handle to the dent, that is screwed threw a 2 or 3 legged stand and you just pull the dent out with no damage to the paint.

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: Nope had to go to the dealer for it or order it online. None of the local parts stores had it on the shelf because they couldnt make any money off of it.

Thats exactly what im saying, no demand = higher price

Automotive part COST has pretty much nothing at all to due with cost of manufacturing, nadda. Example, the torque converters we make, cost what 300-400, the metal we make them out of costs .32c.

Its all about quantity. Every time a manufacturer has to retool it costs money, every time they have to stop production to switch to another run, it costs money, everytime they have to develop a new design it costs millions. Your fiero temp sensor is so cheap because the design has remained the same for 20+ years, because hundreds of millions of cars use the exact same part, and because (now) they are made in mexico and china. The Toyota temp sensor on the other hand, was (theorizing) was only used in 2 models, for about 3 years, thus they had to charge more per unit to cover the costs and profit margins.

And I wasnt even refering to price, but quality. Most Hondas (or a large portion) are made here in the United States now, Honda has major assembly plants in Ohio, South Carolina, Alabama, and they are building another in Indiana, and those are just the ones we supply parts to. I personaly feel that is a big part of why the company has changed so much over the last 20 years. Back in 85 a honda was a cheap throw away car, while I would still not buy one myself, they have a better image now. Quality standards are impecible, we get hit up for every single flaw in any part that we send out, whether its a hole missing threads, or just paint marks on a part. Thats right, we get a reject from Honda if there is a paint mark in the wrong place on a torque converter, if any part they recieve has even a red mark on it, its a reject. And for every reject we get scored and that is how they determine who they buy parts from and who they dont.

This is a big part of why (I think) GM is in so much trouble, last time I looked under the hood of a suburban there was a sombero in the air filter and they had attatched the headliner with refried beans.

I still think GM and domestics are far better cars, heck if you look at the inside of an 06 accord and an 86 accord, minus some flashy stuff in the center console, I think they are about identical. BUT the "imports" are catching up fast, because IMO, they are no longer imported, the parts are made in america, the cars are assembled in america, and the cars are sold in america. The only thing going accross the borders is the profits on thier way back to Japan.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: Just wondering if anyone has tried those hot melt dent removers? You know the ones they sell on TV, at Harbor Freight. You glue a threaded handle to the dent, that is screwed threw a 2 or 3 legged stand and you just pull the dent out with no damage to the paint.

Those would prob work...but you would have to do it thousands of times on this and other similar cars. Upper half looks like a football team danced on it wearing football cleats. It would take you a few hundred hours of labor time. Right now I have 3 days time (20 hours roughly) and $800 in parts and its almost ready for paint.....Fixing is just not cost effective. Plus shes got a 'new' car with no dents, and not 10 pnds of filler.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 12-01-2006).]

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Yep. For some odd reason, wednesday seems to be the catastrophic day of the week. We had really bad storms EVERY wednesday for a few months. On the wednesday after the hail storm, the same area got hit by a tornado and wiped out about 15 new houses. This Honda is about 5th Ive done with same damage. Lots of houses are getting new roofs and siding too. Funny thing is I called my buddy when the hail storm hit and told him to get his cars inside right away. He lives about 10 miles away on the same line. He said his wife was going out with the Mustang..'.the weather always says that so he was sure it would be fine'...He called later saying she cried herself to sleep. (moral....heed warnings)

yeah we were there visiting last week every other house had a roofing companies sign in it. My brother has a Saturn vue.. Tons of damage on it from that storm. Right now he is still in an appartment so he don't have a garage. He can't wait for a house.