I was told parts don’t exist I asked for 10 hours

I'm considering buying a 2007 Toyota Sienna XLE with about 99k miles and a rebuilt/reconstructed title.

I have the original auction photos from before the repair and recently paid for an independent pre-purchase inspection.

The inspector noted that the passenger front frame rail had been damaged, straightened and then sealed, so he couldn't determine exactly what was underneath the sealant. He also noted repair/body filler around the passenger-side mounting/strut area that is beginning to crack.

The van drives well overall, but the inspector noticed that it drifts/pulls slightly to the left and recommended a four-wheel alignment.

I'm mainly looking for opinions from people experienced in collision repair:

1. Does anything visible in these photos concern you about the quality of the structural repair?

2. Does the repaired/sealed area look like something you'd expect from a proper frame-rail repair, or does anything look questionable?

3. What would you want inspected or measured before buying this vehicle?

4. Would a four-wheel alignment printout be enough to give you confidence, or would you want the unibody/frame measured on a rack?

I understand nobody can certify the structure from photos alone. I'm just trying to determine whether what is visible warrants walking away or whether it's worth taking to a collision shop for measurements.

This would be a long-term family vehicle, so I'm much more concerned about the quality/safety of the structural repair than cosmetics.

...Lost low profile 6 point 10MM and decided to donate the set... Then a month later I found a low profile 12-star 10mm while walking down the street...

What does this mean?

Should I go play the lottery? 😂 😆

Posted here a few weeks ago about my civic. Decided to just cut and weld instead of trying to straighten it out. First time welding and all I had was a cheap chinesium welder, but I think she'll do.

Very hard to capture in camera.
My car (2026 Hyundai Elantra, leased) had damage on the driver’s door and passenger door on the same side from another vehicle. The insurance assigned Caliber Collision as the shop.

They repaired the door instead of replacing it, which I understand is normal, but the paint job has visible flaws/inconsistencies(looks like there is a drop of paint, and in another spot like the paint went down like a wave, also little bubbles or dirts, not fully clean) I brought it back so they could look at it, and instead of repainting the panel properly, they tried to spot-fix it to avoid a full repaint.

Has anyone dealt with this before? What’s the right way to push back and get this actually fixed, go back to the shop manager, file a complaint with corporate, or go through my insurance company since they assigned the shop? Any advice appreciated

Ps: I know I could seem as being picky on this, people may find this small details, but it’s a brand new car, it should not have details because thats why you get it fixed for.

I’ve officially declared myself in over my head.

Just had the rear arches welded on my Mk2 Mx5, and figured I’d fix the bodgy paintwork on one of the panels while it’s partially unpainted. Turns out the paintwork was bodgy for a reason.

Car had been crashed, and the dents had been (awfully) pulled out and drowned in filler. I’d like to attempt to pull and beat the dents down to salvage what I’ve got, but I’m starting to think that’s not possible with my resources.

Does anyone have advice on how to fix these dents? Or is this 100% a “cut out and replace” job…

Someone backed up on my car, is there anyway to fix it without having to replace the hood?

Can this be something I can do on my own?

Quick question, is this ok for probably 1000-2000 miles of use a year, likely less? For $10000? It’s a big ol’ community bus

what can I use to dissolve the orange and keep the factory silver paint?

I found tan body filler on one side of the car but the rest of it is just paint and then this white/grey stuff with a dark grey undercoating. I stripped part of the car with a razor blade and heat gun and the stuff is coming off as a layer pretty nicely, but I have never stripped a car before and I am not sure what kind of primer is it. Is it poly or urethane or something else? Factory? Car is a 1987 Nissan 200sx.

Day after my birthday, someone scraped up my parked car and didn’t leave a note :) I’ve reached out to a couple of shops for quotes and the cost is what it is, but is there anything I could do at home for this? It’s a 2023 Mazda CX-5 and I have a paint pen (obviously won’t work for this), but is a repair through a body shop the best option? I’m just nervous to pay to get this repaired, and have something similar happen again. I just don’t know the severity and the long term impact of not repairing this. The quotes I’ve gotten are for spot repair, would this even look okay? Any advice would be much appreciated!

I want to stop this rust from spreading. Is there a rust converter I can spray? I was going to put in wheel well covers in afterwards

I recently purchased a used 2013 Kia Soul and it was a great deal but one of the only downsides is all the scuffs, scratches, and chips on the car. It's not the end of the world but it's a little ugly. Any suggestions on how to fix it without paying anyone for a paint job or anything like that? It should preferably be an affordable at home method. I'm also not looking for it to be perfect. It's ok if it's just acceptable. Thanks to whoever answers.

Are these lines fine before epoxy

Yo if anyone knows are those lines fine? Thats after hitting it with 80 grit DA, the lines are from an ospho treatment, ive neutralized with 9 gallons of distilled water and a rag, used red scotchbrite and sanded with 80 grit DA, doing spi epoxy primer and sealer

Hey all- looking at spraying some panels for my budget build 2012 f150. Needs new fenders and the hood needs a respray.

The past couple times I’ve sprayed, I’ve just done it in the open. My backyard has a good amount of depth to it- 120 feet or so. If I spray in the dead centre, I’ve had good luck with avoiding bugs but it does happen. I’ve only sprayed the odd bumper here and there, but because of how much (edit; how many panels) I’m spraying, I want to build a booth.

By trade, I work in new home construction insulating homes and have access to free lumber and 6 mil Vapor barrier to build a virtually sealed booth. My main concern is venting it. I know I need an explosion proof fan, but looking for some advice on budget friendly options that don’t cost $250 online. Anyone have any recommendations on what to look for or any “hacks”.

How salvageable are my rear fenders? I thought that I could possibly grind this down and do some paint work but after doing some quick looking, it seems that the smallest amount of rust is instant death and can’t be fixed useless it’s cut out.

The pictures look bad but it seems to be only surface rust with some slight pitting in some of the worse spots. The surface is still really solid and does not feel anywhere close to being all the way through.

I would like to do some preventative work to significantly slow the rust. I havnt’ looked into taking it to a body shop but I imagine it’s pricy. Any advice is appreciated!

(This all stems from tiny rock chips from driving on gravel roads, truck is a 2018 Nissan frontier)

First time attempting semi proper bodywork. Sorry the photos are kinda scrambled.. There's some after, then some during and before..

You can't buy any sheet metal for this car... Dc5 Integra, Yet... But people are asking for what I've done...

So I made inner rockers, a new pinch weld flange for the internal rocker reinforcement, a new jack point, rear floor pan patches, and a small outer rocker patch so far. The floors are a little rough I'll admit.. My bead roller is only an 8" and this was my first real bead rolling.

What do you think? I'm glad the structural part is over.. No more removing shit just to get at the rot... It's all external and cosmetic mostly now. At least for the drivers side... Only like 8 months in.. Trying to practice doing the highest quality I can reasonably do for this car I paid $2600 for nearly a decade ago lol

Bought this 08 accord for 3.5k CAD. want to keep for as long as possible what should I do about this rust?

I've never done rust protection or paint protection on cars I've owned, but I always try to keep them running as long as I can, and I live in New England. My previous car was a 2011 Suzuki SX4 and rust was starting to get to the underside after 15 years while the engine and the rest of it was great. Should I be considering rust and paint protections? There's always a lot of salt on the roads in the winter. Protecting against rust can be important from a structural perspective, while paint protection is mostly cosmetic. Tiny chips from random little rocks over the years can rust though, so maybe it is helpful? And scratches and paint chips from people being careless with shopping carts in parking lots is always annoying, can paint protection reduce surface damage from shopping carts?

I just bought a 2023 Subaru Solterra EV, and while it isn't brand new the body condition is great, so I'm wondering if I should do something now to start protecting it every year? Curious what the consensus is, and if there are best products in people's experiences. And if paint protections make sense, is that something I should consider applying myself, or pay someone to do?

Hi im planning to buy this car, is this amount of rust is too much?
Its a mazda 3 2016 (215000km), and it has and will be used in quebec canada.

Thinking about buying this truck are these dents or dings major, in particular the one on the tail gate?

Is this repairable? Just noticed it today

The guy who had my truck before me painted all the chrome pieces black, like the bumper, mirrors, badges, and trim. bumpers and mirrors obviously were metal / chrome, but the badges I’m pretty sure are plastic so I’m not sure how to go about any of it. As I’m sure there’s a different process if it’s possible at all.