Poor Sill Welding? Help!

M

MessyTom

I've just got my car back from the garage after having 24" of welding done on each sill. Now I'm not sure how neat they can get it, but to me this looks pretty rough. Plus, it is now mis-shapen towards the rear each side, and there's another dink near the front.

What do you think would cause the mis-shaping?

Rough black patches? Or fairly normal? It's pretty uneven.
IMG_9715-1.jpg
]

Mis-shaped rear
IMG_9713-1.jpg


Dink
IMG_9716-1.jpg


Any input would be appreciated!
 
Reeeeally? i'd have thought it would still be the same shape I left it. The dent is over half an inch in from where it was this morning and sticks out a mile. The reason I got the car is because it was so clean and dent free.

Will go up the body shop tomorrow (next door to the garage!) and see if they can fill the dents for me.
 
If they have put alot of heat in it will go all over just take it back and tell em to pull there finger out im in engineering and I know you can get a far better weld than that
 
Yes, too much heat when welding has caused the big dent. But the smaller once looks more like they accidentally shut something in the door.
This is NOT good welding and you should not take it lying down. Tell them to fix it at their own cost.
The black patches are underseal and are normal. You could wipe it off with thinners and repaint.
 
Muniek said:
to be honest - I think they went for speed not quality...
Click to expand...

Yeah they will have done, garages are not bothered as long as it meets the requirements needed, thats why if you can take it to a proper welder, they tend to do a better job
 
99% of garages will probably think 'pffff, only a Micra worth £700 - no point in putting too much time in on this one'. Having had it done on an old 1.0 LX that fitted that very description, they simply cut out the rusted material and welded in a big plate with a continuous weld, which added a lot of heat and thus warped the panel slightly by the rear acrh. I am not sure what they do with the inner sill but they may also do the same there. As far as I am aware they are only trying to make it meet MOT regs and not making it win a beauty contest. Also I am sure that plenty of shops may not even think about the panel warping either until it's too late, (K11's are quite sensitive to it).

I did my own drivers side sill a few years back and it's a lot of work to do it properly. We cut back both inside and outside sills to remove the rusted material, made up new inner & outer sill elements, joggled the outer body panel to accept the new outer sill so it sat flush. We then fully spot welded in the inner sill, spot welded in the outer sill bottom where it met the main floor pan and finished off the join to the main panel with evenly spaced spot tig welds. This kept the heat load low and was as close to OEM as possible and sat fully flush. It was then fillered, painted and sealed.

The above took a long time to do and was repeated recently with the passenger side sill, I haven't seen the bill though, as my dad reversed my car into a 2ft low wall earlier in the year which resulted in some rear bodywork damage, so his peace offering was to roll the sill in with it, since it would be at the body shop anyway and require paint in that area. I can almost guarantee it wont have been cheap though! It wouldn't surprise me if it cost £500 or so all in with the rear bumper work, (ouch!).
 
Low Rider said:
99% of garages will probably think 'pffff, only a Micra worth £700 - no point in putting too much time in on this one'.
Click to expand...

Paid £350 for mine, as near mint as a K11 gets and at 40k miles. Just a dink each on the front and rear bumper, an easy fix ;) I would have happily paid £500 for a good job. I was chatting to the guy before hand, and he said he would keep it neat, and keep the black line nice and flat to keep it tidy... Yeah...
 
Cars are only mint when they roll off the fourcourt imo even then they can be questionable.

If its rusty its not mint.

/end
 
If a bit of sill welding is the only real bad point on 15 year old bodywork, it's not too bad ;) Most K11s I see don't even have original panels, or are dented and scuffed all down the sides.
 
MessyTom said:
If a bit of sill welding is the only real bad point on 15 year old bodywork, it's not too bad ;) Most K11s I see don't even have original panels, or are dented and scuffed all down the sides.
Click to expand...

Yes, not too bad at all. K11's are hard to find now without a lot of dings, rust and general wear and tear. My GX is on it's original panels which is more likely on a 4 door as the roof drains are routed out into the rear arch area. However, since it was owned by an OAP it is sadly scratched on every corner.....otherwise a very solid shell.

Coming from a classic car background, people pick holes in concourse cars when they're on show, (and they are no where near what a factory car would look like), so there will always be someone who is dissatisfied at some level.
 
MessyTom said:
I've just got my car back from the garage after having 24" of welding done on each sill. Now I'm not sure how neat they can get it, but to me this looks pretty rough. Plus, it is now mis-shapen towards the rear each side, and there's another dink near the front.

What do you think would cause the mis-shaping?

Rough black patches? Or fairly normal? It's pretty uneven.
IMG_9715-1.jpg
]

Mis-shaped rear
IMG_9713-1.jpg


Dink
IMG_9716-1.jpg


Any input would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

Pic one has loads of dirt that has set in the paint. (this may mostly wash off)

pic two has a bloody great dent in it.

Pic three has had a screwdriver shut in the door

Take it back and ask WTF they were playing at IMO.
 
It's a shame all those points were not noted on their premises - they unfortunately might be more inclined now to tell you they must have happened over the last few days and tell you to foxtrot oscar. Perhaps not so much with the rubbish paint. I'm not saying they will, but it is very important to highlight this sort of problem before taking the car away.
 
£235. No I just asked for the quote, but we did chat about keeping it neat and tidy. Was dusk when I collected it as I had dropped it off that morning, so it wasn't till I got home with a torch I could have a look at it.

Then he said "If I'd seen you a week earlier I could have got you a 2002 micra for £1000" (double the mileage too). No thanks, got a '96 for a reason ;) He couldn't see my point of view. Never have liked the facelifts as much.
 
MessyTom said:
£235. No I just asked for the quote, but we did chat about keeping it neat and tidy. Was dusk when I collected it as I had dropped it off that morning, so it wasn't till I got home with a torch I could have a look at it.

Then he said "If I'd seen you a week earlier I could have got you a 2002 micra for £1000" (double the mileage too). No thanks, got a '96 for a reason ;) He couldn't see my point of view. Never have liked the facelifts as much.
Click to expand...

hmm, not cheap eh fwn i would take it back and complain personally
 
some garages,,,,,,,,,you cant leave your car alone with them. you have to hang about
from my last experience, i wouldnt leave the car alone with them who you dont know
 

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