taurran

Anyone ever seen this before? I JUST got my car out of the body shop and put my 20" wheels back on, pulled it out, and noticed that I now have a largish dent around the front passenger corner of the sunroof. There's also a very slight one on the rear drivers side.



I'm just not sure how exactly this would happen, but I'm concerned that I may have been the cause of this.

Theory - I like driving with the sunroof tipped forward. Do you think that if I jacked up the corner of the car with the sunroof forward, it would have pushed on the edge of the roof?

Either way... bummed..

HeissRod

I'm doubting that's a result of the sunroof.

sokarempire

I don't think you caused this in anyway unless you hit something really hard and bent the left front of the chassis up, or possibly the body shop jacked the car up under the drivers side front somewhere and not on the cross member jacking point. I had a civic back in high school with a sunroof and I hit what appeared to be an alternator or a/c compressor on the freeway one night doing about 75-80 mph. Perfectly under the right front wheel, bent tie rod, blown tire, bent wheel and two dents exactly like yours on either corners on the sunroof (drivers front and pass rear). Frame guy knew instantly the right front of the unibody was pushed up - and it was about 5/8". Once on the frame rack both sunroof dents popped out as soon as they pulled the right front down...

Or someone got pissed and hit the top of your car or sat on it and dented it. Hopefully someone has another idea, but all the opposite corner sunroof dents I've seen like that are bent chassis related. Fingers crossed it is something less substantial then that.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

+1

HeissRod

What was it in the body shop for?

taurran

You may be onto something here.

I actually hit a big bump/concrete chunk last month with the drivers side front at about 35-40mph. Ripped off my lip, broke the front bumper and put a bend in a wheel. I'd really be surprised if it were frame damage because my tire didn't even blow, and I had an MB tech inspect the car and he said the *suspension* looked good... but who knows...

Right now the car has been tracking VERY slightly to the left, but I figured after the inspection and all it just needed to have the alignment tweaked. It was at the body shop getting an e63 bumper painted and installed to replace the broken e55 one.

I'm the 2nd owner and the car has a clean title. I really hope it's not what you suggest, but I dropped it back off at the body shop today again for further inspection. Just called him to see if he can see any further damage under the bumper or front panels.

Yacht Master

+2

sokarempire

Sorry - doesn't sound good. If the chassis is bent hopefully its a small amount and a minor pull. Normally you will bend wheels, tie rods and frames before control arms and thrust arms. I think you should have them put it on the frame rack and see if its out at all. Good luck!

taurran

Thanks again, I would have never guessed otherwise.

I just googled around the body shop, and apparently there's a "frame" shop right next door (assuming it's car frames). I'm going to call them first thing in the morning to see if maybe they can pull it over there and have them check it on the rack.

Lawrence1

That type of damage is caused by unibody being twisted/bent... generally from frontal impacts. Whatever you hit must've been pretty hard. Jacking the car improperly could also be a valid theory although I don't see it causing that big of a dent.

Your bodyshop should have repaired that before giving you the car back. Also, I woulfd wamt that car put on the frame rack and measured to make sure the chasis is all within factory specs. The same with the alignment.

Good luck

sokarempire

Agreed - but I did break the windshield of my Mom's new car this way..lol (first gen Acura Legend LS coupe). I was 12 or 13 and my Dad and I were going to put news wheels and tires on he got for my Mom. Thinking I would impress him I starting jacking up the car before he was out (just put it under the front side somewhere :/ ) and got the wheel about 1" off the ground and the windshield practically exploded....he wasn't too happy.

rxsamg

Wow, something I've never thought about, it's amazing the torsional strain you can cause on an inflexible chassis!

taurran

So I just heard back from the body shop, who also has a frame rack and frame pulling expert on site, and they said they threw it up on the rack and it "looked good" to them.

I still don't know exactly why these dents would suddenly appear, but they seem to think that someone jumped up on the roof of the sunroof of the car for some reason. I can gaurantee it's never happened from inside the car, but he says a lot of time some idiot will jump up on the car while it's stopped for a picture or something, and do this.

Either way, ~$500 out of pocket to fix the roof. Good times. I was thinking of doing a gloss carbon overlay on it to just mask the dent, but I think I'll go out and get it painted the factory color. Also considered gloss black paint, but it might just look weird on an obsidian black car.

HeissRod

I'd get a second opinion from another shop.

taurran

Just when I was starting to feel a bit better about it.

Well, I'll call and see if I can get an estimate at a second shop somewhere. I'm not sure if these places will charge for an inspection and estimate, or not.

Lawrence1

Those dents are not from someone jumping on the roof... that's a load of sh*t. The damage was caused by the accident and should have been repaired at the same time with whatever else they fixed(assuming the roof was not dented prior to the accident)

Do you have pictures of the car prior to the collision? You can forward those to your adjuster and it should get covered.... if you went through insurance for the repairs.

Good luck and keep us posted.