Damaged underbody.

[Nuvo]

The rear end of the car is now sporting two holes in the underbody after an accident I had a few weeks back where the car rolled of the jack and the floor pan struck the two toppled axle stands.

The pictures below give you some idea of the damage although they don't show the concaved areas surrounding the puncture holes.

I'd like to ask what are my options for getting this repair done to a professional standard?

If I take it to a body shop would they remove the stonegard from the surrounding areas then attempt to pull out the dents, weld it, then resurface the exposed area?

Or would they cut out a square for each area and weld in replacement metal? My only concern with this method is what lies directly above the affected areas.

Anyone had work like this done before? I've yet to visit any body shops to get a quote or ask how they would do it.

Thanks for any tips or experiences you may have.

[DJones]

I would think a body shop would just plate it over and weld it.

Every time i see welding carried out by body shops in areas that are not seen it always looks a pretty poor job.

Tell them you want the price for an invisible repair not just a plate on top.

You were luck that all that happened... good job you weren't under it.

All the best.

Darren.

[Gompa]

I would think a body shop would just plate it over and weld it.

Every time i see welding carried out by body shops in areas that are not seen it always looks a pretty poor job.

Tell them you want the price for an invisible repair not just a plate on top.

You were luck that all that happened... good job you weren't under it.

All the best.

Darren.

you get what you ask for in most bodyshops. some people just want bodges some people want bugatti veyron workmanship at suzuki alto labour prices

i personally would try to knock out as much as possible before any welding takes place. just make sure you instruct fully what you want out of the repair ie for it to look as though the accident never happened and you should be fine.

[Error404]

Bummer
Where about's is this on the body Rob?
I'd brush the underseal off, hammer the panel back as flat as you can and weld it it, then linish it back.
Might not be 100% perfect but better than plating over it and you'll never know once you've underseal it again. I guess it all depends how much time & money you have!

[Nuvo]

Thanks very much for the replies guys, I now have a much clearer idea of what is involved.

@Darren, I count myself as very lucky indeed. I leaped out of the way when I saw what was about to happen.

@Alex, I'm less than thrilled about what happened but it could have been a whole lot worse.
The damage is at the rear of the car, each hole is in line with the front edge of the middle silencer.

The smaller hole is on the drivers side and the larger one is just short of the passenger sill.

I've yet to establish where these holes are located on the interior floor space. I'm thinking/hoping they situated around the rear passenger seat foot wells.

I'm game for doing most repair work myself but I don't have a welder or the experience to do this.
So I will need to entrust the work to a bodyshop this time.

[newsh]

Get the carpet peeled back and have a look from above (I think I can see some heavy wiring through the big hole, might be the battery lead?) just the rear seat base and the long plastic trim at the botom of the door. You need someone holding a club hammer underneath while you hit it from above.

[S2central.net]

@Nuvo - very lucky escape there... stories like that give me the heebijeebies

[Nuvo]

@Paul, this serves as a warning to everyone who works on their cars. No matter how safe you consider your working practices to be, accidents can and do happen. Be careful out there everyone.

@Newsh, thanks for the tips. It would be ideal if I could do as much of the prep work in readiness for welding.

I think you could be right about the wiring above. I'm wondering if I'll need to move the front-to-back loom to a safer location to avoid the risk of damaging the wiring when panel beating/welding is in progress.

I remember that this loom is secured in a sort of translucent ducting, so I probably need to lift that out of the way. Any idea how this is fixed to the floor?

[S2central.net]

The ducting is just clipped on top of the wires AFAIK... There is some sort of retainer every so often that it clips into... fair bit of work to remove carpet & that to prep for plates to be welded in. If its getting arc welded dont forget to unplug ECU, ABS, battery etc just to be sure

Kinda curious how it rolled off the jack and toppled the stands over - seriously lucky there.

[Nuvo]

Thanks Paul. It's a pain that I'll need to go to these lengths to do this. But if I want it done right then needs must.

Here's a brief description of what happened:
The front wheels of the car were on ramps, I raised the back end with a trolley jack and placed the axle stands under the car. I felt that rear of the car needed to be a few inches higher on the axle stands to give me more space to work underneath.

So I started to raise the jack as before, as I did so I could see the trolley jack starting to slowly edge towards me.
That was my cue to get the hell out of there.

I've done this plenty of times before without incident. The only difference this time was that I was working in a garage with a harder and smoother floor.

Understandably this give me a bit of a scare. I decided not to work on the car for a few weeks after that.

[martinws]

lucky lucky ******. A friend of mine was under a van doing some work and his mate let the jack down by mistake and trapped him under the van. i think he broke his ribs. Im a fan of putting wheels under the car if im working under it for any period of time just as a precaution. Its my worst fear as i usually work on the car alone.

[4WheelDrifter]

Blimey, Rob. Sorry to see the damage to the car, but it sounds like you had a lucky escape, so I'm glad you're ok.

My car is up on underground concrete blocks, but I still stick spare wheels and tyres under there while I'm working underneath. I haven't got much elbow room, as the car could do with being higher, but I'd rather be safe.
I don't even trust my metal ramps. I'm never too sure how good Chinese welding is.

[s2driveruk]

wow...makes your stomach turn just thinking about it....i usually have that thought when i am under the car on 4 stands and bleeding the clutch with my face inches away from a gearbox mount - suddenly realise if it goes bad....its bad!

Hopefully the car will be fine.....easier to fix that yourself in that situation I'd imagine - good luck sorting it

[newsh]

So did the front actually roll down off the ramps? You did well to get out of the way. On a bike forum I used to be on there was a guy killed when his pickup truck came off the jack, I've always been careful but I'm even more so since then.

You know I would probably bang those areas flat and glue a patch on from the inside with some of that mad PU glue they stick cars together with these days, its ridiculously strong. Then you won't have to scrape large ares of underseal off to stop the car catching fire and you can just locally repair the underseal where its broken through..

[andy10v]

I would get the carpet out and assess from there.

Bad luck, but lucky at the same time.

I also tend to stick wheels under if using little axle stands, means you have a chance.

You will need to ensure the underside is sealed properly again once done as you do not want water to be able to get under the underseal and do unseen damage if it creeps along between the body and the underseal.