Rust Restoration at Premier

jrb

New member
Old West.....I am that "some owner"; had my Westfalia into Premier spring of 2017;
lots of very extensive rust. I tried for years to control it, but unable. Damage I believe
started at drip rails and progressed into front window frame. The whole front console was removed to access the window area.

Maury, at Premier RV Body Shop, tackled it. Took all summer; lots of discovered rust
around door frames, etc. Wouldn't have been able to sell it, and I like the vehicle so much
I decided to restore. I am the original owner, but was always near the beach in So. Calif.
and did not protect it enough, and too late.

Cost a bundle, don't ask !! But being retired and taking good care of it now, I am really glad
I did it. I feel Premier is an excellent shop. They do all work on property, including paint.

If in So. Calif., and need someone to do this sort of work, I can fully recommend them.
 

limerence

Member
This isnt necessarily for the Westy, but for my passenger van, I just picked it up from Sprinter Pitstop in San Diego for rust work over the weekend. There were 3 areas that I asked Tim, the owner, to address that had rust. They can be found here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sprinter-pitstop-san-diego-2?osq=sprinter+pitstop

1) Front windshield - they removed the windshield, sanded rust areas down, applied POR15, primered, then painted to match, then put on a new front windshield.

2) Floor of rear entry - On a passenger van (not sure if its true for other configurations, you have to remove the plastic to see underneath). Mine looked like this:


3) For the roof, I had him spray it with Raptor bedliner that was color matched.

Its been raining here in San Jose so I haven't had a chance to post up pics of the finished product. Will do so when the sun comes out.

For those interested, give Tim's shop a call for a quote as he is very competitively priced.

-John
 
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CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
As for Sprinter Pit Stop in San Diego, Tim and his crew are very knowledgeable and eager to do the job fast, efficient and within reasonable cost but he misdiagnosed my problem, replaced parts that were not causing the problem and did not adequately field test the vehicle. Furthermore his estimate to touch up rust spots ended up costing 350 percent more without authorization, a fill spot was left unfinished and masking was not exactly accurate in some places. The worst part of the paint work was that the paint months later easily peeled off in various areas. There definitely was a problem with paint consistency or thickness, especially the top coat. Most of the money spent was a waste as the mechanical problem remained after driving off and most of the van needed extensive repainting.

AL
 

limerence

Member
As for Sprinter Pit Stop in San Diego, Tim and his crew are very knowledgeable and eager to do the job fast, efficient and within reasonable cost but he misdiagnosed my problem, replaced parts that were not causing the problem and did not adequately field test the vehicle. Furthermore his estimate to touch up rust spots ended up costing 350 percent more without authorization, a fill spot was left unfinished and masking was not exactly accurate in some places. The worst part of the paint work was that the paint months later easily peeled off in various areas. There definitely was a problem with paint consistency or thickness, especially the top coat. Most of the money spent was a waste as the mechanical problem remained after driving off and most of the van needed extensive repainting.

AL
Good to know Al.

Do you have pics of the before and after?

I can try to take pics this week and post. Your post makes me a bit nervous now but wondering if we had different degrees of paint work done. When you mention touch up rust spots, did you want Tim to cover up discolored rust areas with touch up paint? Or was the ask for him to sand down areas of rust (and weld in new metal if needed), POR15, primer, and spot paint?

Thanks,
John
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
I don't know what he did; I left the van with him for a week primarily for mechanical repair. It all started with one rust spot on the slider up near the window that I told him to fix and touch-up paint meaning not necessarily to paint the whole door; I wouldn't mind some over spray around the spot. He said he would take care of it. I asked him to also touch up the fiberglass section above rear door where my kayaks rubbed and he did absolutely nothing there, which was my primary concern in the first place. When I went to pick it up, he said there was a multitude of small rust spots (none I ever noticed as being anywhere near major) and the cost increased by 3.33 times the original verbal agreement. Upon inspection, there was a spot of filler they missed finishing under the mirror and a thin layer of paint on the edges of the rubber gaskets where their masking was not quite precise enough. I was slightly in shock but needed the vehicle to live in and complete our journey. Of course he seemed just interested in me paying the bill and continuing on my way.

Tim said that he took the van home with him the night before and that the mechanical symptoms were gone. Well they were back the next day and I went somewhere else to get that part of the job done right. As for the paint work, when I got back to the east coast I noticed that when scratching the paint off of the edges of the rubber, it just peeled off the metal and the rust spot that he "took care of" was weeping rust water. They did not peel/cut the rubber back and sufficiently remove the rust before refilling and painting. I ended up doing that myself, but in the process, my masking tape just peeled off more paint. It seemed like the base coat never adhered properly and there was very little clear coat on top of it; no where near factory thickness for sure. I may have some photos but what good are they; I can't take a business to court from 3000 miles away.


AL
 

limerence

Member
Didnt take too many pics but here you go for the front windshield. Too lazy right now to check the rear since its cold outside.

Before:






And here it is after:




And as I mentioned, the top was done with Raptor bedliner that was color matched.


Thanks,
John
 

sprinterpitstop

New member
CaptnALinTiverton, thanks for your comment but here is my side of story.
Let me explain everyone what happened in your situation.
You came to my shop with possible head gasket problem. Previous mechanic thought that it was radiator problem but it didn't help after replacement.
I've found that your water pump leaking and fan clutch in bad condition. It can cause overheating as well and I have to fix it as a smaller step to exclude it from the formula. I called you and we agreed to fix it. Yes i did drive it home and it was no more symptoms of overheating. Unfortunately I wasn't able to test drive it in mountains. If it's overheating again next step is headgasket.
Water pump service at 110k miles will never be waste of the money. It's right time to do that to prevent any problems in the future.
About Painting.
You asked me to paint rust spots. I told you that it's not gonna looks nice and I got answer that you don't care how it looks, main goal to prevent rust. We did take care of rust.
In total I've got good lesson. I'm learning and improving service I'm providing every day and trying to make it better and better.
If you not satisfied with service I provided you can always contact me by the phone and discuss it instead of writing same reviews on my Yelp from the different accounts)
I can offer you whole van paint job for free to make it fair deal and I think it can fix all miscommunication between us! Let me know
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
RE: SprinterPitStop:

As I said in my initial post, Tim and his crew are very knowledgeable and eager to do the job fast, efficient and within reasonable cost but he misdiagnosed my problem. Perhaps Tim had good reason to believe that the water pump had a leak but I did not have an overheating problem. I was not complaining about that being replaced except for the fact that after a week in his shop, I was assured that my problem was taken care of and since it wasn't, I went to another shop to get it done. I know that Tim is a good hearted person and he wants to do best by his customers, which I assume he does in most cases. I was just explaining the situation I had.

As for the paint touch up, Tim was right in that I mentioned that I was not concerned about the touch-up being obvious but I meant that I wouldn't mind visual over-spray in place of painting the whole section (e.g., fender, door) in order to meet the agreed budget. But the fact remains that the work ended up costing over three times what was agreed upon. This is not to say that the finished work didn't look fairly good (except for the missed fill spot and poorly masked areas). The real bad thing is the fact that the paint was IMHO extremely thin, including the top coat, to the point where it easily peeled off. I thank Tim for his offer to make it right but even if I were in the area again I'd be afraid to take him up on it unless I could see proof of quality equal to or exceeding OEM finish.


AL
 

sprinterpitstop

New member
CaptnALinTiverton,

I think an issue that you don't understand that OEM paint job cost different money. You were willing to pay me $150 for labor you described. In total you've paid $500 for 16 touch up spots which is still very low. I was in position to help you but it was my mistake. I'll never do the same, next van with same issues will be estimated for whole van paint job only.
Any touch up is always temporary solution.

Tim
 

jrb

New member
Check the title of this post. This has wondered off topic now for weeks. Start a new one for the
other establishment.
 

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