SRT Damage, Opinions Please

[JKNUST]

I will be looking at this Viper on Thursday of this week. Price is excellent, however there is some small damage. Another Viper owner went to look at the car and test drive and everythign else on the car checks out and is good. For the price, it is hard to pass this one up even with the damage.

After seeing the damage in the photos, I may wish to have it repaired. A guestimate from a local body shop looking at photos was $1K. Would you guys repair this damage.... or replace the entire sill (Sill is about $4,500 I think)? My only concern is that it may have hit/damaged the exhaust, but I am guessing no.

It was explained that his gf (now ex - lol) was driving in a parking lot with him and cut a corner too close and this sill clipped a curb. There is no damage to the wheels or anywhere else, so it seems to add up and the photo looks like that too.

In some shots and just walking up to the car it is hard to see the damage.

Closeup Direct:
http://www.mazduh.com/srt/MVC-750S.JPG

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Side Distant:
http://www.mazduh.com/srt/MVC-749S.JPG

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Rear Angle Distant:
http://www.mazduh.com/srt/MVC-752S.JPG

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Front Angle Distant:
http://www.mazduh.com/srt/MVC-751S.JPG

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Another option, of course, is I get it for the deal price and just drive it with that defect as-is.

Thoughts?

 

[Skip White]

This is very fixable, but I wonder if the material used to fix it, can handle the heat generated in this area. $1000.00 is way to much to fix that. As low down as it is on the car would also allow some room for imperfection. Aluminum is very easy to work with. You'll never know it was fixed. I'ts also in a curved area, those come out great compared to flat surface such as a hood or door.

If you buy it, make sure they remove the sill to fix it, and then upgrade the exhaust, and that will serve two purposes, reduction of side sill heat, and sound great, run better, get rid of the sec. cat. thats a real furnace.

Yea the side sill is the most expensive single item on the body, but four or five hudred should make it perfect.

How much is the car? How many miles?

Skip

 

[JKNUST]

7,000 miles.

I am shy about the price of the car, so I will PM you. Anyone caught trying to buy this car out from under me will be shot!

I did not realize that area was aluminum? The guy selling said he had an estimate of $700 to fix, but preferred to sell wiht damage visable rather than patching it up and saying it had damage but repaired since damage is seemingly minimal.

Maybe that $1K was with Viper Tax included!!

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

I disagree with Skip on this, as the labor to take this off (correctly ) and paint it probably could easily hit $1000 or more. We have to do these all the time and it needs to be removed to paint. We just turned down another car that a Dealer promised was perfect ( repainted this same sill from factory damage ) and it was due to a quick blend. Do it right or it will cost you later.


Sincerely,
Bill Pemberton
Woodhouse Viper

 

[Skip White]

Yea, that's an easy fix, there are a few tricks to getting the sills off the car. Specific directions are on this site. Don't dare let them try to fix it on the car. It could be done very well, but they would use a Morgan knocker on it, and you would have many holes in the heat sheild thats on the back side, then you would have a heat related failure of the body filler. 7-k miles on the car is ok. I really like to be able to speak to the one that put those miles on it, just to get a feel of how he drove the car.

Skip

 

[ViperRay]

I agree with Bill on this.
Personally, I would remove the sill and check the exhaust (however unlikely it is to be damaged) before purchase.
If you buy it, the sill is already off and ready to be fixed.
Just my $.02.

 

[JKNUST]

Thanks for all of the responses. The car is in Texas and I am in VA. If I remove the sill I will have to throw it back on to drive it back to VA (unless it fits in the trunk - I'm guessing no way).

Hopefully the owner will not mind the time to take the sill off. Does anyone have pics of an SRT with the sill(s) off? I have searched and looked through the galleries and can find none. With those pics I might be able to decide if I would buy the car on the spot without removal of the sills.

If I get it repaired, I will take the sill off and bring it in to their shop..... or do they need to see the whole car to do this kind of repair? I assume on painting... I would insist on the sill only and no blending like they sometimes do with neighboring panels like a door or quarter panel?

Reading other threads, I do think I will perfom that easy exhaust upgrade for better sound and less heat. I found the thread for removal steps of the sil, but no pics of an SRT with sills off.

Thanks again for the replies, more are welcomed if so inclined. Great forum.

 

[Skip White]

I'm in Fort Worth Texas, maybe the labor rates are less here, but no way any shop in this city would charge that much to fix this. You can remove the sill in 15 minuets or so. As far as painting the complete pannel, I don't know if you can get by with blending. As I said this is very low down on the car, you could get by with a little inperfection. The sills are probably sand blasted anyway. So have them both done, and you'll get a better deal.

7-K is about all it takes to do this. Have the clear bra material done on them while in the shop.

You mentioned leaving the car like this, everyone will notice it. Seems like if I get one mark on my car, everyone points it out.

Skip

 

[Skip White]

The muffler is probably ok. the system is suspended on rubber mounts, and they are probably bent a bit, but the exhaust upgrade will take car of this. The front of the exhaust in conected with an expansion joint, so don't worry about it.

Glad to hear you want to do the exhaust upgrade, that's the time to fix the pannel. They do not need the car at all to fix this. I retract what I said about the Clear Bra material, no body shop would want to put that on while the paint is in a curring stage, and that really takes some time. Maybe a week or so after the paint work.

Sorry Bill to disagree with you on the price of repairing this, I'm sure the labor rates here are less, especially on a non insurance job.

Skip W.

Send me an email address, and I'll show you some first class shots of the exhaust system.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

The issue isn't so much labor rates as being done correct. I am figuring on where he lives, and who will be willing to tackle it. That is one long gash, and working with aluminum, painting the whole section, replacing the embossed decals, etc., it is very easy to have someone spend $1000. I agree $700 sounds reasonable, but finding someone who will do it and is willing to repair aluminum, is not an easy task as we have found out trying to help folks all over the country. If it was just a scratch, I would say no sweat.

 

[SCLSSRT10]

JKHUST, send me your email address and I will send you some pictures from Viper Days @ VIR with a silde sill off of my SRT. I agree there is most likely no damage to the exhaust. [email protected]

 

[Skip White]

JK did you get the pics, I sent you?

Skip White

 

[JKNUST]

Thanks to everyone responding.... very useful information. PM's and emails sent to those for followup on getting pics with Sills off.

Slightly off topic, but what is the average tire life on the SRT? On my S2000 the life was about 12K - 15K miles with the OEM tires (very good Bridgestone Potenza S02 tires on the factory S2000). I got 15K miles out of mine.

I was wondering with "normal" driving am I looking at 10K, 15K, 20K miles until needing new tires on an SRT? Is tire life about the same as on the 01/02 GTS or RT/10?

Thanks again everyone!!!

 

[JonB]

I disagree with Skip on this, as the labor to take this off (correctly ) and paint it probably could easily hit $1000 or more. We have to do these all the time and it needs to be removed to paint. We just turned down another car that a Dealer promised was perfect ( repainted this same sill from factory damage ) and it was due to a quick blend. Do it right or it will cost you later.


Sincerely,
Bill Pemberton
Woodhouse Viper

I agree with Bill, disagree w/ skip. Let us know what you find when U inspect the car?

 

[AviP]

It should cost less than $500 to fix it at a local body shop if you remove/install the sill.

Tires should last about what the tirewall info says if you drive "normally". Like you would!

 

[JKNUST]

I will let eveyone know when I inspect the car. My hope is that I will post about the findings as a new Viper owner!!!

Skip has been super helpful in providing pics and info on the repairs and has even helped to line up a repair and exhaust upgrade while in TX. I hope to be able to do this!!

 

[The DNR]

Man, you're getting a great deal - if the car checks out mechanically, just buy it - you're gonna love it. The body damage can be fixed at a reasonable rate. Call me when you get to Houston!!!

 

[JKNUST]

You guys in Texas seem really cool!

Thanks KGGDNR for checkin out the car for me on Sunday in person. Thanks Skip White for the pics and repair info. Thanks as well to SCLSSRT10 for the pics and info, and Bill Pemberton for his info. And thanks to everyone else for any pics and posts as well!!

My mom and brother used to live in San Antonio and back around 1999 I drove out there and back from Blacksburg in about 3 days to get a 1986 Toyota Supra... almost 3,000 miles. What a different trip this will be!

I got the temporary tags today, my dad and I get plane tickets tomorrow, the cashier's check I pickup Wednesday, our flight is Thursday. I think my dad is as excited as I am and I may have to remind him that I am paying for this car and it is the son's toy !

 

[The DNR]

I think my dad is as excited as I am and I may have to remind him that I am paying for this car and it is the son's toy !

Yeah - I tried that with my dad a few years ago, he promptly drove off in my 'Vette with a big

 

[1TONY1]

I doubt there will be any exhaust damage. It will be a waste of time to pull the sill to look at the exhaust. A take off exhaust system should be fairly cheap even if (slim chance) there was damage. Good luck !!

 

[JKNUST]

This car has a build date of March 03, 2003. How can one verify if it suffers from the valve ailment? It is my understanding some cars made it out without a proper three angle valve job? DC history on the car shows two recalls done (cooling fan module and headlight flickering), however, no mention of addressing any valve issues.

Just want to clear up if this car is, or is not in that group with valve issues. Thanks guys.

 

[Skip White]

Dodge dealer can look up the history for you.

Skip White

 

[JKNUST]

Thanks. Dodge Dealer only had recall history and warranty work done to date. Doing lots of research on the boards here, it looks like I'll need to call the 800 number at Viper headquarters to find out for sure (will do tomorrow). It sounds like a bit of a guessing game and there are some odds that you could be affected and never know or the guy on the other end of the phone could misread or skip your VIN by accident. They sure don't make it easy to find out.

If someone has this list somewhere of "valve issue" cars, the VIN is: 1B3JR65Z93V500803

If it is affected and original owner did not get the valve issue addressed, is it too late now for a later owner like me?

 

[FrankBarba]

hey thanks for the info on this car. I've been looking for something just like this.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Shoot... Depending on where in TX it is, it may be near one of the best Viper Body Shops in the country. They fix more Viper wrecks than anyone, Insurance companies from all around the US send them cars (as do owners ) Email them a photo, I bet they'll give you a formal quote... maybe you could have it fixed before it comes home:

Defratus Collision Center
1432 N. Beltline Rd
Irving TX 75061
Phone: 972-513-0537
Phone: 877-49-VIPER

 

[Viperfreak2]

I've had the sills off three times and would swear they are SMC (sheet mold compound) but I guess I'm wrong. The plastic would have cracked rather than bent.

After the repair, if you want to never worry about it again, try the side sills from Autoform. Looks like they would cover this area completely and they prevent stone damage which all of us have unless the 3M clear stuff was put on the car right after driving off the showroom floor.

The tire comment above: I have 13000 on my SRT and the tires are done. The rears are down to the wear bars in the center of the tire, but there's plenty of tread left on the edges. Wierd. The fronts are more evenly worn and just about to hit the bars. I'm waiting for someone else other than Michelin to make the rear sizes. Some competition would be nice.

 

[JKNUST]

Arrive at Houston Hobby tomorrow at 10:30 AM. Thanks for everyone's help!!

Everything looking good on this car! Called the originating dealer, indicated no info received about valve issues on this car. Also called Viper Headquarters and they confirmed this VIN is not on their list of cars with valve issues. What a reflief! That was pretty much all I had left to worry about.

RSI (Racing Solutions Inc.) in Houston is going to throw the car up on a lift and do an inspection for me as well before I officially buy the car from the guy.

Should be a fun trip home.... 1,100 miles!

 

[Skip White]

Josh,

From an S-2000 to an SRT, something tells me your gonna like this car.

Skip White

 

[The DNR]

Arrive at Houston Hobby tomorrow at 10:30 AM. Thanks for everyone's help!!

Everything looking good on this car! Called the originating dealer, indicated no info received about valve issues on this car. Also called Viper Headquarters and they confirmed this VIN is not on their list of cars with valve issues. What a reflief! That was pretty much all I had left to worry about.

RSI (Racing Solutions Inc.) in Houston is going to throw the car up on a lift and do an inspection for me as well before I officially buy the car from the guy.

Should be a fun trip home.... 1,100 miles!

J:

Glad to see you got a hold of RSI - hopefully they'll treat you right. I'd like to go out there with you so if you read this before you leave, make sure and call me when you get to Houston. If you have time, I'd love to take you and your dad out for some Texas Steak!! Looking forward to seeing you and Congrats! once again!!!

 

[alexWS6]

Wait that car is in Houston? Just exactly how cheap did you get it? Quick give me the seller's info!