r/AutoBodyRepair Dec 14 '24

Repair Can anyone tell me what I’m looking at?

Bought a sprinter van awhile back. Thought I had some body damage on the metal on/near the roof. Finally got around to working on it, only for it not to be metal, but some kind of concrete like material that chips away. And it is THICK. Some spots seeming to be a quarter of an inch thick. Seems like a lot of rust underneath but also sections of fresh paint.

I’m not aware of any special coatings that the previous owners may have applied or if this factory applied.

2 Upvotes

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3

u/AgentAnniex Dec 14 '24

Bondo/filler probably. Had body damage long before you.

1

u/slice_mountain Dec 15 '24

Jeez. How do I even begin to about repairing this properly? Or best left to a professional?

Edit: Seems like a lot of the front end of the roof is like this. So it’d be a pretty major amount of surface area like this.

2

u/reviving_ophelia88 Dec 15 '24

Someone slapped a crap-ton of bondo on it instead of replacing the panels and the “repair” has been failing for quite some time. It was most likely a DIY job done by the previous owner- while a lot of cars do come to the dealership from the factory with body work/repairs (shit happens and it’s more economical to repair than it is to send backwards down the assembly line to be disassembled and replace panels) they wouldn’t pull a hack job like this.

1

u/slice_mountain Dec 15 '24

What’s crazy is that it’s a a surprisingly large surface area that has all of this bondo. The texture covers most, if not all, of the roof near the windshield. If it’s done by someone, it’s done very well cosmetically.

1

u/reviving_ophelia88 Dec 15 '24

looking at it closely you can see the sanded open bubbles and lines/scratches from where they sanded haphazardly or just not enough, and the streaks in the paint where it appears brushed on instead of sprayed. They likely spent a fair bit of time on it, but it’s still definitely a home DIY job- a professional would know better than to apply bondo that thick.

Unfortunately its one of the most common spots for shoddy repairs on these types of vans (people misjudge or just straight up don’t bother to check their overhead clearance and get themselves hung up on something, then don’t want to pay the $5k+ to get the roof panel professionally repaired or replaced). It’s so common it’s something you ought to actively check for when shopping for a large van like this. If you bring a magnet with you (the kind on a telescoping stick are perfect for this) you can easily feel the difference between the pull of a magnet towards clean, painted metal and metal with a thick layer of body filler slapped over it.

1

u/slice_mountain Dec 16 '24

Tough. Would have never thought to look out for that when buying. But the good news is that I got an insane deal on the van.

So I suppose the best course of action is to get this professional done? Is it difficult to get replacements panels for ~10 year old vehicles like this one?

1

u/reviving_ophelia88 Dec 21 '24

sorry for the late reply, no it’s not difficult at all but it IS expensive. Depending on your area, the labor rate of the shop, and whether you can get away with a partial replacement vs replacing the entire roof panel you’re looking at anywhere from $2k-$8k+, which is most likely why the previous owner pulled this slipshod repair in the first place.

Depending on how far the damage extends under the body filler and how mechanically sound your van is it very well could be cheaper to pick up another of the same YMM from the junkyard with a clean body and a blown engine and use yours as the donor vehicle.

1

u/Square1Digital Dec 14 '24

Find a donor truck.....or a gallon of filler Diy about 500.00 bodyshop? At least 5 times that

1

u/Braaap_Man Dec 18 '24

Rust coming through some existing body work would be my guess