Has anyone had any dealings with either JMK or Paul Miller BMW bodyshops in NJ? Any comments as to the workmanship, Paul Miller in particular? I've heard good things about JMK but that's much farther away. Have not heard anything about Paul Miller BMW's bodyshop.
No one can paintlessly remove that dent when a lady backed into me last week, so off to the bodyshop she goes Estimate is $1000, to bang out the dent and repaint the entire quarter panel piece around the roofline and down to the windshield. I hope it the paint will be totally seamless around the edges and door jamb.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t have any luck going the paintless route. I don’t have any first hand knowledge of the dealerships you mentioned but I think DaveZ used one of them when his 540 was attacked by a delivery truck, try emailing him. If you consider going outside of the dealer network, I’ve heard great things about United Collision in Fair Lawn, NJ. Based upon Erich Lapinski’s recommendation a friend of mine brought his Z4 there (with less than 2,500 miles on it) after it was side swiped. The work was first class. The owner’s name is Doug and I hear the “ground up” restoration he did on his personal E30 M3 is legendary.
Paul
I used JMK when my car got side swiped because of a recomendation from someone at BMW corporate. In my opinion they did a lousy job. Trunk not on straight, leaky door seal, etc. I would use someone else.
TFC I'm sorry you had a hard time with MY body shop. Dave Zeckhausen used us for his little mishap and he was very happy. Did you bother to bring back the car and have us rectify the issues you had, or you didn't bother. I used our body shop when I hit a deer with my Z4 and it came out PERFECT.
I would recommend my body shop to anyone
__________________
Manny A (Morristown BMW, NJ)
2000 Carbon Black/Full Caramel
Stoptech Big brake kit(Zeckhausen)
Powerchip Gold 93
Active Autowerkes CAI
Full Supersprint Exhaust w/X pipe
Evosport Diff 3.45 40% Lock up
Autosolutions SSK
KW Coilovers Varient 3
BBS LM w/SO3 and 285 out back
Alot more mods, but can't list all.
SOLD!!
Last edited by M5manny; 6th September 2003 at 18:00.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I might be in luck. My ex-salesman (whom I didn't buy my M5 from because he was too greedy thus his dealership is still sitting on the EXACT car I bought elsewhere ) looked at the dent, and recommended a guy the dealership regularly uses for dent repairs.
So I showed it to the guy. His initial reaction was not very promising. Then he looked behind the panel and go over the whole thing closely, and said that I should be happy with the result. It won't be 100%, but maybe 95% he said and I should be happy based on what I told him - avoid having to paint that panel at all cost. I have an appointment with him Tuesday to perform the work.
My ex also suggested that if I do end up resorting to paint, I should go after the lady for $7000. He asked his used car manager casually: how much off trade-in value on a 2003 M5 with a panel repainted? $6000-7000, replied the used car manager quite saddenly. It could all be salesman talk, but I'm with him on this one. He insisted that I let the paintless guy do as much as he can. Get it to a point where I can "live with it" to avoid paint.
Oh he did say there would be no deduction if it could be paintlessly repaired. I'll post before and after pics, assuming I can "live with" the result.
BTW, the next step is to get a detailer to removed the surface scratches caused by this dent. Any recommendations? What's the typical cost for a full detail job?
m5manny, you are correct I did not follow up, so some of the blame is clearly mine. Also, my experience may have been a fluke as they say your mileage may vary.
Andy, that sounds like great news if they can fix it without a repaint. Good luck
It's not perfect, but I think he did a great job reshaping it, paintlessly. The reflection in the affected area is distorted, and there is a small area that has a bunch of rash like little dots but it's only visible if you're looking for it. The crease is almost perfect, but you can definitely tell from within 10 15 feet away. The pictures look better than it really is.
Most people tell me to leave it, including my dealer who referred me to the guy who did the work, rather than risking a bad paint job. I went to a few shops and saw a silver e39 with the same panel painted. I could clearly see that it was repainted - not much metallic finish compared to the factory paint, and the rough edges.
What do you guys think? Would you leave it as it? I thought I could live with a slight imperfect but I don't think for long.
I would take it to JMK and talk to Tom Gillespie. You can call him at (973)564-9300 ext 402. I had very similar damage to the other side of my car and JMK's body shop did an amazing job for me. Erich Lipinski hooked me up with Tom and they went the extra mile to make the repair undetectable, even if you removed the NAV system and stereo electronics and looked behind them. Erich told Tom that he was going to be detailing my car regularly and didn't want to be able to tell it had been damaged and repaired. No pressure!
2001 540i 6-Speed
StopTech 4-wheel big brake upgrade (ST-60 front/ST22 rear)
M5 3.15 Limited Slip Differential M5 Front Swaybar
Dinan Stage 3 Suspension
Dinan Front Strut Tower Brace
Rogue Octane Short Shifter & Transmission Mounts
European Dash Conversion CDV Deleted (of course!)
Bluetooth, NAV-TV, DVD Player
2006 Chrysler 300C SRT8 w/StopTech ST-60 front/ST-40 rear BBK 2007 Corvette Z51 Coupe 6-Speed w/StopTech Trophy ST-60 front/ST-40 rear 2009 Honda Fit Sport w/NAV w/Acura Integra front calipers, StopTech floating rotors on order
Estimate is $1000, to bang out the dent and repaint the entire quarter panel piece around the roofline and down to the windshield. I hope it the paint will be totally seamless around the edges and door jamb.
thus his dealership is still sitting on the EXACT car I bought elsewhere 
Linear Mode
