This is the actual sequence your car moves through, written the way we write it on the ticket. No stage starts until the one before it is signed off.
Repair order — rear quarter, LH
OEM procedure
Est. cycle: 9 working days
01Intake & blueprint
Measure first. Promise second.
Day one is teardown, not bodywork. We strip the damaged corner to bare structure, scan 42 reference points against factory dimensions, and blueprint every part and operation before anyone quotes a number. Hidden damage gets found here — on the bench, not on day seven. If a supplement is needed, we file it with your insurer ourselves.
Point scan — 42 refs vs. factory data
Teardown — day 1, photographed
Supplement — filed by us, not you
02Pull & align
Straight is a measurement, not an opinion.
The shell anchors to the bench and comes back in millimetres — pulled, measured, pulled again until every point sits within one millimetre of datum. Replacement panels go on with OEM squeeze-type welds, seam sealer matched to the factory bead, and cavity wax where the factory put it. Corrosion protection is restored, not hoped for.
Bench — anchored, 10-tonne pull
Tolerance — ±1 mm at every point
Welds — OEM squeeze-type, plug where specified
03Refinish
Paint is a system, not a color.
Prep runs 320 to 600 wet, then sealer, then base blended into the adjacent panels so the repair has no edge to find. Candy and pearl systems get sprayed as full three-stage layups — silver base, translucent midcoat, clear — because a candy red mixed as a single stage always reads flat. The booth bakes it at 60 °C for thirty minutes. The full six-layer section is below.
Prep — 320 → 600 wet
Blend — into adjacent panels, always
Bake — 60 °C · 30 min, downdraft
04Cut & buff
The last ten percent is the whole job.
Fresh clear gets levelled at 1500 then 3000 grit, machine-compounded in three stages, and polished until the strip lights run across it unbroken. Then we deliberately match the factory texture on the surrounding panels — a repair that's too perfect is as visible as one that isn't. Final inspection happens under 5000 K color-corrected light, the least forgiving light we can buy.
Level — 1500 → 3000 grit
Polish — 3-stage machine
Inspect — 5000 K color-corrected
