Body shop work… is it bad or am I just picky?

Hello all, unfortunately my beloved white tacoma came in contact with an oversized deer and it completely destroyed my front end. After working through my insurance, body shop, I’ve finally received my truck back after 2 months. While inspecting / driving my truck today I’ve noticed a few things things that have made me wonder if I should be taking this thing back to the body shop. Can y’all give some advice on if this body work is generally bad, or I’m just being picky?


A few things I’ve noticed. Right off the bat my truck now has an audible squeak over bumps and driving. I’m wondering if they forgot to tighten the skid plate or something.

Secondly there is a slight mismatch of paint on the main front plastic piece that goes around the grill. The body shop tech said it was the plastic that was hard to paint, so it was just like that.

thirdly I’ve noticed miscellaneous things like small gaps behind the headlights, plastic clip being broken in the front grill (pictured) and some other just weird spaces.

Am I over reacting here or should I be taking this back ASAp?

would love to hear some opinions. Thank you Tw!

 

Since you asked for opinions, I'd say you're being picky. You blasted that thing pretty good, and all things considered, that fitment is not that far off of what a lot of trucks look like from the factory. The color match and paint quality look good and everything fits back together pretty good given what got damaged.

 

If you can see the mismatch without the aid of a paint reader, then it's unacceptably mismatched.

 

I am really picky with bodywork as well. The paint match would drive me crazy and the gap on the back of the scoop would as well. IMHO The rest would be acceptable.

 

Plastic is almost always a different color under close inspection.

Matching paint on a car that is a few years old can be tricky. Virtually all vehicles have some paint fade. But it isn't noticeable because it is all over the vehicle. If the guy who paints it uses the exact color that came from the factory it will be slightly different at first. But over time as the new paint fades it will be a closer match.

If they match the paint perfectly when they paint it; over time it becomes more and more different.

Based on your pics it looks OK to me. But pics don't always show what you can see in person.

 

This x100. If it's that visible to the naked eye it will only get worse with time due to weathering, UV exposure, etc.
Playing devils advocate, the shop may have used toyotas own paint codes on the new panels, but its your trucks original paint that's actually faded. I would take it back and see what they say. If that's the case, get insurance to pay for a full body paint job.

To your other points of concern...
Is the body work bad? No. Is it sloppy? Absolutely. There's no excuse for the fender flares and scoop to show that much of a gap. The headlights especially look bad. IMO the work done is unacceptable. Be a polite dick about it to the body shop and too bad if they give you flak. It's your truck and it should be 100% back to the way it was pre-crash.

Finally, if you don't have it I would ask for an itemized list of the work done. They may have tried to salvage your front quarter panels by bending them back, sanding and painting, which could be causing that massive headlight gap.

 

Most of that work I would not accept. Do you know if they used oem parts or aftermarket?

 

The job was paid for. By who doesn't matter , the shop was paid to do a specific job. If its not to your liking, contact your claims adjuster. And go back.

 

I thought, once upon a time, that a quality shop would blend it's own paint. If they're just lazily spraying factory coded blends, of course it's going to look like ass.

 

You are not being picky. However, that truck will never NEVER be the same. You as the loving owner will find flaws if you have it redone 10 times. You have to find a way to overlook it or sell the truck and move on. For some this is hard to do. I’m irritated for 6 months if I get the smaller ding or scratch. Part of me envies my teenage years when I drove beaters and treated them as such. Such a liberating feeling to park 6 inches away from another car and swing open your door without a care in the world. Sucks, but it will never be the same. Next repair could have more issues.

 

My truck came back from the body shop perfect.

My van was hacked together by poopweasels.

Insurance companies suck.
Van was in Florida I live in Kentucky. Unable to select a known quality body shop. Adjuster was a lying poopweasel. Body shop was not honda certified, bubble gum welds, mismatch paint with runs in clear and basecoat, misfit panels, would not start at 14 degrees in Kentucky since the crushed and ignored temperature sending unit told the engine it was at operating temperature.

Make em fix it. They got paid to fix it. The insurance company contracted with you to fix it for paying your insurance payments.

All you are doing is insisting they hold up thier end of the contract.

 

Trade it in plenty of 23s available.

 

I just went through this with mine, I went to pick it up three different times. It was unacceptable to my standards. No you are not being to picky. Your paint match is horrible. I can see that in your pictures. That air deflector behind grill. Should be replaced. Headlights that is normal. There should be no noises. Leave, or take it back. They can match that paint, that is bad. You/Insurance paid for it to be right.Fender flare front clips are not fully seated, or it needs new clips.Hood scoop, that center clip is broken, is my bet.

 

Had this on a previous truck. Prior to my Tacoma. I think most shops are so busy they forget QC and figure most folks won’t carry anyway I called them on it and they took care of my issues no questions asked. Even got a rental car back for few days while they took care of it paint did not bother me much on the plastics but they did blend the new body panels really well. They ended up having to redo some suspension stuff as I think they assumed since I could not see it I probably would never notice.

 

The color match is bad, headlight figment is normal, hood skewp and flares need a little push,

 

Take it back.
I’d like to think, your insurance paid good money to have this done and wants to know they/you got what they paid for.
It’s not uncommon to have to go back for Nicknack things on big jobs. I’m not sure I can see the paint difference, but I’m sure it’s there in person, but those gaps look like they reused broken parts or did a poor job making sure all aligns proper.

 

Looks like the clip is not in on the fender flare. Try to push in.
Your lights fitment look fine. Same as mine

 

I would’ve never left the body shop with the truck.

 

Insurance 99% underbid what the body shop wanted. I'd bet they only paid to double sided tape things and repair other things that the shop would love to replace. Also likely only covered for aftermarket and used parts instead of OEM new parts. This is the result you get, things don't line up.

The paint work is on the shop though. White is a really hard color to match for some painters. They need to try again on the color match.

 

That looks factory fresh. My new truck has similar fit.