Improper lift point damage

[fenderman]

Hi all..
I just purchased a Pewter 1999 Camaro about a week ago and just noticed something while giving it the thorough undercarriage check. It looks like somebody tried to lift the car by that tab in front where the fender attaches with 2 bolts to the underside of the car. The tab looks like it has been straightened back out and shows no signs of bad stress, but the rubber part of the fender that it holds has the one bolt hole torn at the bottom (The one closest to the rear). Should I be worried about this? Has anyone else had these tabs damaged by a careless shop tech? Everything seems to be in good shape but I would like to make sure that this isnt something that would come loose on me over time and require the front fender to be replaced. Thanks in advance.

-Jeremy

[Jack]

Every F-Body I have seen that has ever been on a lift has that. Mine does too. I always pay attention to my car when it goes on a lift now. The damage usually doesn't hurt anything, and may cause the fender behind the wheel to stick out, this can easily be fixed by bending the metal piece back in place. I used a hammer on mine...carefully, and it worked great.

[fenderman]

Thanks for the reply, Jack.
The fender alignment seems to be just fine, and the metal piece is back in place and straight, but it bothered me just a bit to have the damage nonetheless as the car looks to be in very pristine condition and I'd like to keep it that way. I used to work at a shop and have actually seen those fenders balloon out from careless mechanics, so I am thankful that no major cosmetic damage occured.

[sibble]

my sideskirts are slightly bent/twisted/curved because i wasnt paying attention when the guy put my car on the lift

everytime my car gets lifted or towed i pay close attention to everything now

[awesomeame]

my car came from the factory like that, on both sides. (twisted & bent) i caught one shop guy putting the lift on it, (made a noise) and i've always told the shop guys about it since. no real probs with them...

--matt

[IThinkImFast]

ya mine were bent too. I dont know why anyone cant ****ing understand DO NOT JACK HERE. Whatever sanyways to straighten mine out i just unscrwed the fender and banged the metal tab straight. it looks as good as new no more warp. anyways ill watch mine for now on and you can bet im gonna be pissed it it happens again.

[fenderman]

Well, thanks for the support guys... it's kinda nice to know (even though damage to an F-body in any extent is not nice) that I am not alone. It just bugs me when I get under that far during a wash or something to see that small part of the rubber fender under the bolt torn when the rest of them are in good condition. Kinda ate at me for awhile but hearing about other owners who have had that problem put my mind at ease. Not that you can really see that part from the car, but I plan on keeping this car for a long time and dont want it coming loose over time.

[99firebirdconv.]

my bird has that too..only on the driver side though. The fender at the bottom is not perfectly aligned...its sticks out a tiny bit...but that mounting bracket your talking about is broken off, thats why its screwed....damn shop people..

[Dominic]

Same here, I had mine beat back into place.

Just be careful and WARN them of this now that you know [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Loochy88]

same story here. the guy who painted/installed my gfx bent mine back into place for me.

[chas]

mine were bent when i bought the car. i bent them back and haven't had any trouble with lift monkeys. i think the real culprit might be speed bumps. avoid them.

[IThinkImFast]

if the fenddr was ripped like mine did also i unscrewed it the epoxied it let it cure overnight and now its stronger then ever. screwed it back in and nice and alligned.

[fenderman]

I might try the epoxy.... thanks for the tip. That's all I am really worried about at this point is making sure that the tear didn't get any worse (like the corner eventually breaking off or something) because I like the idea of my fenders being secure. As for lifts, now that I own the car I have access to one and can set it up myself if it needs to go into the shop for any major work. As long as I know my fender won't come flying off or become worse off than it is, I'm good to go. The only damaged part is that bolt hole... just tore through to the bottom as if the bolt cut straight down.
As for speed bumps, I have to go over them to get into my apartment. However, I go over them in first gear so as not to bottom the car out and haven't had any problems yet.

[sibble]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by chas:
mine were bent when i bought the car. i bent them back and haven't had any trouble with lift monkeys. i think the real culprit might be speed bumps. avoid them.<hr></blockquote>

the worst speed bump my car has ever seen is down the street at a high school, i go REAL slow but no matter how slow i go, i can hear metal scraping from the bottom of my car on the speed bump, but not so much the body of the car

[Xiphoid]

I took my car into the dealer for an oil change and when I got it back I noticed that the tabs on both sides were bent horribly and worse... my fenders were sticking out an inch or two more than normal. This new protrusion caused the end of the door to rub against the fender, scraping off some of the paint on the edge of the door.

So I immediately took it back in there, demanded that they fix my car and they ended up having to do around $1000 worth of repairs (all on them, of course).

You wouldn't expect that the dealer would make such a mistake, but you can't be too careful anywhere. When you take your car in be sure to tell them to watch where they jack it up just to be safe.

[ August 04, 2003: Message edited by: Xiphoid ]</p>