Repair Panel Quality

[jessie]

Anyone got any feedback regarding repair panel quality. I need a number of pieces and prices tend vary greatly. I'm not looking to bodge the repairs with the cheapest parts available, but interested to hear feedback and advice.

Thanks,

J.

 

[graysummers]

Hi Jessie. The guy doing up my bus from scratch swears by Alan Schofield. Probably his number one go to. But we’ve sourced one off bits (eg. Battery tray from coolair was a beauty) from different suppliers. And there’s been an awful lot of bits!!! Usually the different companies state manufacturer or quality. I looked at reviews too. Just Kampers have a bit of feedback from buyers. Stuff like tinwear not quite fitting and needing adjustments. But there are quite a few suppliers out there aren’t there? I found it a bit of a chore sifting through the suppliers to be honest. Paul identified the good from bad. Maybe the members on here will prove to be your Gurus. Once you have identified which ones, it’ll pinpoint comparison feedback. So.....Alan Schofield for me. I’ve seen the qualities first hand. You’ve probably done this....but if you type “panel quality” in this Technical site, loads comes up. Good luck in your searching.

 

[Lee C]

Schofield panels on my truck , JK preservation parts are good too, Autocraft & klassic fab are meant to be great, but I could never afford them !!!

 

[davidoft]

Which panels do you need, some are only available in poop quality

 

[jessie]

Thanks for the replies, I am looking for front and rear wings and battery tray.

As an example front wings.

Schofield, Just Kampers suply these at about £250, Schofields has one listed as "cheapo" for £90
VW Heritage £107
C&C also do a cheap one for £85 but also a 'top quality oem' £230

I am guessing the cheap ones are worth avoiding, but is it worth saving £20 on the higher quality panels?

 

[chug]

You will probably find the 2 top quality with £20 difference are from the same supplier.

I used an autocraft battery tray, direct from them, very good quality but I still needed to do a small adjustment on it. Wouldn't hesitate in using another though.

Keep an eye on autocafts Facebook page, they are making a lot of new panels at the moment, I may be wrong but I think a lot of the products listed as top quality on the various sites are made by autocraft, someone correct me if i'm wrong.

As others have said, schofields are good.

 

[purpledog07]

I bought my cab steps from Schofield as they weld in a strengthening plate and the nuts for mounting the bumper. They only charge a few quid more and it saves a lot of time/cutting/drilling/welding. I had heard good things about them. However, they don't fit any better than any of the others out there. All the cab steps out there are the same shit ones that don't fit at all, are completely the wrong shape and piss thin. They were too long and the bends were in the wrong places. Even with the strengthening plate they are so weak you can't step on the bumper step for fear the cab step will bend.
I have used parts from all the big suppliers on my T2 a/b and would recommend spending as much as you can afford on replacement panels (eg. Gen VW or KlassicFab) where necessary. Can you fabricate some repairs yourself and try to avoid replacing whole panels where possible.
From real experience, some good some bad!
Hope it helps.

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