rippled panel work????

[strutt]

Hi,

Looking to buy a bay, decided a dormbile is the way forward....

seen one in the for sale section here, but some of the side panels seem to be rippled?
Is this normal and can a panel beater rectify this?

Linky: http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18175

I also have more pics that were email to me! just cant upload at the mo (at work)


Thanks
Luke

 

[andewilson]

rippled panels are inevitable if welding work has been done on any external bodywork. that looks like a nice van imho but if it has had welding then it will have filler on it etc. if you trully want a straight van. find one that hasnt been welded. to get the wobbles out of that van it would need skimming and painting again for around £2000 minimun. if you want better, buy better as correcting bits you dont like costs.
good luck with your search

 

[mjknight71]

....you find 100% genuine un-welded as VW intended buses with slight panel ripple........

...where as mine is 100% UK welded....panel ripple as VW didn't intend :lol:

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Basically its a large, flat, pre-stressed panel so even from the factory they were slightly ripply. At the end of the day they were cheap commercial vehicles. Show standard is far above factory standard. A lot of the concours cars look over restored.
Any slight knock or dent (from the outside or the inside) will distort for panels.

The only truely arrow straight busses are the restored ones. As people have mentioned welding work does cause distortion, a lot of this depends on how the repair has been done and how skilled the person doing the work was.
There have been advances in adhesives in recent times and modern manufacturers are bonding body panels on, I know there are have been splits done by fitting the full side panels from creative and bonding them on.

There is nothing wrong with the use of filler provided it has been used by someone who knows how to use it properly. I.E a 3mm skim to fill a dent is ok, but a 10mm splodge to cover a rust hole is a hanging offence. In fact most brand new cars sitting in garage forecourts have filler in, so unless someone either a) has restored a car themselves and its leaded or has body work resembling a choppy day on the channel or b) is running a car in bare metal and they tell you their car has no filler they are probably lying.

 

[Graham L]

Well said prof

We were making this very point at Stamford Hall this year, A splitty pulled into the camping area and it looked 'wrong' as there wasn't a single ripple down the whole side flank of the bus, in our humble opinion it had been overestored as there is no way it left the factory like that,

I don't know whether it was done with filler or not but having seen how easy panels dent the owner would need to wrap it in cotton wool to keep it that way and don't forget our buses were designed to be used as minibuses, campers, vans etc not as show pieces so don't worry about it.

Personally I like dents and ripples in a van that show its been used and if more get added to it when I own it then it all adds to the history

 

[pete nice]

If it's arrow straight, there is a fair lump of filler in there. the straightest panel on my bus had the most filler.

It did look good though

Although, the other side wasn't bad.