Body Shop Advice (Los Angeles)

[ATB88]

I mean, let's see the invoice and the car, and then decide LOL.

Invoice will be ~$6k for repainting both bumpers, hood, trunk and passenger side fenders door and sideskirt. Includes $400 for a fender, and also refurb/repair labor on the front bumper. I'll see the car in 20 minutes...

[Nate047]

I mean, let's see the invoice and the car, and then decide LOL.

[ATB88]

As far as what to look for, make sure to look at the areas they worked on in the direct sun. Or with a really bright light if it’s cloudy. Look at the edges of everything, look for paint runs, look for areas that look more dull than the rest of the car, orange peel look, make sure all the trim is reinstalled properly, make sure the bumpers don’t sag, etc…

Thanks! Going to pick up the car this morning.

As for paint match, they've repainted everything EXCEPT the driver's side front/rear fenders and door. Should I be expecting a perfect match to the original paint on those panels, and if not, to how high a standard should I be holding them? If I can see the difference, should I be asking them to repaint? I have no idea of what's reasonable here. But if it's supposed to be damned near perfect then I think that's important to know before I pay them.

[ATB88]

I had King’s do two small jobs for me. Paint match a CSL style diffuser and clear coat some carbon fiber wing risers for my e36. The masking on the diffuser left a little something to be desired, there’s a little spot where they messed up the tape, and there are small bubbles in the clear on the carbon pieces. The price was cheap though. Proportionate to the quality I guess. The wait time was about 4-5x longer than they initially estimated. But literally every body shop is like that. Overall the experience was “fine” but nothing to get excited about.

Interesting re: price -- they were actually my most expensive quote ($2.5k more than one other place)

[Nate047]

As far as what to look for, make sure to look at the areas they worked on in the direct sun. Or with a really bright light if it’s cloudy. Look at the edges of everything, look for paint runs, look for areas that look more dull than the rest of the car, orange peel look, make sure all the trim is reinstalled properly, make sure the bumpers don’t sag, etc…

[Nate047]

I had King’s do two small jobs for me. Paint match a CSL style diffuser and clear coat some carbon fiber wing risers for my e36. The masking on the diffuser left a little something to be desired, there’s a little spot where they messed up the tape, and there are small bubbles in the clear on the carbon pieces. The price was cheap though. Proportionate to the quality I guess. The wait time was about 4-5x longer than they initially estimated. But literally every body shop is like that. Overall the experience was “fine” but nothing to get excited about.

[ATB88]

Update: Thanks for the recommendations, everyone! Scandinavian Coachcraft was tempting, but I ended up taking my car to Kings, felt best about them after talking to them vs everyone else. Car's been there for 2 weeks now and it's being painted. In total I am fully repainting: Entire passenger side (door, sideskirt, front fender, rear fender), front bumper (with refurbish), rear bumper, hood, and trunk. Really looking forward to seeing the results! Either way this will serve as a good recent datapoint on Kings that forum members can use to help them decide on a shop.

This is the very first time I've ever had body/paint work on a car, and I'm not 100% sure what to expect. I would like to ask for any tips on what to look out for when I go and inspect the car when it's done? I worry that due to my lack of experience and knowledge that I might miss things about the paint and assembly work that might be subpar, but I might not notice unless I know to look for it. I worry that if I miss these things when I pick it up I'll be SOL on getting them to fix it. I'm paying a lot for this work, and do want to make sure that I know how to get my money's worth!

[Icecream]

Dude, Scandinavian Coachcraft. I went to many shops looking for someone to do the roof and all I got was so much bullsh*t, shady places and corner cutters and excuses. I didn't want to leave my car with any of them. Ymmv, but I'd at least stop by. I also went in and told them take as long as you need as long as it comes back looking good, so no guarantee on how long it will take . They were super responsive and easy to work with the entire time.

[jet_dogg]

^sadly this right here

You'd think that it'd be easy to find several superlative body shops in the mecca and birthplace of car culture but that simply isn't true. In fact it's quite the contrary as my dude above posted.

In a city with tons of money, everyone is out here hustling and unfortunately the consumer is often footing the bill and being taken advantage of.

Re: body shops, kings is average and from the sound of it abs doesn't want to honor the quote so he's brushing you off, classic business tactic given the evidence.

[AWE46M3]

In the LA scene (and likely every major metropolitan city for that matter) unless you have a personal connection to the shop via a friend or family member or have 10K+ followers on IG and the shop owner happens to know you or follow you - you will be treated like a peasant and be told to be grateful for the work they are willing to do for you.


It will take longer than you think. It will cost more than you estimated. The finished product will likely fall short of your expectations and you will wonder what the outcome would have been if you had tried someone else from the list. You will try somewhere else from the list with a similar outcome. Rinse and repeat.

Body shops make way too much money running up the tab on insurance work to give a shit about our CSL trunks and EU bumpers. The bar is too high for our expectations vs their reality.

[old///MFanatic]

Yeah SoCal body shops always have more insurance work (bigger dollar$ work) fall/winter.

[ATB88]

Kevin has had a hood from me since August 9th 🤷🏻♂️ I’m sure it will turn out nice but I’m not super thrilled with how long it’s taking.

Yeaah from the tone of his texts it sounds like things are very backed up. He ignored any questions I asked about how far out he's booking or when he might conceivably be able to work on my car if I was willing to wait, so, :P . But silver lining for you, that means he's focusing on the work he's got on his plate right now rather than making his backlog worse, which is the right thing to do. Bummer, though, sounds like he does great work and I just wish I gave him my car back in April.

[Nate047]

So, I got a great quote from Kevin a few months ago, and he told me to just drive and enjoy the car until I got tired of looking at it, then bring it in. Got in touch today and apparently he's super slammed and not taking on new work :/

Bummer, as it seems like they're one of the best shops for e46s.

Next on the list is Kings Autobody, but that's all the way down in Huntington Beach :/

Before I shlep all the way down there from Echo Park for an estimate, does anyone have any other recommendations for any good shops for E46 paint and body work in LA???

Kevin has had a hood from me since August 9th 🤷🏻♂️ I’m sure it will turn out nice but I’m not super thrilled with how long it’s taking.

[old///MFanatic]

Bummer, as it seems like they're one of the best shops for e46s.
Next on the list is Kings Autobody, but that's all the way down in Huntington Beach :/

Before I shlep all the way down there from Echo Park for an estimate, does anyone have any other recommendations for any good shops for E46 paint and body work in LA???

Nope, just go to King’s Autobody. Tell him you got sent from the forum(mention me, local Silver M3). He’s an advid E46 owner, M3 collector and M3 race car driver.

[Icecream]

Try scandinavian coachcraft. Super easy to work with, they refinished my carbon roof on the M6 and have glasurit if you ask for it. Every other shop was scared to touch it but it was no problem for them at all. Ask for Tom.