Darren...
With the advent of super high strength adheasives such as 3M or Accuseal, the "Old" method of cutting, tack welding, grinding, filling has by most body shops gone by the wayside.
I will say, that I perfer the old method. Since most shops are a Book rate and flat fee shop, the issue is quality and time. Therefore they can do quality work, yet save time. To SOME its a delicate balance.(I experienced this last year when I needed some rocker panels to fix some rusted areas on my truck and began obtaining estimates from some shops to weld in patches on the rusted areas, only to discover the patch panels were glued in)
The old method done by a qualified or knowledgeable person takes about 8-10 hrs actual time per side to (ready to paint) . Thats cutting the old out, placing the new in, welding, grinding, filling, sanding and prime/prep for paint.
With the new adheasives, that time is cut into 1/3 or at most 1/2 of the time.
The double layer "flanging" pretty much in 3M testing, showed that it was as strong and at times stronger than the actual welding. (I've actually seen results and the tests done at the 3M factory at a plant in MO.)Longitivity of the application of glue vs. weld, the glue outlasted the weld 10 fold.
Alot of the panels in NASCAR and even NHRA are "glued" with some of these adheasives.
I would trust the work if done by your guy, as long as he does it correctly and is knowledgable in its application.
If I were to do it again, I'd still weld in and such(like I did on my dart) but I wasnt needing it in a week.
One problem you will suffer if you did it on your own is "tinkerititus" or "isitsolidenough" syndrome. It just drags on and on until your happy. At times, I think my qtr panels are the strongest welds on the whole damn car.
Hope that helps
With the advent of super high strength adheasives such as 3M or Accuseal, the "Old" method of cutting, tack welding, grinding, filling has by most body shops gone by the wayside.
I will say, that I perfer the old method. Since most shops are a Book rate and flat fee shop, the issue is quality and time. Therefore they can do quality work, yet save time. To SOME its a delicate balance.(I experienced this last year when I needed some rocker panels to fix some rusted areas on my truck and began obtaining estimates from some shops to weld in patches on the rusted areas, only to discover the patch panels were glued in)
The old method done by a qualified or knowledgeable person takes about 8-10 hrs actual time per side to (ready to paint) . Thats cutting the old out, placing the new in, welding, grinding, filling, sanding and prime/prep for paint.
With the new adheasives, that time is cut into 1/3 or at most 1/2 of the time.
The double layer "flanging" pretty much in 3M testing, showed that it was as strong and at times stronger than the actual welding. (I've actually seen results and the tests done at the 3M factory at a plant in MO.)Longitivity of the application of glue vs. weld, the glue outlasted the weld 10 fold.
Alot of the panels in NASCAR and even NHRA are "glued" with some of these adheasives.
I would trust the work if done by your guy, as long as he does it correctly and is knowledgable in its application.
If I were to do it again, I'd still weld in and such(like I did on my dart) but I wasnt needing it in a week.
One problem you will suffer if you did it on your own is "tinkerititus" or "isitsolidenough" syndrome. It just drags on and on until your happy. At times, I think my qtr panels are the strongest welds on the whole damn car.
Hope that helps
