ok i need people's opinion on what i should do here...

long story short... i got sideswipped 1 1/2 months ago... pics and thread here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...e-grumble.html

the car is finally done now and i go to pick it up, but my wheel is rubbing against the fender! i bring it back and they said they had an alignment done and everything was fine... no adjustment needed. the wheel is rubbing against the fender about an inch above the seam where the sheet metal meets the bumper (see first pic in link posted above). they keep the car for the weekend and do another alignment... everything is fine they say. they're saying it's because i lowered the car and put on wider wheels and when they replaced the quarter panel, they replaced it back to lexus specs. they're convinced i had suspension work done in order to be able to squeeze the tire in there w/o rubbing. the only work i had done was coilovers... didn't roll fenders no nothing. i'm convinced that when i got hit, it pushed the front of the wheel inwards, causing the rear of the wheel to get pushed out. you can kinda see it in the pics posted in the link above. this would cause toe in and would show up on the alignment printout. but they say the alignment is good. i'm getting the impression that theres nothing else they can do. so now i dunno what to do. i have to pick up the car today and drive it home rubbing n all. the only thing i can do is get an alignment from a 3rd party, but if the numbers are ok, then the only thing i can do is go back to stock wheels or live with the rubbing which is pretty bad. sorry for the long post, but what would u guys do?

 

did it rub before the accident?

 

nope. after the accident, i had to change it to the spare in order to drive it to the bodyshop.

 

hooray for no more red camry, but boo on rubbing.

dunno. maybe get another IS and see how the lining/fender measures up. sound like you're rubbing bad. is it bad darren? maybe the body shop put the PSI to 45PSI. g/l

 

hooray for no more red camry, but then they put me in a corolla for the weekend. it's rubbing baaaaaad! it's not like rubber tire on plastic fender lining rubbing either... it's rubber tire on metal fender lip. it sounds bad whenever i hit a bump or dip. i honestly don't think it's the repair work. i'm convinced it's the alignment and the crazy toe in caused by the sideswipe.

i'm thinking i should tell them that im gonna take it to a 3rd party alignment place and if they find out-of-spec toe on that wheel, then ima send the bill to the bodyshop, but if they find nothing wrong, then i'll pay the alignment guy for his time. BUT, if they find nothing wrong with the alignment, then i'm screwed and stuck with the rubbing...

 

they they check the suspension? any problems?

 

if the alignment is ok then i would think the suspension is ok too?

 

If it is the other drivers fault they are responsible for repairing your car to it's former condition. Try to get a printout of the alignment spec's as they are now also try to get the spec's from the shop that aligned it before the wreck.
From the before picture it looks to me like they would straighten the quarter panel not replace it. I see you are in Torrance, I drive from O.C. to Johnson's Alignment at 190th & Hawthorne for all my alignments, go by there & talk to them if you don't know a better shop.

 

Maybe call your insurance company and let them know that the quality of the repairs are not up to spec. After all you're the one who basically gives the go ahead to release the car to you.

 

Which body shop did you go to? Yeah just call your insurance company and tell them whats up.

 

Try measure the wheelbase from the driver side and compare it to the passenger side. I think one of your rear arms is tweaked. Even though they did an alignment, that would only make the wheel point straight. You could also compare the spacing from the tire to the body from both sides.

Of course this is only good "if" they did put the rear quarter panel back into spec.

 

the body shop replaced the entire rear quarter panel. i got it back yesterday and all the lines and seams match up and are flush with each other like the doors, tail lights, bumper, etc. it seems to be rubbing against the sidewall of the tire. all those lil nubs on the sidewall of the tire are shaved off from the rubbing. so it looks like it's very very close to clearing. im gonna get an alignment done by a 3rd party today to check out the camber, cuz it looks like i've gained some positive camber. from eyeballing it, the other side looks to have quite a bit more negative camber than this side. the guy at the bodyshop said that i need to tweak or shift the cross members? didn't know what he was talking about tho. i think if worse comes to worse, i'll just roll the fender lip or shave it off... that should give me just enough clearance to not rub on the sidewall.

oh yeah, i went to longo collision. although it took a very long time, the work itself is very good. i was very happy up to the point where they couldn't eliminate the rubbing...

 

sorry to read about this. I would start off if you can get your car on a lift and another local member to do some visual and measuring. With how and where you got hit there is a good chance that things are out of alignment and from what I was told in the past that is a very hard thing to make it perfect again when there is any suspension damage. I had a similar thing happen to one of my cars and they ended up totaling it out and if I had pictures you would be surprised they totaled it out with how much the car was worth.

If you have this as an option this is what I would do to see if you can catch anything. Like you said they are not going to change their answer so you will beat your head against the wall here getting farther then you have. Another option is to have another body shop do an exam on it? see if they can find something that the other place didnt get done and send the bill to your ins company or to the other persons ins company. Have you signed off on the case? If not then dont do anything until you are sure the car is fixed 100% as it should be so you are not chasing the ins company to get things taken care of.

hope all works out and its something simple and easy to get fixed.

 

Agreed, Do not roll your fender just to make it better. If it did not touch previously without any mods on your fender, then obviously something is still out of spec.

 

^^^ Yes.

They need to bring your car to pre-collision condition. Regardless of which, it should be how it was before it got hit.

What did they exactly change for those damages? Any suspension damage?