r/Cartalk • u/1elevator • Jan 31 '25

DIY body damage help Is this bad?

Post image

New hitch install. Am I being too picky?

27 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

72

u/all_caps_all_da Jan 31 '25

did you pay someone to do that? That looks horrible.

25

u/1elevator Jan 31 '25

Unfortunately I paid for it.

39

u/all_caps_all_da Jan 31 '25

Wow, go get your money back for the labor or something because any decent shop would have done it right.

14

u/snoosh00 Jan 31 '25

I used to do exactly this type of work (not this badly), I was an untrained 20 year old who was paid minimum wage, plus $8-18 per hitch install based on difficulty ($90-180 in labor billed to the customer. I don't know how this works out price wise nowadays, but it was a not-poor neighborhood, take it what you will, early 2010's... I'd be curious to hear opinions on what I was paid, compared to what mechanics on this subreddit make).

To OP: If you brought this back to our shop, our owner would make you whole. They'd send your car to the dealer, or get new OEM bumper cover and one of the people on staff with mechanic experience would install it. One time my boxcutter slipped (and yes, the bumper is just cut with a box cutter, I used to heat mine up with a blowtorch) and I put a thin, cosmetic scratch on the bumper. The store paid for the ~$2000 piece of fascia. Be nice, don't get mad, just ask for them to replace it and cut it properly.

3

u/ZSG13 Feb 01 '25

I use an air saw for bumper cutouts for hitches. Even manufacturer recommended, lol. Have used a cut off wheel on some models. De-burr with a razor after, but we always used trim panels to cover the cuts anyway. Using a boxcutter is nuts

3

u/IronSlanginRed Feb 01 '25

I use a Dremel or a muffler cutter then deburr with a dull gutting hook and smooth the edge with a lighter.

Using a box cutter is fucking crazy.

3

u/snoosh00 Feb 01 '25

Dremel was for more complicated cuts, box cutter was for soft plastic.

Might have been crazy but I didn't know better and wasn't told better.

1

u/IronSlanginRed Feb 01 '25

Box cutters wander like a mf and are dangerous though..

I've outlawed them in our shop. Too many accidents. If you want to use a razorblade we use the square normal ones. By hand. You can't put much pressure on it and slip.

2

u/snoosh00 Feb 01 '25

I'm by no means defending the use of box cutters.

I was just remembering that we used Dremel for anything that wasn't "cheap thin bumpy plastic"

1

u/IronSlanginRed Feb 01 '25

Yeah we use em for everything.

Well the employees do.

I use a hog grinder with a custom homemade high carbon steel bit and bearing setup. But that's not exactly safe. Just waaaaay faster and super clean.

They also dismount tires to do tpms... I hold the button and do em in the bead breaker. Because I'm not subject to workers comp or OSHA..

1

u/snoosh00 Feb 01 '25

Definitely used a Dremel, but in my hands a razor/boxcutter was often cleaner for simpler jobs (like a Volkswagen Tiguan).

5

u/DadWatchesWrestling Jan 31 '25

Yeah that's shit. They can buy you a new bumper (or insert if it's separate). They can also fix the power plug. If it's vertical like that you risk the plug falling out on bumpy roads

3

u/Connect_Strategy_585 Jan 31 '25

I work for a trailer repair and sale company but we also do hitch installations on everything from 2 1/2 ton trucks to Honda civics. This would probably get you fired on the spot. Not sure which vehicle this is but they make hitches for almost every vehicle and very few of them require modifying or replacing body panels to make the hitch fit. If this is indeed the correct hitch for this vehicle, you’d need to get the correct bumper cover for the hitch. The installer should’ve figured that out, if not when they made the work order, when they started the install. So one of 2 things is going on; the installer installed the wrong hitch and ruined your bumper cover to “make it work” or this is the correct hitch and you need get the correct bumper cover installed. In any case they owe you a new bumper cover.

26

u/LeeroyJNCOs Jan 31 '25

That panel is clipped on and removable. The fuck. I'd not only refuse to pay for that, I demand they buy me the replacement part or I'd shit on them online.

15

u/RuckFeddit79 Jan 31 '25

You're not being picky. That looks horrendous. I'd be telling whatever shop you hired to do it that they're replacing the bumper and paying for it to be done correctly.. at the very least a new bumper. Fuck that I'd be ready to beat somebody's ass behind that atrocity. Sorry man. But yea it's well past bad.

5

u/Ironworker76_ Jan 31 '25

Especially if it’s a month old Mercedes

9

u/Many_Hotel866 Jan 31 '25

That looks like shit. Did you actually pay for somebody to butcher your car like this?

6

u/ShowUsYourTips Jan 31 '25

It's awful. The kit should have come with a template for where to cut one or two holes. The bumper cover was supposed to be removed to install the hitch. Instead of removing the bumper cover, I have a bad feeling they cut the big hole to feed the hitch up through and didn't secure it safely to the vehicle.

5

u/jlusedude Jan 31 '25

Did you do this? Did you pay? This looks terrible. 

11

u/1elevator Jan 31 '25

It was a shop supposedly 30 years experience. My car is a month old Mercedes

9

u/denzien Jan 31 '25

It was a shop supposedly 30 years experience

So they have 60 employees?

5

u/jlusedude Jan 31 '25

Bro. What the fuck. They better be replacing that shit. I’m sure there’s a proper installation method that doesn’t include cutting big holes. 

2

u/SadSausageFinger Jan 31 '25

This has got to be a troll post…

3

u/1elevator Jan 31 '25

Sorry it’s real😢 2025 Mercedes

5

u/SadSausageFinger Jan 31 '25

If so, this is obviously unacceptable. I have no idea why you would have even left the shop.

5

u/Ok_Dog_4059 Jan 31 '25

It looks like they stashed peanuts in your bumper and waited for rodents to chew that hole for them.

6

u/crysisnotaverted Jan 31 '25

You paid a dull beaver to gnaw a hole in your bumper?

3

u/MagicOrpheus310 Jan 31 '25

What the fuck man they butchered your car! I would be fucking furious, that is appalling

3

u/LukasMourningstar Jan 31 '25

Genuinely go confront them, and if they refuse to fix it talk to a lawyer

3

u/SadSausageFinger Jan 31 '25

This is shit work

3

u/Equana Jan 31 '25

That is a serious hack job. Take it back and have them pay for a new lower valence

3

u/tOSdude Jan 31 '25

On a 20 year old car done in a backyard, this is fine.

On a month old car done “professionally”? Take it back and get it fixed.

2

u/Stinkus_Dickus Jan 31 '25

Is that bad? No it’s a tow hitch thing (God damn that looks terrible, you should get your money back if you payed for that)

2

u/iJeff Feb 01 '25

I'd be expecting a new bumper and full refund. Also wouldn't let them touch the car again.

2

u/RagnaRockyDennis Feb 01 '25

You gotta wonder what's under that disaster of a bumper. You know every bolt is cross-threaded, if they even installed all the bolts at all.

2

u/Mortimer452 Feb 01 '25

This is a job performed by a man who gave zero fucks. Negative fucks, even.

2

u/Beating_A-Dead_Whore Feb 01 '25

I can do a better job than that with a steak knife after a 6 pack. The fact that somebody charged you for that is wild. You need to go back.

1

u/Hood_Mobbin Jan 31 '25

I would just make a template and cut it myself at this point to make it look better and maybe wrap the edge in a rubber grommet.

1

u/CavinYOU Jan 31 '25

Did you cut into your bumper to get to -it. Or install- it?

1

u/Psych0matt Feb 01 '25

It took me way too long to figure out there was a giant hole cut out of your bumper and we weren’t talking about the sharp teeth in the hitch hole

1

u/racerviii Feb 01 '25

Sharp teeth? Where?

1

u/Psych0matt Feb 01 '25

The shadows look like two bottom fangs

1

u/racerviii Feb 01 '25

Is this a tow hitch shop or Mercedes dealership?

1

u/mr_lab_rat Feb 01 '25

Yes. The owner of the shop needs to see this.

1

u/Wooden-Cucumber4280 Feb 01 '25

Doesn’t the piece that covers the hitch usually pop off?

1

u/a-hippobear Feb 01 '25

Go to the Benz dealer and ask them if it’s right. Then ask them for a quote in writing on how much it would cost to do it right. Then take that quote to the shop and politely tell them that you’re dissatisfied with the workmanship and you’d like it to look like it came from a reputable shop and not a shade tree mechanic. If they’re dicks then pull out the quote from the dealership.

Realistically, a few more minutes of cutting with a template and some rubber weather seal is all it needs to look professionally done.

1

u/Suspicious_Bit_7075 Feb 01 '25

This is why I DIY almost everything.

0

u/drstu3000 Feb 01 '25

Looks fine. I had a headlight replaced once and the car came back with every piece of glass smashed out, that's how installs work