Thread: M3 vs C6?
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      04-11-2008, 08:04 PM   #56
bruce.augenstein@comcast.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2 View Post
I don't get your point, nor your PS. I realize that doors are more rigid and more rigidly attached to the body. I also know the M3 has steel doors. I don't know what the Vette doors are made from but whatever they are I'd be they have a lot of steel in them for crash reinforcement, just like the M3.

Either way to me wide body gaps = poor quality, period.
Back in my Vette days, I was at the parts counter of my local dealer one Saturday morning when I heard a guy back in the body shop (brand new, huge and apparently with a lot of new personnel) delivering a lecture. The parts guy said he was from the Corvette plant, so I wandered back there. Since I am far from an expert on bodywork, I listened in for awhile. Much of it was very highly technical, but one thing that struck home for me was his very strong assertion about maintaining factory panel gaps. He said something like "It's critical to set panel gaps to factory specifications. You might want to tighten door gaps on these cars during your repair, but "DON'T DO IT!" Then he explained about how the composite panels grew and shrunk more with heat, and that you were asking for trouble when your customer went to get in his car after it had been sitting in the hot sun.

DAMN! That was exactly what happened to me after getting my car back from an independent shop (after a lady made a left turn into me).

The shop expressed bewilderment and repaired the damage, but the memory stuck.

Bruce
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