RV and Truck Body Repair in Yorba Linda

Before we quote any body repair on an RV we establish the construction. A laminated sidewall is fiberglass or filon skin, adhesive, a substrate layer such as Azdel or lauan, then aluminum or wood framing, then interior paneling. The adhesive is what carries load across the surface, not the skin.

That means an impact can leave a mark you could cover with a hand while having broken the bond over an area two feet across. Tap testing the perimeter reveals it as a change in tone. Filling the visible mark and painting over a broken bond hides it for a season or two, then heat cycling grows the void and it presents as delamination, which is a repair an order of magnitude more expensive than the original damage.

On aluminum sided units the construction is different and so is the failure. Aluminum sheet over framing dents cleanly, work hardens where it creased, and can often be repaired or replaced in sections. On a fully monocoque aluminum shell such as an Airstream, the skin is structural and panel replacement is a riveting job with its own methodology entirely.

• Laminated composite sidewall: bond integrity decides the repair
• Smooth fiberglass sidewall: gelcoat and laminate repair, no metalwork
• Aluminum sheet over frame: dent repair or sectional panel replacement
• Monocoque aluminum shell: structural skin, riveted panel replacement
• Steel and aluminum truck cab: conventional metal repair with backside access
• ABS and TPO fascias: plastic welding, flexible filler and adhesion promoter

Cab and body repair covering doors, hoods, fenders and bumpers runs $750 to $12,000 at 5 to 60 labor hours. That is calculated at our posted $210 per hour body and paint rate plus $5 per hour body supplies and $55 per paint hour paint supplies.

What moves a job within that range is access and finish requirement. A steel truck fender with the inner liner out is straightforward metalwork. The same visible damage on a bonded fiberglass flare on a coach means bond assessment, laminate repair, filler and shaping to a compound curve, then a blend that may run six feet in every direction because there is no seam to stop at.

The other multiplier is parts availability. Truck body panels are generally available. RV body panels frequently are not, and the alternative is fabrication, which we do in house. A moulded fiberglass section reproduced from the opposite side of the same vehicle is a real solution and it is not a fast one.

Repair when the substrate is sound and the damage is within the material limits. Replace when the panel is torn, when the damage crosses too many compound curves to rebuild accurately, or when repair hours exceed the cost of the part plus its installation.

On RVs that calculation swings toward repair more often than people expect, because the parts frequently do not exist. On trucks and vans it swings toward replacement more often, because a stamped panel is cheap relative to the hours needed to bring damaged steel back to a shape that will not telegraph under paint.

The honest failure mode is over filling. A dent rebuilt in filler rather than repaired properly reads correctly on day one and shows every temperature cycle later as the filler and the substrate move at different rates. We hold filler to a shaping role over a properly repaired surface, not as the repair itself.