Warning: Dealer damaged rockers
 

Our car was recently serviced by a dealer (see other thread finally getting transmission fixed).

During the process, they bent the rockers. They are owning up to it and having them fixed - though I'm pissed a brand new car needs to have body work done - and I have no idea how closely that orange with gold metallic will match.

But, I wanted to warn folks. It appears that the 86 rockers will hit the car lift arms. I don't know if they are using the wrong lift for our cars. Or they need to be more careful on how to line it up. But the arm lift hit the underside of the rockers in 3 of the 4 spots that the arms go under the rockers. I even saw with my own eyes how really close the arms are.

Anyone else have an answer to this? What do we need to make sure the dealer does about using the right lift or using their lifts correctly?

Here are pictures of one damages spot.

what dealer was this?

STI side skirts should cover that up!

With it being in the rock guard area you will probably not be able to notice.

I'd rather not call out this dealer in particular.

The problem is that the photo doesn't show that the side of the rockers bow out now where they were pushed up. It's obvious when looking at the car in person.

I am thinking of having them try to "just" press the bow back in, and touch up the dent itself.

Strange, the 86 isn't very low, and those rocker panels are much higher than the body lip with the jacking points.

I lift mine with an ordinary two post and everything clears by a wide margin, you'd probably have to attack it with a 12k or 14k pound truck lift to have the arms hit that high.

This picture is just what I pulled of the internet to show. See how the arm is adjustable and it gets larger - where I circled it. That's the spot that would hit the rocker.

I can see it on a two stage arm. My BRZ is only lowered 1" and I can't get our brand new Rotary 10k with 3 stage arms under it. Just the wrong type of feet.

The damage is just carelessness. The car was racked incorrectly. Shops don't use "Toyota" or "Ford" lifts, they all come from a handful of equipment manufacturers. The vast majority are Rotary.

Edit: Manufacturers may have lifts painted in special colors or with special stickers, but they're all from the same people. Some cars require a specific lift with special feet or attachments, think Mercedes SLR or any other hyper car. Our cars just use a regular lift.



The first style lifts were popular years ago, and are still widely in use. The problem is, if the car is too low for the first foot to flip up you have to lift it with the feet layed flat. That gets the arms close to the rocker. Still popular with trucks and SUVs that easily fit the first or second position foot raised.

The second style is more modern. The feet are threaded, allowing a perfect adjustment to keep the arms clear of the body. There are multiple feet with the treads, and posts to raise them inches at a time. The round rubber feet are best for low clearance cars. Our lifts have the metal and rubber feet with raised ends, I can't get them under my car even threaded all the way down.

I've gone to several shops over the last 4 years that couldn't work on my car because they didn't have a lift they could put it on.

My wife's brand new Impreza had the one side skirt absolutely totaled by a misplaced arm at the dealer. They broke off half the clips including the mounting points and put a big crack in it. I have had a few other cars damaged by improper placement in the past as well.
My point is that this is not an issue restricted to the Twins but to any car. Unfortunately the design that makes lifts work for so many cars also make them not work well for any of them. Part of the problem is that no matter how well they are placed to start with the car can shift a little bit as soon as the weight is taken by the lift. That is what it looks like happened there. Anybody that has used a lift on a regular basis knows just how much of a pain in the butt it is when things move around.