Most car enthusiasts I know dread bodywork and the bodyshop. In my experience any encounters with bodywork has left me incredibly frustrated and with a horrible taste in my mouth. Slight flaws in the work, corners cut, overspray on custom suspension arms, and work just not being done as though it was their own pride and joy. I tried as much as I could to avoid bodywork, but needed to have fender flares installed on my gd wrx to have functional suspension travel with 275/35-18 nitto nt05 tires on 18x9.5 inch rims with minimal camber (-2.25 front and -1.25 in the rear). This is aggressive for daily driver, but is not like many hellaflush cars which run obscene rear camber to make the tire tilt in under compression to clear bodywork at the sacrafice of mechanical grip. Since I finally found a body shop that has converted me to a long term customer, was very reasonably priced, and treated my car as if it was their own, I wanted to share the experience with the community. Here is my journey:


I figured it would be easier for everyone to respond to the multiple pm’s by creating as thread to answer all the questions I have reveived via pm in regards to the process of the bodywork done on my project wrx, who I used for my work, and most importantly the results.* If you would like to see the process and all the trials and tribulations of my build my build thread is located at https://www.i-club.com/forums/ongoin...thread-243894/. For those that don’t want to read through all that, the cliffsnotes in relation to bodywork is: For those following my project know I am running a very aggressive track fitment wheel on my gd wrx, with 275/35-18 nitto nt05 tires on rota dpt 18x9.5 inch rims.* This has resulted in a massive increase in mechanical grip, I have a picture of the rims and tires stacked and just barely over three of my new tires was equal to all 4 of my oem rims with 225 series bfgoodrich g force kdw’s.* Obviously, the tire needed someplace to go, and here lied the problem.* Wrx’s are known for not having as much fender space as say a mitsubishi evo, plus the fact that I had a wrx and not an sti with the more aggressive differentials, which meant I could not run very much negative camber in the rear.* Well, I could, but it would be unfunctional and detrimental to the handling.* As the wrx inherently understeers, and with know dccd to bias more power to the rear wheels, I would have to run minimum negative camber to help the car rotate, much like a front wheel drive car.* Of course, this made it even more difficult to fit the tires on the car under compression, as the tire would not tilt in nearly as much as on an sti.

Here is how the tire wheels fit in relation to the stock body with the 15mm hubcentric spacer I was running.



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So I searched and searched, took it to one chassis shop to get the work done prior to dropping the car off at GST Motorsports for the mechanical work, but after being assured they could do it over the phone and having explained multiple times over the phone what the job entailed, I was turned away and saying to go elsewhere and they were unable to do the job.* For an idea of how difficult it is to perform these aggressive fitments and the work involved, here ar elinks to two articles posted on t3hclap’s blog whose website was the only source of information I could find for functional track oriented fitments (two articles:http://t3hclap.com/archives/385, http://t3hclap.com/archives/49).* Huge thanks to t3hclap for all the info on his website, I used it enough times I should probably send a check to him in the mail, huge resource of very helpful information.* It was on this website that I first saw the Karlton fender flares and immediately was impressed at the look and functionality it gave to the gd chassis, as I did not want to go through the expense of installing a wide body kit to fit wide tires.* People that know me know I am very much suspension oriented, and coming from light weight 240’s I feel that heavy subaru’s are usually severely undertired for track work.

 

After seeing Karlton’s car on t3hclap’s website I searched the internet to find his car, and read his whole blog on iwsti (xtremeyolks) and was blown away.* The guy had a serious car, and liked to drive the hell out of it.* I loved the look of his fender flares, which he had a bodyshop near him custom make to fit the gd chassis.* So I contacted Karlton and inquired about the flares, and he was super, super helpful on tips and ideas for the car, and had a set of his fender flares made for me (he has a bugeye specific version of his flares). Within a day the body shop was making the flares, and I picked them up with hardware within a 7-10 days.* I was shocked that a privateer was so helpful with all my noobie questions and had it ready so quick.* I drove home with the flares and savored the smell of fiberglass.* Upon just holding them up to my car, I could tell the fitment was very precise to the oem bodylines.

So I called up my friend Kelby who I got the tires from who was tracking a well sorted gc impreza with a wrx swap in it, and asked for some help as I couldn’t find anyone willing to fit the tires functionally on my car.* I clearly remember him asking one question, “Well do you want them done right?” and I responded, “Of course, everything else is pretty top notch on my car, I want to pay once for bodywork and have it done right the first time and not ever have to worry about it again.”* He responds with something like, “Call Kris at 5fifteen autobody, tell him what you need and he will be able to do it.” I asked if he could do everything quick release front bumper, paint matching, fender flares, sealing my rear quarter panels from cutting, etc.* Kelby just says, “Call them, they will take care of whatever you can think of.”* I did, and boy was I glad I did.*

I called Kris at 5Fifteen Autobody and scheduled an appointment.* I went out there and immediately knew it was the right spot to have work done on the car.* These are true import enthusiasts, with multiple custom widebodys in the parking lot.* I also saw the daily grind of a body shop, insurance repairs, was just as flawless as their more extravagant builds.* If you can think it, they have done it.* Everything I asked for they said they could do, even brainstorming ways to do a better job and ensure reliability (little things, like making sure my bumper doesn’t fly off the car).* They even told me they were about to move into a new facility, they could do it at their current location, but the quality at the new facility would blow me away if I could wait two weeks for them to move.* Of course, after having my car on jackstands for 8 months, I could wait two weeks to have the work done to the highest level possible, and I was not disappointed.

I dropped the car off at their new location and saw a parking lot full of amazing cars, Porsche’s, NSX’s, BMW’s, everything from show to full on track cars, I knew my car was in good hands.* The walls are decorated with pictures of their work in all the big auto magazines, and their workshop was amazing.* All I asked for was Kris to send me one or two pictures showing the progress for my thread.* I was expecting a couple pics throughout the process, Kris sent me a picture or two everyday showing what was done and keeping me informed of problems and solutions. *

The Fender flares test fitted and look excellent on the car. Looking forward to getting full compression travel and wheel lock with some serious rubber.


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Some more progress at the body shop.


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Some more pics as the bodywork progresses. Bodywork is absolutely foreign to me, so I am pretty interested in how this progresses. The rears are the most involved in fitting, as it involves cutting the rear fenders and sealing multiple layers of metal. It is very involved to properly fit wide rubber on the rear of subaru's.



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Pic of how the rear fenders match up to the oem bodywork. Very involved to make everything look both functional and proper. Fortunately, the flares from karlton are extremely well made (my bodyshop was literally blown away by them), making the amount of modifying for proper fitment very minimal as each car has minor differences to ensure proper match up.



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Picture of cutting to the inner fender well for maximum compression travel. The panels will be all sealed together to prevent corrossion and ensure maximum chassis rigidity.



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As you can tell, I'm pretty happy at how the bodywork is progressing.



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A lil pic showing off her backside..



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More progress at the bodyshop, car has been primered and should be going in for paint today. Car should be ready for pickup on Friday. Progress is looking good!!!



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Some more pics from the body shop. The body shop spent a little extra time making sure the flares fit my fenders exactly. There was very little modification needed, as the flares fit very closely, but a little work was needed as my fenders had there shape changed with the previous pull. If you didn't do a super aggressive pull like I had done, this should not be necessary, as my bodyshop was very very impressed with the quality of the flares. They were talking to me about how they were made, and how the body shop that made them had done a couple of extra steps to make these very high quality, but I can not remember what they called it, but they were very impressed.

It was very important to me to have everything match and look oem in fitment, I didn't want gaps or ziptied panels, I want the exterior to look as functional and proper as the parts under the hood. The bodyshop is taking their time and taking a lot of pride in their work, which is very very refreshing.


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Some pictures of the rear flares. Fitment is very good.



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Looking pretty darn good...



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Heading in for paint


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The end result speaks for itself, and will look even better after a week or two and I take it in to be professionally detailed (have to give the clear coat some time to finish adhering/drying).* I have very very high standards, I purchase quality parts and expect high end results.* 5Fifteen surpassed my every expectation, and my car looks fabulous.* My fenders fit amazing to the body, paint is absolutely breathtaking, front bumper done correctly and able to be quickly removed with 4 dzus fasteners.* Every person in the auto world has a horror story of a body shop, and the highest praise I can give to the crew at 5fifteen is I will never go to another body shop.* Very reasonable on pricing, top top quality work, the work was done the proper way, quick turn around, good customer service and communication, everything about this shop is top notch.* With my current setup, my car would not be far away from a show car if I wanted to, and now I know why they have such amazing products under their roof.* So if you’re looking to have some bodywork or performance modifications done to your car, I highly recommend giving them a call, if I had known about them in the beginning it would have saved me a lot of headaches and frustrations (like wondering if you’re going to have to sell your brand new tires for a loss and buy a smaller set to get your car to roll properly.* The highest praise I can give is they treated my car like it was their own personal project, which is very hard to find in todays market. *

Got these pics from Kris at the body shop. So excited to see the car getting sprayed. Car is making progress and looking absolutely fantastic. Very excited. Car should be ready for pick up on Wednesday:ritz::ritz:


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So I got this picture sent to me from the bodyshop on Monday. I get this text asking if I am busy, and I start freaking out wondering if something went wrong, and Kris sends me these pics on my iphone. Immediately, I can tell these look absolutely amazing and way way beyond anything I was expecting or even dreamt of on my car, so I immediately email it to my computer so I can look at it in actual sizing. Wowwww!!!! Absolutely exceeded my expectations and blew me away at the quality. Like I said in an earlier post, it is so refreshing and satisfying when a car treats your project like its their own car, I can see why this shop has so many projects in the import magazines due to their amazing work, and the pricing was amazing fo rmy initial quote before we decided to spray the car. Very reasonable pricing with outstanding work quality. The next text I got said "we haven't even polished it yet".

All I can say is my car looks absolutely f***ing amazing.
I pick up the car tomorrow, as we had a recent storm in the bay area and we want to make sure the adhessive totally sets on the rear door insert pieces before pickup. Pickup is tomorrow, pictures and links to their website to follow.



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Check out some of the projects they have going on at the shop on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/5FifteenAutoBody.* Kris and the crew at 5Fifteen Huge Huge thanks for all the amazing work you did on my car.* People are constantly snapping their necks staring at the car, it just looks plain bad a**. Pictures can not describe the level of quality in their work, and my car looks so wide and low, every time I walk out it puts a smile on my face, it looks like a pissed off badger right now. I love it, huge thanks to 5fifteen for treating my car as if it was their own, the quality shows and has left me as a completely blown away/awed customer, which should be the end result of a shop and ensures I will be a long time customer. Thank you for all the work.

 

I found this on Nasioc a good while back and fell in love. haha

 

Looks ****ing beautiful.

One question though in the picture of the passenger fender facing front, does the flare go above the curvature a little bit?

 

Yeah its over on nasioc and iwsti, glad you like how it looks. It really exceeded my expectations and came out amazing. I just wanted to post here as this is more of a bay area forum and wanted to get the word out about a quality body shop doing amazing work, and hopefully save somebody from pulling their hair out like me and going to tons of body shops who couldn't do what I wanted (flares for maximum wheel travel, quick release bumper, hood louvers, etc.). I know how hard it is to find somebody good at this and wanted to get the word out about a satisfied customer. They were literally the only shop I went to/talked to that just nodded their head to everything and said "yeah we can do that". No only that, they improved all the original ideas for better on track durability.

I am a very happy customer, and look forward to doing more business with them

 

It does just slightly, but it matches the oem curve but just extends it.

 

holy **** thats really good paint job!

how much did they charge to paint?

 

I honestly cant recall, I've quit adding it up with this car a long long time ago. I do remember it was very affordable and significantly cheaper than many places I went to that couldn't handle the job. Give them a call or email, they should be able to give you a ballpark quote.

 

lookse sexy cant wait to see the car all done

 

Thanks for the compliments, the car definitely looks good. Just got the ride height sorted out with the springs that came with the kit to eliminate any rubbing under compression. It is a little higher than I would like, but I am on the search for a set of stiffer springs to add to the performance as well as lower the ride slightly, just slightly. Looking for somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-450 lb/in spring rates in the rear, and 550 lb/in in the front. I should get some pictures up tomorrow.