Getting some welding done, protecting myself

andy29_2

I need to get some welding done on my car, no reason to think they'll be bad but what should I be doing to protect myself beforehand in case it goes wrong? A written agreement of what they're going to do? I've never been anywhere other than garages I know and trust before so I've never really worried.

tommyedinburgh

andy29_2 said:

I need to get some welding done on my car, no reason to think they'll be bad but what should I be doing to protect myself beforehand in case it goes wrong? A written agreement of what they're going to do? I've never been anywhere other than garages I know and trust before so I've never really worried.

Do the garages you trust not weld?

If not, why not ask the garage you trust for a recommendation of someone they trust to weld?

Ebe_Scrooge

^^^ This.  Most decent mechanics will be able to do welding - it's a job that needs someone who knows what they're doing, and needs proper training and a bit of experience, but it's the sort of thing that any decent mechanic should be competent at.

A "written agreement" is probably not much help - I could go to Lidl tomorrow and buy a welder, then make a half-hearted attempt to do some welding that might look OK to the untrained eye, after a bit of judicious grinding back and tidying-up - but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be anything approaching structurally sound :-)

caprikid1

Most decent garages don't want to do welding these days, it carries too much risk.

It might help to know the model of car, a small patch needed on the sill of a focus vs extensive corrosion on a MK2 MX5 is a world apart.

I should also add that the journey of welding cars is not a great one to start and can be very difficult to stop.

I own 6 cars 4 of which have been welded, the welded 4 don't tend to be driven in the wet if at all possible.

Ideally find a Marque specialist.

Username03725

Are you worried about the extent of the work that may do (scope creep), or the quality?

The best way for the former is to agree up-front of what they're going to do, accepting that they may well start the job and then discover more as they proceed with it. All you can do is agree on a vague idea of how far they can go and / or a price limit, but bear in mind once they've started stripping away old rusty metal to weld the new stuff, it's a one way street that can't really be abandoned halfway through.

If it's quality, I dunno. Maybe ask the direct question - has their guy done this before, is he any good etc. It'd be hard to say how reliable their answer might be.

andy29_2

The garage I go to do do welding, they're just so busy that it's a good wait even for an MOT test. I know what needs to be done, and it will need to be done to pass (hopefully nothing much else should have popped up, it's not been used much) so it would be nice to get it out of the way. It's not a huge job, but it is in an area where it needs to be a decent seam weld. They've done work on classic cars and things so they should know what they're doing!

Thank you for the replies, it's all good knowledge. And yes, I'll be rust protecting it aftwards and avoiding wet salty roads as much as possible

Ibrahim5

I have had the situation where a garage has failed an MOT, I have taken it to another for welding and then it has failed the retest. Two garages arguing over the quality of welding. So a garage that does MOT and welding is what you want. The independent garage I use always give fixed quotes but they won't for welding. They normally give a worst case scenario and an approx figure. Never charged more than £250 which normally gets a 15 year old plus car another year on the road.

andy29_2

True, at least if the same place does it they can't complain about the quality. Thanks