This list details the items of bodywork that have received remedial attention.

Date:Item:Price:Details:
08/2005 Front lip, side skirts & rear skirt £???.?? The Motegi body kit I purchased was originally front an Iceberg Silver Metallic (B83M) Honda Prelude so I had the parts resprayed Ruby Red Pearl (R504P) to match my car's bodywork. The near-side side skirt was already cracked when purchased and this was repaired. This was carried out by Ian Taylor Body Repairs in Horley, Surrey. I did not make a note of the cost, from memory I think it cost about £200.
??/2006 Off-side rear wheel arch £???.?? I accidently scraped the off-side rear wheel arch on a concrete pillar in a Crawley multi-storey car park, probably during the end of 2005 or early 2006. The panel was resprayed by Ian Taylor Body Repairs in Horley, Surrey. I did not make a note of the cost or date, from memory I think it cost about £200 and it was carried out around April / May 2006.
04/2009 Front lip & rear skirt £149.50 The front lip & rear skirt were both resprayed due to stone chips & blistering at a cost of £149.50 at Customize Bodyworkz in Crawley, West Sussex. I specifically asked for the rear skirt to be stripped down to the bare plastic before respraying it as the paint / primer had not bonded to the original Iceberg Silver Metallic paint correctly and had cracked in a few places revealing the original paint. I later found out that they did not do this.
05/2010 17" alloy wheels £258.50 The condition of the alloy wheels was not too bad, however after over 10 years of use, I felt they would benefit from being refurbished. I originally wanted them to be finished in "platinum", which is a shiny silver. However, I was told that it wasn't recommended due to the plastic centre caps melting in the high temperatures required for the primer process. Instead I chose the "medium metallic silver" finish, which has a metallic flake, rather than being a flat silver finish. I am very pleased with the result, the wheels look great. However, when the sun shines on them, they look fantastic with the metallic flakes sparkling in the sun like glitter. The refurbishment was carried out by Wheel Works UK in Crawley, West Sussex. This cost me £258.50 during May 2010 and they also did a spare centre cap free of charge. My thanks goes to Salazar from Prelude UK, who is a fellow Honda Prelude owner based in Camberley, Surrey, who let me borrow his spare set of 16" alloy wheels while mine were being refurbished.
04/2011 Off-side rear wheel arch & front bumper £810.36 Rust had developed in two areas by the off-side rear wheel arch, one area at the bottom and one area at the top. Additionally, the near-side corner of my front bumper was a little battered following someone driving into my unattended car while parked in Aldershot during 2008 and I accidently scraped it against a concrete pillar in a Brighton multi-storey car park during December 2010. This particular rust problem is common amongst Honda Preludes and the general consensus is that the rubber wheel arch liners / protectors exacerbate or even contribute towards the rust. However, up until now, I had kept them on as I preferred the look. Luckily, only one side of my car was affected. The work was carried out by Portslade Panelworks in Hove, East Sussex they agreed to cut out the rusty sections and weld in new metal, before painting. After giving it some thought, I thought it would be best to do without the rubber wheel arch liners so I asked them not to refit them and to paint some sort of protectant on the wheel arch lips instead. They have rubberised the wheel arch lips (on both sides of the car, above and below the lip). It's a thin layer of rubbery stuff which is transparent so you can see the paintwork beneath. I should make a note about preventing rust and those rubber wheel arch liners... They were both replaced with new ones during August 2009. At that time there was no rust visible. Before fitting the new ones, I stuck a strip of insulating tape along the edge of the wheel arch lip and folded it over (one half was above and the other half was below, if you get what I mean). It seems that I only did the passenger side (I can't remember why). The passenger side has no rust so didn't have the work carried out (apart from that rubbery protectant stuff painted on for prophylactic measures). The driver side which didn't have the strip of insulating tape along the lip did rust. Maybe this was just coincidental? But I reckon that the insulating tape sealed the gaps between the double skin spot welds and prevented the rust. I washed my car the following day after collection and discovered some problems:
  • Presumed overspray on front of bonnet, rear wheel arch panel, boot lid and rear spoiler.
  • Off-side side skirt not fitted correctly and one of its supports was bent.
  • Rear bumper not fitted correctly.
  • Both side skirts were missing home-made spacers.
The presumed lacquer overspray polished out easily so was dealt with promptly along with the other minor problems.
06/2011 Alloy wheel centre cap £10.00 The silver painted ring surrounding the Honda logo badge was not refurbished and was looking a little tatty by 2011. During June 2001 after two failed attempts to satisfactorily respray them myself (first attempt was Ruby Red Pearl and the second attempt was silver), I gave up and stripped them down to the bare plastic. The finished results looks quite good in contrast to the black background of the Honda logo badges. During this process, after accidently removing some of the paint from one of the alloy wheel centre caps with masking tape, Wheel Works UK resprayed it for me for £10.
07/2011 Off-side rear wheel arch, near-side side skirt & rear skirt £397.68 Unfortunately the worked carried out during April was not completed correctly. Subsequently my car's off-side rear wheel arch suffered a recurrence of rust at the top. This was resolved by Portslade Panelworks under warranty so at no cost to myself. This time, a wider area was cut out and new metal welded in before being resprayed. At the same time, the cracked near-side side skirt was repaired & resprayed and the rear skirt was stripped & resprayed (for the third time). The near-side side skirt was already cracked when I purchased the Motegi bodykit during November 2004 and was repaired when it was resprayed in August 2005. However, the two cracks slowly reappeared and were getting worse over the last year or so. The rear skirt received a substandard respray during April 2009. I specifically asked Customize Bodyworkz in Crawley to strip the rear skirt down to the bare plastic before respraying it. Obviously they ignored this as once again, the paint / primer had not bonded to the original Iceberg Silver Metallic paint correctly and had cracked in a few places revealing the original paint. After collection of my car from Portslade Panelworks during, yet more problems were later discovered:
  • Presumed overspray on off-side rear suspension spring, wishbone arm, exhaust tail pipe, alloy wheels, rear bumper, boot lid, rear number plate, rear window, near-side rear wheel arch panel, off-side door, both off-side windows and the off-side side skirt.
  • Paint match on the side and rear skirt weren't very good.
  • Rear skirt not fitted correctly, leaving a gap between the skirt and bumper.
  • Rear bumper not fitted correctly.
  • Off-side rear alloy wheel centre cap not refitted correctly.
  • One of the rear bumper plastic clips was replaced with a bolt / screw.
  • One of the near-side side skirt's plastic clips was replaced with an alternative.
  • Two of the rear skirt's plastic clips were refitted upside down.
07/2011 Near-side wing mirror casing £40.00 During the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011, some sort of corrosive fluid had come into contact with my car's near-side wing mirror casing, presumably while parked unattended. A couple of patches of lacquer had been eaten away, leaving bare paint exposed. I sourced a replacement near-side wing mirror unit through eBay from a 1998 2.0 litre Ruby Red Pearl Honda Prelude for £40.00 including P&P. I replaced the casing only as my car's mirrors are heated and the replacement wasn't. The rest of the replacement along with my original casing, making it a whole unit once more, was sold for £15.00 during 08/2011, including P&P, to Prelude_H22 from Prelude UK, who also owns a Ruby Red Pearl Honda Prelude 2.2VTi.
08/2011 Off-side rear wheel arch N/A Two weeks after collecting my car from Portslade Panelworks, the rust had returned to the same area. Obviously, I was very disappointed. Again, they repaired it under warranty so at no cost to myself. When I went to collect the car two days later, I saw that their quality work was not up to standard, to put it politely. The straight line of the rear off-side panel which goes up against the straight line of the top edge at the side of the rear bumper was very wonky so I returned the following day after further remedial work was carried out. As usual, more minor problems were later discovered:
  • Presumed overspray on rear bumper, inside off-side door frame, off-side side skirt, boot lid, rear number plate, rear window, near-side rear wheel arch panel, off-side door, both off-side windows and the off-side side skirt.
  • One of the rear skirt's plastic clips was refitted upside down and the other was missing.
01/2012 Off-side rear panel & rear bumper £350.00 (insurance claim excess) During November 2011, a minibus drove into the side of my car, causing superficial damage to the rear off-side of my car. Both the rear bumper and rear wheel arch panel were damaged and I chose Crawley Down Group to carry out the repairs paid through insurance, although I had to pay the insurance claim excess. I collected my repaired car on 12/01/2012 at 17:00 (when dark). I was given the opportunity to inspect their work in one of their lit garages, but I declined, foolishly having faith in their work. When I got in the car, I noted that they had knocked off my car's steering wheel mounted stereo remote control and placed it in the centre console (was originally glued to the air bag casing on the opposite side to the cruise control buttons). It would have at least been professional for them to admit to it and apologise. Later on, I noticed problems:
  • Large lacquer drip between the PRELUDE lettering on the rear bumper.
  • A lot of the lacquer has been removed from the top edge of the rear number plate recess.
  • Cracked off-side rear fog light lens.
  • A patch of red paint on the off-side rear alloy wheel.
  • The rubber grommet that the off-side rear fog light cable goes through into the boot was not refitted so there was a hole in my boot.
  • Two of the black plastic trim clips which secure the rear skirt to the arms coming off the bottom of the boot where refitted upside down.
  • Two of the black plastic trim clips which secure the rear skirt were missing.
I believe the number plate recess lacquer damage was done using an orbital buffer and the rear fog light lens was damaged by over tightening the screws.
01/2012 Rear bumper, rear number plate recess and off-side rear fog light lens N/A I took by car back to Crawley Down Group on 16/01/2012. Shockingly, they disputed my claims saying that my car was already like that when they got it! I explained that I've owned my car for over 6 years and I generally wash it every 2 weeks, so I have a very intimate knowledge of my car's bodywork. I had no choice but to report the matter to my insurance company the next morning. On 30/11/2011, before my car was booked in for repairs, the insurance company sent an independent assessor to inspect my car. On 18/01/2012, they sent the same person again to inspect the new damage. He reported back to the insurance company, agreeing with my assertions, but Crawley Down Group were still in denial. My insurance company came to a compromise whereby they would pay for parts (replacement rear bumper PRELUDE lettering & fog light) and Crawley Down Group would supply labour & materials. I explained that due to their poor workmanship and diabolical attitude, there is no way I could trust them with my car again, however, they can have the rear bumper (with rear number plate recess) and damaged off-side rear fog light only. When I contacted Crawley Down Group to book in my rear bumper they said it should be ready the following day. My Dad dropped off my rear bumper on my behalf (I couldn't face them again without losing my temper) on the morning of 30/01/2012. Disappointingly, parts were not ready for collection until 02/02/2012. It took them 3 whole days the respray a bumper with number plate recess. Anyway, in their favour, it has been repaired to a satisfactory standard this time.