AMD panels... not as good as I've been made to believe

[mpd659]

I have a passenger side AMD rocker for my 68 Hemi Charger. What junk, I have to tip the bottom of the rocker out to get the proper door gap, but then I have a 2" gap at the bottom of the rocker panel where the pinch weld meets the inner rocker panel. I did the exact same thing as Flypaper, I cut a rocker out of a donor Charger. Also when I called AMD they blamed my car as being previously wrecked. AMD stands for Auto Metal Defect.

 

[national]

My body guy has done alot of goodmark panels for all the chevys & some fords & said he has never had any panels look as bad as my AMDs..the fitment is ok,he said you have to tweek alot of them to fit but the body lines shift in the middle,curious to blow more money buying another set from AMD or going goodmark,I bought mine @ a year ago & got sick a month after & life became more important,well now im feeling better & got my body man back to working on them,they looked great in the box but when hung you can see alot of places,I cut old sherman half replacements off that looked better than these because i didnt want the seem down the middle now looks like as much work

 

[national]

I know its hard to tell in pictures but this top body line,do you think its straight?? looks worse in person,it looked great in the box,alot different on the car..What about what was under my black coating,yes a braze repair,pretty crappy for brand new panels,trying to get Mikes email to see if i can get some kind of credit towards another pair,hard man to get in touch with

 

[rakort]

Yeah, I'm starting to get worked up over this. I was literally going to push the button on $3K worth of AMD metal today. I was just looking at the Goodmark website and it looks like they don't have nearly the same offering for a 68 b-body. What other options are there?

 

[morrow_jacob]

I found a local AMD seller (Fort Worth), its significantly cheaper. Sometimes AMD is the lesser of all the evils available.

 

[rakort]

Who do you suppose makes these?
https://www.yearone.com/Product/chrysler-b-body/qpb68lhrh#prettyPhoto

 

[mutt71]

I bought thousands of dollars worth of AMD products, and it has been nothing short of a disaster, since. The bumpers were covered in rust, cracked in corners and was not trimmed after stamping enough in the corners to wrap around the ends of the fenders.

 

[rakort]

Or maybe these?

http://www.classicindustries.com/product/mopar/b-body-gtx/parts/mm1335b.html

 

[Basket case]

both my AMD bumpers fit perfectly.

 

[Darthomas]

Ductility is the ability of of metal to bend, stretch, and conform without the ugly puckering. High ductile metal does this in fewer stamping operations. Original panels likely required several stamping operations. Now they're trying to do this in one step, and this is what happens when cheap Chinese steel tries to bend too much in one stamping.
AMD should be asking for refund from steel suppliers for delivering wrong grade of steel to them.

 

[zyzzyx]

The thing is, they actually started out with the highest quality in mind but as time wore on things started to change and their quality sufferd. When they first split,
their quality was great! Best **** you could buy. But the dies only stamp so many parts before they need attention. And I'm sure the spec's on the steel have changed too.
When you're making money hand-over-fist it's fantastic! But now we have to re-invest in the equipment to keep the quality good. The people at AMD know what's going on, but they won't do anything until they have to. Until they're threatened by another company making the same parts. If no one buys their stuff, they'll jump!

 

[barbee6043]

just not many choices for repop sheetmetal. some models is very little choice at all. or buy used rusty and dinged up original panels. when people do find a 95% straight and rustfree project car, just think what it is actually worth!!!! but no one wants to pay for it!

 

[Rocketman]

I purchased these pieces about two years ago and mine were very nice. This obviously is a "New" batch. I recently purchased a hood for my 68 GTX from AMD, and it was a total P.O.S! I paid $750.00 for it and it was terrible.I could have put 20 hours in it and saved it, but why? I bought it from a local distributor, so they took it back and I didn't incur any shipping charges. Unfortunately they're the only game in town. I'm now looking for an originalhood that I can use instead of a new one. I feel your pain, Good luck with your quest!

I wish I had taken the time to read some reviews here, I bought two new hood hinges for my 68 GTX and without checking sent them to a powder coater. I can close the hood but it sticks up 1/2" all the away across the back of the hood. I dropped my broken hinge off at a body shop today to fix my old one and will have to repaint it when it comes back. I have $225 in the hinges and another $226 in the powder coating and they are worthless to me unless someone wanted to take the time to refit. I will NEVER buy anything from AMD again.

 

[flypaper]

Yeah, I'm starting to get worked up over this. I was literally going to push the button on $3K worth of AMD metal today. I was just looking at the Goodmark website and it looks like they don't have nearly the same offering for a 68 b-body. What other options are there?

``going thru my experiance and what i know today
and believe me i learned straight from the school of hard knocks with repop junk.
it would depend on what you need
pans,floors,trunk floors flat parts are not too bad
quarters are workable,just don't expect them to line right up and
be prepared to spend alot of time fitting.
amd dutchman is junk looks nothing like original
been reworked so many times its a friggin mess now.
good mark is a better piece
trunk extensions need trimming and fitting..workable (have seen some nasty stamped ones)
wheelwells are useless pure junk they are patching material only
don't make the mistake i did and expect them to fit without alot of serious modifications.
if i ever did it again i would patch what i have or find original
rockers i have heard are the same junk see the post above confirms this
original again or nos
with frame rails there are too many donors around to bother with amd.
x members are more junk, again look for originals
before amd we used to get our metal from donor cars
and a few available patch panels.
i'm almost back to the old days i will use a few repo things
but i try not to.
i have spent more of my time fitting a amd part to my satisfaction
then harvesting/prepping/blasting/priming/fitting a donor part.
i think every amd part should come with a can of free bondo..lol

 

[rakort]

Here are the AMD drop offs I just purchased via Stephan's. They seem to be quite a bit better than what you ended up with. I guess it just goes to show how hit and miss they are on quality. The drivers side does have one small ridge right near where it bends down, and the passenger side seems quite good.

In preparation for trunk floor work I purchased the LH and RH trunk drop offs from AMD. The passenger side is close enough, but the drivers side is down right awful.

I have been talking to a gentleman at AMD via email and sent him a few pics, and I was surprised when he said he couldn't see what I was seeing. He did send me a picture of another one from their warehouse and it appears that the warehouse pieces are the same aweful stamping as the one I got. So that rules out accidental damage.

I'm at the point where I want to return the LH drop off and maybe try a goodmark piece...Suggestions?\

 

[threewood]

I can see the frustration. However, I am working through my build expecting new panels to need some work to fit correctly. My drivers extension is pretty good, angle was off and the rear lip was off a bit. Glad I have a hammer and dolly. I have a bunch of their panels in the garage and am glad so many parts from 68 69 are repopped. I have a grinder, cutoff wheel and welder so I can work what I need. I would be very skeptical about their exposed pieces such as roof skin, hood, trunk as fitment needs to be spot on and wrinkle free.

 

[mutt71]

My best advice to you is to make sure that you use these parts, or try to, before 6 months is up. After that, good luck in trying to return the parts to them. My body shop was not able to use the bumpers at all due to rusting, cracked chrome and the bumper not having been trimmed properly. They were able to work with the rear fenders, rear panels, trunk floor and the step downs. They said that they will never work with anything AMD ever again.