Repairing a fender

[Klug]

The PO hit a chair on the highway and left two nasty dents on the passenger side fender. Over the past year or so it has slowly gotten worse with peeling. I reached out to a few body shops in my area and they are looking at over $500 to repair with sheet metal/respray it.

Being a novice, how hard would this be to bondo then get it resprayed? Any input is appreciated.

[Swanny]

Easier to buy new fender i would think...

[AndrewBird]

^^^Agreed. New fenders are cheap and paint shouldn't cost more than a few hundred.

[Klug]

Damn, I never really realized that they were this cheap or readily available. I've been looking for a part out for too long.

Have you heard anything good about the ebay ones?

[Klug]

Also, I'm guessing best bet would to mount up the new fender and then take it in to get resprayed? Or should I be good with just taking the fender in to get sprayed?

Thanks

[dhd1]

Buy a used OEM part off here, or a local yard. Sand it down and prime yourself. Will save quite a bit with a used part and doing some of the body work, you'll learn, and it wont fit like the garbage chinese made ebay fenders.

[Klug]

Ended up going the cheap route and purchased one from Ebay- It's actually not that bad. Weight is dead on with the OEM finder and it fits like a glove. Now to get it painted....(new IS lip too)

[Chessmaster]

keep it like that, gives it character! lol.

[Klug]

More like ghetto sled character haha

Ugh, just the thought of having it like this without a paint job appointment is driving me nuts.

[navid41691]

So the fender fits spot on? Do the lines match up?
Can you post a link of which seller you bought from on ebay?

[Spectre]

Why is this the second time I've heard of people hitting chairs in the middle of highways? Is this a thing now? ..Anyways, I have a dent almost identical to yours, passenger side too. Once you get it painted make sure to post a picture of how it turned out!

[Klug]

So the fender does fit spot on however there are two spots that are not identical to the OEM fender.

1) The top yellow circle next to the pillar is just a tad smaller than OEM, nothing noticeable when it is mounted but when comparing them side by side it's just a little bit smaller.
2) In the bottom yellow circle, I have a gap between the grille and fender. This is because that long bumper piece under the headlights is bent (Blue) and I can't quite fit the two screws back onto the fender.

Overall, its nothing noticeable. It was better than I expected from a made in Tawian eBay part and easier than refinishing a donor fender.

I bought it from this auction

[Poorboyz]

Where did you get the IS lip?

[Klug]

Where did you get the IS lip?

Bluntech and sold the poor Volvo lip to someone in NJ...