Body Repair questions....Rocker Panel Cover Fix? Compression dent repair thoughts?

[MD_Co]

Hey all,
So I've been lurking for nearly 2 years now and have found the forum to be extremely helpful with everything I've needed so far. I've got two bodywork related questions that I haven't found discussed in any threads.
For reference, here is a picture of my '89 Targa.


Questions:
1) The front fender mud guards (apparently that's what they're called per the A70 Chassis Collision Repair manual) on my car have bubbled out and warped for some reason. I have yet to take them off the car, but I'm wondering what might cause this. Is there foam underneath the mud guards that could have expanded/decayed and made them warp like this?


2) Unfortunately, My car was rear-ended while stopped at a stop sign. :icon_mad: Damage was relatively minor (visually) but it caused a large compression dent in the left rear quarter panel. I've been driving the car like this (until the head gasket blew recently), but I want to get it fixed. I just know that these things tend to be larger in terms of repair difficulty than what they look like on the surface. I have yet to get a quote to fix this (need to fix the BHG first before I can take it to the shop...but that will be soon), but what do you guys think? I'm just trying to see if someone's been through something similar...

Here's the rear 3/4 view...Note the dents in the rear quarter and on the rear bumper.


I'm generally terrible at body repair so I'll leave this to the pro's, but I'll probably do most of the dissassembly/reassembly myself to save on labor. I took off the bumper cover and some of the interior hatch panels and it looks like the dent is in an area that could be accessed from the inner fender well.


I'm just wondering if they'll need to put this on a chassis puller/frame straightener to be able to get that compression dent out.
The bumper reinforcement bar is dented and will need replaced along with the foam (I have a line on replacements already). Good thing is that tail lights/trim didn't get touched, and even the bumper cover might be able to be saved via heat gun reshaping.


Any ideas on how big of a job this is? If you've been through this before, how much did it cost you to have fixed?

Thanks!
-Mike

(BTW...Ignore the rear wheels in these pics. I've since obtained rears with the proper offset!)

 

[BoostMonger]

my car as the same 2 dents in the same exact places haha

 

[MNBmk3T]

HAHAHA I have the same dents in the same places too!! Though not nearly as bad. The one in my rear quarter isn't all that noticeable from faraway just until you get up real close to it.

 

[BoostMonger]

My 1/4 panel dent isn't as nasty as yours, I could hammer mine back from the inside. Yours is almost creased so idk bout that, but my bumper is bad. Do we have to replace the reinforcement or just fix the dent and throw it back on



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[MNBmk3T]

Honestly I would just replace the bumper altogether. Better to get a new one and ensure the foam inside is good too cause ours would be weakened by the impacts that our cars have suffered.

 

[BoostMonger]

Honestly I would just replace the bumper altogether. Better to get a new one and ensure the foam inside is good too cause ours would be weakened by the impacts that our cars have suffered.

Isn't the foam inside the cover?



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[MD_Co]

The foam is a separate piece, that resides between the bumper reinforcement bar and the bumper cover.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

1) The front fender mud guards (apparently that's what they're called per the A70 Chassis Collision Repair manual) on my car have bubbled out and warped for some reason. I have yet to take them off the car, but I'm wondering what might cause this. Is there foam underneath the mud guards that could have expanded/decayed and made them warp like this?

My '90 is pretty bad this way. I've got side skirts to install, so it shouldn't be too big a problem.

The issue is that there's some sheet metal in there. Kind of like the '86.5-'88 trim, where the metal rusts, and as it expands, it warps the plastic covering it. Chances are that the metal inside yours has started to expand, causing the problems that you're seeing. (Mine is a lot further along than yours, from that picture.) I think that the part can be saved, it's a little easier to deal with than the pre-'89 trim pieces, because the metal is much less of the actual part than it was in the old trim pieces.

 

[peavy]

I'm surprised that the bumper reinforcement bar dented like that. I guess its designed to do some energy absorption with all of those funky dents and bends that come in it from factory. Is there any damage to the area around where the reinforcement bar bolts up? Have you taken it off to see if it slides out easily? Just wondering if the impact bent that stuff as well.

 

[MD_Co]

My '90 is pretty bad this way. I've got side skirts to install, so it shouldn't be too big a problem.

The issue is that there's some sheet metal in there. Kind of like the '86.5-'88 trim, where the metal rusts, and as it expands, it warps the plastic covering it. Chances are that the metal inside yours has started to expand, causing the problems that you're seeing. (Mine is a lot further along than yours, from that picture.) I think that the part can be saved, it's a little easier to deal with than the pre-'89 trim pieces, because the metal is much less of the actual part than it was in the old trim pieces.

Interesting. So the mud guards have sheet metal that is embedded or that backs up against the plastic outer piece? Its weird because the visible part just looks like foam...
When you say that the part could be saved, what exactly would that require? Does that mean removal/replacement of the metal that's in there?

Anyone have pictures of these parts off of the car?

I'm surprised that the bumper reinforcement bar dented like that. I guess its designed to do some energy absorption with all of those funky dents and bends that come in it from factory. Is there any damage to the area around where the reinforcement bar bolts up? Have you taken it off to see if it slides out easily? Just wondering if the impact bent that stuff as well.

It actually wasn't surprising to me that the reinforcement bar dented the way it did. It seems like it did exactly what it was meant to do, which was to absorb the impact (along with the foam). I haven't tried unbolting that bar yet, but it didn't look like there was any damage behind the bar, which I was pleased to see.

Here are some more pictures that I snapped while I had it apart:


Its a bit hard to tell if there is just undercoating that is caked onto the rail that the reinforcement bar slides into, or if it is deformed. I don't think it is bent though:

 

[MNBmk3T]

I want to know about the front fender mud guards as well because my car is starting to do the same thing. I want to somehow repair that if I can. If I can't do it myself, would a paint shop be able to repair it?

 

[AnubisMK3]

The dent in the rocker should be an easy fix, they will probably be able to pop it out and spend an hour or so with the contour tool to straighten it. As for the bumper cover, see if you can source a new one or try to find a used one that's been kept.
Noticed that the small spot of rust on my rear wells on both sides broke through the paint today....not good, guess its time to get out the shaper and the brazing equipment and just cut out both wells

 

[Zrain25]

Rust sucks period. I had rust the lower of the passenger door and the passenger rear fender. The wheel wells had holes in them. Luckily I bought the car before it got bad I cut the rust holes out of the weeks and welded in new ones. Then the painter fixed the fender and door he cut most of it out and filled the rest. I'm not gunna drive the car in the winter or rain so bondo didn't scare me to bad.

I wish my rear bumper was that clean mine is all rusted at the bottom. Broke every signel bolt trying to remove it. Gunna have to drill and tap all new holes. Can't wait

U can get new rear bumpers alot easier them front bumpers. I would just replace the rear cover instead of trying to save it

 

[MD_Co]

The dent in the rocker should be an easy fix, they will probably be able to pop it out and spend an hour or so with the contour tool to straighten it.

This is what I thought at first, but judging by how deep the dent is, I second guessed that assumption.

You don't think they'll need to spend time with pulling the chassis or futzing with stretching that panel back to original length? This makes sense to me, since it was caused by compression forces to begin with.

As for the bumper cover, see if you can source a new one or try to find a used one that's been kept.

U can get new rear bumpers alot easier them front bumpers. I would just replace the rear cover instead of trying to save it

I have found a used cover locally along with the reinforcement bar and foam, but the cover is in pretty bad shape and would need a lot of work (bondo/resurfacing, priming, painting).

Since the paint is actually really clean on my bumper cover (there aren't any scrapes/scratches/dings on that rear cover besides the one pictured), I thought that a heat gun and some weight on the inside might do the trick. I've seen this done before on other panels, but maybe they were a different material that re-contoured better with heat?

Do you think it'd be possible to do the same with this?

 

[AnubisMK3]

They shouldnt have to pull it, its not compromised at the wheel well, that would pull the whole thing short. Other option being to drill a hole and pull it from the outside then weld the hole shut. Either way and experienced metal guy wont have an
issue fixing it. I looked around last night and found my body hammers, hydraulic puller and my dolly set

 

[Zrain25]

Paintless didn't removal is cool they use glued on suction cups. I think that dent is a little to big on the fender for that technique. But I would search around locally for paintless dent removal you would be surprised about how big of dents they can pull out.

 

[DeMoN2318]

Paintless didn't removal is cool they use glued on suction cups. I think that dent is a little to big on the fender for that technique. But I would search around locally for paintless dent removal you would be surprised about how big of dents they can pull out.

You can pick up a set of suction cups at Harbour Freight...you don't glue them on though, they are spring loaded and actually work really well. I pulled a few dents out (about as big as yours) on my old mk2...Yea it didn't look perfect but it was barely noticable. Might be a good option to make it better until you can get it to the body shop

 

[MD_Co]

Hey all,,
Just a quick update. I contacted a few companies that do paintless dent removal for quotes. I included a brief description of what happened to the car and sent along some of the pictures from this thread. I received the first response today and he recommended that I go to a traditional body shop for this repair. :-(

I did contact one traditional body shop that also did PDR, so we'll see what I hear back from them.