To fix or not to fix

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DustyTrail

DustyTrail

10 Year
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Threads
11
Messages
47
Location
El Paso, TX
So my LC got hit by a friend's neighbor while we were having dinner. Should I take the insurance payment and get a new fender or bang it out myself and buy the goodies I've been drooling over. Can a shade tree mechanic straighten it out within reason?
ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1441485047.621483.webp

It is my daily driver but quite honestly, don't care if it has some... character to it. I plan on using my rig for trails and camping trips.

I guess my question is will it look like $##t if I smooth it out myself? I'll do my share of YouTube research before I just take a hammer to it.
 
Go for it and save the money for mods. You can always buy a fender if you trash it.
 
HSS body panels are a bear to hammer out. If you ping it with something like a hammer, even a body hammer, it's going to be bumpy looking. Dent pullers and body hammers don't work like they used to (not saying they won't work, it's just that high strength steel doesn't work like the metal in the old days did).

But... "you can always buy a fender if you trash it"
 
You'll never get that to even slightly resemble what it used to be.

I'm guessing you'd only get about $1000 from the insurance company. You can't buy much with that. I'd either let the body shop fix it, or try and find a fender from a parts truck.
 
Try a paintless dent repair guy... You would be surprised what can be fixed! I had a dent on my ram truck way worse than that before a lease turn in...and it was fixed nearly perfect.
 
I'm in agreement with Slickspawn. PDR can work miracles. Roll the dice give it a shot, worst case you have a ton of new mods and a slight dented bumper. Call it a trail scar, patina or whatever helps you sleep at night.
 
But even PDR isn't free. I've seen them do some great work, but not for free. If you spend half of your insurance check doing PDR and end up with a slightly dented fender .... How much money will be left, and how will that cover a ton of mods?

I'd find out what the insurance company will offer. Remember, you can hardly buy an aftermarket bumper for $1500.
 
I would get that fixed.
 
Wouldn't you file a claim with the other driver's insurance? I would.

Get it fixed right. It's a Land Cruiser after all!
 
I agree that it won't look like new but I had a similar deny on my 80 and insurance gave me $2200. $150 cash to a small local fender shop and it was banged out filled and primed to within reason and I had enough left over for an OME lift and a new scratch and dent ARB bull bar. A spray can of color match touch up paint and it turned out pretty well.

So will it look new. No. Can the op take the fender off and creatively massage it back to some passable state for him? Maybe. Can he always have a new fender put on and painted? Yup. Can a paintless dent guy fix the crease that is in the plane break in the fender? I have no idea but I imagine that fender will never look new. Would I do it to my thruck....no but my truck isn't a trail/ camping rig that may get more character in the future. Did I do it to my 80 which was what the OP claims this is and make out with a bumper and a lift? Yup

Just offering up food for thought. If the truck is cherry I agree with the rest here and have it fixed. If not well........let us know how it turns out.
 
Thanks for the input everyone.

I am going through their insurance. I am waiting for them to approve the estimate and then they will cut me a check. It does not have to go directly to the body shop. It broke the tab on the bottom of the bumper so the estimate included new bumper, front fender, fix the molding, fender liner, and paint (including blending into the existing paint on other panels). Total estimate came out to roughly $2,500.

So at a minimum, I am subsidizing the cost of a new front bumper. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I would see what I can do on my own and worse case is I take it into the body shop for the new fender. Body shop said it is most cost effective to replace instead of fix.
 
Showed this pic to my buddy who's done PDR for about 15 years. He wouldn't touch it, that fold is way more than they would get into and would take more time than would be profitable.

His words:

"The soft dent up top would come out nice. But that bent and folded mess will never straighten with paintless repair. It already has a big chunk of paint missing in the top of that fold."
 
A replacement fender from car-part.com would be another option... Although the paintless repair is where I'd look first. A good tech can fix some of the ugliest dents...
 
I would also suggest replacing the fender. There's no way you will get that crease out. Ask me how I know...
 
I rubbed my pass side fender on the stairs in my garage a week after I bought mine. I got dents but not creases and from a real good shop I was quoted about $800 to rub out the dent, disassemble, paint, then put everything back together. I really want to get it fixed and will at some point but don't have the coin right now.

I'd for sure get yours fixed if they are going to write you a check for it. Pay for the fender to be fixed and use the rest towards a bumper.

I wasn't aware that you could buy an OEM fender for that cheap. I'm half tempted to buy one of those and have it painted then replace it at home. I'm sure the paint job would be costly though since I have the three stage white pearl.
 
it is a real world 30 min job to pull that fender off... I pulled the exact fender off mine and the one at the junk yard (in the dust and dirt with less than perfect tools) these fenders are THIN metal not like the 60-80 series... I paid $80 for a perfect fender at the salvage yard... even if you took it to a shop and let them paint it it think you would be ok.... Other option is some of the body panel guys on the net & ebay will paint their fenders to an OEM color and ship it to you Painted... think that is about $500 delivered.... or you can buy a $25 harbor freight gun and .... learn to paint....
 
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