[WHIPNRIP]

Hey everyone! Unfortunately someone backed into the driver's side fender on the new car (600miles), but luckily he left his information and no one was hurt.

His insurance company has given me the go ahead to start the repairs so now I'm trying to decide on how I should proceed. I was cursed with one of those eyes that notices the smallest details so I'm going back and forth on whether I should go the repair route or seeing if PDR is a possibility.

As far as the damage goes, the front fender took most of the damage and the front air splitter has a tiny knick in it. The impact seems to be right below the body line and caused the inner lip of the fender to peel back slightly and left a scratch 3" long along the fender line. Luckily the impact didn't appear to have been that hard because there are no gapping issues between the surrounding panels.

The first repair place quoted replacing the front fender and then blending the surrounding panels partially to match the paint....

The second place quoted replacing the front fender also, but is confident their painter won't need to do any blending and can match the paint.

The second option I'm considering is doing Paint less Dent removal and touching up the paint along the edge of the fender. Even though it won't be a 100%, this route is appealing to me because it seems to avoid the possibility of the paint not matching or the fender lines not being spot on.

Knowing my concerns, I'd like to hear how you guys would proceed! I'll post some pics below!

 

[DOM71]

The fender needs to be replaced and a good body shop should be able to match the paint. Cuz since it bent the edge it's going to be noticeable if they try to bend it back.


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[Pioneer4x4]

I have seen miracles with PDR, I bet with one of the true artist level guys it could be done perfect. Not one of the generic shops, but a real quality guy.

 

[Slidd]

Don't forget the diminished value when it shows up on Carfax.


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[jtrosky]

All that I can say to make sure you choose the repair shop wisely! Check with friends, neighbors and relatives to see if you can find a shop that people have used and trust. I just had ~$10k worth of repairs done for a VERY minor front-end impact (each headlight is over $1k alone to replace!). I went to a repair shop that works with the insurance company (they call them DRP shops) and I didn't have the best experience - even though the shop gets fantastic reviews on-line. After closely inspecting the work when I got the car home, I identified quite a few issues. I eventually got them to fix everything correctly, but I had to take the car back and fixing the repairs took longer than the initial repairs themselves! Even after everything was fixed, I found they actually did some damage to the paint on the *rear* wheel well lip (nothing to do with repairs)! Looks look they damaged it with a tool while replacing the rocker panel cover or something. I'm just going to either fix it myslef with touch-up paint or take it to a local body shop. It's very minor and not visible, but still. Be very careful!!

Your damage isn't so involved, but still - you want to make sure the paint work is done correctly - and matches both color *and* texture (stock paint has a minor orange-peel texture - you don't want completely smooth paint on the fender when the rest of the car has an orange-peel texture!). I don't understand the estimate that says they dont' need to blend - that doesn't sound right to me at all. I was under the impression that you ALWAYS need to blend with other panels. Personally, I would avoid that shop.

In my opinion, I don't think PDR is the right way to go for that big of a dent - but I'm not a body person, so take that with a grain of salt.

 

[TheHorse13]

Paint blending should not be necessary. The second shop sounds more legit to me and I would go with the fender replacement option.



I've seen dent removal guys do insane things but that fender seam poses a formidable challenge. I would be surprised if that can be made to look 100% fixed again.

 

[jtrosky]

Paint blending should not be necessary. The second shop sounds more legit to me and I would go with the fender replacement option.



I've seen dent removal guys do insane things but that fender seam poses a formidable challenge. I would be surprised if that can be made to look 100% fixed again.

So if you replace a fender, you don't need to blend that with the surrounding panels?? I thought that blending was always done we replacing/repainting an entire panel - except for cetain, easy to match colors like black (but even then, you never know how faded the paint may be from exposure to the sun, etc). Granted, like I said, I'm not a body man, but it just seems to make sense that you'd want to blend the newly-painted panel with the surrounding panels.

 

[TheHorse13]

So if you replace a fender, you don't need to blend that with the surrounding panels?? I thought that blending was always done we replacing/repainting an entire panel - except for cetain, easy to match colors like black (but even then, you never know how faded the paint may be from exposure to the sun, etc). Granted, like I said, I'm not a body man, but it just seems to make sense that you'd want to blend the newly-painted panel with the surrounding panels.

Not always. Each situation is evaluated and then a determination is made by the paint guys.



I've seen perfect matches done on single panels and horribly bad blending done on multiple panels. The single most important thing you can do is find a high quality body shop. They will have the right people in place to determine the best route to go. In short, you can have perfect matches done either way. Blending is not always required.

 

[OregonScat]

Fender needs to be replaced, door and hood absolutely need to be blended. I would pay out of pocket to have the bumper blended.

I would immediately scratch the 2nd shop off your list. Sounds like a hack shop. You can't panel shoot a metallic.

If the tire got hit at all, the steering rack needs to be replaced.

I'm a professional collision tech.

Here is a video that explains blending and why it's needed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=z2uZGduzvmo

 

[Rockster]

Hey everyone! Unfortunately someone backed into the driver's side fender on the new car (600miles), but luckily he left his information and no one was hurt.

His insurance company has given me the go ahead to start the repairs so now I'm trying to decide on how I should proceed. I was cursed with one of those eyes that notices the smallest details so I'm going back and forth on whether I should go the repair route or seeing if PDR is a possibility.

As far as the damage goes, the front fender took most of the damage and the front air splitter has a tiny knick in it. The impact seems to be right below the body line and caused the inner lip of the fender to peel back slightly and left a scratch 3" long along the fender line. Luckily the impact didn't appear to have been that hard because there are no gapping issues between the surrounding panels.

The first repair place quoted replacing the front fender and then blending the surrounding panels partially to match the paint....

The second place quoted replacing the front fender also, but is confident their painter won't need to do any blending and can match the paint.

The second option I'm considering is doing Paint less Dent removal and touching up the paint along the edge of the fender. Even though it won't be a 100%, this route is appealing to me because it seems to avoid the possibility of the paint not matching or the fender lines not being spot on.

Knowing my concerns, I'd like to hear how you guys would proceed! I'll post some pics below!

That is unfortunate. But you know what happens.

My advice from my (unfortunate) experience is to seek out a highly regarded body shop. It will know what is required to bring the car back to its pre collision condition.

I have to say PDR reads like a half assed repair, a band aid repair. But if the body shop is on board, believes this gets the car back to its pre collision condition close enough or if you are just willing to have a less than ideal repair then go that way. It is your car and you can chose to have it repaired however you want.

I'm not familiar with Dodge paint but with for instance Porsche paint some colors do not need any blending of adjacent panels to avoid drawing attention to a new and non factory painted panel vs. a replacement panel painted in a body shop.

Generally the solid colors do not need any blending. The metal flake ones -- and in the case of my 996 Porsche Turbo with arctic silver (which is all metal flake, no color at all in the paint) -- specifically require blending.

The body shop will know. Or should. 'course, you have two different body shops and they are offering different opinions.

Which prompts me to ask: Did you ask the local Dodge dealer which body shop it would recommend?

Or better yet find out which body shop in your area repairs higher end cars like M-B, BMW, Audi, Porsche, etc., and pay the shop a visit for an estimate.

 

[TheHorse13]

I completely missed that the paint is metallic flake. In this case, OregonScat is correct. You must blend metallic paint.

 

[WHIPNRIP]

I appreciate everyone's input! I opted to go the fender replacement route and have it resprayed. I'll post some pics once it's done.