cracked quarter panel, umm... yea... #99 hit a cone... Options

[Spooner]

I managed to crack the passenger-side front quarter panel on my car.... It's a very small crack, about an inch and half long, just above where the panel meets up with the front bumper... There's a small piece that's sort of bent back and jutting out now just above the bumper, where the crack happened.

Is there any way to repair this? I'd like to keep it from getting any worse...

Or will I need to replace the whole quarter if I want to fix it? (In which case I'll probably just live with it...)

I need a new inner fender liner, too... If anyone has a spare... This is for a 99 Camaro...

-John
edit: Yeah... It was one of those days... I LIKE 315-size 710s, though. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by Spooner: Sep 25 2006, 12:09 AM

[BTA01]

i think epoxy for hard plastics "should" work, but prepping it might be a pain (i'd guess you'd have to remove the pannel, or at least the bumper)

[JKnight]

You can probably take it off and repair it from the rear, peraps slap some two part epoxy on there, or maybe fiberglass on the back (although I'm not sure how the fibergalss will adhere to the composite plastic that the panel is made from).

You can buy a replacement part for like $50 from chevypartspro.com or the like. Of course then you'll need to paint it. You can buy oem colored paint from http://www.paintscratch.com/. I think the paint will cost more than the part though.

Fender liners are $30 from chevy parts pro as well. Ours has been rubbed through pretty badly for a couple of years now, and it's still in place.

Jason

[zlexiss]

Best would be to pull it and repair from the back. As mentioned, a layer or two of glass with either polyester or epoxy resin (I'd match what they used originally, not sure which) would do the best. A light sanding first plus a good clean with isopropyl alcohol will help the bond strength.

[Spooner]

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure if, since the panels are plastic, whether or not they came pre-painted. But pulling it and repairing in from the back is something I can do myself...

To add more detail, what I think happened is I got a cone hard right in the middle of the bumper. (DOH! Second gate. It had started raining and the course was wetter than I expected.)

This pushed the bumper into the panel, which casued the crack... It's right at the corner of the quarter panel, where it curves inside to form the wheel well... I it literally cracked the fender linger in half too. So I must have really tagged it. DOH!

-John

[Blainefab]

The front fenders are repairable with standard fiberglass epoxy or polyester resins. Clean it up real good on the backside, rough it up with #80, and lay a couple layers of cloth over the crack. After the backside is cured, the painted side can be touched up with Bondo, and rattle canned. There are places you can order rattle cans of the OEM color, need paint code off the build sheet.

Inner fender liners I patch with .040 aluminum and pop rivets.