I had a bad wreck last year damaging the front bumper, driver fender, driver door, driver quarter panel, rear bumper and the finish panel. I bought a bunch of used parts to replace the damage. The driver fender and finish panel are different colors. The rest were from the same color car (crystal white)
I sanded the entire car with 80, 120 and 220 grit after washing the car and wiping it down with acetone since the paint on the donor parts was nasty. Some was flaking but overall it looks like the parts car was rattle canned or rollered. I test fit everything and everything fits reasonably well at this point. I now have a greater appreciation of the grunt work associated with doing body work. It sucks.
I got a couple of quotes for paint and bodywork. A prime and spray from Maaco or equivalent is about $900-1,200. Fixing dents and other work to make it prettier puts the estimates at ~$2k.
I'm not particularly happy with the front bumper. It had a ton of spider cracks and had been repainted so I really sanded that down - a lot. I'm at the plastic in some spots but there are still highs and lows. Once I started fitting it, i also realized that its a bit wavy or de-formed where it meets the hood. Never seen anything like it. The paint shop warns that the front bumper won't look particularly smooth and even but that body work on it will add ~500 by itself if I want to invest time into it.
Some questions that I know I want input on:
- what do you guys do with regards to front bumpers? Do you replace with new or do you roll with the old? What kind of prep work do you recommend?
Any advice on this would be appreciated. I'm starting to regret even trying to repair the accident damage myself.
Finding used body parts for the NA hasn't been easy.
Thanks.
Untitled by alberto_mg, on Flickr
Untitled by alberto_mg, on Flickr
Untitled by alberto_mg, on Flickr
Untitled by alberto_mg, on Flickr