Hey 6gc its my turn!

this happened right in front of my house while i was inside studying for my physics midterm... its been a good day -_- . THANK GOD the rear suspension wasn't touched. all the panel gaps look good too so there doesn't seem to be any frame damage... coulda been much much worse.

to bad im a poor college student who can only afford liability though at least now i have a chance to brush up on my bodywork skills

enjoy:

Dude, OW...I don't care if you're a poor college student (I sympathize since I'm in the same boat) or the richest guy in the world...nobody deserves that.

Hope you come out okay.

What the heck! There's hit and run and there's "I'm blind and didn't see freakin bright red car"! Holy moly, I'm so sorry bud.

thanks guys

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lol no kidding. I can guarantee alcohol was involved. Cuz only a drunk can manage to crush in the rear corner, miss the wide rear quarter panel, but still scrape up the drivers door and front fender. You just dont see talent like that anymore

wow sorry to hear about that. any chances that any people saw something?

I'm sorry for your loss. I hope you get a way to upgrade the car and make it better then ever.

Well look at it this way. It was due for a new paint job anyway.. now you pretty much have to get one . Good luck on the body work though. That's quite a few panels to replace/repair.

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And an excuse to get JDM tails!

Sorry that happened to you. A civic rear ended me in the school parking lot the other day, I was walking to my car when it happened and they hit it and ran off. It left a pretty nasty scratch.

JDM tails indeed

You guys think this is something I can tackle myself? Im not gonna lie, I've never done bodywork before but im confident I can teach myself just like everything else with cars.

Im thinking I should take off the rear bumper, inspect the internal damage, then take care of any potential rust issues that might crop up.

After that I think Id bust out the rivet gun and try to pull that dent out and straighten the bumper support.

then bondo

paint id leave to a professional

^I havent done any of that before. I've seen it done and know the process but Its gonna be a new experience.

what do you guys think? pay someone or mess with this?

I hate when people have such low morals and ethics that they take off after something like this. I am assuming they were intoxicated and/or didnt' have insurance or a license.

Just a couple months ago I was sitting at a red light in our GS430. The car in front of me all of a sudden put it in reverse and slammed on the gas at full throttle into the front of my car. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I always thought there would be a time I would get in an accident...but not like that. I get out of my car, and he takes off. The guy seemed wasted. I got his plate number, but when the police ran it, it came back as nothing...must have been out of state plate and I didnt notice that part. The police had no intentions of driving around looking for him and barely wanted to file a police report for me b/c they said that they probably would not have the time to investigate it. I have full coverage on all our cars, so I had to eat the deductible cost.

Hope you get your car fixed soon! If your not familiar with bodywork, I suggest saving up the money and having a professional shop fix your car. Especially that rear quarter. Wouldn't want it to rust or leak water inside the car.

Bondo work is pretty easy. I did some on mine. I didn't do it perfectly, as you can see some of the door dings still ever so slightly in the right lighting, but it's not too bad and looks infinitely better than when I got it. But honestly, with your car's rear quarter panel hit the way she was, I'd have someone do it.

Rust is going to be an issue in a few areas, including your tail light section. The owner before me on my Celica got hit in a fender bender and there was a LOT of rust behind my passenger side rear tail. I had to sand it down, treat and seal it, bondo it, sand it, and primer it before it got painted. That alone was a pain, and it didn't even need to look good because it's blocked by the light.

Either way you have a huge under taking. I'm just sorry this happened, and even more so you couldn't afford better insurance. Just an idea....I've never tried this, but is it hard to take off the rear quarter panel (or is it even possible?). If you could get a new one, it would make the rest of your repair job actually feasible.

To really do it properly, the rear quarter needs to be replaced (still available from Toyota) or a shop needs to cut out the damaged area and weld in new metal. Coat it with POR-15 (or similar) and repaint. I strongly urge against using bondo as I dont believe bondo is a fix.

This post has been edited by jjbenzo: Nov 2, 2009 - 12:09 PM

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whoa that rough, too bad you didn't get the state.

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really? I always thought once the rear quarter panel was hit you had no choice but to salvage it. Isnt is a main part of the unibody?? and I agree with you about the bondo, I never liked when it was used.

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 2, 2009 - 12:12 PM

I have used POr-15 to coat many areas of my Supra when I was in the process of restoring it. POR-15 along with Rust Bullitt are the best to use to prevent rust. Make sure you coat it on thick in all areas/seams that will rust.

As far as your quarter panel goes...the panel would be cut off at the body shop, Toyota offers new quarter panels that would then be re-welded in place. An exact fit if the body shop cuts in the correct place along the roof (which they will if they have the new panel to go by). This is the best solution.

I believe the OEM part # for the panel is: 61602-2D917...about $660.

This post has been edited by jjbenzo: Nov 2, 2009 - 2:20 PM

Bondo is good for door dings, but yea, not for doing something major like this.

@enderswift

That's what I thought. I thought the rear quarter panel was part of the frame, but I could be mistaken...

I need a 1/4 panel too--I backed into a tree last winter!! Celica tracks straight & stops straight--no pulling in either direction. I wasn't going fast tho--just enough to need a 1/4 panel.Got the tail light assembly cpl days later & fixed that part.
Obvious if any one in you area (friends,6GC mmbrs) of Chi-town sees a vehicle with red dents to pass the info!!
Good luck
{edit}
May a dent puller??

This post has been edited by Bigblock: Nov 2, 2009 - 3:22 PM

Wow i though when my car was involved in a hit-n-run it was bad but this is way worse I got it in the same spot just on the passenger side 1/4 panel lol hopefully insurance will cover it for you.

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yea I've heard great things about POR 15 and once considered painting my underbody with it, its really cool how it sucks moisture out of the metal in order to cure. apparently thats how truckers are able to keep the same truch for 500+ K, they just keep rebuilding the engines and slathering their chassis with POR.

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ow.

Sigh, the welding is definitely beyond my skill set -_- I was hoping to learn this past summer but that never happened. before I drive around asking for repair quotes, what do you guys think this would cost? $600 for the panel + ?

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 2, 2009 - 7:30 PM

Hey everyone I just got a repair quote for the celi and I was REALLY REALLY suprised. $700 for the body work and that whole side painted. That includes all paint supplies

$300 for the body work, painting is $50 per panel (3 panels) , and paint supplies will cost ~250, not the cheapo stuff either!

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 8, 2009 - 11:00 AM