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Just a girl who bought a classic and has no idea what she's doing! I've had my 1979 for about 4 years now. Only having to replace the shifter and manual oil changes. Body work is definitely something I have no experience in, hoping to get some guidance and maybe pointed in the right direction. I blew a tire and it split my passenger side fender....Trying to see which direction I should go to handle this type of repair...Thinking about replacing the whole thing. Anything I should keep in mind or should be looking for?
Thanks so much for ANY advice in advance. Its greatly apricated
I have a friend that suggested fiberglass strips using with the resin as well?...I have to see if the supports maybe be damaged also, shes not driving any differently...
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
that looks like its right long the bonding strip....may have been a bad repair previously that required a new fender You may want to just pull it apart and redo the bondig strips underneath, it is still going to be the same amount of work on top and prep and paint...may as well do it right once than doing it wrong 3 or 4 times before giving up
it looks like it was hit on bottom (tire hit?) and it flexed the fender down and cracked along the seam.
if so i would bet you need to grind down crack and fill back
Welcome to the forum. And I agree, it looks like it cracked right down the bonding strip. The strip that attaches that fender. Buying a new fender would gain you nothing. If the strip is still firmly attached on the inside, and it looks like it might be. Yes you could grind out that crack. Fill with the correct epoxy for SMC, sand and paint.
Strip's of fibreglass and polyester resin would be a very bad idea on a SMC panel. Your car is fibreglass, but a very special type of press moulded glass. The correct epoxies are critical.
That said, it looks very fixable.
Rookie advice here.....as the guys said...it's much less costly and easier to repair the cracked area.
I started out knowing NOTHING about Corvettes or fiberglass repair. The members guided me thu the process of doing solid repairs.
Read the info in the Paint and Body Forum to have an idea of what you need to do.
Get a couple pieces of fiberglass and learn how to prepare them for bonding together. If you make mistakes on the "practice parts" it's no big deal.
The practice will get you prepared for the fender repair...make repairs on the underside of the fender first where they can't be seen. Once you get good at unseen repairs you can begin work preparing the top of the fender.
Hi All! I really appreciate it and will look into all of this! Ill practice for sure and take a look underneath as suggested and start there. Kind of nervous if there is any damage to the struts.
No doubt it is reparable but before you jump in, get very familiar with all of the steps of the process, what tools you will need and what material you will use. Above all, you need to protect your lungs as doing bodywork is not a healthy profession.
I suspect the crack is wholly contained within the adhesive in the butt joint between the surround to the fender. At a high level, the repair is fairly straightforward - vee out the joint down to the bonding strip, verify the bonding strip hasn’t detached from the the surround and/or fender, lay in matte/resin, grind/ sand to contour.
I'm curious, if you pull on the fender, away from the body, does it pull outward from anywhere else along the front or back of the panel? Do this at the mud flap, 10:00 & 2:00, and right at the front lower lip. Open the door and look at the mating edge where the fender joins the door pillar -- anything different here from the driver's side?
If the answer to all of those is no, then simply grinding and glassing the damaged bonding strip is the way to go. If you have other broken bonds, then you should investigate the extent of the repair more deeply. How does the door gap look when the door's closed?
Welcome and don't be a stranger! I like the pinstripes from what I can see - pretty sure my '72 has dealer stripes still in place. Love to see pics of the rest of the car.
I do have insurance but after several quotes ranging in the $5,000 range I'm afraid they will total it out.
Talk to your insurance company. Find out what maximum they will pay. Negotiate a buyout (in effect you’ll be acting as the salvage yard auction agent).
Don’t let your insurance company total your car.
It will then have a salvaged title and be absolutely worthless when you want to sell it in the future.
Most people won’t even look at any car with a salvaged title.
As most here have posted, that repair doesn’t look all that bad.
If you can take a couple pictures of the entire fender and maybe a couple from up inside the fender well and from inside the engine compartment.
You can do the work yourself or have it done by a repair shop.
Your probably better off doing it yourself using the correct materials and using the right tools.
If you’re doing the work, you really need to start by getting a copy of this repair manual.
It contains all the information and techniques required on how to get the work done and lists the materials and tools to do the work correctly.
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Fender Repair
