S
schpenxel
Hello,
First time poster, looking for some direction on some body work ("short" version of this post is below). I recently purchased a 2005 Corvette with some damage to the front of the rocker panel where it meets the front fender. Unfortunately, a tab on the rocker panel that holds the fender in a specific position was broken too. With that tab gone, the fender moved enough to interfere with the door when opening/closing which ultimately caused even more damage when the door/fender had a little "meeting". So, I've got damage on the door, fender and rocker panel
I had thought about just replacing the whole rocker panel, but supposedly these things are next to impossible to get off due to some sort of special adhesive that GM uses that is $140+ for a small tube of it. The rocker panel is bonded directly to the frame, and the result is it's near impossible to get one off in one piece, which also makes it nearly impossible to find a used one that isn't destroyed. The rocker panel is my biggest concern of the three. Worst case, I can buy a used fender for a few hundred bucks and a door panel for $400 or so. Don't want to, but could at least change them myself.
I am hoping you guys can point me in the right direction for the best way to repair this. I found an undamaged front section of the rocker panel. Is it realistic to cut the damaged section out of both the old and "new" one, then bond the new one in place of the old? Not sure how much access I will actually have to the back of the part so I would probably have to do most of the work from the front which doesn't exactly seem ideal.
I'm going to go by a body shop to see what they would charge to fix it first, but I was thinking if I could do a good chunk of getting it in good enough shape to paint, at least it would save me some money. Plus I need a project, so I figure why not.
All three parts are SMC
Short version:
1. Rocker Panel - Cracked / front fender tab missing. Thinking may be best to replace the bad section with the same section from an undamaged part. Is this realistic? Quite possible I would not have very good access to the back of the part, meaning all work would have to be done from the front. Seems that re-creating the correct features found on the original would be quite difficult otherwise, thus the idea to cut out the bad and replace with good
2. Front Fender - Cracked but I think all of the pieces are more or less there. should be fixable with pretty normal methods. Looking at using west system epoxy resin. I think I can handle this one. At worst, a replacement fender isn't that expensive
3. Door - Has chip missing right along the edge which looks like a pain to fix properly. I assume this could be fixed with west system epoxy as well but it being such a thin strip that needs replacing scares me a little. Replacement door shell is up to $600+ so would prefer to fix it.
Will have a body shop do the painting regardless
Here are some pictures:
edit: also, here is a nearly complete one so you can see the features of the damaged area
First time poster, looking for some direction on some body work ("short" version of this post is below). I recently purchased a 2005 Corvette with some damage to the front of the rocker panel where it meets the front fender. Unfortunately, a tab on the rocker panel that holds the fender in a specific position was broken too. With that tab gone, the fender moved enough to interfere with the door when opening/closing which ultimately caused even more damage when the door/fender had a little "meeting". So, I've got damage on the door, fender and rocker panel
I had thought about just replacing the whole rocker panel, but supposedly these things are next to impossible to get off due to some sort of special adhesive that GM uses that is $140+ for a small tube of it. The rocker panel is bonded directly to the frame, and the result is it's near impossible to get one off in one piece, which also makes it nearly impossible to find a used one that isn't destroyed. The rocker panel is my biggest concern of the three. Worst case, I can buy a used fender for a few hundred bucks and a door panel for $400 or so. Don't want to, but could at least change them myself.
I am hoping you guys can point me in the right direction for the best way to repair this. I found an undamaged front section of the rocker panel. Is it realistic to cut the damaged section out of both the old and "new" one, then bond the new one in place of the old? Not sure how much access I will actually have to the back of the part so I would probably have to do most of the work from the front which doesn't exactly seem ideal.
I'm going to go by a body shop to see what they would charge to fix it first, but I was thinking if I could do a good chunk of getting it in good enough shape to paint, at least it would save me some money. Plus I need a project, so I figure why not.
All three parts are SMC
Short version:
1. Rocker Panel - Cracked / front fender tab missing. Thinking may be best to replace the bad section with the same section from an undamaged part. Is this realistic? Quite possible I would not have very good access to the back of the part, meaning all work would have to be done from the front. Seems that re-creating the correct features found on the original would be quite difficult otherwise, thus the idea to cut out the bad and replace with good
2. Front Fender - Cracked but I think all of the pieces are more or less there. should be fixable with pretty normal methods. Looking at using west system epoxy resin. I think I can handle this one. At worst, a replacement fender isn't that expensive
3. Door - Has chip missing right along the edge which looks like a pain to fix properly. I assume this could be fixed with west system epoxy as well but it being such a thin strip that needs replacing scares me a little. Replacement door shell is up to $600+ so would prefer to fix it.
Will have a body shop do the painting regardless
Here are some pictures:
edit: also, here is a nearly complete one so you can see the features of the damaged area
