ARGH!! Repair front fascia, or find a used one???

[obaa996]

Arghh!!!! I knew it was going to happen at some point, but didn't think it'd be so soon.... My front fascia had the normal scrapes from parking blocks and driveways when I bought it; I wasn't overly concerned about it, as I figured I'd do the same until I got used to the car, and I'd just go ahead and repaint it once the learning curve was done. Well, the timetable just got accelerated...
It's a gorgeous day today, so I took my wife out to lunch. On return to work, I parked the car in the parking garage. I was pretty careful pulling up, when I suddenly heard a *LOUD* scrape. Uh oh... I put in the clutch, let the car roll back, and hear a loud *CRACK*. Not good... I get out of the car, look down, and see that I caught the parking block of the adjoining right side parking space with the edge of the fascia. Letting the car roll back apparently let the block grab the fascia, and it cracked a big chunk (well, to me anyway) of the lower edge. If I had to describe it, I'd say it was the area on the inside of the front wheel well (just the part facing the tire), from the bottom up to the rivet for the front bra (the bottom and outside of the fascia seem okay). In case you were wondering, the fascia is made of plastic, and there's some sort of fiberglass-looking thing underneath....
I was prepared to live with normal scrapes, but this is a bit too much.... I need to get this either repaired, or find a good used one. Are these things repairable? Seems that all body shops just replace bumper covers, but I'm sure they aren't cheap. Any good sources of used ones? Bonus points: anyone know of a good bodyshop/person in Portland OR that can handle this out of pocket?

Thanks!

 

[Tomer]

Sorry to hear about that!! I am always nervous when I have to pull up fairly close to a curb
or parking block...Don't want the rear to hang out too much, but gotta stay away from those
concrete demons...

Can JonB at parts rack...He will have a line on used and new...Maybe even repair..

TomR

 

[Ulysses]

Are you talking about the black part? If you are, we're talking about the radiator support. Better have a good body repair person who has experience with Vipers to have a look at it. You want to make sure you didn't compromise the support to the radiator. In other words, it doesn't sound like the facia but something more serious. (The way I wrote it up it sounds bad, but may not be bad at all)

 

[JDR]

I punched a 2: hole in my facia - fixed it for about $90 - good as new!

Duramix: http://www.handsontools.com/store/show_product/?product_id=9501

Buy it from you local wholesale automotive paint store. Be sure to get the TPO type.

You'll want to chamfer the edges of the tear 45 degrees (a good 1/4 inch of surface area each side), and drill 1/16 inch holes every 3/8 inch or so, alternating on both sides of the chamfer. I took 30 minutes, a dremel, and a LOT of care & patients...

Do the back side FIRST with the reinforcing web provided in the kit. *Do* use the enclosed clear plasic that the reinforced web was stuck too to cover & smooth out the epoxy.

WAIT for it to dry - THEN pull the clear plastic off. If you try too soon, you'll have a mess.

Cover it with primer & block sand.

I did about 8-12 repeats of primer painting and soft block sanding, until it was 100% perfect - I'm sure a good body-guy could do it in just 2-3.

Paint was two guns from Harbor Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=43430
One for color, one for Clear.

I got one quart of color from the auto paint store, and a pint of clear.

A perfect match, with plenty left over for the rear wing.

If you're concerned about painting the car, just do the repair and prep work, and carry the front facia to a professional for the final color & clearcoat.

BTW: there are several posts on how to pull the front facia off.

Sorry, I didn't take photos, I was too SICK that I did the damage in the first place. Now I wish I had.

-John

 

[obaa996]

Guys,
Thanks for the comiseration. After getting home last night, I took a closer look. I unscrewed the bra snap, and was able to push the cracked portion back in place; it's currently being held down by some clear packing tape...
Jon, that's some great advice; thanks! Just curious why you drilled extra holes into the crack? Is that just some place for the epoxy to fill and hold?
One of my biking buddies also suggested plastic welding, which he had done on his bike fairing. I gotta check and see if this stuff is made of ABS...

Thanks guys!

 

[JDR]

Yes, the holes are to give it more to hang on to. We don't want the "stress" from a light curb strike to crack it loose too easily!

FYI: I tried to get a body shop to do it "my way"...no one would touch it. 1) Too much time to do it right 2) Too afraid they wouldn't do it right and the TPO would split if I bumped it. Well, I've been banging the nose around as usual and she still looks new!

 

[obaa996]

Okay; makes sense.. In checking in on the plastic welding thing, a couple of bikers mentioned that if it was abs, that abs cement from, say, Home Depot would work amazingly well (abs cement is a solvent which will fuse abs together). Given how often these particular guys go asphalt surfing, I'm inclined to believe them... Looks like number of ways to go!

 

[DEVILDOG]

I recommend backing into parking spaces to be safe.