Bent Front Fenders near A pillar / Hood? (w/ pics)

Hey Everyone - first post, hopefully of many to come. Yesterday I checked out a used 2012 AC TRD-OR. Drove nice, put a huge smile on my face. There’s something odd going on with the front fenders where the fenders, A pillar, and hood come together (both sides). I’m wondering if this is common? I did not see it happening on the other 2nd gen Tacomas in the lot. I didn’t have a ton of time with the truck to figure out exactly what was going on, but it looks like the hood hinges are (or were?) pushing up on the fenders, probably in the closed position? IDK. The hood sits fine on the car in relation to the rest of the fenders, grill, lights, etc. I’m assuming this could be bent back and at least match the rest of the 110k bodywork, but since it looks like the truck's doing this to itself I doubt it would stay that way. Thoughts? Common fixes? Bent hinges? (I did some googling, something similar seems to happen on Infinity G35s). Sign of a frontal impact? (Carfax is clean, had a pre-purchase inspection done at the Toyota dealership down the street. Other than some bulbs out they said everything checked out and was good to go. Front bumper/grill area is in good shape but not brand new looking or anything). Thanks in advance - Jim

 

This doesnt happen by itself on 2nd gens.

my guess is it was wrecked and a piss poor repair job was done, OR someone had something like CBI ditch light brackets and totally fucked up the fender on install or removal.

 

Thats bizarre. I have no clue

 

Agree with JdevTac. That’s not Toyota and not right at all

 

My guess is some pretty serious front end damage coupled with cheap aftermarket sheet metal - which rarely fits correctly. Run, don't walk the other way.

 

Thisss. Hard pass on that truck.

Guessing the headlights won't be Toyota branded along with a handful of other components as well.

 

Remember, a clean CARFAX report does not guarantee that a vehicle has not been in an accident. It's actually fairly easy to keep repairs off of CARFAX. Open the hood of the truck and look at the fasteners that hold the fenders down. They're painted body color. See if they've been removed and then replaced. The paint will be damaged if they are. Body shops rarely repaint them. While you're under there, look for other painted fasteners that have been damaged by removal. An easy dead give-away for collision damage.

 

Thanks for the replies. The truck is about 70+ miles from me so frequent visits aren't very easy. I would definitely demand detailed photos of the area before considering the drive again. Considering what I saw at the time and looking at some videos that include the hinge areas, I'm nearly positive the damage is being caused by these hooks on the hinges (see below) prying the fender out like that while the hood is being opened. Obviously that shouldn't be happening and an accident would be a good reason why it is. If anyone has any other thoughts, please keep em coming. I'm gonna reach out to the dealer for more photos and see how they try to explain it.

 

Interesting!

 

Definitely some aftermarket parts and hackerage shown in those pics - especially the bottom one. The black bracket is not factory. The two fasteners furthest from the fender edge are definitely aftermarket. Almost looks like a hack weld back under the bottom edge of the windshield. Yup, run from it.

 

Sorry, should have been more clear, (and maybe you understood this and are referring to the original post). These photos with the red circled hooks are from a youtube video for installing ditch light brackets, not the truck in question.

 

those hooks aren’t doing that to the fender. Those hooks prevent the hood from sliding backward into the cab in the event of a wreck. If they are contacting the fenders then something else is wrong.

 

Super strange. On the right side of the truck you can see some chipped paint and a the lip of the fender bent under. It looks as if someone stuck something in there and tried to pry on it or maybe shut the hood with something wedged in there. But if that was the case you wouldn't expect it to be on both sides.

Personally, this doesn't strike me as just poor fitting aftermarket panels that were used after a collision repair, I think there's more to this story.

 

Ask for a car fax

 

No more thinking on this, just run and don’t look back
If you buy, we will see you here often

 

Couldn't get enough clarity on this issue or a few others so I did not pursue this one much further. Leading theories: From the dealer's tech - A previous owner must have closed the hood on a tool or toolbox and bent the hood hinges (simultaneously on both sides, but not the hood? I did check the truck out one more time, the hinges weren't noticeably bent.) From the tech at the Toyota dealership - While the windshield was being replaced (it was, at some point), someone knelt on the hood. My best guess - the hood wasn't latched down and someone started driving.. we all know what happens next.

 

My guess. The truck had frontal impact damage. When the replacement parts were installed, they were a bit out of alignment. PO put on hinge mounted el-cheapo ditch light brackets. When they closed the hood, the misalignment and poor install caused the edge of the brackets to catch under the fenders. This, folding the fenders up. They then installed solid mount ditch brackets to try to hide the damage.

 

NOPE. dont bother run away from that slimy mess.

 

Hood flew up,see this at work. Hinges are bent but almost impossible to tell by looking at them.