I won the bonehead award today - I need a new fender flare

i got my door buffed out for $40 today - looks good as new!

 

Still getting this solved...

Can't be buffed, I've scratched down to the black plastic. I make it sound a lot worse than it is (well, it looked a lot worse until I washed all the garage's paint off it). Looks like someone took a permanent marker and drew a line around the edge.

Call me vain, but I'm not ready to live with it. This is my first vehicle I can be really proud of.

Talked to collision guy briefly after hours, he said that the color is patterened/textured (wonder if this is specific to the silver versions? just my luck to choose the spendy color), and you can't just touch it up. Going in today to see if they can paint the whole thing instead.

 

I knew it was coming, but I've been busy. I'm on vacation today and they are still emailing me at work!

 

Sorry to hear this happened, but I sort of ran into the same issue with my garage. I put the door down and didn't realize the bed was barely inside the opening. The door came down and hit the bumper and went back up. HOWEVER, there is a metal tab on the door that scrapped my tail gait on the way down and then on the way back up. Needless to say I felt stupid after that incident and really have no excuse for it. If that wasn't bad enough my brother borrows my truck and backs it into a mail box the other weekend. Go figure and he has a truck driver's license. Lucky for me both incidents were capable of being buffed out.

 

Not looking good there. I called a few, which all told me, "no, call LKQ". LKQ is apparently huge, and they have nothing.

found out that it's not the paint that's textured, it's the plastic itself. Same plastic part no matter what truck. You get it scraped at all and you basically need a new one. Front bumper is the same story. So, new rule kiddies: bash up your metal side panels all you want (they are cheap), but protect all of your plastic becuase that's where Toyota sunk the money.

I'm going to head outside, I'll grab the pictures so you can laugh at me and tell me I'm crazy for fixing it, yadda yadda.

 

Alright, here's the pictures.


First, the reason for all the hubbub. Yes, I said I was vain. I worked in a less-than glamourous onion packing facility and drove a 22 year old car to get this. If you don't feel the same, I'm guessing you didn't sweat for your truck. /rant




Here's the squeeze. The camera makes it look wide, but I had to go sideways to get between the truck and the wall to get out.



More:




and just for fun, here's the front and the back. If I stick the stinger in, I can still fit - barely.






Don't ask me to give up the garage. There's no parking if I work late, and I'm not trusting Safeway parking lots overnight.
Don't ask me to rent the double garage. This SOB's already $70 and I have enought monthly expenditures. Once the truck gets paid off... maybe.

 

Holy Crap! Thats a pretty tight fit man. Props to you for being able to park in it.

I just ran over my nephews bike the other day in out garage. But it didn't hurt it... Or my truck. So its cool...

 

I can see why you wouldn't be able to buff it out, but it should be paintable/blendable to the existing surroundings without replacing the fender? In addition, if the scratches didn't go through the transparent sticker on the fender your damage is a bit less. Just peel that sticker off and pick up a new one. I would think a local body shop could paint/blend it for $100 or less, but I'm no body guy either? On a side note, I can completely understand your position on the amount of work/time that goes into purchasing a new vehicle. My wife's 2 year old Camry just got rear ended 2 days ago. This is the 4th time she's be hit from behind between 2 different vehicles. People simply can't drive at times and it's extremely frustrating.

 

you can't blend it, the flare has to come off to do it right. There is that small 1/4 bead of black weatherstripping that holds it tight to the metal bed side once clipped on there. As Chickenmunga said, the flare is textured too. Toyota even has a TSB on how to properly prep & paint the fender flare. If not done right, it makes the one painted look different than the other 3

Also, if the flare is tweaked at all from the hit, & taken off for repair, it doesn't always seal completely taut against the metal. I had a very small paint punch on the bedside along with some flare damage (minimal) & a family friend's shop fixed it for $350, that was taking the flare off, some blend work on the side, reattaching the flare plus new clips. He is right about the expensive plastic!

 

It's never simple is it? I wonder how bad it would look though if blending was attempted for a cheaper price.