Question about body panels.

Hey everyone. I'm sure lots of people are aware of my primered back quarter panel. Here's a picture.



My original intent was to have this straightened out (you can see it's all bumpy and mis-shaped) and then re-painted, but I've realized that this is going to be very expensive. My friend was looking at my car and he brought up something i hadn't noticed. Is that whole panel removable? It'd have to be a huge panel, from the back corner all the way up to the back of the door, from roof to bottom.

My question is this... is this panel replacable? (meaning if I found a wrecked black t-bird could I replace this panel?).

If this is possible... would it be very expensive to do? I know there's a bit of work involved, but I bet it'd be cheaper to buy a panel and have a shop replace it than to have it straightened and then painted.

It is possible to replace a quarter panel or section there of. However, it is about 10 times more difficult than fixing a dented one. I think the flatrate time for a quarterpanel is around 15-20 hours. (20 x $35/hr = $700 + the cost of the panel).

To replace a quarter, the back and side glass need pulled out, interior has to be pulled (it'll melt from the welds), decklid take off, lights and bumper removed and about three hundred and fifty million spot welds need drilled out.

It's not easy and for the very minor damage to yours would be a rather large waste of money. I worked in a body shop through college for 3 years and we fixed quite a few on minivans and trucks that were much MUCH worse than that for about 1/4-1/2 the cost of putting a panel in.

A good body man could make yours straight in a few hours tops.

Heh, care to recommend me one in WA?

Seriously though, I always thought that there would be a HUGE price tag on straightening out that bumpy area and re-painting that section of the car.

Here's a closer pic of the damage

bump

It isn't as bad as it looks....... You will save much money by having your QP fixed. If a shop even tells you that replacing the QP is cheaper, walk, no, run, as far away as you can from that shop.

Matt