Can I fix this...

... Without having to completely respray the whole fender?

Difficulty: This is SWMBO's car, not a project car- anything I try and do has to look good, not just 'not going to rust/get worse'...

Thanks!

Junkyard replacement?

Grtechguy wrote: Junkyard replacement?

If I were to have to do that, I'd rather just sand down and respray the fender since I'd have to be taking the fender off anyway- Mariners are hard enough to come by in junkyards (I'm pretty sure the fender isn't the same as its cousin the Escape, but I could be wrong), much less finding the right color from this specific year...

Google clear coat repair. There are lots of videos and how-tos

oldtin wrote: Google clear coat repair. There are lots of videos and how-tos

So far all of them that I've found have repainted the entire panel and applied new clear coat vs just fixing a section of it...

You can make it look better by peeling off the loose clear and hitting it with some cleaner wax. I don't think you can get much better without respraying the panel.

Why can't you just tape down to that body line then sand and spray while it's on the car?

TR7 wrote: Why can't you just tape down to that body line then sand and spray while it's on the car?

Hmm. That sounds like the best idea so far. I'd been hoping to fix the paint while SWMBO was away for the weekend, but am more thinking that I want to make sure she's good with the fact that there will likely be a bit of a difference in the paint on that panel.

Don't ask, don't tell. She'll never notice.

bgkast wrote: Don't ask, don't tell. She'll never notice.

Oh, she'd definitely notice since she grumbles about the clear coming off regularly. :p

Anything you do (except sand/paint) will be a temporary fix. There is a reason the clear is coming off; mismatch base/clear formulas, poor prep, cheap paint. Painting over it will just mean that what you put on will eventually come off as the substrate below it continues to fail. If you are mixing up paint and sanding a little bit, why not just sand the whole thing and paint the panel? 20% more work now to prevent having to do it all again in a year.

I went back and looked closer at the photo... I see lots of bondo in that fender. Certainly not a hack job, but I would bet you can buy an aftermarket fender for it for $50. Paint, install, done.

My point is, its a well-worked fender with some porous filler and the paint base isn't strong. You might be ahead to just buy a fender. You'll have to live with the slight mismatch of color unless you want to get fancy and blend.

StainlessWings wrote:

TR7 wrote: Why can't you just tape down to that body line then sand and spray while it's on the car?

Hmm. That sounds like the best idea so far. I'd been hoping to fix the paint while SWMBO was away for the weekend, but am more thinking that I want to make sure she's good with the fact that there will likely be a bit of a difference in the paint on that panel.

That's usually why I put the paint line at a crease, because the light is hitting it at a different angle you don't really notice if there is a slight color change. Beats blending. Curtis might have better advice for you though. I am far from an expert.

There are several on car-part for around $100 that are already painted.

curtis73 wrote: I went back and looked closer at the photo... I see lots of bondo in that fender. Certainly not a hack job, but I would bet you can buy an aftermarket fender for it for $50. Paint, install, done. My point is, its a well-worked fender with some porous filler and the paint base isn't strong. You might be ahead to just buy a fender. You'll have to live with the slight mismatch of color unless you want to get fancy and blend.

I think you're seeing something in the photo that's not there- I took a good, close look at the fender and tapped around on it for a while and I'm finding absolutely no evidence of bondo anywhere on it. I'm guessing something in the reflections off the fender are making it look like there's bondo work on it that isn't there...

Will discuss the options with SWMBO when she gets back from her trip.

I had zero painting experience and only had a slightly more experienced teacher when I sanded, primed, and painted the replacement fenders on my civic myself with rattle cans. Next time I will get a cheap paint gun. Rattle cans are tough to be consistent with. Regardless my paint job turned out really well and matches the rest of the red car almost perfectly.

Practice on a junk fender first. Then go paint that fender. It will take you most of the day because you'll be taking your time and doing it carefully.

In summary...no, not really. That needs to be cleaned and resprayed. If you buy from a salvage yard, good chance the shade of red won't match 100%, so it may not look great. Same if you buy aftermarket...if you try to spray it yourself you won't be able to perfectly match the surrounding panels (which is why body shops blend into adjacent panels). No real shortcuts here if you want it to look perfect.

Top arrow shows inconsistent gap. Bottom arrow shows body creases that don't line up. Left circle shows porous bondo. The right circle shows where every 7th one that the driver takes off the trailer has scrapes.

Even if you buy it new, 1 in 7 new cars show up needing touch-ups.

Not poo-poo-ing your ride, just a few observations. The peeling clear is a 2000% confirmation to me that its been repainted. If its been repainted, there was a reason. That plus the lines I see mean bondo.

scratches head I'm still not seeing it, but that's not at all a solid indication that it's not true- I am certainly far less versed in what to look for and/or do (this thread itself being plain evidence of that... )

We'll see what she thinks and wants me to do with it. It'll be a little while before I'd be able to do it anyway since I'd need a few days minimum with the car out of service to do pretty much any of the options so it won't be possible until we find and pick up another car she can drive. I'd ideally not be doing it with a rattle can but my HF HVLP sprayer- I need to be getting good at it anyway if I have any intent of repainting the Elky for whichever Challenge I finally finish it for (looking like 'not this year's' at the moment, sadly....).

Get a magnet and verify and / or look at the back side of the fender. I do see what curtis73 is pointing out in his post.

When I was working for a place that processed new Subaru's and there were repairs made to cars that get damaged in shipping or in the processing or when loading on trucks. If the repair is less than $1,000 they can still sell it as a new car. Not uncommon at all. I don't know the percentages.

What I learned was that when taking delivery of a new car look really carefully at fit and finish and ask if any repairs were made to it. I think they have to disclose if there were if you ask but if you don't ask they don't have to tell. You have to get over the excitement of "its a new car" and look at it objectively.

In reply to dean1484: She bought this used a few months before we got together- it's doubtful either of us will ever buy another new car, but that's good info to know!

StainlessWings wrote: In reply to dean1484: it's doubtful either of us will ever buy another new car,

Amen to that. "New" to me is a 2003.

curtis73 wrote:

StainlessWings wrote: In reply to dean1484: it's doubtful either of us will ever buy another new car,

Amen to that. "New" to me is a 2003.

We're more than willing to get reasonably new vehicles (well, SWMBO is- most of what I look at and drool over is almost as old as she is ), but buying something new just doesn't make sense. I've also long maligned leasing- but ironically the only time I could see myself doing anything with a brand new car would be leasing a plug-in electric since the technology is changing so fast that by the time the lease is up there would likely be something far superior available...