Looking for a RF fender for 2012 base highlander, in white pearl paint. These cars are very where except junkyards. Anybody have a good source other than www.car-part.com, eBay, craigslist, FBM?
I'd prefer factory paint since matching pearl is not easy...
In reply to OHSCrifle :
I used car-parts to source a white fender for Fester, the 2004 F150. Those years like to collect dirt in the lower corner and it rots from the inside. I looked for 2 months to find a white fender for exactly the same reason as you. I didn't want to spend money repaining.
Maybe use search tempest to check Craigslist partouts.
Also, just so you're not disappointed, the chances that the factory match on a pearl paint job is the same as yours is probably only slightly better than if you had it painted.
You can look at two factory-painted pearl color on the same year/model of vehicle and they are close, but never perfect. Just the other day I saw two of those nautical blue mica pearl 4-runners side by side in a grocery store parking lot. I have no idea if they were factory finishes (although I couldn't see any obvious signs of body work) and they looked almost like they were two different paint codes.
Not being a debbie downer, just wanted you to know that your search might yield results that are less perfect than you'd hoped. I do totally understand the desire for not having to paint something to match, though.
To your original question, though... I've had pretty good luck with car-part but I'll admit that my cars are a little more common in those junkyards and are usually not the exotic paint color version. My vehicles are often diarrhea tan, Mitt Romney white, or champagne (also known as: metallic diarrhea tan)
Metallics and pearls are damn near impossible to match so I know it's an uphill walk regardless. I'm just a little shocked there isn't one nationwide on car-part
Pearls always need blending into the adjacent panel to hide variance. Expecting one to match from another vehicle is a fool's errand.
In reply to ddavidv :
Agreed. Living through this during my work week as well with metallic finishes not looking uniform. The "flop" of the paint is incredibly hard to attain uniformity.
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