In order to save some money I am going to be buying a whole new left side for my car. I wanted to know if I should stick with GM parts or go with aftermarket panels. Do the aftermarket panels fit as well? They are a lot cheaper and I would like to only get fiberglass pieces out of a junk yard to stay away from rotted stuff. Are the door skins crimped onto the door itself? Or does that bolt on like most other GFX'x and fenders?

Here is a quick shot of what I am going to be replacing.

 

I bought aftermarket quarters for my car from Auto Body Specialties. $120 a peice. My bodyman said they fit awesome.

check out my thread in this section.

 

Hey thanks man. There is literally a night and day difference bewteen the prices of the two. I figure I can save some serious cash if I buy some of the stuff myself and bolt it on.

 

Hey I checked out your thread and it looks awesome. I am really inspired now. I am soooo anxious to see how your fenders will look. I hear the aftermarket ones do not fit well. Are you going with aftermarket ones there as well? Where did you buy your quarters from?

 

Quarters I bought from AutoBody Specialties www.autobodyspecialt.com

Fenders I got from a guy on a Message board for $30, they are aftermarket also...those haven't been put on yet but I beleive they will still fit good. The old ones on my car were aftermarket and fit good, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

Hey thanks a lot man. That saved me some worries. Your car looks like it is coming along great. Nice avatar by the way. I always like the ones that move or do something cool.

 

http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/

the reproductions are they fiber glass?

 

here is a pic post i did a while ago on these parts

Jeff

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...rmarket+vs+oem

 

interesting. my 88 v6 has another fender on the passenger side and everytime i open the door it makes a thud noise. dunno why its doing that,the front bumper is also from another car and its fitted in badly,the paint is chipping of its horrendeous,u can almost shred cheese with it. dunno about going with oem or aftermarket fenders and bumper?

http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/

 

Mine are metal.

 

Remember aftermarket panels are thinner and not as high quality as GM stuff.

 

What I've seen, they fit up well, but require extra work to get straight. Seems like all the panels I've seen had a wave or dip in it somewhere. Not a big deal and even if not quite up to GM standards, they should outlast the rest of the body. Note that sometimes factory panels, if available, are not much more expensive than the Taiwan parts.

 

Either buy new GM or goto a boneyard and pickup what you need. I replaced the passenger fender, hood and front bumper with aftermarket on my Firebird, and it was crap. The paint didn't even stick to it too well, plus the hood wasn't even welded on the front where the skin rolled to the underside.

 

GM parts are the only thing I'd use. I got a new front bumper that was a GM part and it fit perfect, the front ground fx on the other hand didn't. GM didn't stock any of those so it's an aftermarket POS. Might have to find one at the bone yard to get it looking right again.

 

persoanlly i'd just go to a junkyard and get the panels you needs, or get oem ones

 

That's all I've heard too... aftermarket are not up to OEM standard standard and will not hold as well in a car crash. But if you think the possibility of losing your life or someone else in your car's is worth saving an extra 200 dollars or so, then that is your choice. Just my

 

I did my whole car recently, and replaced the front end with a fiberglass harwood hood, aftermarket fenders and an aftermarket front bumper cover. The fenders and hood fit great, the hood took a little work to fit, The bumper is crap. sides bulge out from the fenders. I think the aftermarket fenders are ok, but Don't spring for a aftermarket front bumper go for the real thing. On another note, use a high quailty aftermaket supplier such as Keystone, some of these hole in the wall aftermaket places Do have absolute crap.

 

Thanks for the info Abird4u2nv1, has anyone here used a fiberglass setup? On the link below, there's a fiberglass front (both fenders and front clip). $695. Being all one piece interests me in weight savings...but if I crack up the left side again...I'm out $695.

http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/8292cam.html

Also, here's a picture from their site - Photoshoped so you can actually see it.

 

I'd rather get good OEM junkyard parts than new aftermarket parts. My father owns a body shop and I've seen first-hand that most aftermarket parts are poor fitting, and sometimes the poor fitment can't be corrected (for example, I've seen a lot of fenders that don't accurately follow the contour of the door. Unless you want to weld and grind, there's no way to fix that.

The problem with aftermarket parts is that their quality control tends not to be nearly as good. Some will fit, some won't, and most fall somewhere in the middle.

 

If you are on a budget, used oem is the only way to go. It just fits right without having to screw with it. That, and they are thicker which will be more dent resistent.

 

id go boneyard shopping before i did flimsy aftermarket, IMO.
some of the higher quality yards have metal saws or plasma cutters, and they will sell you a rear panel no problem.

good luck

 

Depends on where you get 'em; I know the parts guys at my local dealer, and NOS GM fenders are at least $325 each with their discount. That seems pretty steep for a fender, but even more steep for aftermarket.

- 89_IROC

 

Thanks for all the tips and hints and heads up guys. This is my first attempt at body work so it will be a huge learning experience for me. I will fork over the bills for new GM parts if I cannot find clean ones in a yard. The yards here in ohio seem to be useless so far. Has anyone every bought parts from www.newgmparts.com? They sell new stuff as well for pretty decent prices.

 

I have no personal experience here, but my reading suggests that the "cheap" online places (gmpartsdirect, newgmparts, etc.) make up for their low prices via shipping costs. It surely can't hurt to check 'em out, though.

- 89_IROC

 

Yea I was afraid of that. GMpartsdirect is notorious for that and I am sure this place will be no exception.

 

GMPartsDirect is pretty much a scam. I mean, occasionally you can get the stupid parts for cheap and then after shipping, you still come out ok.

Here's an example tho. The shifter boot for my '01 T/A console directly from the dealer is $36.47.. P/N 10271369.

GMPartsdirect lists it at $21.73 but shipping is an additional $7.95. Altogether thats still 31.20 plus I get to wait 2+ weeks for it to arrive.

Another example: The little compartment at the front of the console: P/N 10411278. From dealer: 14.42.

From GMPartsDirect, $8.61 + $7.95 again. Now you pay a total of $16.56 for something you can get at the dealer in 2 days for only $14.42 plus tax.

PLUS, no discounts for shipping more than one item. ARGH.

 

gmpartsdirect.com isn't so much a scam as it is a victim of current shipping prices.

their prices are the same that body shops & mechanics get through the local GM dealer. Their prices are what I pay at the counter locally. But... they aren't going to eat the shipping costs.

 

If I'm understanding you correctly, I see where you're coming from but part price aside, it doesn't cost $8 to ship a 2"x2" plastic cubby or it doesn't cost $8 to ship a shifter boot that can be compacted in a box or some other package.

I bought a PROM chip from them for my '93 Beretta GTZ a few years back. Shipping was $12 or so and the part and box together weighed less than 1 pound and was overall packaged in a box smaller than 5"x5". I ship stuff through UPS all the time and it is always reasonable.