I recently purchased an '88 IROC, but it needs some body work and repainted (this stuff has the "orange peal" effect and is cracking/missing in places).

Should I spend the extra time to replace the rear quarter panel myself (the flair is mostly gone), or should I just pay a little more and take it to a body shop and have them hammer it back out?

here's some pics of the majority of the exterior damage:




thanks, guys. =)

 

if you have the time and the skills its cheaper to fix it yourself.

 

I have the time, but not the skills -- I've never done any body work in my life.

I'll send some pics off to my Uncle who owns a body shop/builds custom hot rods and see what he thinks, too.

 

If you have never done any body work, experiment on a small spot, otherwise you may do more damage that will cost you more in the long run. I learned a long time ago, that unless you know what your doing PLUS have ALL the tools required, it's better to leave it to the professionals.

 

My uncles has done a lot of body work in his lifetime, and says that if I wanted to use his shop and tools, he'd be more than happy to help me.

Only problem I can see with doing it myself/with someone helping me, is time. I would really like to have this thing all fixed and repainted by Christmas time!

Thanks for the advice. =)