Hi All,

I've got an 85 TransAM and have been dodging a rolling shell in the driveway the past few months while I get the motor ready for an LS1 swap. Anyway the shell is in front of the garage and there's enough room for me to back the TransAM in and clear everything to put it in the brick double lockup.

Long story short on Friday I was backing the car in, sunlight directly in my eyes and went too close to the bricks and scrapped the left rear wheel well.
Drove forward, corrected and got it in there.

I was scared to look, but after seeing the corner of the brick ground off, I then looked at the wheel well and saw it took the paint off as well as morse coded along the wheel well edge, where the metal is folded.

I'll take some images and post them, but was just wondering if anyone else has ever been stupid enough to do something similar, and what techniques they'd use to fix it.
Was hoping to fix it without having to fill it with bog. I'm never selling the car so I'm not worried about authenticity or resale value, but I want it to look back to original from the outside and not have to worry about bog falling off.

Any tips for the repair?

 

Images are attached. I know it doesn't look too bad, but prior to this the body was in good condition. Sorry the picutres aren't great, it's night here and a black car and crappy garage lighting don't help.

 

It definitely looks like you will need some body filler for that. Anyone who has been driving for long enough, has backed into something. I am an excellent driver, and I've done it a few times, in my life. Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, accidents happen. I'm assuming when you say 'bog', you are referring to body filler? If the surface is properly prepared, it won't fall off, provided you don't lay down too much. If used properly, the body filler shouldn't be much thicker than the thicknesses of a credit card. The stuff gets a bad reputation from people mis-using it to fill in large dents. Luckily there's YouTube. There are probably a few thousand videos on body repair, and the proper use of filler. It's a real bummer that happened, but it should be a pretty easy repair.
DR.K.

 

yeah sorry, bog is aussie for filler

Cool thanks for that. I'll look up a few videos and see how to go about it. I was wondering if I needed to drill any holes in the metal to allow the filler to get a more solid grip on the area, and was just a little bit worried about the edge where the metal punctured.

Looking at the pictures I took it doesn't look too bad after the initial shock has worn off, but I'll take a closer look this morning and see.

 

If it were me I think I would get an estimate from a Smash Repairer reason is that they can colour match it for you. I dont think you are looking at a high bill.

 

I've painted it Jet Black Acrylic, s I'm not too worried about paint matching, but it might be worth getting a quote for a repairer to do it.
Thanks.

 

No, don’t drill holes for the filler. If you have a puncture hole, I would weld it closed and grind it smooth, then do your filler work. Filler is designed to mechanically bond to properly prepared bare metal or epoxy primer.

 

sand down the damaged area, fill it, block that smooth, feather out your paint (this is the tricky part, especially with black), epoxy prime, high build prime, wet sand that and then paint...
Looks like it would be a very thin layer of filler, not enough to worry about.

Lots of youtube our there to learn how to fix this!

 

Exactly. The hole-drilling technique is a "cave-it-and-pave-it' technique from the bad old days. If you properly prepare the surface, then a thin skim-coat is all you need.
DR.K.

 

What sucks is you'll have to clearcoat that quarter panel, roof panel, and other side rear quarter. Unless it's a convertible....they are the only ones with break off points.

I'm a professional painter at a body shop. You can blend the entire repair, EXCEPT for the clear. You can never, EVER, blend clear and get it to be invisible. Especially on black.

 

Good news is I'm an amateur painter at best, and never got around to the clear coat LOL
I used acrylic as it was my first attempt painting a car. I didn't do too bad, but it wasn't great enough to think I should put the clear coat on and be done with it.

So I'll be able to blend the acrylic jet black paint and sand back with 2000grit wet before cut and polishing it to blend it in.
I did it once on my old bumper and it worked quite well.