Looking After A Damaged Lucida

[chaikhosi]

Hi there,

I only passed my test six weeks ago, and I've already had a bit of an argument with a car park hedge... :'(

My silver '96 Lucida Estima now has a badly dented passenger side front wing panel, and a dent and scrape on the hinge edge of the door. The best quote I've found to fix it is £470, including a new wing. Which is way over my budget, so I'm very interested (!!) in finding out what I could do myself. At least I need to repaint the scraped bit of the door before rust sets in.

Would anyone be willing to give me absolutely idiot-proof instructions for fixing the door paint? I can live with it looking scruffy.

The edge of the door is bent back where it hit a branch. Is there anything much I can do about that without being trained as a panel beater, or should I just paint it as is?

If I can find a scrap wing panel, what sort of tools would I need to install it?

I can post more pictures if anyone wants a look.

Thanks,

Chris

[bothwell_buyer]

The wing is just a bolt on job - pick up a used one from a scrap yard and fit it yourself. A paint job costs around £100 a panel... so try to source a wing the same colour as yours !!

The door - depends on how bad it is but as you say... paint it before it rusts ! If you can live with the dented door, and it closes ok then I would stick with it for a spell and think about getting it fixed later.