Bsweety

About 3 or 4 weeks ago i got a dent in the front driver's side quarter panel. i have not had a chance to take it to the dealer to get it looked at so my question is... Does anyone have any idea about how much it will take to get fixed? Oh yeah, the dent is right on the crease.

leftride

iTrader: (1)

if it is just a dent (paint is fine) check out a paintless dent repair place, I dont know how big the dent is but I would guess around $150. I imagine a body shop will be quite a bit more.

John_74

BSweety - I noticed something similar on my TSX this weekend. The "dent" is on the front driver's side quarter panel right at the crease over the weekend, but I'm not so sure its a dent. After reading what you posted, I'm wondering whether other people have this also. I only noticed it when looking at it a 45 degree angle. I thought it was odd because its in a location where it would be impossible for someone to dent it by opening a car door into it. Also, I make it a point to park away from everything. When I ran my hand over the area where it appeared that there was a "dent", it felt completely normal and I didn't feel any dent. Also, when I looked at it up close (i.e. not on an angle) I couldn't see any "dent". I'm wondering if its some kind of factory defect because the "dent" is only noticeable when you look at the driver's front quarterpanel on about a 45 degree angle. I wonder if its just the way the light hits the crease?? I showed someone else and he agreed with me that it doesn't appear to be a dent but just the reflection of light because you can't see a "dent" when you look at it up close. I'd be curious to see what others have to say about it (by the way, I could only notice this on the driver's side front quarter panel and didn't see anything similar on the passenger side front quarter panel).

Bsweety

I don't think we have the same dent issue as mine is seen without any trouble. Here is a link to see the pics... http://www.picturetrail.com/bsweety83

I am seeing the dent man about it tuesday if I can get to the dealership before he leaves.

John_74

BSweety - thanks for the pics. Sorry to see that in your TSX. Yours is definitely a bona-fide dent and was definitely "dinged" somehow. However, the location of your dent is very close to where the perceived "dent" is as I viewed it on my TSX. I wonder if the 2 are somehow related (i.e. maybe something knocking into the area of the perceived "dent" that ordinarily wouldn't cause a problem becomes a bigger problem after the area is "dinged" - if that's the case, I'd make an argument to the dealer that at least part of your repair should be covered under the warranty). Best of luck getting that repaired and I hope it doesn't cost you too much money.

flyboicus

Did you ever get the dent out? Just found one in the rear right quarter panel and it's a depression like yours, as if someone leaned on it and pushed it in. No scratches. I'm hoping it can be fixed.

miner

PDR will be able to pop that dent out - $100.

flyboicus

I wish. The PDR guy who has been doing it for 11 years on high end cars said because it's on the body crease line above the right rear tire, it will be almost impossible to get entirely out, and it'll cost around $175, plus labor to remove the bumper. My insurance company estimated at least $1000 to repair it because they'd have to strip the paint, fill the dent, then repaint it (NOT what I want to do if I can avoid it). They said the affected area was about 1 foot in size, though the actual dent was only around 3 inches across (and probably 3/8 inch deep).

To me, it looks like two things. Either someone threw a leather football for a lob and it impacted the fender, or someone intentionally punched it in. It takes a hell of a lot of force to dent that part of the panel because of the crease line, which gives added strength.

BTW, the PDR guy said he had to go in through the tail light to repair the damage. We found out you have to remove the ENTIRE freakin' bumper to take out the tail light?? Geez! No wonder a 5 MPH hit on the bumper does so much damage.

miner

That does surprise me. Oh well, he should know. I am surprised also that your insurance company will not replace the quarter panel since it is a 2004 model auto. Good luck and keep us informed of your delimna.

flyboicus

After a final evaluation, the damage came out to about $530, which would be a complete repair and repaint of the right rear quarter panel and the body panel that runs above the doors all the way to the rear of the front fender.

I have attached a pic of the damage. I have no idea what caused it, but there's no scratch. The damage area is about 4 inches, but the insurance agent said it affected around 15" of body panel since the hit stressed the area further around the damaged area.

Looks like a football bounced off it maybe. But it would take an awful hard hit since it's on the body line which has extra strength.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Wow...that really sucks. You should try asking around a little more. Several times, my family has had dings taken out at places for a couple hundred dollars cash that didn't require any repainting. They just hammered out the dent. Did a really good job. Even worked around the crease. So ask around some more. You never know. You might get a better deal.

flyboicus

I've got a PDR guy who's going to work on it Saturday for $175. He's been doing high end cars for 11 years and thinks he can get most of it out. I'll post pics after the work is done.

atlatr

Hey Fly....I got one in the same location opposite side (drivers side) and on the next crease lower. Same size and everything. I think some A-hole opened their door on my car to cause the dent. I had my dealer give me a quote of $100 to repair it.
Dents SUCK!
T

flyboicus

Yeah, really sucks doesn't it?! Let me know how you fare. The guy that was supposed to mine this weekend bailed on me with a last minute excuse, so looks like I might have to go somewhere else.

At least I got my Helm service manual in today (very nice and highly recommended!) so I know exactly how to get the rear bumper off now to remove the tailight and allow the PDR guy to get in there. There's a large raised metal reinforcement plate about 1/2-1" off the inside of the rear fender that means either the PDR guys will have to drill a hole in it to get to the affected area, or go through the tailight area and sneak in behind the plate. Couldn't have been a worse spot.

Sigh, I might just bring it to my dealer as well.

NoHandle

I just had two smaller dents removed with PDR. However they were lower on the rear quarter panel (not in the crease).

I have to say the guy did an excellent job. I cannot tell they were ever there. And one of the dents, although not on the crease, had a nice crease of it's own.

He stuck the tool in between the trunk hinge and the trunk liner. I figured he would have to peel the trunk liner back, but he didn't. But even if he did, that's still got to be better than pulling off the bumper. The liner appears to just be held on by plastic clips.

I would shop around if you can. But you're right, you should make sure it is someone who has been doing it a while. I just asked the dealer where I bought my car for a reference.

flyboicus

Ok, sorry it took so long, but here's the after PDR picture. The PDR in this case cost about the same as it would have been to repaint the quarter panel (around $600!) because I wanted it done right and did it through Acura's very experienced PDR guy (plus Acura gets a 30% cut), but the results were muckin' farvelous as you can see. You can't even tell there was ever a dent there. The crease-line is perfect. I heard the guy spent a LOT of time on it to get it just right, and it shows.

matelot

wow man you been in hibernation or something ?

flyboicus

LOL, yeah, work keeps gettin' in the way!