so yesterday night i left my car on jackstands apparently slightly forward of where they should have been(i was always told that you could use the very front where two layers of steel were together) anyways i woke up this morning reassembled my bumper that i was workiung on and lowered my car back down only to find that my door practically folded my fender inwards trying to open.
Now, it looks as though i bent the steel pretty bad where the car should apparently not be jacked up from.....lesson learned anyways any insight on what i should do about this? is it even fixable ? please help
grab some pics if possible....tough to say without seeing exactly what you mean
pictures are not possible but where the bottom 2 bolts for the fenders are....on the peice of steel that you jack the car up with they bent and now i cant even get the fender off because i cant fit a ratchet in there untill it is bent back some im thinking i may have to take it to a collision shop, although id rather try and find a used fender locally if i could get the old one off im sure theres a way a could make it fit.....maybe grind some of it off near the door
hammer it back into place if possible
i tried putting the lower fender bolts back in but from the opposite side (from the car pointing out) and then used my ratchet to kind of pull the peice of steel back towards the car a bit the steel pulled back almost straight the way it used to be but my door still tries to pull my fender in with it every time i open it :S any ideas?
well, changing the bolts from outside to inside wouldnt really change anything. that rail needs to be hammered back out so its not pulling the fender in
do you think getting a fiberglas fender would work? and id be able to modify it to work ? if so anyone know where to get one locally in ontario (canada)?
take a flathead screwdriver and pry that bitch back apart. i had the same problem. my toyo fender was stuck on the car because that lip pinched it closed and i could get a wrench on it. i took a flathead and pried that bitch down til there was room. problem solved.
nice a solution, i love this place someone always had thesame problem before you.....imnot sure i understand completly though
pry from where to where exactly with a flathead?, what can i use as leverage nearby without damagin the exterior ?
you shouldnt be anywhere near the exterior, your under the car at this point. just push the flathead in there and push down on the bent up part. its gonna take some time trying to figure out where to pry from but it will work. thats how i did mine. took me about 1/2 hour between prying and loosing the bolt and prying some more before i finally got both bolts out and the fender off.
hmmm, if you're talking about where I THINK you are talking about....pry it a little with the screw driver, then you should be able to grab it with some vice grips and pull that b*tch almost straight.
This is a big problem when lifting Caddy's, especially the STS's. When you work at a place that has a lot of "techs" that are straight outta high school with 0 expirience, you have to learn how to solve such problems...
ok well problem is its my daily driver so untill i get a new fender im not tearing the old one off even though its crunched in a little, so will a new steel fender have any fitment issues do you think the flathead screwdriver will bend it back good enough to mount an OEM fender back on without problems?
where are you located? very improbable, but if your in the WNY area, you could bring it by my place and we can fix it up for ya.
im sure there's someone in your area that would be willing to help you out
thanks anyways but im in canada ill try the local forums
Andrew Fletcher wrote:im not sure i understand completly though pry from where to where exactly with a flathead?
this is why pics would be a good idea... how can you not get pics? no carmera?
the vise grips and screwdriver method worked quite well....now I just need to find a new fender