Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Dented the body. Now light casing is slightly protruding.

illdeviant · 10-08-2006, 11:34 AM

Hey guys. I messed up the body on my rx300 suv recently and was wondering about the severity and how I would go about fixing it.

Heres the situation..

I was visiting a friend's warehouse and had to park the car. The parking was essentially inside the building where if you're looking in, there are 3 spots to your right immediately after the garage door perpindicular to the entrance and on the left, there is a wall. Outside the door at either side there are yellow metal poles which have a little handle protruding from the top half of the pole. These little handles are basically metal rectangular strips bent into an angled 'u' . As I backed into this spot turning the wheel counterclockwise, the handle, which at this point was higher than the bumper, dug into the housing of the car right above the headlights.

The body was pushed in enough to kick the headlight casing out of its niche. Since the handle on the pole was also angular, it had edges, not fully rounded, it scratched the car where it dented it in (meaning the paint is chipped away and you can see the metal underneath). I popped the hood and remounted the light as best I could. The light was fully operational with the exception of the automatic day bulb popped out of it's socket. The light currently isnt making full contact with all the mounts in the hood due to the whole frame distorting. Also, the bracket which the light screws into .. basically looks like a washer welded to the frame.. half of it snapped off. I nudged the light as best as I could into the frame and retightened the screw around the half chipped 'welded washer' so that hopefully the pressure contact as well as the hood itself (it kind of wraps around the light) would keep the light in. Right now it seems pretty secure although I try to avoid going too fast or over nasty terrain.

Now, I was just wondering how bad it may be. I will try to get some pictures up in the near future.. I don't have my camera right now.

- Would rust be an issue? For where the scratch exposed the metal underneath? can i just get some paint at a shop and cover up? I don't want to have the whole panel repainted..

-Granted you haven't seen the car, but I'm thinking all that has to be done is the dent to be pounded out and the light should fit right back in. Would that process be an arm and a leg?

Anyway.. I know that this is just the bare bones of the situation and I have given you little to no info . I'll try to get pics up asap. But if anyone is godlike with cars or have had experiences with it, I'd appreciate suggestions/comments and whatnot. Thanks for your help guys.

btw. if any more info aside from the pics are needed, hit me and I'll try to respond to the best of my knowledge.

10-08-2006, 11:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
illdeviant Crazy Location: Lawn Guyland	Dented the body. Now light casing is slightly protruding. Hey guys. I messed up the body on my rx300 suv recently and was wondering about the severity and how I would go about fixing it. Heres the situation.. I was visiting a friend's warehouse and had to park the car. The parking was essentially inside the building where if you're looking in, there are 3 spots to your right immediately after the garage door perpindicular to the entrance and on the left, there is a wall. Outside the door at either side there are yellow metal poles which have a little handle protruding from the top half of the pole. These little handles are basically metal rectangular strips bent into an angled 'u' . As I backed into this spot turning the wheel counterclockwise, the handle, which at this point was higher than the bumper, dug into the housing of the car right above the headlights. The body was pushed in enough to kick the headlight casing out of its niche. Since the handle on the pole was also angular, it had edges, not fully rounded, it scratched the car where it dented it in (meaning the paint is chipped away and you can see the metal underneath). I popped the hood and remounted the light as best I could. The light was fully operational with the exception of the automatic day bulb popped out of it's socket. The light currently isnt making full contact with all the mounts in the hood due to the whole frame distorting. Also, the bracket which the light screws into .. basically looks like a washer welded to the frame.. half of it snapped off. I nudged the light as best as I could into the frame and retightened the screw around the half chipped 'welded washer' so that hopefully the pressure contact as well as the hood itself (it kind of wraps around the light) would keep the light in. Right now it seems pretty secure although I try to avoid going too fast or over nasty terrain. Now, I was just wondering how bad it may be. I will try to get some pictures up in the near future.. I don't have my camera right now. - Would rust be an issue? For where the scratch exposed the metal underneath? can i just get some paint at a shop and cover up? I don't want to have the whole panel repainted.. -Granted you haven't seen the car, but I'm thinking all that has to be done is the dent to be pounded out and the light should fit right back in. Would that process be an arm and a leg? Anyway.. I know that this is just the bare bones of the situation and I have given you little to no info . I'll try to get pics up asap. But if anyone is godlike with cars or have had experiences with it, I'd appreciate suggestions/comments and whatnot. Thanks for your help guys. btw. if any more info aside from the pics are needed, hit me and I'll try to respond to the best of my knowledge.