Deer side-swipe... Body shop? Or replace panels?

Hi everyone,

I was driving home late tonight from work and a deer jumped into the road. I swerved to avoid it and ended up side-swiping it at about 45mph. I'm glad I'm alive, but really bummed about my wagon. It was in really good shape. None of the glass broke, but it smashed off the driver's side mirror, put a big scratch/dent in the driver's door and totally bashed in the drivers side passenger door. Both doors still close. I also saw some hair in the inner lower part of the fender well (I think some contact was made there too, so I'm not sure if that fender is totally straight anymore).

My first thought was that I'll just replace the doors and the fender, no big deal, however after looking at stuff for sale on Ebay, classified, etc. I'm starting to realize how nice of a condition my wagon was in and wondering if my current doors could be salvaged if I took it to an experienced body shop.

One of my main concerns is the wood vinyl, and the other is the trim. Believe it or not the vinyl wasn't peeling anyplace except the rear license plate area. If it was all flaking off, I'd just have it all replaced with something moderately close, but the rest of the car is in such good shape. I know the original stuff isn't available anymore, so would it be possible for an experienced shop to pull out a huge cannonball-sized dent and scratches and save the vinyl?

What about the tan trim? The vinyl still looked good on it too. Do you think they'd be able to straighten the trim out?

If none of that seems realistic, I'll just start the hunt for doors and fenders.

This sucks.

Thanks for your help everyone,

Casey

Major dents mean major repairs. I doubt the stickers would be salvaged in that case. can you post some pictures?

Maybe pull the panels, push out what you can and see what is left. The right PDR tech can do wonders but major damage normally requires hammers and Bondo.

Are 95 & 96 doors interchangeable? Am I going to have to remove the door panels to unplug the wiring harness?

CBurne7 wrote:

Are 95 & 96 doors interchangeable? Am I going to have to remove the door panels to unplug the wiring harness?

Yes they are.

Yes, panels have to come off so the wiring can be disconnected from the switches and motors. They you can pull the harnesses out of the doors, It is a simple job really. Having someone to help hold the door while you bolt it to the hinges is a plus but not a must have. I just use a jack stand to balance the door.



I've also done them with the front clip in place.

94Woody wrote:

can you post some pictures?

X2

Tom

That's the worst of it. There's a big scratch and long (but shallow) dent on the driver's door, not to mention the mirror that's busted off, but I can fix. My main concern is the molding along the top edge of the door that's creased in a few spot. A local paintless body man quoted me 800-1200 which seems about right.

The door shuts, closes, and locks still.

My 2 cents, and I'm looking at it in the picture, I would do everything I could to repair the damage on the existing doors. These wagons are 25 years old, every one of them has had some type of body issue. Don't worry about that trim on the top of the door, that's nothing. That probably can be fixed until you find another one. They are out there and available. I may even have an extra one.

If I were you, I would find the best paintless dent guy in your area. Carefully pull off the interior door panels and that piece of trim on the rear door to keep your cost down. Those guys aren't cheap, but can work magic. That section of the door above that trim, a body guy may have to work on it and paint it.

Your main concern is not the trim piece, but should be in saving those doors with the "wood" paneling. If you replace the doors and fenders the wood grain will not match and will stick out like a sore thumb.

In all honesty, I don't think your damage is that bad at all.

Be patient and take your time.

Tom

I would check with Buicknutt. He may have a couple doors for you. I would think that $150~200 for the doors, and about $75~85 per door shipped by Greyhound (safest way to ship a door). Make sure there is a layer of heavy cardboard on the outside of the doors. He is in California.

If it was mine I would remove the door panel and any bracing. After that I would push out what I could by any means necessary

If it still looked bad then I would replace the door. Much cheaper/easier than PDR. You have the super, ultra common White/Wood. Doors should be plentiful still.

just my two cents, like some of the others have said remove the inner panel and as much as you can while still letting the door stay operational and then have the dents taken out from the inside, maybe even try doing some of it yourself so the professional doesn't have as much to do, as most of the time they are quoting labor, so the less they have to do the cheaper it is. and I think the trim could be saved by someone who knows what their doing as it is metal and doesn't appear to have a major kink in it more like a slight bend.

But also if those doors can be saved, it means the ones you would get to replace them would remain on the market, available to someone who is not as lucky with their doors, and has no choice but to replace them.

The idea of kicking the dent partially out may cause more damage than the original. If you are going with PDR, let the guy do it all for the best results. The PDR guy can fix the kink in the trim line at the top. It will cost you a lot less to replace the doors, if you get the same base color of white. There are a couple of different whites. The 94-96 is much "whiter" than the 91-93.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

There are a couple of different whites. The 94-96 is much "whiter" than the 91-93.

No kidding... I never knew that. Thanks. I'm going to take it by a traditional body shop today and see if they have a painless guy who will do it for less.

I have some nice white doors from a 96 but I’ll have to check which side they are. I also have white doors from a 91 with the darker paint color. I think they may be over the weight limit for greyhound?

Last time I shipped a fender greyhound the buyer received it with a soccer ball dent and bent up edges

Where are you located?

Buicknutt wrote:

Where are you located?

Hmm... I'm in Baltimore, MD.

That is a shame that Greyhound damaged the fender. The have always been good for me. I put a piece fo foam and a piece of cardboard on the outside face of the part.

Ya. I’ve had good luck too on shipping parts Greyhound, but that one didn’t go well. I wrapped in thick cardboard then shrink wrap over that with foam at the corners but it didn’t help.
Probably just a guy or 2 who could care less along the way who handled it.

The last door I sold was to a guy who used his fedex account and sent a freight pickup to my house. All i had to do is strap it to a pallet and they came and picked up. That transaction went flawless, door arrived pristine.

Just checked and I do in fact have both 96 doors in white, very good to excellent condition

Fred Kiehl wrote:

The idea of kicking the dent partially out may cause more damage than the original. If you are going with PDR, let the guy do it all for the best results. The PDR guy can fix the kink in the trim line at the top. It will cost you a lot less to replace the doors, if you get the same base color of white. There are a couple of different whites. The 94-96 is much "whiter" than the 91-93.

No one said anything about kicking, lol. There are many ways to straighten that back out just fine. It takes patience and finesse, not brute force like a Chimp.

There are better ways to fix the dent than trying it yourself, and if I were a PDR guy, I would rather have it in its dented condition. You can stretch the metal the wrong way, and sometimes it will make the panel un-repairable.

PDR is amazing

Buicknutt, could you PM me some pics of those doors if you don't mind?

I took it to a couple places today. First place wouldn't touch it. Said it was "too old" (probably didn't want to work on it since it wasn't an insurance claim). Second place the owner has a '96 RMW, seemed passionate about the cars, but didn't think the dent could be pulled out. Told me that he would see if he could source some new doors for it, which is something I could do myself so there's no reason to pay someone for something that I'd do myself.

My main concern is if I replace the doors that the vinyl won't match, then I'd be looking into having ALL the vinyl replaced, which would cost me probably as much as FINDING ANOTHER WAGON when all is said and done! BAH!

yes
I’ll pm you my cel phone number for texting pictures. Much easier than uploading pictures here

Did you get my email with pics?

Welp. Here she is. Found a door in almost-as good condition and swapped it on today. Looks pretty clean. I had to remove the upper "wood" trim from the old door and straighten it out and pop it back on. Unfortunately the inner door panels suffered some casualties when removing, despite my most ginger touch. Overall, I'm much more pleased than driving around with a big dent in the door.

Next I need to find a driver's side mirror.

I have a driver's side mirror,  but it is black plastic, not painted. $45 shipped.