chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 so I had a bit of a fender bender today... no need to tell the story. The other car was a saturn vue - looked like there was no damage at all. My car looks a bit messier. Basically, it looks like the Vue's bumper hit my grill and pushed the hood up and back. Underneath, it took the upper radiator mount with it and pushed it up and back. (Part F in the front end section of SubaruPartsforYou) Mechanically, everything is fine - no leaks, no overheating, A/C works, lights work, and I have no issues with alignment... and the car survived about 70 miles of driving after the incident. So... here's the question - do you guys think I should replace the front end stuff - lots of un-welding, re welding and new parts involved... or can I get away with pulling things into shape with a come-along and a telephone pole - I've been doing this for the past hour or so and things are looking much better. (will take pics later) Of course I will have to replace the hood and get it painted etc - but what about inside? What kinds of things can go wrong? Best, ccbb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 You can get away with pulling it all back into shape. The metal will be weaker of course now that it's been formed, damaged, and reformed. In my personal experience, all upper radiator crossmembers I've seen were bolt on? Are you sure yours is welded? If it is a bolt on, you may be able to unbolt it and straighten it easier. I bang out dents and mis-shapen parts as part of my job, and a general rule of thumb is you can fix almost anything, but some things just take too long to fix that it's not even worth it. Of course, some things will be out of tolerance when you rework them. I'd say your crossmember should be fine, but if the hood's crumpled you might want to just get a junkyard one and have a shop match the paint. I fixed a smashed up Sentra by straightening the upper radiator crossmember and the headlight/grille mounts and it was peachy for another 30K miles until it crapped the bed. If the metal is really creased in one or more spot then you might run into strength issues. Metal also has "Memory" meaning once it's bent to a certain shape, it will try to return to that shape, resisting efforts to change it's initial shape. A coat hanger or even a fender not installed on a car are good examples. You can bend, twist, and manipulate them and they'll always return to somewhat the same shape they started at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 28, 2009 Author Share Posted June 28, 2009 http://i39.tinypic.com/28rilpl.jpg This is what it looks like from the back of the upper radiator mount - those look like tack welds from the upper mount to the left radiator support. Is there an easy way to un-tack these (heat? pulling harder)? I have never done something like this before. I would like to be able to just fully replace the upper mount if only I can get it off. This was the best I can do in terms of re-forming this section - it was like trying to straighten out a paperclip - What can I do next to make things better if I cannot easily replace the mount? http://i44.tinypic.com/14lq29y.jpg Can you guys take a pic of what your bumper looks like here? All the pop-its fell out during the impact and I think some kind of horizontal bar? (Top side of bumper cover) The center point is still deflected about .5-1 inch. http://i40.tinypic.com/2nstkzk.jpg The fender corner deformed slightly... I tried to bend it back but had trouble bending it at the deform point - any techniques for this? The bumper on the left has fallen 2-3mm that is why the light is like that... will fix after the bigger things are taken care of http://i41.tinypic.com/2d6te9z.jpg The damage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
error Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 I would probably replace the rad support cross member and the hood. Take the left fender off - it is held in place by bolts - and straighten it carefully , 15 min job. The bumper cover looks ok: plastic rivets popped off, not a big deal. Remove it and check the reinforcement bar inside the bumper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 What can I do about the tack welds? I would love to remove the upper support but I don't know how - it looks like there is more to it than just the bolts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 The support on my car comes off... They had to replace it after the repair shop crashed it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Are you sure it's tacked to the crossmember? Many cars have tack welds to hold the side marker bracket to the fender, but one could easily mistaken the tacks on the fender to be tacks on the crossmember. What does the crossmember appear to be welded to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partlistbymod.php?model=Legacy&subcat=Body%2C+Front+End&year=2000 well the first image above is the left side of part F in the link taken from where the engine is toward the left side light. What it looks like to me is that part F is tack welded to part E http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=9768 It looks like ADE and F are all welded together? the four circular marks that are in the first image on part F can be seen on the other side on part E as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Looks like the headlight mounts are tacked to the crossmember. If you have a welder the job is easy, but if you can get it close by bending it then more power to you. If you ever go to sell the car you might want to invest in more intensive repairs. A couple hundred more dollars (Minus labor, since you should do the work yourself) and you could get considerably more for the car. Nobody wants to open the hood and see obvious signs of a frontal collision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 I just found this on Honda tech http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?p=20540036 Have you guys ever used spot weld bit? Platinum, are you saying that if I want to put the new member in I would have to get it welded up again? So far I feel like part F is both welded and bolted to the side radiator supports - if this is the case I feel like I can get away with just bolting. What is good place to find a cheap welder (as in a guy who will do the welding) if I have everything installed and just need someone to hit a few spots with the MIG? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I would venture to guess that muffler shops may be a good spot for getting someone to weld something for you. But find a small independent one, not a chain muffler shop. A lot of independent service shops also do that as well. And lastly maybe a small body shop? But then they may want to do the whole job for you. GL X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 Hmm good call... You guys are amazing, definitely helped me save a few hundred bones. Thank you everyone for helping me to get to the bottom of this. I just picked up my painted hood yesterday from the body shop and will put it onto the car today. I hope that it will line up ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Cool. How much did they charge you for the hood? EDIT: Just had another ides. Mobile Welding People, did a search in Google for your area: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=baltimore+md+mobile+welding&aq=f&oq=&aqi= X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 hey Laz - I got a non-OEM hood from Certifit for 116 and then got it painted at Maaco for 150 (top side), off the car. Surprisingly, Maaco did a decent job on the work - the paint match is spot on and the paint is clean aside from one small run on the edge and a few specs of embedded dust. No bid deal though - they promised a wet buff after the paint cures. I'm not sure how they can get the dust bits out because they are under the surface but I'm confident that the paint drip will be easy to remove. If I were to look at it more critically, I would say that they lacked attention to detail, but looking at the situation from a price conscious POV and realizing that the rest of the car is not in showcar condition, I'm pretty happy. Thanks for the mobile welder ref - I didn't even know they existed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Nice, that is not a bad price. I charge between 450-550 for a hood, but that is painting both sides and with a wet sand and buff. Maaco definitely makes sense in a situation like this. I did not know about the mobile welders until I saw a truck down here roaming around. I guess there is a mobile business for everything! GL and take pics once it is all done. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitty chitty bang bang Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Well, for the sake of concluding a thread here is an update on the hood situation. I was able to come-along the radiator back out, and with the help of some neighbors, do the "fine tuning" to pull everything into place. From a learning perspective, i guess it was a lesson into how "little" there is in the engine bay and how "organic" the front end is - light damage like this is much easier to repair with some elbow grease than it initially appears. Also, thanks to the old-timers on the forum here. Browsing this site from time to time, I see new subie owners buyers like me come and go, but also see guys like platinum and laz always ready to lend a hand. kudos. some pics (note... I can't seem to get the hood to come down more... the gap between hood and bumper to the left and right side of the grill should be just a fine seam... but if I do this, the fender lines no longer match. Maybe this is a certi-fit hood tolerance issue.): http://i36.tinypic.com/muy5tw.jpg http://i36.tinypic.com/2cpaxz6.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Nice work man! it looks good! X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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