cmartin2112

So I bought my 89 cherokee lareado with some front end body damage... The front drivers side fender has a pretty bad dent and the whole front clip assembly (headlamp bezel, all the lights on the drivers side, grill, etc) is jacked... I plan on picking up a new front clip with the parts that go with it. But my question is how hard would it be to fix the drivers side fender (see pics below) and paint the rest of the equipment?

P.S.
If I paint it I want it to look good not the flat spaypaint look.

cmartin2112

If you look (yellow circle) at where the front clip stud is it is bent bent... Any Ides on how to repair that?

gpeade

I believe I would consider just replacing the fender as opposed to repairing it.

cmartin2112

Yeah thats what I am kinda leaning towards... If i picked one up from the junk yard or a brand new one how could I go about painting it make it look like the rest of the body?

RTorrez1

It would be much easier to replace it and it will save you a lot of time.

cmartin2112

Anybody have any ideas on how to paint it and make it match?

freegdr

id remove the fender ans see how bad this areas bent in causing the bow in the fender first from the pic looks more like a bow then dent to me....jm2cw

johnp

paint matching on older rides is an art...and urs is a tough one. the side will look ok done by the adverage garage hobby guy but the hood will be an all together problem..get to know the street rodders in ur area, wont hurt...........the front fender will be fixable but do i see firewall damage to the left (toward passanger side.by hole in firewall) gotta get that taken care of first..what is ur level of expertice.if the jeep is nice and that's all of the damage..might be worth taking it to a pro..........good luck and hang in there. johnp

cmartin2112

Bow! Thats the word I was looking for! Hahaha. Well I am almost considering running down to the junk yard and picking up the fender and front clip from an 89 xj and then taking it to a body shop and having them match the paint off the rest of the body to the new parts.

cmartin2112

Yeah as listed in the comment above I am probably going to go have the painting done by a pro cause I dont want it to look like crap... No there isnt any firewall damage I think your seeing the hole for the headlight. Which pic did you notice the hole?

RTorrez1

Yea, Have it done by someone that knows what they are doing or it will not match. It may cost you a little more since it is an older vehicle and to get it to match just right. You do have to remember als. That as your Jeep gets older the new paint won't fade like the rest of the truck and in a few years they will start to look miss matched.

cmartin2112

Yeah that's no biggie. I might in the long have the whole body re-painted one day....... Haha maybe........ Do you by chance know a ball park estimate of what it would cost to get a body shop to do it?

DrShaggford

You'll have to ask your body shop first but I know most shops will give you a significant discount if you do all/most of the prep work i.e. sanding, removing lights and if its not too far of a drive even masking it off yourself (if you don't know how to properly mask yourself DON'T do it, this is one of the biggest causes of a bad paint job.) As for price I couldn't tell you.

DrShaggford

Probably should have also mentioned that when "color matching" they usually blend the paint into surrounding body panels so masking it will be different than just taping off the other panels.

cmartin2112

So I was browsing around on the internet and found this "72502.803"
on quadratec.com its kinda expensive seeing as I could probably find one pretty cheap at the junk yard. This new one from quadratec should already be prepped for paint right? Couldnt I just bring the old fender in with the new one and have them just match that way? Or do I have to bring the entire vehicle in? The only reason I ask is cause I am rebuilding her from the bottom up and the she aint drivable yet...