Well it didn't take long for some *%#-hole to hit my front passenger-side fender flare. I've only had this truck for about 2 and 1/2 months...that really pisses me off!!

anyway, it knocked off about 3-3 1/2 inches of paint. on that 3 inch spot, you can see all the way down to the white plastic that the flare is made of. i can't even see any primer below the paint that is still flaking around the bare spot. the flare only has two little scratches that are parallel (about 1/4 inch apart) and run vertically about 1/2 inch each.

has anyone in here had the same thing happen to them/him? what are my options? just to let you know, a new flare from Ford will not come painted. am i gonna' need a "body" shop to fix this? is it something that i can do myself? what are the smallest increments that paint can be purchased in? i don't think this love scratch will need THAT much paint.

robert

 

Most auto/body paint shops will sell paint in smaller quantities but, you're still going to need to make sure that you have a good surface for the paint to adhere to and I'm not sure using a dab of bondo will work as I'm not sure of how it adheres to plastic.

What I would suggest doing is running it by a couple of body shops and getting quotes. They'll all look at it and give you a piece of paper with a price for free (or nearly all of them will). Secondly, before you go back to the body shop to have the work done, hit a couple of your local junk yards. Even if it's not the right color, you might be able to come up with a flare that will work short of having to buy one 'OEM' off of FoMoCo (and, obviously, it should be cheaper).

Of course, I haven't seen the scratches but, it sounds like it's a bit more than I'd want to tackle and I feel pretty confident with touch-up paint around my truck. To do it right, I think it's going to need to go to a body shop. Just my opinion though...

Best of luck to you and let us know how it turns out.

RP

 

Are you sure Ford won't sell you a pre-painted one? I got one scratched up on my 97 Lariat a couple of years ago and went to the local dealer and ordered a prepainted one with no problem. Wasn't cheap though, I think it was $90 but it only took 15 minutes to replace and she was as good as new.

 

well, i called and asked one dealer and they said that it did not come painted...maybe i'll try another dealer.

btw, i forgot all about the fact that it would need the paint to "flex" because of the plastic molding. damn, that'll probably cost more! if i could just have 2 minutes alone with the person that did this...that's all i need, 2 minutes! ha ha ha

robert

 

Ford seems to have stopped stocking the parts painted ome time last year. I know this holds true for the Glamor Caps for the mirror heads. It came in straight ABS plastic, no primer no nothing. Needed to be primed painted and clear coated.