I recently posted about a 99 Saturn plastic fender. Could not find one in the correct color. Question was can i use a plastic welder to repair it from the inside. How about this… There are plenty of fenders in the junk yards around here. Say silver, for around $30 bucks, take it off myself, and bring it to Maaco to paint. Do you think this is a good idea? How are they on color match? My car has factory clear coat, do they do that too? Factory code is U 704F , do they use factory paint? And, will a new painted fender stand out from the rest of the the body on a 10 year old car? And finally, will a full "Detail Job ": compound, touch up paint, and polish fix that?? THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!
Just a couple of suggestions for you:
Paint stores have a color matching device so that if you bring in a sample, they can make up a gallon of any color for you. Ask Maaco if they can do this. Color fade due to sunlight could eventually make a mismatch. They should be able to clear coat it too.
I have repaired some badly damaged plastic things with PVC/ABS/CPVC water pipe cement and several layers of fiberglass mat where appearance was not important. The cement has a pretty fierce odor so you should keep your nose away from it. The cement is available for a couple of dollars in small, screw top cans with an applicator at any home building supply place such as Menards, Home Depot and Lowes. The Saturn fender should be repaired on the inside if the cement will stick to it but you might be left with visible cracks on the outside.
Thanks, the car is a 99 Saturn sl 4 door, dark blue. I see so many of these cars driving around, but all the junk yards have different colors. Silver red green. I got advice to just go to harbor freight and go a plastic welder and fix it and then and replace it. Seems that is the least expensive option. However, there would still be the small cracks on the paint.
The originals were NOT painted…That’s the color of the plastic…If you paint your fender, it will NEVER match…You will have to paint the entire car to make it look right…
Don’t expect a good color match from Maaco. It will look better than what you have now, but it will not match.
A really good paint shop can match paints very well. Interesting part of it is they usually will not match when they are done with it, but a few months later they will match better and in my experience, they will match. It is an art not a science. It takes artistic ability and knowledge.
I know that is not true because I have the original fender and I can see the color of the plastic underneath the paint. If the color was through and through, , i could just glue it back together, or plastic weld it. I can buy a NEW replacement fender, " Ready For Painting" from a number of sellers on the internet. They are all black primed.
I’m not a fan of MAACO as I’ve seen several problems due to their work. One involved a car that was sprayed from one end to the other and in less than 3 years it was bleached out and chalky. From what I hear they may skimp a bit on the chemicals that fight UV rays.
The other example was closer to home and involved their spraying a plastic front air dam on my oldest son’s Camaro. They volunteered to ship it back to him and he thought, great!
A week later the 6 foot long air dam arrived in a less than 3 foot long box where it had been folded twice, and with the paint still not set up. Needless to say, there was cracked paint and paint stains all over the inside of the box and they said they did nothing wrong.
It was a pain in the xxx to get that plastic back into shape again due to the distortion caused by the box and of course it had to be repainted again. (someone else) MAACO did refund the money after a bit of an argument.
One thing you may not like with new paint is that the fender will look out of place on a 13 year old car. Your car may even look fine appearance wise but slap a freshly painted fender on and it may stand out like a sore thumb in comparison.
My preference would be to try and find a used fender in a matching color but that could take some footwork.
I am not really talking about maaco i mean any auto body shop. Maaco was just the cheapest.
It’s a '99 Saturn. I’d paint it with a Duplicolor spray can and call it done…
I wouldn’t even bother with the Duplicolor. I have no problem with one fender being a completely different than the rest of the car. Where is there a law that says all fenders have to be in matching colors? I don’t even worry about whether my socks match. I don’t think a fender of a different color will affect the gasoline mileage.
If done properly a Duplicolor job as Caddyman mentions is perfectly feasible and should last the rest of the life of the car.
The only reason I mention the tint difference is that I don’t how picky someone is going to be over any sun bleaching, especially with dark blue.
HI ALL, WELL GUESS WHAT I FINALLY FOUND A DARK BLUE FENDER FOR THE 99 SO I WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE PAINT MAATCHING![sic] I PUT A WANTED AD ON CRAIG’S LIST, AND A GUY WHO HAS A YARD IN NY STATE SAID HE HAD IT! IT’S A 2 HOUR DRIVE BUT WORTH IT TO ME, WHY NOT TAKE A SUNDAY DRIVE TO THE COUNTRY? I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR HELP AND ADVICE!
When i remove the old fender I will try to repair it with a plastic welder from harbor freight since i have a coupon, and would like the experience for the next time.
To fix a plastic fender, use a two-part epoxy reinforced with a fiberglass mat material on the back-side of the fender.
Tester