269: Sunday 9th March 2014

Last Sunday I had a car reverse into me in a car park. To start with I couldn't open the door. I came home and pulled the wing out by the door and the damage was clear. It had a crease in the wing, so the only thing I could do was to replace it. I got one off eBay, but it had a massive blob of glue on it (PU) that had been used to hold the trim on. It would have been a lot easier just to get the proper clips. So I cut the glue off with a sharp knife, then shaved some more off with a pallet knife (paint scraper), then got the last off with white spirit. I ran over the whole wing with a sander to key the surface.
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There was some paint blistering around the indicator repeater and the styling line. I had removed the styling line plastic strip and took out the indicator before sanding. This took some parts back to the metal, so I gave the whole wing a coat of primer.
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While the paint was drying I removed the old wing. I had to take care around the side skirt, again cutting through the Polyurethane that joined the panels and removing a couple of extra bolts.
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I had to fill in one of the trim clip holes as it wasn't required with my side skirt. I used the glass fibre P40 mush to fill the hole. Once this was dry I sanded it level and touched up the primer ready for the top coat.
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There was also some paint chips down the side of the door, so I sanded them and gave a touch of primer.
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With the primer all dry and lightly sanded I put a top coat on. As with the rest of the car it was a temporary coat to get it all the same red. I hope to get the proper paint soon on the whole car.
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I fitted the wing on carefully and touched up a few minor scratches that I accumulated along the way. I installed the old style indicator repeater, that's another thing I need to replace now.
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I refitted the front bumper, the colour match is not fantastic, but it will do for now. I cracked the panel by the headlamp on the bumper again. I pushed it together and it is just a hairline crack. That's another job now.

2 comments:

  1. Saw your car today parked in the car park at Dunton today when I visited. Just seeing a Probe plugged into the mains was impressive enough, and the kit looks good to.

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  2. Thanks, I like probe,electric cars and customizing, so it is easy to see why I have done all this. Please go to my facebook badge and send me a message. Then I can add you as a friend.

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