How to remove the rear quoter panel?

[bmwperson]

I have a crashed e36 Im wondering how to remove the quoter panels off of it?

Tom

[Boondoggie]

Plasma cutter.

[bmwperson]

eh... I want to remove them without destroying em :) it was a front impact so the quoter panels are fine.... so they are welded in? the front ones have screws...

Tom

[Boondoggie]

Yes, they're part of the unibody.

[BMDub325is]

Rear ones need to be cut and a new one welded in its place. A frankenstein job. My roomates 2001 eldorado is a combination of two eldos welded together and it looks great. He saved about 20,000$ by doing it this way lol. Good luck.

[ReVsHoT]

hahaha

if u thought u could unbolt them u should leave them alone for sumeone else to do,

theres a lot to cut off, like in the door, along the window and trunk and rocker pannel then the sail pannel

[96 328ic]

having the same problem..... having the frankenstein job done by the professionals. Does anyone have any idea how much something like that would cost? Not to steal this guys thread but im sure hed like to know also

[ReVsHoT]

the QUARTER pannel isnt really expensive, its the labour involved, u gotta tack weld in place, fiberglass the joints, sand it smooth, putty so its not noticable then re-paint the whole car, u cant just pant a quarter cause it flows into the roof, so the roof will then have to be painted and the roof flows into the other quarter pannel so that will have to be painted as well

[ElSupremo]

the QUARTER pannel isnt really expensive, its the labour involved, u gotta tack weld in place, fiberglass the joints, sand it smooth, putty so its not noticable then re-paint the whole car, u cant just pant a quarter cause it flows into the roof, so the roof will then have to be painted and the roof flows into the other quarter pannel so that will have to be painted as well

Well that's how a bad bodyshop would do it. A good shop would fully weld the panel in place, grind it smooth, then use minimal body filler. Fiberglass means a hack job, and that crap is almost guaranteed to crack or pop out in probably a year or two.
For painting, a good painter could blend the paint into the roof sail and door jamb, possibly blending into the door itself. If they have to paint more than that then they don't have much experience. That is unless you have a flashy custom paint job, like candies or heavy flake.

[96 328ic]

anyone have any idea on a total cost to replace and paint the entire panel? Im taking it into the body shop soon but i would just like to be informed a little before i take it in

[markcm]

Check with the guys at A2Zautofuroms.com there are a few autobody pro's there that can answer anything you want to know about it. If you search, they have fully documented just about every proceedure involved with excellent pictures and one of them has a live camera in his body shop.

They can give you a good idea of what a good shop should charge.

[ElSupremo]

anyone have any idea on a total cost to replace and paint the entire panel? Im taking it into the body shop soon but i would just like to be informed a little before i take it in

If you're having a damaged qtr. panel removed, a new one welded in, and then painted to match, I think approx. $800 would be a low end starting point. Depending on the damage it could be double that.

[Seeker]

eh... I want to remove them without destroying em :) it was a front impact so the quoter panels are fine.... so they are welded in? the front ones have screws...

Tom

bmwperson,

you talking about the front fenders??

This thread seems to be going on about the rear quarters.

I was under the impression the front fenders were like most other cars. You can unbolt the fenders off. Prolly need to take the front apart, the fender wells out and then you can get it off.

At least That's what I had to do to my '84 TransAm.