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Thread: Ladder fell on my hood today - What to do?

  1. #1
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    Ladder fell on my hood today - What to do?

    Had an unfortunate accident today when a ladder fell off its wall hook and hit the front corner of the hood.

    I called my paint less dent removal (PDR) guy and sent the below pictures and he mentioned that the cracked paint finished suggested bondo and that his repair might cause more cracking. But he would have to look at it to give an estimate. I have an appointment for him to look at it Monday.

    My first plan was to have him pop out the dent the best he can and if the finish cracks more remove the hood and let my bodyshop man repair the cracked paint damage and repaint the complete hood. If it doesn’t crack more I could live with the 1 crack or repair it the best I can and call it good.

    Another option that I have is skip the PDR and to buy a used hood for approximately $350 plus the shipping cost and go straight to the body shop and have it repainted.

    The cost of the PDR and repairing the hood would be less that buying a used hood and having it repainted but if I could find a hood that didn’t have a damage repaired with bondo would be a plus?

    What would you do?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by msiert; 08-13-2022 at 12:28 AM.
    Murray

  2. #2
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    A very similar thing happened to me a few years back. I haven't addressed it yet as the car has been in storage since but my plan was to buy another hood and have it painted.

  3. #3
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    I would skip the PDR and take it directly to the body shop for repair and respray.

  4. #4
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    Thank you for the replies!

    Looked under the hood this morning and it would be difficult to access the dent from below and with the cracked paint, it’s beyond DPR. I called my body shop and it’s scheduled to go in September 18 for repair.

    I always new the car was in an accident that damage the left front fender, bumper and hood. The paint finish on the hood and fender has orange peel and is full of fish eyes and debris. It’s a shade different than the rest of the car too. You can tell there’s bondo in the fender by the wave in the finish.

    I used a magnetic business card and checked the area around the hood dent and it stuck so that’s good.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Murray

  5. #5
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    a while ago, I talked to a very experienced PDR guy who was working on the dent on my wife's e36. I asked him if he can get dents fixed on the e21 and he said that it is hard to do PDR repairs on these cars, since the metal is much thicker than on newer cars. Especially hood/roof/trunk.

  6. #6
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    Let us know how it goes!

  7. #7
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    Thank you, I will.

    Looking at the existing low quality paint finish on the hood yesterday and knowing the quality of work the body shop has done on my truck and VW bug in the past it doesn’t bother me to put money into fixing the dent and re-painting the hood.

    If the dent happen after a beautiful new paint job, that would have been a devastating blow!
    Murray

  8. #8
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    It happens. I dropped a set of metal shelves on my hood while I was moving. I ended up getting another hood because the original hood was backed into a few years ago and repaired badly. I'm planning on getting the whole car repainted eventually.

    Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

  9. #9
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    looks very minor, but like you said the whole hood would probably need to be painted, after that minor dent was fixed, you either need to paint that small area and match it, or paint the whole hood.

  10. #10
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    Cool

    The body shop would likely drill holes and use a slide hammer to pull it out they will get the dent almost even with the surrounding area then bondo to get smooth and even , spot paint is difficult may want to paint the entire hood.. If you get the entire hood at a reasonable price and then repaint that will solve the issue as well.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 08-16-2022 at 12:54 PM.

  11. #11
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    We have had this happens twice: once with our E21 at the time and then with our E30 convertible which is still sporting the dent! Was going to have the hood dent in the E21 pulled a, bondo applied and the have a respray of the hood but sold the car before that happened. I think it was a better move vs a different hood even so…


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  12. #12
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    Can’t buy new hoods anymore and it’s hard to tell what hidden damage a used hood would have? Most likely the used hood would be a different color and the underside would need to be painted as well.With it being a small dent, I agree a repair and respray makes the most sense for me.

    if only there was a way to guarantee for a perfect paint color match on the respray? But as it stands now the existing hood color is a tad different now so there is really nothing to lose.

    I believe the existing pin stripping is black and silver with the Hanna red? Hope I can match that?
    Last edited by msiert; 08-22-2022 at 11:20 PM.
    Murray

  13. #13
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    Update: Job Creep

    I turned my car into the body shop last Monday to fix the hood dent and while I was there showed him the lousy body work and paint job on the LF fender that was done at the same time as the previous owner did the lousy paint job on the hood.

    Today got a call from him.

    He asked if I wanted the LF fender redone and if I wanted the keyed drivers door and LR quarter and the keyed trunk lid repainted and I said yes.

    I asked if he could match the paint and he said he was taking the car to a place to get a color spectrophotometer done.

    Boy this sure ballooned quickly.
    Last edited by msiert; 09-21-2022 at 08:07 PM.
    Murray

  14. #14
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    My ladder is also on a wall hook right near the front of my E30 just like this.
    I am worried that with wild wind or something the side wall of the shed could buckle in and bounce the ladder off the hook straight onto the car.

  15. #15
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    How about adding a bungee cord for safety?

  16. #16
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    For 10 years I had no problem with the ladders failing, now after the accident each ladder has a bungee cord.
    Murray

  17. #17
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    Finally some progress, it’s been at the body shop since 9/18/22.

    The body shop wanted to do a complete paint job but I think the rest of the paint looks good even though it has some scratches it’s good enough for a driver.

    Alone with fixing the dent in the hood the left front fender is going to be re-done too. The PO did a lousy job in repairing the fender and the hood so I’m taking this opportunity to fix them both.

    Have to admit that I have enjoyed parking my truck in the garage this winter, soon old big red will be back outside.

    6FD927C7-0331-4F54-8282-716F4B8A0E85.jpg60D74E0C-097D-4B7E-91CF-A6E93E3E6991.jpg
    Murray

  18. #18
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    More progress, looks good!

    The body shop is saying that the new pin stripping is a little different color. I asked to see a picture of it next to the existing pin stripping tomorrow before they put it on (to see how much difference there is) which they said they would.

    I asked if they could do the complete sides (both sides) but they said they are only going to do the hood? Talked to a buddy of mine that said just ask them for the rest of roll and he would help me do the rest.

    What’s the problem with the body shop, why don’t they want to do it?

    A4B2A946-2B08-4599-BBD3-B05B3840BFEE.jpg 5D947776-66FF-4855-B95A-8D0DB985846D.jpg
    Last edited by msiert; 01-12-2023 at 09:24 PM.
    Murray

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by msiert View Post
    What’s the problem with the body shop, why don’t they want to do it?

    A4B2A946-2B08-4599-BBD3-B05B3840BFEE.jpg 5D947776-66FF-4855-B95A-8D0DB985846D.jpg

    could be a few reasons



    is the original stripe painted or tape ?

    sometimes the original paint stripes aren't all that straight or even, making installing over them difficult. if it's painted they just might want to leave it original. the widths on newer tape may not be exact to the paint either, and they don't want it to look jarring.

    if it's tape it might look crappy with more installed over, differences in thickness and width could look awful, with the older stuff bleeding through from underneath. if it is tape it should be removed before another stripe is installed ideally. the removal has to be done professionally and can damage the older paint fairly easily if not done correct.

    you'd have to pay extra for that and there would be very few guarantees.

    i used to apply pinstripes graphics blah blah. pretty much during that era and a bit after. i've faced similar stuff before.

  20. #20
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    Thanks for the help 82eye!

    Don’t know if the pinstripes are painted or tape, there is 2 stripes and looking at the pictures I posted it looks like the top silver line drops down at the front of passenger door but the bottom black line is straight at that same area, so it might be painted?

    I need to look at the pinstripe that the body shop found up against the existing pinstripes. They said they have the new pinstripe but the color is a little different. Which I took as the width of the strips were good?

    As I see it my options are: (if it’s tape)

    1. Have the shop install the new (little off in color) pinstripes on the hood, asking for the remainder of the pinstripe roll for another shop to do it or try to do it myself if the color difference is too noticeable.

    2. Try to talk the body shop into removing the existing pinstripes and install new on both side. (Doubtful)

    3. If the new pinstripe color is off too much don’t install the new pinstripes on the hood and call it done.
    Last edited by msiert; 01-15-2023 at 09:49 PM.
    Murray

  21. #21
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    Since I don’t have the car, here are a couple of pictures that show the pinstripes. At the front and rear the black and silver line come together. I’ll have to find out more when I talk to the body shop to if it’s painted or tape.

    Attachment 712097Attachment 71209819FC38B0-56CA-4C78-8A13-A6F64B6DC567.jpg
    Last edited by msiert; 01-15-2023 at 08:29 PM.
    Murray

  22. #22
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    The pinstripes look painted to me.

    The body shop owner said they were tape and he can not find anything close to put on so I picked up the Bimmer this afternoon without any pinstripes.

    Believe the next step is to find a someone local that can do painted pinstripes.

    D2F0AC11-9B51-4522-B385-E81C1B1A7645.jpg3D50CF57-3BC8-47FF-A441-3FABC5165523.jpgE9878FED-28BE-4B0D-90B9-C01508360CDC.jpg
    Murray

  23. #23
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    Here’s some after pictures of the work.

    The color match between the front left fender and the driver’s door is better then before (still noticeable to me).
    The hood looks good but you can see the debris that is in the prior paint job, thought they were going to sand that out? They did a nice job on the front left fender which was a might as well expense.

    The body shop said they weren’t happy with the way it turned out, that they wanted to paint the entire car.

    To me it’s better than it was before the ladder fell on it so I’m good with it.

    $1,200 for the work which seems fair but I still need to deal with the pinstripes.

    D517DC0C-CB6B-41F6-B5CC-C87B56CA389F.jpg7EC76DAD-4F13-40FB-A1A9-71AF5B4A1CE0.jpg36B27D4E-3F0F-4FA6-A0C9-F9067E8B450C.jpg3AD67962-BD24-416A-B093-14AD9A07A6B7.jpg
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by msiert; 01-21-2023 at 11:17 PM.
    Murray

  24. #24
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    Well that paint sure looks good in the pictures, glad to hear you are happy with the work.

    Hard to tell if those pinstripes are painted on...the start of the line looks rounded rather than a straight cut of a razor on tape so unless it was a sticker kit made just for the E21...seems like paint. Are the stripes finished similarly at each of the body gaps?

    Had an E30 way back that had two-colored tape stripes buried in clear by a previous paint job, needed to paint a fender and could not find tape to match...of course couldn't remove what remained on the car...so ended up just matching one of the colors and living with it.

  25. #25
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    I will have to look at how the pinstripes end at each of the body gaps. I need to measure the width of the strips and the open space between them too.

    I think the existing pinstripes are less than 1/8” wide. Maybe I’ll have better luck finding black and gray pinstripe tape that will be good enough to live with. I need to start looking for a person that does painted pinstripes too.
    Last edited by msiert; 01-22-2023 at 07:58 PM.
    Murray

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