Hello,

I had an an accident and need to replace my front left fender. Has anyone attempted this? It appears to be straight forward bolt on, but i dont have a shop manual. Anyways if anyone has attempted it please pass me any info you may have run into.

Regards and thank you.
P.s. is for an '06 HHR.

 

Unless you are good at body panel alignement I would take it to a prol I have seen even good body shop men struggle with HHR fenders. The many panel lines are difficult to line up. It bolts on easy but to get it right is a different story.

 

I changed the wing after an accident.
But tell me this: Are you going to change the wing of own hands? In his own garage?
Maybe I somehow can not understand the specifics of the American repair. Why do not you want to see a specialist to repair the body?

 

Well, I am a s/m person by trade, so I think i can hack it. I just dodnt know if there is anything "hidden" that would prevent me from doing it.

As far as, "why not a shop?"....well, is kinda like when you tore down that toy to see what it looked like inside? I am a tinkerer. Of course, it is said "curiosity killed the cat" :).

We'll see. If it is only a matter of alignment, I'll take my chances. Just if anyone has info about hidden pitfalls, I would appreciate them.

Regards,

 

From what I gathered from talking to a body shop guy and an insurance adjuster the panel needs to be "drilled in" I think that they meant that not all of the bolt holes come pre-drilled. I was not real clear about that. But, you can see that there are matching holes for the use of aligning tools (like pegs or screw drivers) GM probably sells an alignment jig made especially for HHR fenders

 

In short, look, dude ...
Traps no no. Quite simply, as the balls of the horse.
Difficulties arise in the selection of new parts and work planning.
All the subtleties, I do not know, as I have always trusted this job to professionals. But tell that to my knowledge, after replacing my fender on the Chevy HHR.
1. Buying a fender. Dear donbrew correctly said that the holes can not be matched. This trouble is unlikely, but possible. When I bought a fender for myself, then I saw: a new fender made in Taiwan. Metal has no galvanizing. I did not want to have not galvanized fender on the galvanized car. Professional solved the problem. He used a coating based on epoxy resin before painting.
2. Clips. Plastic protective panels are mounted under the fender. There still is a soft mat - protection against noise and cold. These parts are attached by clips. In the process of dismantling a lot of clips sure to be spoiled. Must pre-buy a set of clips.
3. Hidden defects. Blow to the fender, in most cases affects the different parts. I'm pretty sure that damaged the left headlight. Perturbing the left headlight. If it wobbles, then you hurt retention. Carefully inspect front bumper, hood, front left door. Inspect the internal metal after the dismantling of fender (I do not know how these car parts are called in English). May suffer suspension. But do not cry in advance, if the blow was not strong, high cost of money is required. Thank God and the GM design, because we have strong and thick metal, rather than European dust.
4. Paint the car. This is the hardest. I can not imagine how you yourself will paint your car. Need to: choose the color, professionally prepare metal for painting, enamel components also need to prepare. Required mass of professional and expensive equipment. Required skills and experience. I know that Americans are rich. But I do not think you have mounted in your garage painting chamber of 200 000 dollars and at the same time a digital unit for selecting colors of enamel.My HHR was disfigured by the U.S. repair. I would have ripped layman hands for the such a bad job. I saw a crack of the metal, detachment of the enamel, dried drops of paint. I was angry as a tiger.

My friend! If you want to see that your car inside - dismantle it. This is not a problem. Then submerge the pieces in the trunk and drove them to specialists. It is their work and their daily bread. I can hardly imagine a person who will be out of curiosity, he treated her teeth. If you still want to repair your car yourself - do it all neatly and accurately. The future owner of your HHR will be thankful to you.

 

The fender has two holes in the top rail that aid in getting it on aligned. Even with these it is difficult even on a car with a straight chassie.

You need to deal with the headlight and bumper, Hood gap, door and rocker with many different curves.

Like stated the clips on the rockers usally break and are one use only.

If you are a good body man and never did one it will take time to get this one right. If you are not a body man it may take longer and you may never get it right. The fender is a bolt on but getting each side right is a challange as once you get one side it moves the other side.

The hood gap is a challange since it is hard to see it on some HHRS in dark colors. It will look like it is out but in fact the gap is right. It has a optical effect on some colors

 

It was a glancing blow, the under-structure is intact. The outter skin cracked and peeled. I have to replace the headlight as it is cracked.

I'll be alright. Worst come to worst, I'll drive to the local shop to put humpty dumpty back together again :).

And thank you all for your inputs.

Regards,

 

dude!
you made a decision.
I wish you success and good luck..

 

I was not trying to discourage, just point out what to expect. I would try it in a heartbeat, but remember that it still needs to be painted, my preference would be before and that would open another can of Careful!