A two-fer

Sometimes all it takes is a nudge, or in this case, a crash, to get you to do something you have been meaning to do all along. Take this Chevrolet truck for example. You can see in the first three photos it took a pretty good whack to the right side. The fender is torn away, the inner fender is damaged and the rear bumper is mangled. This obviously has to be repaired for the truck to look decent again.

So, while the truck is in for these major repairs, the owner decided he would have some work done on the left side of the truck as well. It is not uncommon for an owner to bring me a car or truck that has had some fairly serious damage that insurance is paying for and, while the car is in the shop, have me repair additional damage out of pocket. Such is the case for this truck. Insurance is picking up the tab for the damage on the right side, the owner the bumps and bruises on the left.

The fourth picture show an example of damage to the left side. Nothing serious, something that the owner didn’t feel warranted a trip to the body shop on it’s own. But since it the truck was in the shop anyway …

Picture five shows the tailgate removed from the truck and repairs started. The tailgate was only lightly damaged and you can see in the picture that little more than a sand and paint is going to be required to make the tailgate like new again.

Obviously the right side, with the exception of the tailgate, was too far gone to save and we are going to have to have replacement parts. While waiting on parts, we attacked the much less damaged left side. Pictures 6, 7 & 8 show how we touched up the bumps, rubs and scratches with a bit of filler and sanded it smooth. These areas will be painted later with the rest of the truck, but getting all the preparation work done while we wait on the replacement parts means we can paint almost as soon as the parts arrive.

After getting the body filler sanded smooth, we masked up and primed the repaired areas. You can see me masking the truck in picture nine, and the primed areas in picture ten. Primer seals the repairs and protects them from the elements, ensuring a long lasting repair. It also gives the paint a surface that it can get it’s teeth into for good adhesion.

Once the replacement parts arrive we will be ready to get big red here painted up and out the door.