have you ever thought about replacing a door or fender or hood or trunk lid or bumper cover front and rear? the whole process isnt that hard here is a quick guide to help you along the way.
starting with Doors and fenders
your vehicle has 2 hinges, 4-6 blots that hold the hinges to the vehicle, might have to remove the fender in some cases. open the door and look at the hinges can you access the bolts? if you can then it just got really easy, make sure you have a marker so u can mark the hinges locations, if you do not mark the location it will make reassembly a pain to get it all to line up. if you cannot access the bolts to the hinges then you will have to remove the fender 1st most newer car if you need to remove the fenders you have to start by opening the hood, look at the fender you are removing there should be bolts running down the length of the fender. you will also need to look at the attachment points to the bumper cover in the front of the car. also you will have to take the tire off if possible to remove the inner splash shield to gain access to the hidden bolts inside of the fender 1 upper and two lower generally. some cases the head light has to come out (Dodge,plymouth, stratus,neons,sebrings,avengers are this way) check online to make sure. once you have removed the fender. gently set it to the side. the door is the tricky part make sure u mark the hinges on the A Pillar with a marker. with the help of someone make sure the door is closed and latched at 1st. remove the bolts holding the door on, if you have power windows or speakers in your door there will be wires going into the A piller remove the kick panel and locate the connector and disconnect it. before removing the door remove the door stay usually its just a flat curved piece of metal with a pin holding it in place remove the pin. now with help holding the door, reach to open the door and while holding the door set it down. to repeat the process just go in reverse order.
Hood and deck lid
here is a quick guide on hoods. lets say you have a nasty dent in the hood or the deck lid (trunk lid) and you dont have the money to have it painted n repaired what do you do? well go thru your local wreaking yard or yards to locate the same color as your car with a good hood. once you have the panel the next step is to remove yours. open the hood or the trunk u will want to mark the location of the hinges with a marker. failure to do so will result in about 1 hour or so of re-aliment. 4 bolts hold your hood on with either mini struts also depending on your vehicle. once you have removed the bolts and struts if equipped. with 2 people gentle remove the hood or deck lid from the car repeat this procedure to complete the job
Front and Rear Bumper covers
most modern cars have plastic bumper covers which are held in place by Clips and nuts. this job is pretty easy to do. back in the 80s the auto manufacturers moved away from steel bumpers to a more refined look. lets start with your cover you want to remove. depending on make and model it can take as little as 30min to have your cover over or it can take as long as 1hr to take it off. best tip i can give you is use google for instructions pertain to your make and model but i can tell u 9 out of 10 times there is gonna be a hidden fastener or clip up in the fender or on the header panel (where the head lights,grill area) on ford mustangs this process is kinda simple remove the retaining bolts on the top of the header panel then remove the bolts underneath the cover by the fender were they bolt together. the header panel will want to come with it. so you have to remove the headlights and turn signals also. but of your make and model doesnt call for that then dont worry. the rear covers are alot easier to remove they have hidden bolts behind the rear plastics in the trunk and screws to the fender on the inner slash shield. once you have removed either or do no damage the Styrofoam attached to the bumper reinforcement bar that is your 5-15 mile an hour protecting right there..lol reverse process to complete.
Basic tools for this job
Socket set
Wrench set
needle noise plyers
dykes
flat tip and Philips screw driver
Patience this is the big one
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