Body Damage - Preferable to Repair or Replace hood

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Have some damage from impact with a deer. On the surface, it appears that the impact damage is limited the hood and a headlight bracket. Regarding the hood, one shop has said they can fix the hood (pop out the dent, repair the damage, repaint) and one advised they would recommend replacing the hood.

The new hood is an attractive option since the existing has some chipping from what I assume is a stray rock getting thrown up on the highway here and there but I'm worried about quality versus OEM. As I understand it the replacement will mean the shop is going out for bids which could mean an aftermarket hood. The estimate from the shop recommending repair would basically be reconditioning the direct area around the damage. The estimate from the shop recommending replace would also include repainting the quarter panels to blend the color with the repainted hood.

Which is preferable? Both are reputable shops, so I'm not concerned with a hack job, just minimizing headaches later. I need to read the details but both carry a lifetime warranty to the repairs as well as long as we own the car.
 
I've had Carmax try to ding me on trade-in value before for replacing the hood due to hail damage. Something to thing about if you are concerned with trade-in value down the road.
 
You should be able to find a used hood for like $25 if you're patient. If you get one with factory paint it'll be UV faded to sorta match the rest of the car, even though the plastic fenders fade differently.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
What car? is this a saturn?
2013 Cruze LS.
 
Originally Posted By: 99Saturn
Originally Posted By: spasm3
What car? is this a saturn?
2013 Cruze LS.


That should be able to be found at a boneyard. Even if you have to paint it, it should be less expensive than repairing and painting.
 
My body man has always recommended replacing those kinds of easily replaceable components as opposed to repairing.

He has no dog in the fight, either. Has always let me buy my own stuff and bring it to him. Not sure he's ever even offered to get it for me.
 
Depends on the severity of the damage and location. If for instance the damage was slight and toward center I would probably prefer to repair and color match within the panel vs blending fenders...

Clearly one shop feels they can fix it so IME it is pretty minor damage but a picture of both the damage and the underside of the hood near the damage would be helpful.
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Depends on the severity of the damage and location.
This isn't the car, but this is the approximate location, the area here is sunk in, probably about 8 inches wide by 4 inches vertical.
 
An OE hood will likely have better corrosion protection and quality than a Chinese-made, lowest bidder replacement, designed primarily to protect insurance companys' bottom line.

If you can find a good used one from a junkyard, get it repainted, or if it matches, just leave it, I think that's best... But that good used one needs to be in really great shape compared to the finished product you would get from repairing yours...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
An OE hood will likely have better corrosion protection and quality than a Chinese-made, lowest bidder replacement, designed primarily to protect insurance companys' bottom line.

If you can find a good used one from a junkyard, get it repainted, or if it matches, just leave it, I think that's best... But that good used one needs to be in really great shape compared to the finished product you would get from repairing yours...


Depending on the insurance company, if the vehicle is more than a year old or has more than 10k miles on it [I think] you're getting junkyard parts.
 
Stick a chinese hood on there. By the time you hate *that* one, there will be plenty of Cruzes in junkyards that you can pick over for cheap.
 
There's way too much misinformation and speculation in this thread for me to address on mobile. The bottom line is, you never replace a panel unless you have to. You don't want an ill-fitting and potentially unsafe aftermarket hood. A junkyard hood is a decent option but it will come with stonechips and it won't match even if it's nominally the same paint code. So go with the shop that gave you the cheaper and smarter estimate to fix your factory part.
 
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Originally Posted By: 99Saturn
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Depends on the severity of the damage and location.
This isn't the car, but this is the approximate location, the area here is sunk in, probably about 8 inches wide by 4 inches vertical.



Sounds repairable, still a picture of the actual hood would be helpful.

Looking at the way the hood and fender meet up on that car, I think blending the fenders is silly. I mean - there is such a small area where they meet and several body lines and aspect changes that make it look like it doesn't match anyway WHY would you blend it? On top of that to properly blend the fenders you'd have to R&I the bumper, headlights, triangle moulding rocker skirts and probably the fender liner.
 
I'd go with the repair option as well to avoid blending the fenders.
 
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I remember when I got into a collision and my hood was barely dinged. It was my fault, but I had collision and I was covered. When I brought it in for an estimate, the owner of the shop did the estimate. I asked about the aluminum hood of WRX and whether or not it could be repaired. He said they couldn't really work with aluminum for various reasons, one being that it came with a coating to allow paint to adhere. After it was damaged, even if they could pound it out they wouldn't be able to repaint it properly. The estimate included about $500 for a brand new aluminum hood and the labor/materials to repaint the entire thing.
 
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