Curb incident, replacement piece

Replacement wife on the way?

 

When we bought ours it had some rocker panel damage from what almost looked like a fork-lift mark. Car was on the lot with 28 other new cars all with 1-20 miles on them. We bought the car from a dealer far away. They ordered the part, painted to color of our car, mailed it to us, we took it to local dealer, they installed it. Yes that's alot of useless information BUT be very careful of how the part lines up with front of rear wheel well and rear of front wheel well. It is a long, thin, very tinny-like part. If possible keep it in THEIR hands all the time. I rec'd the part in box and never opened it until they were going to do the work, let them open it. It will fit ok and look ok, just don't stare at it.
I'm going to try to seal up the top margin of mine maybe this winter.
It's just a piece of painted tin held in by a few screws.
Take it off and see if there's a ref # on it. Get part # from dealer. Do a little research online for info. Maybe can be hammered out by a pro that ...uh...hammers things out. Part $$ vs deductible $$.
It goes on and on from here.

 

Lots of on-line places like parts.com to order from. Getting it painted to match is the hard part. Don't know if the MY12 is same as MY10-11 but if so, a used one from a wrecking yard might be possible.

 

You're looking at about $270 just for the primed rocker panel cover.The on line vendors don't have their site set up for the 2012's yet, but here's the link for the 2011 part.

2011 TOYOTA PRIUS Parts - Camelback Toyota Parts

It's called the rocker molding.

I'd call the 1-800 number and ask them, if it is the same for the 2012.

 

Have you done a dry run, taking it off? I had a look at ours, and it's a forest of tricky fasteners. The Repair Manual identifies most of them, the large diameter guys along the length, as "single use". Not sure how true that is. And at least at the back end I recall it's connected to the black plastic spat at the leading edge of the wheel well, and that bugger has fasteners that are near impossible to remove.

I like to figure out how to remove stuff like that, did manage to get the rear wheel well liner out of ours, but came to a standstill regarding that plastic rocker panel, decided I didn't want to risk damaging it or it's fasteners, just left it be.

I'd see what the dealership or competent third party would charge, and yes, consider getting it through your insurance.

 

Hello! I just had a similar incident this evening, where I went over a curb and the bottom frame landed on the curb. I haven't checked what damage it caused underneath, but I can see the damage it caused externally. Is this something we can even claim on car insurance?

 

why wasn't she in the kitchen making you sammiches instead

 

Good time to buy a body kit

 

I just did the same to my wife's liftback this AM on the way in..
we were both in the car.. it was a piece of debris in the road that I didn't see quick enough to react..

I was hopeful for no damage, but it caught the end of the plastic rocker just before the left rear tire.
The part number is 7585247900 (now replaced by 7585247901) it’s ~$300 not including the paint and installation.

Need part number 1 and 12 and paint to match.. + installation.. (but based on Mendel's note, I should just get the complete fastener kit)

Parts.com® | Toyota MOULDING BODY ROCKE PartNumber 7585247900

I was hopeful the replacement part could be ordered color matched, but most likely not. (Blizzard Pearl)
I'm hopeful our local dealer body shop is really good.. (they've done nice work for us in the past when they had the Saturn dealership)

I'm thinking it will go against our $500 deductible..

I can see the broken plastic rivet inside the wheel well is still sitting there. I had thoughts of just replacing that part to see if it's secure enough & holds the visible crack in the side closed.. but I think she'd like to get it fixed..

Naturally, I feel terrible.. a great way to start off a Monday morning.. the car was going to the dealer tonight for the 40k oil change.
Was dropping it overnight so they could service on Tuesday.. maybe they can slip a rivet in there for me till we can get the parts ordered.

I'd love to do aftermarket rockers.. but doubtful she'll agree.

 

^ For that fastener location I sub'd black "nylon license plate bolts". They are much easier to install/remove. I wanted to remove the OEM for clean-up (I'm seriously OCD) and the dang thing was a rusted blob. Something like this:





^ Is that the worst of it? That really looks fixable. Probably a body shop will do, put some mesh and bumper repair epoxy on the back. Then fill and sand a bit, and color match.

 

Thanks Mendel for your note..
yes, that is all that I know of so far.. I will check it out more closely when we get it back home and I can get under the car.. I have never had these off the car.. but like you, am thinking that's a great idea. This car has NO rust.. as we've never driven it in the snow or salt. It's a little dirty in the picture as I was anticipating the dealer would wash it for us as part of the 40k service. But agree, these things hold the dirt for sure. Maybe it can be repaired from the back side as you note.

I've rinsed them out on our Priusv - via those access plate covers.. but have never removed them. I was amazed how much stuff comes out of them.. We bought the liftback new, so it's still LN - we bought the v used, so not nearly as perfect as her liftback.

Naturally, this all happened today as we prepare to make the final payment on the car in the next few weeks.. I've had this weird feeling something was gonna happen now that we (basically) have it paid off.. It never fails.. -j

 

Accessing the back of the rocker panel might be possible with that black rubber "spat" removed. Or at the least, with spat removed and then just partial removal of the rocker panel fasteners, just as much as possible to allow it to be pried out a bit.

It's funny, on ours, with 17" rims, there's a paper-like liner in the rear wheel well, you don't see that bracket holding the top lug of the spat. Here's a view, sort-of inside the driver's side rear wheel well (wheel removed), with nylon bolt sub'd:



Yeah, I think with the car raised, wheel off, the spat taken off, a body shop will be able to reinforce that from the back. That's really best place to have damaged it, lol.

Keep in mind too, it's very low, any imperfections will be near unnoticeable.

 

yes, our v has those same pad's you reference too.. this being the 2011 liftback.. I'm not certain if they added them in 2012 or not.
but agree, that hopeful it's repairable from the back side. & yes, being low to the ground will help a lot as you note.

Maybe they'll need to keep it a few extra days.. I only wish I knew exactly what it was I hit. (I think maybe a trim ring off another car) Probably never know now..

 

Looks like it was the trailing edge of the spat that snagged whatever was on the road, and then it terrifically levered the whole area. Mud flaps will do the same thing. The spats are there for aero I'm sure, but it's a pain when they cause damage.

There's a coarse thread screw with 10mm hex head on the underside of the spat, or there should be. It might be partially torn out, need some refurb.

 

yes, whatever it was, it hit the under side pretty hard.. at just ~35-40mph, not even highway speed. Thanks for the tip on the 10mm hex head.. I need to get a better look when we get it home. The entire spat thing looks a little out of alignment now, so maybe even more damage than is visible at first glance.

I walked out after lunch time..
I had a couple empty lawn care bags in the back.. & so, I was able to lay on the ground and look at the car..

All looks OK other than the rocker.. which appears to be made out of a rubbery product.. (?)
(so, not all too certain if it can be glued or not. Maybe an epoxy will work?)

Anyway, I was able to put the parts back in place.. and it looks OK.. (less the crack in the paint)
If I can get it patched or glued on the back side, it might be OK.. then pop in a new rivet in the back.

The spat has a cut in the bottom of it from where it got hit.. so, maybe a new rivet and a new spat and a little patch on the back side.. I think the paint might be OK as is.. (since it won’t rust)

XT1058 ?

 

XT1058 ?