Hello everyone, I've owned my Prius for a good six months now, had a bit of damage last December after an encouter with a highway guiderail, and since then have gotten numerous estimates for the replacement of the passenger side quarter panel and rear bumper. With parts and labor, about $2200, not cheap, been saving up for this since then. The parts have to be replaced, it's not fixable. Now I've been looking around and found a salvage yard selling the exact right quarter panel (not sure about the color yet, but everything else is right), for $600... cheaper than a new one (quote was $750), and if it's the right color (silver), I wont have to do got through the color matching process like for a new part... my question is, how hard is it to replace the quarter panel yourself? Has anyone had any experience with somthing like that? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, Treo
It is not a bolt on part. It is an integral part of the unibody construction. It is welded in place, so you need to use a neumatic panel cutter, weld on the new panel, probably with a specialty type welder, and then feather edge the seam with body filler, so repainting is a must.
