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Fender Flare Surprises!


Northernpathy
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The $1000 also includes taxes (which are 14.5% up here).

 

Don't forget that most everything is more expensive up here then it is in the US (for no good reason, but that is nothing new).

 

I will still think about it. Might go see another body shop to get another quote just to be sure.

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1K isn't bad at all. I got quoted $1700 for just the rear quarters and new paint. So 1K is pretty decent. The best I've found for the quarters, new fenders and fresh paint all around was ~$2,400. Anywhere near the 3K mark for all that seems pretty good to me.

 

There are two ways to think about it.

 

1. Get it fixed for a fair price from your friend and know it is good.

2. Spray everything down with stop rust that is available from several manufacturers and cover them back up with the flares and just live with it.

 

I am the type person that option two sounds good but it would drive me crazy knowing the cancer was there.

 

James

 

Agreed. I have OCD so I couldn't live with that for long... :lol:

 

guess thats what i get for not payin attention :sleeping:

 

No worries. :aok:

 

For the most part, rust on vehicles built in Japan is a pretty common occurence. They have snow in Northern Japan (Northern Honshu and Hokkaido, for example) but they don't salt the roads IIRC. Therefore, most of these vehicles aren't designed with salt in mind. :shrug:

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The $1000 also includes taxes (which are 14.5% up here).

 

Don't forget that most everything is more expensive up here then it is in the US (for no good reason, but that is nothing new).

 

I will still think about it. Might go see another body shop to get another quote just to be sure.

Check out five star industrial painting on Cleopatra off of merivale road. That is where I took my dads.

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Puttign your truck in a museum the day it rolls off the factory line?

 

I was thinking more in the range of covering it in plastic-wrap...

 

plastic_wrap.jpg

 

At least you would still be able to drive it around ;)

Edited by Northernpathy
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1K isn't bad at all. I got quoted $1700 for just the rear quarters and new paint. So 1K is pretty decent. The best I've found for the quarters, new fenders and fresh paint all around was ~$2,400. Anywhere near the 3K mark for all that seems pretty good to me.

 

 

every one of you is lucky to even get a quote. not one single shop here will fix rust. 75% of the shops actually laughed at me when i asked for a quote to fix it. and my cancer is minimal, 2 small spots 3 inches long on the passenger rear. but i know its going to spread like a disease since its bubbling up. :unsure:

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Man, Al, I didn't think your Pathy had any rust! not from the few times I saw it! Ahh well, I have repaired both of my Pathy's, Judge's Pathy and dududuckling's pathy AND a bit on Adamzan's, so I am no stranger to the wonderful body rust on our trucks! Good luck and welcome to the rust club :friday:

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Yea your going to spend quite a bit to fix any kind of rust like that. Anything less then a grand and your either getting a huge deal or a crappy job.

 

How to prevent it? Like someone else already mentioned, cleaning under the flares often enough. You can also get a rust proofing spray and maybe even some of that clear 3m film and put it between the paint and flares. Otherwise sell the rig before it comes through :whistle:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I dropped the truck off at the body guy today so that he can repair the damage on the rear panels. Should be finished in a couple of days.

 

He is just going to repair the rear panels and leave it at primer. I am going to take on the job of putting on the new front fenders and repainting the ENTIRE truck.

 

So I got to working on the new front two fenders.

 

Here is the passenger side panel on the work bench.

 

DSC02868.jpg

 

Since I am NOT going to re-install the fender flares, I needed to plug up the holes. I was told that some places sell some plastic inserts which block up the holes, but I decided to weld them up instead. It will look better and lessen the chance of any rusting in the holes that were meant to hold the fender flares in place.

 

But just as I started looking at the fenders to plan the attack, I realized that the fenders oddly have extra holes in them. Both fenders have them in the same place.

 

DSC02869.jpg

 

I have no idea what they are meant for. I thought that maybe some trucks had a plastic trim that ran down the side of the body, and that is what these holes were meant for, but I have looked online and can't find a picture of any 99-2003 R50 that has trim like that. :crazy:

 

I double checked the info on the boxes that the fenders came in. They both say "Nissan Pathfinder 99-2002".

 

Really odd. I really don't have any idea why they are there. Oh well, luckily I am there to plug up some holes anyways. Two more holes to plug is nothing big.

 

Onto the work.

 

I started by cutting out small pieces of sheet metal to put behind the holes. Once I had cut out 9 little pieces, I was ready to weld. To hold them in place properly, I temporary put some tape on the pieces. I forgot to take pictures of this on the passengers side fender, but here is a picture of them on the other fender.

 

DSC02879.jpg

 

Then a little bit of sanding so that I can do the welding.

 

DSC02872.jpg

 

Next I gave each piece one tack weld to hold it in place.

 

DSC02873.jpg

 

Now that the pieces were being held in place, I could remove the tape. I didn't want to keep the tape on there any longer than I needed to, as the welding would just melt/burn the tape.

 

DSC02881.jpg

 

Then I finished welding the holes closed with the mig. Would have been better to do it with a tig welder, but I don't have one. But a mig will work fine, you just need to do some extra grinding.

 

DSC02874.jpg

 

After I finished filling in the holes, I grinded things down smooth.

 

DSC02875.jpg

 

After some extra sanding/grinding, it was ready for primer.

 

DSC02877.jpg

 

I also gave the inside of the fender with the patches two coats of primer as well so. Didn't bother to take a picture of that though.

 

I repeated the procedure on the drivers side fender as well. All is good. I hung them up in the parts room to dry.

 

DSC02883.jpg

 

I gave them two coats of primer. The repair job is just about perfect. But I will likely need to touch them up ever so slightly with some bondo to get rid of 2-3 slight scratches from the grinding. I wanted to prime them before I touched them up because the primer causes the imperfections to show up a lot easier. I doubt I will need to mix up more than a teaspoon of bondo to fix up the slight imperfections. Should look the holes were never there once I am finished.

 

Tomorrow I do the little bit of bondo work, then I am going to do something to make sure the fenders will not rust out again :)

Edited by Northernpathy
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Nice work. I have a fender hanging in our garage too. Mine didnt have the holes for the flares, or the extra holes either... I assume they're for some of the extra cladding that some of the pathy's have??

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I could have bought some after-market fenders without the holes for the fender flares, but I got for a good price. Was worth the extra work to get rid of the holes for the price I paid for the fenders ;)

 

Looked online some more, and I still can't find a picture of a pathy with something that use those holes. But I have found a few places online that sell the fender with those holes as well. Oh well.

 

As long as it fits on the truck, I will be happy ;)

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Rear fenders fixed:

 

DSC02938.jpg

DSC02939.jpg

DSC02940.jpg

 

Covered the inside of the new front fenders with rocker guard. Should last longer than the original.

 

DSC02903.jpg

DSC02901.jpg

 

Then I replaced the front fender:

 

DSC02941.jpg

DSC02942.jpg

DSC02943.jpg

DSC02944.jpg

PathytruckC02947.jpg

 

I will get to the other fender tomorrow.

 

Should look a lot better once the entire truck is painted.

Edited by Northernpathy
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  • 2 weeks later...

You might also want to check under the rear bumper. I've got a 99.5 that I pulled the flares on earlier this year. It spent the first year of its life in New York and then the rest of its time in Tennessee, but even I have had some issues with rust.

 

I pulled the bumpers off to start on some custom bumpers and found a nice hole behind the rear cover.

 

DSCN0462.jpg

 

 

So now before I can finish the bumpers I have to fix this spot. (same hole just knocked the rust out.)

 

DSCN0466.jpg

 

Might also want to check behind the plastic front wheel well liners, as I had a good amount of random dirt and stuff packed in there. And I have never wheeled this truck.

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they salt there instead of chemicals?? that would be your problem. move to anthoer state! lol

 

and i put flares ON just to hide my little rust patches over the rear passenger.

 

Ha! I did the same thing just before winter. The sad thing is that I know It will only last so long. Now, if they only made plastic rocker panel covers I'd be laughin'

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