As I mentioned in my intro, I had a '95 that I drove for over 200K and LOVED. I purchased a '97 Limited for my son and until recently, it was his. I love my boy. He is just like I was at his age - interested in a few things to the exclusion of many others. He put a great stereo in the 97 and then, during a night of torrential rain, he lost control of it and punched the 4Runner through a light fence. Front end has damage to the bumper and the valance. Side has damage to fender, Limited flare, etc.

Since he is going to college soon - and will need a vehicle with better gas mileage, I bought him a Civic, got rid of my Avalon and took back the 4Runner!

And then I found this forum... OMG. Dreams of mods are dancing in my head! I have 6 kids, so the mods are going to be slower than some of you... but they have already started! ;)

So, here we go

1. New rotors & brake pads - kids tend to miss those noises when the stereo is loud. ;)

2. New tires: Duelers 265/70R/16's with the white letters turned in.

3. Removed the running boards

I know it's not much, but lemme tell ya: it's enough to feel BIT BY THE BUG!

Next will be finding the bumper, valance, flare replacements... Stay tuned!

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6 kids.... jesus, you need to spend some time in the garage to keep your sanity!!! lol!!!

I'm not sure where you are located, but if this company has a location near you, they'll help you save a lot of money fixing the damage:

CertiFit Auto Body Parts - Home

That's too funny!! It's a blended family (3 mine, 3 hers)... kinda like "Here's a story, about a man named Brady..."

WOW. That's a fantastic resource. Thank you very much. There's one just a few miles from me. I'm going to give them a call and order. Have you used them before?

Thanks!
Andy

Also remove the damaged fender before it ruins the door

Yep, I was involved in an accident and, since my 4R was free to me, I only carry liability insurance, the repairs were on my shoulders. The dealership quoted me more than $750 just for the parts. I got everything I needed from Certifit for $150. These were brand new, in the package parts. They are just made out of the country (IIRC, Taiwan). The quality was the same. The should have your fender, but it will likely come with only primer...you'll need to paint it.

You can see pics of my repairs here:

Before

After

It was funny....when I was there waiting for them to retrieve my parts, almost everyone that walked through their doors worked for auto body shops. I figured I had stumbled upon a trade secret.

whats that green stuff sticking outta the right side? Did you run over the easter bunny last weekend?

You gotta LOVE the trade secrets!
Andy

Isn't that good looking? ;) Yeah, there is some serious classiness going on with the engineering.
As soon as humanly possible I'll be making the change.

Justin: I hear you. I will be doing that asap as well.

Thanks again for the helpful info.
Andy